Need help with my first OC!

Hello Overclockers,

I'll start by listing my spec:

i5 4690K 3.5Ghz
GTX 970
8GB RAM
MSI z97 Gaming 5
Cooler Master Hyper 212
2 x 250 GB Samsung SSD (RAID 0)


I've been researching OC'ing for a few days trying to understand as much as possible before I gave it a shot, but it seems I am either doing something wrong or have misunderstood, or both... I started out by setting my disabling turbo boost, setting multiplier to 42 and my core voltage to 1.2... this ran Windows and was stable with stress tests (temps avg 60) so I thought I would try to bump it up a bit to 4.5 and 1.28V, this caused instant blackout and I needed to remove MB battery in order to reset BIOS. So I went back to 4.2 Ghz and tried to find a lower voltage starting at 1.15V and then moving down to a point where it didn't work and then bumped it back up a bit... This point was around 1.13V, but on running stress tests, I got 'there is a problem with your PC and needs to restart '... so then I started incrementing the voltage back up and got to 1.15V which was stable running stress tests for over an hour.... I then decided to play BF4 which I can run with ease, and after about 30 mins, 'problem with your PC '... Im now at 1.16V and 4.0 Ghz running a AIDA64 stress (CPU, FPU, Cache, Memory, Local Disks and GPU) test with all cores averaging below 60C max below 65C.... I don't know whether Im doing the right thing increasing the voltage and lowering the multiplier... I need some advice please!!!

Any replies I thank in advance.

P.S I have files saved of my statistics for a few OCs I tried, Never once did my temps go over 70 and it seems like my CPU is not in a danger zone but I can't get it to be stable.


EDIT: Now running at 4.5Ghz, with 1.35V... this is higher voltage than I wanted to go too but all my temps on AIDA64 are maxing around 80 and averaging about 70. Seeming to be stable after 30 mins of testing.

What is your stock load voltage from cpuz? Meaning, leave everything at stock, get it to Windows, start cpuz, start stress test, and look at where the voltage settles.

When you tried 4.5 @ 1.28V, did you try any higher voltage?

Stress tests aren't the end all for stability. Running your pc as you run it really is. If bf4 wasn't stable, add another bit of voltage.

What power supply are you using?

No I didn't go higher than that, you think I wasn't supplying enough voltage?

Also, my stock load voltage is 1.056V..

It's possible yes. Temps are in order (keep it at 90C or less stress testing), your 'max' voltage for the chip is 1.4V+... give it a go.

You may just have a sub par overclocking chip.

And again, what power supply are you using?

It does seem like its not great, I will give it a go, and my power supply is Corsair CXM 750W

Plenty of power there, and while the psu isn't tier 1, it's plenty serviceable.

Report back...!

Ok thanks for you're speedy replies... I will get back to you shortly

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Ive gone for 4.5Ghz and 1.3V, and its booted into Windows this time... should I run tests now? what would you recommend?

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Booted into windows and just got 'Your PC ran into problems need to restart '

That's the game my friend... the goal for overclocking is to find the lowest voltage possible for a given clockspeed and be stable.

I'd also edit your posts to add information if you don't see a reply.

should I try increasing the voltage then to around 1.35?

as I said, you have a limit around 1.4V, temps are in order, so try it!

I put it up to 1.325 and it tries to load Windows but doesn't succeed, blue screen error

http://www.overclockers.com/3step-guide-to-overclock-intel-haswell/

What about 1.35 like you said?

1.35 it is into windows and running tests now with max temps just under 80.

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Thanks alot for your help dude, I'm going to run this test for a bit and see how it goes... Any further problems and I'll be in touch

Btw when I run AIDA64 stress tests, the checkboxes I ticked are Stress CPU, and Stress FPU... is this the correct thing to do too check temps or is it only the temps of the CPU stress which should to be below 80

THere are two ways of doing so.. one is your way (or leave it on default), and the other is to just check Stree FPU only. This will raise temps more. Either way should be fine. I personally run default.

Well I ran it for 1.5 hours with only one core spiking briefly over 80, average temps around 70.... I do have my core voltage on 1.35 which worries me but Im happy to leave it there for now, but I'm interested in how you worked out my 'max voltage' being 1.4?

That is what we have said since the CPU came out. There are reccomendations all over the web. Some say 1.35 others say up to 1.45. I cut it in the middle. 1.35V is certainly nothing to worry about.

Brilliant, well I'm more than happy with 4.5 Ghz and it looks to be stable there, thanks for all your time EarthDog, you reassured my faith in my chip! haha

Ran my PC all night after the tests I did at 4.5Ghz and 1.35V, all totally fine, but today when I started my PC it turned on and got to the windows loading page but then went black and turned off, turned it back on and downloaded a game, tried to play this game and the PC went black again

Maybe try keeping the voltage at 1.35 and lowering your OC to 4.4Ghz or 4.3Ghz