First attemp to overclock, Have some questions.. prime 95 and adjusting voltages

[cswann821]

Hi all,

I just wanted some clarification on what to do with my Benchmark results from Prime95. I know I can compare them to other peoples benchmarks but how do I use my results to determin if I need to raise or lower voltages? Do
I just adjust voltages in a +- direction that gives me the best /lower Prime95 timing results? What voltage increments should I use when adjusting? Is there any other benchmark , overclocking software I should use ?

I upgraded my gaming rig to a Maximus VII Hero MB + Devils Canyon 4690K + 2 X 4GB Gkill Sniper 1866. Psu is a corsair prof. Series 850wat.The case is a mountain mod UFO so theres lots of fans and the cpu is watercooled.

I followed a basic tutorial which had me set to XMP, I synced all cores to 46 to start out with, and set my Min/Max CPU Cache ratios to 37.

Now one thing i noticed (just now as I look at CPU-Z) is that I am still only clocking at just 3.5Ghz. I think it said that during boot up as well thinking about it. What did I do or not do? It should be at 4.6 ghz with the above settings right? I kept my voltages at Auto...perhaps I need to set voltage to manual and raise this? I think there are a couple other voltage settings to like offset and adaptive???
I thought I read that 1.25-1.35 is a good starting point if I change to manual. I didn't raise it because I thought the board would adjust it by itself for best stability under the auto setting????


So this is how GREEN I am. Can someone point me in some sort of direction to help me better understand what I need to be doing?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[EarthDog]

There aren't any 'results' from P95 outside of the temperatures you get. It is a looping stress test assuming you have used it right (Using torture test, and small FFT/blend)....

Now one thing i noticed (just now as I look at CPU-Z) is that I am still only clocking at just 3.5Ghz.

Does it jump up to 4.6GHz in the stress test?

I kept my voltages at Auto...perhaps I need to set voltage to manual and raise this?

You should always use manual settings for Vcore... no it will not make the multiplier move due to manual/auto. The board will adjust it on its own (in auto) but we tell people not to do that as it tends to give too much voltage in favor of stability. The point of overclocking is to reach a particular clock speed and have it stable with the least amount of voltage.

We have an overclocking guide for that CPU... see my signature

 

[cswann821]

Great, That Tutorial is what I needed.

Could you clarify though... When setting CPU voltage to 1.25... in the BIOS, am I only adjusting CPU core voltage? and leaving min/max cache, system agent, analog and digital I/O voltages on AUTO??

Is it common for some motherboard/CPU not to clock at my assigned multiplier until stressed?

With Prime 95 I was only doing the benchmark test not the torture. I'll just try the stress test software you have on the page. I was also going to try ROG REALBENCH?

Thanks again.

 

[EarthDog]

Correct, you are not not changing anything else if you are changing CPU votlage or vcore.

The torture test is what you are looking for... Not many people use ROG realbench here... so I would stick with P95 or something similar that a lot of people use in order to help.

 

[cswann821]

Like AIDA64 wich is recommended in the tutorial?
Is there a recommended stress test program that is.. all in one, and will test not jsu the cpu, but also memory and gpu?

 

[Knufire]

Like AIDA64 wich is recommended in the tutorial?
Is there a recommended stress test program that is.. all in one, and will test not jsu the cpu, but also memory and gpu?

Not really. The Prime95 blend test will test your CPU and RPM pretty well at the same time, but if you want a more strenuous test stick to the P95 torture test for the CPU and use Memtest86+ for your RAM. For the GPU, you can use Furmark, but Furmark will put a load well above what any game can do on your GPU.

IMO it's a better idea to test each component specifically instead of altogether. By isolating variables, if you do experience a crash, you know where the instability is coming from.

 

[trents]

You did not give any details about your water cooling. Having water cooling per se is no guarantee that your CPU will remain within a safe temperature range when under full load, especially Prime95. Can you give us more details? Is this a custom water loop. AIO? How many fans does the radiator have? Are you cooling just the CPU with it or both the CPU and the GPU? The latest version of Prime95 can drive up temps on the newer Intel CPUs to dangerous levels. How are you monitoring core temps?

