SOLVED New to OCing

[Nicthalon]

Hi folks, I'm new to overclocking, and after looking through the forums, I'm hoping maybe I could get some pointers to threads I missed or direct advice for a mild OC.

Just built a new system, current specs:
ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution Rev 3.0
Intel Core i7-2600K
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 2133
NZXT Phantom case

Originally got a Zalman CNPS11X Extreme cooler, but it wouldn't clear the ram or the northbridge heatsinks, so using Intel stock cooler for now. I've seen a lot of advice in favor of the Hyper 212+. Would this work with my mobo and ram? Also would I still have the clearance for the 200mm fan in the case side?

Case has 140mm intake in front, 2x140mm intake in side, (have 200mm intake for side ordered), 2x200mm exhaust on top, 140mm exhaust on back.

So far, CoreTemp shows my CPU cores idling around 40C. Have 2x GTX560 Ti in SLI, those are running around 50C and 35C, I'll look around on the GPU forums for advice on splitting the load evenly and keeping one from being a lot hotter than the other.

CoreTemp shows my CPU running at 3411.28MHz (100.33 x 34). I'd like to hit around 4Ghz, maybe a little higher, and I want to make sure I'm getting full use of the higher clock speed RAM.

I've probably missed a lot of things I need to consider, and even more threads that likely cover all this, so I apologize in advance for that.

 

[Jandre]

Heya Nicthalon,
Great to have you here in the forums .

Good looking system you got there, will be a fun rig to tweak ^^.

Now... what I beleive is the main thing to consider when trying to overclock your cpu is the effectiveness of your cooling. The hyper 212+ seems like a great choice for handling overclocks but I don't have much experience so I can't say really. I am currently using the Scythe Mugen 2-B on my i7-860.

Personally I wouldn't try overclocking untill the cooler is sorted out or else you might get paranoid (my heart was beating with the stock cooler xD) about high temps and it can throw off your experimentation with overclocking.

So, whether you want to start with the stock cooler or whatnot I'll just carry on to what you really want!

You said you wanted around 4ghz, if not maybe slightly higher? Sounds good. Assuming your temps/cooler are sorted I'd start off by just trying to undershoot 4ghz slightly and running something like 3.8 or 3.9ghz. You don't have to ofcourse but I would recommend it to get an idea of what you can expect for your next overclock.

So with the intel chips the bclk x multi = GHZ.... simple, but there is alot to take into account when trying to get more ghz. I have the ASUS P7P55D-E LX so I would guess our bios is similair, maybe not. You'll need to find a way to gain the ability to manipulate your bclk and multi so thats up to you and your bios. Now, it looks like you have an unlocked chip since your multiplier can go that high, I may be wrong as I don't have much experience with newer generation chips. So, you can go about setting your multi and bclk however you like to get your desired Ghz. Now, most people say that you need to test your bclk stability by isolating it from everything else to find what your max clock can be but since you're going for an OC of slightly less than 1Ghz I think it's okay to be lazy and just not go too crazy with the bclk .

So, to get 3.8ghz you could set your bclk and multi to something like 100x38... or maybe something like 150x26= 3.9ghz. Just examples here but it could be almost anything. Sorry if my information here is not accurate but I do beleive this is an unlocked chip so you can raise the multi quite high/low.

Now, we have to manipulate things like voltages, ram frequency, and safety settings etc. to ensure that we are not going to prevent our overclock from being stable.

First thing I recommend you do is to increase your core voltage/vcore a touch higher, I'd recommend you go read someone elses experience with voltages as I dont have experience with the chip ://

Now, some things like IMC voltage, PCH, QPI, uncore can help increase stability but I don't recommend increasing them atleast not in your case, maybe if you have a higher base clock increasing the IMC can help stabilize that instead of relying on vcore.

So if you're able to boot into your OS start running something like prime 95 for a good chunk of time to ensure stability and carry on overclocking. Remember to monitor temps aswell.

Last thing I'll touch on is the ram frequencies. Now, with an overclock it is preferred to try and achieve the same ram frequency as yours is rated at if not slightly lower. If you can play with your multi and bclk abit to still achieve your desired overclock while still maintaining the rated ram frequency then that's perfect. If you want to overclock your ram then you have to start increasing dram voltages to ensure stability, but can your board support higher speeds than your ram? Not sure, maybe someone can explain.

