New to Overclocking

[Nungunz]

Hello all! Very new to these forums and fairly new to overclocking (especially with memory). I was hoping for some pointers on how to potentially hit the best performance I can on my CPU and memory with the new rig I put together.

Here is my rig:
s340 Elite Case
Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming
i5-8600k
2x8 Team T-Force Delta RBG Ram (3000 MHz rated)
NZXT Kraken X52 Cooler
Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition (GPU is basically garbage from my old build. Due to prices, probably not upgrading until Nvidia launches their new line later this year. I am definitely throttled by the GPU in all instances at this point.)


At the moment I think I have a stable overclock going on both CPU and memory, but could use pointers on getting the most out of my system without getting to dangerous voltage levels.

CPU is at 5.1 GHz and 1.365V (uncore at 4.5 GHz). I ran Prime95 (small FFT) for 4 hours without failing on any core and sat at a steady 75C on the CPU temps. Currently my highest Cinebench score is 1308.

Memory is currently sitting at 3400Mhz with 14-16-16-37-2T and a DRAM voltage of 1.4V with VCCIO at 1.15V and VCCSA at 1.20V. I passed the memtest86 with 4 iterations. Currently at a high of 6m 39.6s on Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS.

How am I doing so far? Anyone think I can push any farther feasibly and still be stable? Would upgrading to the NZXT Kraken X62 be worth my while in any way?

 

[EarthDog]

Where is your cpu at? Did i miss its clocks and voltage? I see temps.....

1. Memory is fine. Though im not sure you need that high of vccio amd vccsa for 3400mhz.
2. Since you have 15C headroom on the cpu, i dont see the point in upgrading your cooler..... temps are fine.....but again, no clocks or vomtages listed.

 

[Nungunz]

Sorry about that. A sentence or two got deleted.

CPU is at 5.1 GHz and 1.365V (uncore at 4.5 GHz)

 

[EarthDog]

Unless you are benchmarking, i dont see a point in going any higher honestly.

For giggles and because.... have at it, and we are here to help! But otherwise, your are close to topped out on the cpu (what voltage does it take to be stable at 5.2 ghz??) and memory overclocking doesnt yield much in most situations anyway.

 

[trents]

You've pretty much gotten all you're going to get out of that CPU because your vcore probably won't let you go higher for safe 24/7 use. And overclocking the RAM will yield little to no real world performance improvement if you already have it set to XMP in bios.

 

[Nungunz]

I was able to run cinebench at 5.2 and 1.4V.....but wasn't stable in Prime95.

Currently at an AVX offset of 2. Could try dialing in at 3 on the offset, but don't want to really go much higher on the voltage than I already am.

For the memory, I figure as much. I was just going for shiggles at this point.

 

[EarthDog]

Yeah man...

You dialed it in nicely!

 

[Nungunz]

I tried pushing to 5.2 (I went up to 1.43V), but I kept causing windows to crash on boot. I got cinebench started, but it crashed. Temps never broke 78C so I'm not sure if I'm just hitting a wall on this processor or what.

I even tried changing the BLCK values and dialed in a 1.53, but ran into similar issues with the PC just automatically powering down and then up again until I killed the PSU. Couldn't boot it again until I cleared the CMOS and reset back to my stable 5.1 GHz saved profile.

What would cause the OS and POST failures in the above cases?

 

[trents]

There is almost no wiggle room for adjusting BCLK when using modern processors. Too many dependent buses tied with it. System architecture is just different than it was 7-10 years ago. Instability sets in very fast when changing the BCLK now.

Did I understand you to say your fried your PSU?

 

[EarthDog]

There is almost no wiggle room for adjusting BCLK when using modern processors. Too many dependent buses tied with it. System architecture is just different than it was 7-10 years ago. Instability sets in very fast when changing the BCLK now.

This isnt true with modern intel like the OP has. Modern intel can easily push bclk.

In fact, some high end boards use bclk generators and can push well into the 300+ mhz range (his board has one, actually). I believe after sandybridge on mainstream and x99 on hedt the busses were detached. They surely are on x299 and z170+...

BCLK timings

just bclk. Its a clockspeed, not timings (like memory has).

 

[EarthDog]

Why did you delete then repost? Lol!

Yes, its likely you are at a vcore wall where it takes a lot more of a voltage increase to get another 100mhz.

 

[Nungunz]

Actually, I just tried editing a spelling error with my phone and the whole post deleted.

Not sure what happened there.

Okay, I am perfectly happy with 5.1 Ghz at this point.

Next step is upgrading the GPU, still waiting for prices to drop a bit more on the 1080 Ti.

 

[trents]

Yes, I think you are correct ED about the BCLK. When I have tried in on modern multiplier locked CPUs on non Z boards howeve, I can only get a couple extra ticks on the BCLK before instability occurs. So I think what I said is still true for locked CPUs and that is different than it used to be some years ago like with the socket AM3 and LGA 775 CPUs.

 

[EarthDog]

Ahh yes, context... that is helpful (from me too). I was sticking within the confines of the thread (he has an unlocked CPU).

 

[trents]

No, what I wrote in post #9 was just incorrect. I wasn't even thinking about locked vs. locked CPUs at that point. Since I have had no reason, really, to experiment with BCLK on unlocked Intel CPUs I had forgotten that you can manipultate the BCLK on those without issue. Thanks for correcting my misconception.

 

[wingman99]

Looks like a good overclock have fun.