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is another excellent multipurpose piece of software for overclockers. It has a stress test very similar to AIDA 64 Extreme and there is no 30 day limit on using the product for free like there is with AIDA. It monitors temps while you stress test and you can set the run time for the test. It reports a ton of frequencies and voltages. It also has a large assortment of overclocking tools built in which allows you to make adjustments on the fly and test them out without having to reboot and go into bios until you are sure you want to keep the changes.

I think there is a movement away from Prime96 for stress testing the newer big gun Intels because of the high temp issue and it also may not be the most well-rounded stress test out there.

 

[cswann821]

Sorry I should have posted this all first.

What I'm cooling with is:

-A Mountain Mods UFO case. It has 4 x 80mm fans on the top, in the rear there are 3x120mm, and 4 front 120's .
3 of the front fans blow on a XSPC Radiator. Which is connected to and cools my APOGEE HD Waterblock . http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeHD.aspx .
I use a LAMPTRON FC6 front panel to control and monitor fan RPM's and Temperatures. http://www.lamptron.com/product/legacy/fc6/
I have temp probes on the CPU, on my GPU , and SSD/HDD and RAM and one just in the middle of the case.
-Ram is just G-skill Sniper 1866. 9-10-9-28. 2 x 4GB
-GPU is MSI R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5
-CPU is the Devils Canyon 4690K


I went ahead and changed my CPU multiplier to 46
Min/Max CPU Cashe both at 37
CPU Core Voltage to 1.3v
Afterwards my temp went from 35-37deg. C to about 45deg.C . I am axious to see how much higher it will go under stress testing.



I'll run a stress test to run before bed and let you know the outcome.

 

[trents]

cswanna821, it's time you created a "Sig" which is the area of the post window where we place details about our system so that it travels with every post we make. That way people helping you have quick reference to vital information that pertains to the issue you are seeking assistance with. Go to the top right corner of t he forum page and click on My Profile. On the MY Profile page the Edit Signature is found about midway down on the left side. That's the tool. We like to see info about your motherboard, CPU, CPU cooling, GPU, PSU, RAM, Storage, Case and OS. You can also add something personal if you want that helps us know you better. Since you now have a yellow star under your name you have access to the Sig tool.

 

[cswann821]

Im looking for the signiture area in my profile... Not seeing it. On the left side I only have , Friends, Albims, Groups, Groups with permisions, and recent visitors. I just filled out "my system" info on the basic info tab. I have also noticed that Overclocker.com loads slow for me. Or if I open a new forum page, it doesnt fully open just set there and thinks for while Opening links within the forum to a new window helps. Yesterday, Nothing would happen if I tried adding an attachemnt/ pressing the attach button when making a post. Today it works???

CPU multiplier to 46
Min/Max CPU Cashe both at 37
CPU Core Voltage to 1.3v
So Here is a screen shot of my first Prime 95 run. This is at about 7.5 hours, When I fist began Prime95 stress test my Temps, after about 15min of running some of my cores went up to about 83deg C. But after about the 30min marks these dropped and seem to stabalize around 79-80deg. C. I've read I should keep it below 80. So should I lower voltage and see what that does for temp and stability or just Drop my multiplier by 1? I almost want to reset my Waterblock/heat sink. Just to make sure I dont have to much thermal paste on it.




Here are some pictures I had of my Rig before upgrading my CPU and MB

 

[trents]

My bad, Sig tool is in Settings, not My Profile.

 

[cswann821]

So should I keep these settings and see if I can go 12 or 24 hours on Prime95 or do you think my temps are a little too high and should lower my multiplier from 46 to 45 rerun, and then lower voltage?

 

[EarthDog]

Under 90c is fine. Voltage is fine.. try to lower it and see the lowest voltage you can use for that clockspeed.

 

[Mandrake4565]

So should I keep these settings and see if I can go 12 or 24 hours on Prime95 or do you think my temps are a little too high and should lower my multiplier from 46 to 45 rerun, and then lower voltage?

I personally never find the need to run Prime blend more then 2 hours. Some will swear you need to run it more but I have never had an issue with my overclock if I can pass 2 hours of blend. I also agree with ED, below 90c is fine while stress testing. In real world usage, you will likely never come close to those temps.