Probably the last thing I should mention, is the safety settings. Things like C1E, turbo boost (not a safety settings, I know but whatever ^^), speedstep in some cases not all. With these enabled you might not have a stable overclock and could constantly risk blue screens. Things like speedstep though, can work just fine with a milder overclock as opposed to something more insane.

Sorry for the possibility of some inaccuracy, but for a mild overclock I think this covers most of what is needed to get started. These tips are what I used as a guide to help me achieve 3.8ghz with HT on my i7-860.

Hope this can help, even if it is the slightest bit

Some updates on your experience would be pretty awsome!

Cheers,
Jan

 

[Nicthalon]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into things more, though putting more thought into things, I'm realizing that I don't actually know why I even want to oc this, other than to say "look what I did." I do need to get the Turbo Boost turned on at the least, as this chip should be running 3.8GHz, at least according to the info where I bought it.

 

[Jandre]

Hehe no problem

Funny you say that you don't know why you want to oc your chip! It's all part of being an enthusiast! Personally, even if I don't see the performance difference I think it's awsome just being able to say "Hey! I've got 4ghz stable" or something. I beleive its all part of the fun that goes into system building, I feel as though my build is not complete when I havn't overclocked it. However, others may feel differently. At least it's a good thing to try if you have the ability. No need to keep it 24/7.

Also, I find myself rather obsessed with building things and trying to improve them (e.g. computers). Hell, even lego could feed the addiction .

Hope the best of luck for ya,
Jan

 

[Bisquit]

Hm, happy joy, overclocking your 2600k, I had great fun with mine.
I have the regular p8p67 board with the hyper212+.

With the stock cooler I overclocked to 4Ghz and saw my temps rising above 90°C.
Wow, I certainly didn't expect that. I took it a step further, and used the asus oc function in bios. It allowed an overclock of 4,4Ghz, and a little bit more because of the higher bclock.
Bwam, 95°C and the cpu started to throttle, I was confident because I know the 2600k wont burn out that quick. It throttled down to 4,2Ghz and got at about 88°C.
I had enough of it within the hour, and decided to order my current cooling device.

My pc housing has an opening at the back of the plate where the motherboard is attached, so I could easily fit the backplate from the hyper, without removing the board.
The cooler fits nicely, doesn't obstruct the ram slots, and doen't touch the other heatsinks nearby. But that's on my board. There are schematics on the internet with the actual sizes, so you can find out if it realy fits. The hight from the cpu to the first coolin fins is approx. 3.8cm
I tried with the fan pointing to the top, and pointing to the rear, both are the same, except my videocard heats up pretty hot, causing the fan sucking it up and blowing hot air to cool. So I have it pointing to the rear of my pc.

As a result of this cooler, and it's not a great one, although bang for buck for sure, I can overclock to 4,5Ghz and running prime95 all tests give 75°C as highest temp in realtemp.
It jumps up and down a bit, the temps.
4,8Ghz gives around 85 and sometimes even more, that's too hot for my taste, and really gives no benefit over the 4,5 for games anyways.

You could start with a vcore of 1.225 and a multi of 40.
The default vcore gives this value when turbo kicks in.
If not succesful try 1.240
I have 1.260 for 4,4Ghz and 1.280 for 4,5Ghz. Could be you need less, or a bit more like 1.290. Also the powersupply plays a part, if it delivers a solid current overall, you might need less vcore.

In any case, watercooling or one of the expensive air coolers do a better job, but the hyper212+ sure is a decent cooler. With stock settings it wont go over 60°C when stressing with prime95.

Also one thing to keep in mind, ambient temperatures. The higher your ambient the higher your temps.

Here the schematics, http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6603

 

[Nicthalon]

Great info, thanks!

At the moment, I have only bumped the individual core turbo multipliers to 4.6, so I have a 3.4GHz cpu that can bump to 4.6GHz under load. Prime95 pushes 2 cores to 94C and 2 to 98C, so I definitely need more cooling if I'm going to be really pushing the proc.

I need to get inside the case and take some detailed measurements to see the exact clearance I need. I just know the passive cooling on this mobo is massive. It's comparable to putting my RAM in the closest slot, rather than the next over.