Healthy i5 2500 overcloak

[dagnis]

I'm looking to overclock my i5 2500k but I would get some specific advice, after all, this can be dangerous from what I understand. I was wondering what's a healthy speed to overclock it and what cooler to use. My Asus motherboard has three presets (underclock, normal, and overclock of which I don't know any of the settings). Any advice anyone? I would post my exact motherboard but i'm not home atm.

 

[87ninefiveone]

Stock setting is 3.3GHz with a turbo boost of 3.7GHz.

I'd say a healthy OC is anything 4.0GHz and up. Thats an increase of 700MHz, or 21% over stock speeds. That said, most chips out there can pretty easily hit 4.4 - 4.6GHz at safe voltages with a decent cooler.

My preference is for faux liquid coolers like the Corsair H50, H60, H80, and H100. They're an easy install, take up less room in your case, and exhaust all the heat straight outside which lowers overall case temperatures. I've been told they're more prone to failure than air cooler, but the reviews are generally good and I've never personally had an issue.

Big air coolers from Noctua and the Hyper 212 from Coolermaster are also very popular. Basically, what it comes down to with air coolers is that more heat sink mass, more pipes, and more fans equals a cooler running CPU. From there it comes down to budget and aesthetics.

Avoid using the built in overclock feature on boards. They often (99.9% of the time) jack up the voltages to the maximum safe levels which is usually completely unecessary and can shorten compenent life. Overclocking should be performed manually via turbo boost or multiplier settings utilizing user choosen settinging when possible. Best advice is to do a ton of reading, then when you get sick read some more. It's very important to know what your're doing when going for high overclocks and incorrent voltage and BIOS settings can have system destroying consequences.

 

[dagnis]

I plan on using an Coolermaster 212 evo.

You mention volts.. From the guides I can find I normally get lost in understand it all. Gotta find somewhere where it breaks it down and makes it simple to understand.

 

[dagnis]

Does this seem safe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZoWOpry40

The only thing I would change is enable the CPU Q-fan control, so that it's not running at max RPM all the time. Does this sound... sound? XD

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Does this seem safe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZoWOpry40

The only thing I would change is enable the CPU Q-fan control, so that it's not running at max RPM all the time. Does this sound... sound? XD

In the video, he sets the Vcore at 1.35V because he said that that particular CPU needed it for stability, but I will say that you shouldn't need 1.35V @ 4.5. Try 1.300V first (if you're lucky, you may not even need 1.300V for 4.5). If it's not stable at 1.300V, then just go up a little at a time until it is.

Just for a comparison, for complete stability, my chip needs 1.336V for 4.5 (1.280V at 100% load).

 

[dagnis]

mk. He is using the same processor and MB that i have.

 

[87ninefiveone]

Anything up to 4.2GHz can typically be run with all voltage settings to AUTO (or similar).

Simple voltage rundown as requested...

CPU Core <1.35V
RAM < 1.65V

That's really it. Most other settings can be left on auto unless going beyond 4.5GHz. The basic technique is to start with your multiplier where you want it, set voltage to a reasonable area then back it off until you start to see blue screens while running. Some people do the reverse of this and step up until blue screens go away, but it shouldn't matter either way as long as you stay under 1.35V for the CPU. RAM technique is a bit different, I'd start at 1.60V or so then lower the timings manually until you no longer have a stable system, then bump back up to where it was stable.

You should also set vdroop to low, or whichever setting gives you the lowest amount of voltage drop at load. It can also help to diable things like C-State, Intel EIST (speed step), C1E and other power settings until you achieve a stable system (then reactivate as desired).

Also, video looks good to me. He does a good job of covering the settings needed. Beware that just because it's the same chip and motherboard does not mean you'll get the same results. Slight differences are present between any two examples of hardware.

 

[dagnis]

Noted. Is 70 C normal for 4.5? It seems really high.. Also, any idea what the Asus ez mode optimal sets it to? i can't check till my new cooler gets here.

 

[87ninefiveone]

70'C under full load is in the right neighborhood. You have to remember that you're running the chip full blast on or close to the max safe voltage at all times. That means more heat, so final temps will be completely dependant upon your cooler choice. 70'C is about the max you'd want to see and still be comfortable. Realistically though, outside of benchmarking or stress testing you won't see anything that high with the OC (maybe 60'C real world).

I have my system (2600K, MSI Z68A-GD80) OC'd via high turbo boost frequencies instead of a multiplier bump. 3.4GHz base, then 4.0, 4.2, and 4.4 turbo frequency. I leave my voltage set to auto and I don't see over 1.32V under full load and my temps usually peak out around 60'C with an H50 cooler (23'C ambient).

 

[dagnis]

Mk. so it sounds like I'm gunna have to play around and run some tests to figure out my system. Was hoping it was easier but I'm sure it'll pay off.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/3
Seems like a good place to start figuring stuff out.. Thanks for all the help!