Asus Maximus IV Gene-z/gen3 overclocking i5 2500k

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Oscarmk

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Apr 20, 2012
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I just installed a Noctua NH-C14S cooler and I am happy with the results so far, as I am getting temps between 50-55 after 2 hours of prime with turbo enabled at 3.7 Ghz, before the temperature was 75-80C during Prime using the stock Intel Cooler. I have been monitoring my temps using RealTempGT, not sure if this is better or worst than HWMonitor for Temp readings.

I noticed when I started Prime95 the VCore Voltage was at 1.144 due to Vdroop I presume, after one hour it was between 1.15 and 1.16, and after 2 hours it jumped to 1.190-1.208, which is the usual idle Voltage I see when running CPU-Z

I have an Asus Maximus IV Gene-z/Gen3 motherboard, and I found the OC instructions here: Asus site

The first item says to update my UEFI Bios, I have never updated it on my motherboard. As far as I can tell here: Asus site there isn't any Bios updates for Windows 7 64 Bit. So I am assuming I have the latest one which is the one that came when I bought the motherboard almost 6.5 years ago.

I was planning to just use the CPU Level up first and get it to 4.2 Ghz, run prime and see the temps, and then possibly going and only dropping the VCore Voltage till it is stable, would this be a good approach?. Also regarding Windows energy settings I read that this can have an effect with Intel sidestep which lowers Voltage/Speed while idle is this true?. I have it set to Balanced right now.

Was also wondering what would happen if I leave the VCore Voltage set to AUTO like it is now, and just increase the multiplier to either 42x or 40x, will it keep providing it the same 1.2 voltage, or will it adjust accordingly and provide it more voltage?

Thank you.
 
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Maebius

Maebius

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Feb 17, 2017
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Hello! Overclocking the 2500k brings back fond memories!
If you set vcore on auto it will probably set an unnecessarily high voltage like 1.45. But with the latest bios revisions it might not... :)
You should comfortably get 4,2Ghz on much less than 1,3 voltage...
You can start with "high" fixed voltage (like 1,3) and start dropping it in 0,1 and 0,05 steps to find the minimum stable voltage. Don't do auto (at all) or adaptive (yet).
See how your temps are @4,2GHz and say, 1,3Vcore and that will give you an indication on how your CPU might perform. 1,25Vcore should generally be enough for 4,2Ghz
Test first with XMP profile off and after you're settled on your desired frequency/voltage, then you can start tweaking things like adaptive voltage offsets, XMP memory profile etc
With a bit of luck, you can get 4,5Ghz at less than 1,4vcore.... but every chip is different so best of luck! (I was very lucky, with a tad over 1,3v required for 4,5Ghz on mine)
I would stop raising voltage over 1,35v, for the longevity of the processor... but it's already old enough not to mind too much.

Report back with your progress!
 
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Oscarmk

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Thank you for the explanation. I noticed if I use level up to 4.2, it sets the manual VCore to 1.3, but I agree as you mention it can likely do it with lower. I am not familiar with adaptive voltage, or how to configure it. I will likely just go straight to 1.25 and tru my luck at 4.2 with prime95 for 2-4 hours. Regarding my memory I just realized after almost 7 years it has always been running at 1333 mhz lol, but its capable of 1600 by using the XMP profile. Would it be ok to enable it as well as the Vcore raise ar the same time? Or is it definitely safer to do VCore with 1333 and then enable XMP for Ram?.

The Noctua hovers over the Ram, so it should cool it down too, If I enable XMP to go from 1333 to 1600 mhz. Although I have ran them for almost 7 years at 1333, and yesterday I realized they are rated for 1600 by using XMP.
 
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zebarjadi.raouf

zebarjadi.raouf

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Use high voltage like 1.3v, then enter the OC you prefer like 4.2GHz. When you're done, manually lower the voltage until it gets unstable while testing or on daily usage. If have LLC (Load Line Calibration), enable that too. Disable any power saving options and your good to go.

As for your RAM, wait till you're done with the CPU, cause you won't know if the crashes your getting afterward were caused by your CPU OC or RAM. But normally there shouldn't be any problem using XMP.
 
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Oscarmk

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I set it to 1.25 VCore in BIOS, and used a 42 multiplier. So far its been running prime95 blend mode for 2 hours, highest recorded temp is 68 in 1 core, others 66,66,64. I see them jumping between 59-63 for the most part using latest version of CoreTemp. Using Cpu-z latest version VCore says 1.264 it has stayed this way since I started the PC and it never dropped while running Prime95, I see it briefly for a second go to 1.27V. I have been reading to run Small FTT test also after blend, but not sure for how long, also not sure how long yo run this blend test for.

The Prime95 version I have is from 2011, when I first got the CPU, I read not to use newer versions, so i am just using the one I already had.
 
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zebarjadi.raouf

zebarjadi.raouf

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Your fine till 85c when stress testing. Keep your daily usage temp to below 75c.

Also, don't think too much about stress testing. 30 min should be enough to detect most problems. If you don't crash by then, chances of crashing afterwards are dependant on your luck. I ran Prime95 + AIDA64 for 12 hours each with no problem, crashed while shutting down. If it's unstable, you will get a crash eventually to let you know.

Also, I have heard OCCT is most accurate software for detecting instability.
 
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Oscarmk

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Thank you, I was wondering if once I run tests and its stable, would it always be safer just in case to drop it by say 100mhz, while keeping the same voltage?, or is there a chance this will make it less stable?. My understanding is that dropping it after it looking stable can only be safer.
 
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zebarjadi.raouf

zebarjadi.raouf

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Yes, it will make it much more stable.

As the clock goes higher, you need more voltage to keep that stable. If you go high enough, you will reach clocks that will need much more voltage increase, and then it won't go higher no matter the voltage as you will reach the chips max potential.
 
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Oscarmk

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Ran an additional 3 hours 13 min of Small FTT Prime95, then decreased clock speed by 1 multiplier from 4.2GHZ to 4.1 GHZ and left the voltage the same 1.25 in Bios which results in 1.264 VCore voltage, and decided to call it a day. Now to test it in normal usage.

I played for about 3 hours almost without any issues, max recorded temp was 54 in one core. I noticed that now even while at 1% load it will stay at 4.1 Ghz, while before it would go down to 1.6 Ghz and then ramp up to the Turbo target of 3.7 Ghz, I only changed the turbo target to 4.1 Ghz, but now it won't go down while idle, why is this?.

EDIT: Figured the last part I had changed Windows to High performance, switching back to Balanced allows it to go back to 1.6 and then ramp to 4.1 Ghz as needed.
 
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