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FEATURED Beginners: How to set your 25/6/700K to 4.5Ghz

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I've gone up as far as 1.40v (afraid to go any higher) and even lowered the multiplier down to 4.0Ghz and it still dies when i run any sort of a stress test

Are you using the stock cooler, or do you have an aftermarket cpu cooler? It's possible to OC the SB chips with the stock, but I wouldn't suggest it and may also relate to your instability issues.

I think I was able to get about 4.2~4.4 stable (when I had a 2500k) with the stock cooler, but was having some crazy high temps under load.
 
Are you using the stock cooler, or do you have an aftermarket cpu cooler? It's possible to OC the SB chips with the stock, but I wouldn't suggest it and may also relate to your instability issues.

I think I was able to get about 4.2~4.4 stable (when I had a 2500k) with the stock cooler, but was having some crazy high temps under load.

I've got a Prolimatech Megahalems heatsink with fan that is cooling the CPU, temps arent the problem as they never go above 68c, i can get it to 4.5Ghz and play a few games and do the normal stuff but as soon i stress test it the PC blue screens or just restarts
 
next time it bsod's on ya copy down the error number
example if u get the 0x00000101 its more voltage needed.
so look next time and post it may lead to your problem...
 
I've got a quick question, I got a stable oc for 4.5ghz and 1.350v. I wanted to see what it needs to run 5.0ghz. I was able to pass 5 runs of IBT with no errors and max temp on one of my highest core was 73*c at 1.385v in bios. I had my LLC at LV6 for the Gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3

My question was, when I put the manual volts in bios at 1.385v and when I boot into windows and start latest version of CpuZ, at idle, it shows my Volts at 1.48x. But as soon as I start the IBT, it drops down to 1.38v. Is this normal?

Also, is 1.385v too high for 5ghz?

My Cooling:
EK supreme HF for CPU
EK FC4890 for the XFX 4890 gxf card
XSPC RX240 rad with 2x 38mm delta fans in push
D5 vario w/ x-top v2 as pump top
400mm EK Res
 
I've got a quick question, I got a stable oc for 4.5ghz and 1.350v. I wanted to see what it needs to run 5.0ghz. I was able to pass 5 runs of IBT with no errors and max temp on one of my highest core was 73*c at 1.385v in bios. I had my LLC at LV6 for the Gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3

My question was, when I put the manual volts in bios at 1.385v and when I boot into windows and start latest version of CpuZ, at idle, it shows my Volts at 1.48x. But as soon as I start the IBT, it drops down to 1.38v. Is this normal?

Also, is 1.385v too high for 5ghz?

My Cooling:
EK supreme HF for CPU
EK FC4890 for the XFX 4890 gxf card
XSPC RX240 rad with 2x 38mm delta fans in push
D5 vario w/ x-top v2 as pump top
400mm EK Res

You're seeing a higher voltage due to load line calibration and the way that particular board/bios handles it (are you on the lastest bios?). 1.48v is in the 'I'd worry zone' however 1.385 is not. If you can hold 5Ghz stable at about 1.42v or less under load there's little or no danger to the CPU degradation wise. You need to mess around with LLC in order to get your non-load voltage lower. I'm unfamiliar with this board's bios, so I can't help much beyond that.

One possibitlity which is often still stable is to allow the system to speedstep frequency and voltage so that under no load you'd be perhaps 2.8Ghz and 1.29v and then jump up to the desired load voltage when load is applied. Not all boards play nice this way but it is a possible solution. You do need to get that 1.48v out of the way as it is too high. If it were intentional and you were just looking to go to the wall and didn't care about the CPU long term go for it but that isn't the case afaik.

Keep in mind that 5Ghz isn't necessary for you to actually see a big performance increase vs say 4.7 or 4.8 which your CPU could handle at lower voltages. JM2C HTH.
 
Great Guide

I was looking at the guide you guys created and I was stumped before as I had looked at several other guides for OC my i5 2500k. And previous guides i've used in the past have been a little vague on how to OC especially when your dealing with voltages. But with this guide you've broke it down for me step by step. I think its the best by far beginner OC guides for running these series of processors:

Here's my Rig that I've OC to 4.5Ghz:
Case: Silverstone RV03
CPU: i5 2500k
Cooler: Notua-DH14
Mobo:GA-Z68XP-UD3 Bios F9d beta
Memory: Kingston Hyper X 8gb DDR3 4x 2GB sticks
GPU: Gainward GTX 570 Golden Sample
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
PSU: Corsair GS 600w

I've followed the steps with the LLC being level 5, the only thing i tweaked was the VCore which was defaulted to 1.33. As at boot up I could not get windows to be stable as i would get a constant BSOD. So i changed the vcore to 1.38 and kept the Cas settings and voltages for my memory on auto as the underclocking to 1.5v with my sticks at stock 1.6v they would bsod. So i left them on auto and xmp on disabled but changed the 1600mhz which is listed on my sticks.

