Overclocking a 4790k

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

Okay, I have delidded my hot chip. I can see I shaved off ~15c+/-. Pretty satisfied with my delid. Used CLU (IHS -DIE )and Gelid GC-Extreme (IHS-Block).

I Oc'ed to 4.4GHz with 1.150v stable with both AIDA64, IBT(Very High) and Prime95. Temps are excellent compared to before. I oc'd via bios used XMP and just put cpu ratio /cache ratio to 44 and cpu voltage to 1.150v. I couldn't get a stable oc with 4.5 tried 1.3v still not stable BSOD on stress test after a few minutes. Could it be the XMP? or could I adjust something else to try and get it stable? First time to OC an intel chip.

Idle Temps

Load Temps(using AIDA64)

trents · Jul 1, 2015

Try setting the RAM frequency to 1600 mhz and see if you can't get higher.

Your IMC may be holding you back if it's a little weak. Sometimes the IMC needs a little voltage boost with high speed RAM. Normally, the 4790k chips will handle 2400 with no problems but the IMC may need a bump. The particular bios control is called "System Agent". Try 0.25 in override mode. If you will run HWMonitor it will show you what the System Agent Voltage is. It should be somewhere between .2 and .3 for 2400 mhz RAM I believe. At least that's what it shows with my 4790k. See pic. Right now I'm running the RAM at 1600 mhz.

My advice to set the RAM at 1600 mhz would be an alternative to bumping up the voltage on the IMC. 1600 mhz puts less strain on the IMC than 2400. And by the way, moving from 2400 down to 1600 will result on virtually no performance loss with the vast majority of applications. If you don't believe me, try running Cinebench with both RAM frequencies and you will see there is very little difference.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

Okay I'm trying offset with the 4.5ghz. I'll put .2 lets see what I get. Will try 4.5ghz at 1.2v.

trents · Jul 1, 2015

Before you add any offset you should check and see what "Auto" was assigning to it as reported in HWMonitor. Then go from there to increase it a little.

- - - Updated - - -

Another thing to try would be to ditch the XMP setting and manually set the RAM frequency to 2400 mhz. That should give you more relaxed timings and put a little less strain on the IMC.

- - - Updated - - -

You will probably find that you need 1.25 core voltage before your are stable at around 4.5 ghz.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

My sys agent offset was at 0 so I put in on bios .2 as you said. Hasn't BSOD'd yet on x45 at 1.2v. Usually I'd get a BSOD within 5mins into prime blend test.

Anyway, its too early to judge just in for 10mins.

trents · Jul 1, 2015

At least the improvement points to the likelihood that you are moving in the right direction by adding some sys agent voltage.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

Okay there we go I get BSOD an hour after so I'll try 1.25v cpu voltage. I'll try up to 1.3v on cpu. If it still isn't stable will try .3 on sys agent offset.

Is there anything else that might help stability like the sys agent offset?

Anyway, to set the ram manually I just have to pick 2400mhz in bios ram freq right?

trents · Jul 1, 2015

If you were on 1.2 and passed at 4.5 ghz for one hour then I would move to 1.225. If you can pass for one hour you should be very close to stable. And just food for thought, I have moved away from Prime95 as my main stress test. I've started using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. I find it's a pretty realistic stress test and doesn't drive temps up so extremely high as does Prime95. Prime95 makes a lot of heat but may not be giving a well-rounded stress test. If you can pass the IXTU stress test for 8 hr. then you should be stable for real life computing on all but stuff like folding. And the best part is it allows you a little room to use the computer while you test as it doesn't occupy every last ounce of CPU power.

Dlaw · Jul 1, 2015

I just had to say that I've never seen a 4790K that couldn't do more than 4.5GHz, heck mine pegs at the 4.4GHz turbo clock under any load, and doesn't let up. I could pass P95 blend for over an hour with everything set to auto except the multi set at 47 (4.7GHz). A shot of hardware monitor while under load would help us determine what was wrong.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

Okay I'm trying 1.3v now with .2 sys agent offset.

here is my CPUID HWM btw

Edit: okay so 1.3v cpu dint work either, immediate bsod within minutes in prime95 (2-3mins) I tried putting sys agent offset .3 still BSOD.

What else can I do?

trents · Jul 1, 2015

Do you need more sys agent offset instead of more core voltage?

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

I tried 1.3v cpu voltage with .2 sys agent offset still bsod within minutes. I'll try 1.3cpu v with .3 sys agent offset. You think it needs more? How much sys agent voltage is safe?

trents · Jul 1, 2015

Try 1.25 core voltage with .3 sys agent offset.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

1.25v and .3 Sys agent offset still bsod within 3mins.

trents · Jul 1, 2015

Also, try setting your cache or ring ratio manually to 39 or 40x and set the cache or ring voltage manually to 1.0. Look at HWMonitor for the LLC/Ring voltage amount. At 40x my 4790k needs 1.025 on the LLC/Ring voltate to support 40x ratio. You might need a little more voltage.

madmeatballs · Jul 1, 2015

My LLC/Ring voltage is 0 at x40. Though at the hwmonitor on my previous post it was at 1.306v when I tested 1.3v with .2 sys agent offset which bsod after a few minutes aswell. My LLC is set at auto on bios.

TuKr · Jul 1, 2015

trents said:
Also, try setting your cache or ring ratio manually to 39 or 40x and set the cache or ring voltage manually to 1.0. Look at HWMonitor for the LLC/Ring voltage amount. At 40x my 4790k needs 1.025 on the LLC/Ring voltate to support 40x ratio. You might need a little more voltage.

THIS... or if you want to try and keep your high Cache freq type 1.20 as cache voltage. judging by the delid i feel i dont need to ask if your comfortable with it. lol. also try running adia64. it allows you to stress test indivdual parts, like ram, or cpu, or even Igpu to see which is unstable. thats how i found my first wall. My cache couldnt handle anything set to auto. click on the stress test button, then you will see little check boxes with what they test. give it a shot, adia64 has a free some-odd day trial. no pressure to buy just a 12 second wait time.

madmeatballs · Jul 2, 2015

Well, I tried 1.20v cache voltage bsod at start of stress test.

What do I do with LLC?

trents · Jul 2, 2015

You have separate voltage adjustments in your bios for Ring and for LLC. On my board they are the same I think as reflected in the line item shown in HWMonitor.

madmeatballs, please capture pics of your bios' overclocking section and attach them to your next posts. If you have a USB flash drive (aka, thumb drive) then you can go into bios and hit the F12 key to do a screen capture and save the image to the flash drive. Then use some image editing program like irfanview to downsize the image a bit (file is too large for the forum tool if you don't) and attach them. We need to see what you see. Also, attache images from CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD.

We need to have a look at your settings.

Another thing, please create a Sig that lists your system components with some information detail. Refer to mine if you want an example. It will travel with every post you make. To create a Sig, click on My Profile at the top right corner of the page and then click on Edit Signature about midway down the left side. This is a common forum courtesy to those helping you.

madmeatballs · Jul 2, 2015

Looks like it doesn't show my sig when I reply through my phone.

CPUZ

bios

Overclocking a 4790k

Member

Senior Member

Attachments

Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Similar threads