After that i then went straight into prime 95 blend test last night running for the first 6hrs here's the results:
6716468977_7a8af20e65.jpg
prime blend test temps 60c running vcore 1.06v @ 6hrs by NitrousX123, on Flickr
attachment.php


As you can see CPU is at 1.44v Max seeing as there were no BSOD and the temps are within the good temps thanks to the cooler. With that i thought i should let it continue running whilst i go to work, i left it running 7:45am this morning:
6716470951_7206b0b8fa.jpg
prime 95 blend test running 16 hrs 1.06v vcore CPU 1.43v by NitrousX123, on Flickr
attachment.php


Now after running for 16hrs this evening at 18:30 is the final result on prime, im really impressed as how stable the chip has been on this mobo. Temps were not going above 64c non stop and the cpu voltage had'nt budged at all. As i was so happy with the results to clarify that my chip is stable i went to run intel burn test:

attachment.php
6716475623_d590e655e0.jpg
intel burnintest results by NitrousX123, on Flickr

I set ibt to 10 tests to see if i could push it further than what was suggested, then left the memory allocation on default which was using approx 6gb of my 8gb of ram. Max temp here was 72c, but it did'nt reach any higher than that the cpu is 1.44 the max.

Seeing as my clocks are stable at this voltage. How should i go about lowering the voltage? Should I raise the LLC to level 6 or lower the vcore to say about 1.36v and see where i go with all the cores running at full load in prime 95?​
 
I was looking at the guide you guys created and I was stumped before as I had looked at several other guides for OC my i5 2500k. And previous guides i've used in the past have been a little vague on how to OC especially when your dealing with voltages. But with this guide you've broke it down for me step by step. I think its the best by far beginner OC guides for running these series of processors:

Here's my Rig that I've OC to 4.5Ghz:
Case: Silverstone RV03
CPU: i5 2500k
Cooler: Notua-DH14
Mobo:GA-Z68XP-UD3 Bios F9d beta
Memory: Kingston Hyper X 8gb DDR3 4x 2GB sticks
GPU: Gainward GTX 570 Golden Sample
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
PSU: Corsair GS 600w

I've followed the steps with the LLC being level 5, the only thing i tweaked was the VCore which was defaulted to 1.33. As at boot up I could not get windows to be stable as i would get a constant BSOD. So i changed the vcore to 1.38 and kept the Cas settings and voltages for my memory on auto as the underclocking to 1.5v with my sticks at stock 1.6v they would bsod. So i left them on auto and xmp on disabled but changed the 1600mhz which is listed on my sticks.

After that i then went straight into prime 95 blend test last night running for the first 6hrs here's the results:
6716468977_7a8af20e65.jpg
prime blend test temps 60c running vcore 1.06v @ 6hrs by NitrousX123, on Flickr
attachment.php


As you can see CPU is at 1.44v Max seeing as there were no BSOD and the temps are within the good temps thanks to the cooler. With that i thought i should let it continue running whilst i go to work, i left it running 7:45am this morning:
6716470951_7206b0b8fa.jpg
prime 95 blend test running 16 hrs 1.06v vcore CPU 1.43v by NitrousX123, on Flickr
attachment.php


Now after running for 16hrs this evening at 18:30 is the final result on prime, im really impressed as how stable the chip has been on this mobo. Temps were not going above 64c non stop and the cpu voltage had'nt budged at all. As i was so happy with the results to clarify that my chip is stable i went to run intel burn test:

attachment.php
6716475623_d590e655e0.jpg
intel burnintest results by NitrousX123, on Flickr

I set ibt to 10 tests to see if i could push it further than what was suggested, then left the memory allocation on default which was using approx 6gb of my 8gb of ram. Max temp here was 72c, but it did'nt reach any higher than that the cpu is 1.44 the max.

Seeing as my clocks are stable at this voltage. How should i go about lowering the voltage? Should I raise the LLC to level 6 or lower the vcore to say about 1.36v and see where i go with all the cores running at full load in prime 95?​

Personally, I have my cpu 100% stable with these settings:

4.5 GHz core

1.295 Vcore

Speedstep ON(2 phases) 1.6 GHz and 4.5 GHz. When CPU usage is over 20%, it kicks up to 4.5 GHz.

All extra phases off.

Overspeed protection off

Execute Disable Bit Enabled

Intel Virtu tech Enabled(z68)

Intel VT-D Tech Disabled(not only internal)

Limit CPUID Maximum=Disabled

Power Tech Disabled(Important! was unstable before disabling this option, leaves voltages at one static setting.)

Long Duration Power limit(W)= 200

Long Duration Maintained(ms)= 1000

The rest is default settings(on MSI Z68a-GD65(B3))

-------------------------------------------------------------

Temps never exceed 60C, even under 5 instances of P95 under maximum heat mode. Using Xigmatek Gaia. I could push this thing higher, but I have no need to, as voltages needed would exceed 1.38Vcore. I stress tested it at 5 GHz with 1.47 Vcore Stable, but temps were exceeding 80C, with that high of a voltage and temp, would be severe degradation. for a .5 GHz gain, just wasn't worth it.
 
So you have your Chip running on to cores then, so does it feel faster or more the same when it was running 4 cores? I see why your temps are lower than mine though, due to not having all the cores on
 
I see 4 cores all around in this thread (not two)? At least, the last person that posted...Who are you talking to?
 
As far as I can tell he is also on 4 cores (though I cant really tell as he doesnt have pictures nor did I see a mention of 2 cores)...

To answer the question though, 2 cores are as fast as 4 cores (for those applications that dont use more than 2 cores).

Wait wait wait.. I think I see... Are you talking where he says SPEEDSTEP/PHASES? That is awfully awkward wording. I never saw an option in any motherboard where you can change the number of 'phases' in speedstep, nor did I know of a specific load % where it ramps up...never paid attention though.

'Extra Phases' Im guessing he means the sleep states (C1/C3/C6, etc). Phases is normally a term associated with the power delivery system of a motherboard. For example, board "A" has a 12 phase PWM. He will have to chime in to clarify what he is talking about though. But looking at the context, I think its sleep states and speedstep not the number of active cores.
 
Yeah i was confused to I know about the power phases their the capcitor caps on the mobo that turn on/off depending on the load on the chip. Hopefully he clarifies it
 
Yeah, was refering to C states. I only have C1 and C6 on, sorry for the late reply. All 4 cores running. Those settings were read off of MSI Control Center(I use it to view if settings applied from bios/uefi)

HWMON doesn't show the third place over on voltages, so it jumps in between 1.29 and 1.30, Screen shots will come in a sec.

One Final update. Bios used in this is American Megatrends Version 22.2, or M.2 could be a good OC bios...idk.

SS:

cputemp.png

Not entirely sure why its 4500.1, It jumps around from 4500.4 to 4499.7. The voltage jump arounds coincide with this too, which is why I'm stumped, but not caring. It works, temps are fine, just a little quirk I guess.

*Edit* No longer am I running under 60C...I never updated to Win7 SP1, so I was getting literally half of my cpu power...WOO! New load temps are irritating, but stable. 68C on intel burn test, 117 Gflops speed, as opposed to the 63 I was getting before...will update as I stability test this new found power.
 
Last edited:
Thats normal Supp...all of it. If you dont like the clocks jumping, disable spread spectrum. Voltages, there is nothing you can do about that.

What does SP1 have to do with half of your computing power? What are you trying to say now?
 
SP1 enables the use of the AVX Instruction set for SB processors. Essentially, I wasn't at its full capacity is all..Now I am.
 
ahh, ok...Thanks for clearing that comment up. You use a lot of FP operation applications I guess. ;)

.
 
yeah thanks again suppressor, @ earthdog what do you think of my setup see my screen shots above. Do you think i should see wether i can lower voltage lower, if so so should i stay on llc level 5 or switch to something different?
 
lower it in increments of .005 voltage to be on the safe side. It might be your mobo just needing extra juice, but More voltage=More Heat. If you can lower voltages, you decrease heat AND lengthen its lifespan.

The range I would shoot for is 1.3-1.385 for 4.5 GHz. DEF stay below 1.4...for me that meant a 10C increase.

If all else fails, A temp limit would be 80C under unrealistic loads, and you should be good for daily 24/7 use.

I started at 4.5 GHz @ 1.35 VCore, try from there.
 
i've tried that the hwmonitor says that the cpu vcore is 1.20v but it bsod.
And thats when I put the memory into XMP mode running at 1600mhz.
I have a gut feeling it could be to do with my memory as the stock voltage is 1.6v and i've heard recently that SB chips do fair well with 1.6v memory much.
And for me to get to 4.5ghz i have type in 1.37 on the vcore for it to run stable.
 
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