[Q] Is my CPU overclocked ?

[Ray_]

my cpu have turbo boost 2.0 : up to 3500 mhz on all cores
and turbo boost 3.0 : up to 4000 mhz which should affect only 1 core for single threaded performance .

i found an option in my motherboard called
sync all cores , which turns out to be applying 4000mhz to all cores at the same time not just to one core .
and while rendering i checked and all cores were truly running at 4000mhz .
but in the bios in the info tab the speed still say 3000 mhz !

i got back one more time to the bios and this time i selected " by specific core "
i did a render and all cores were running at 3500mhz except core #9 was running at 4000 mhz , went to the bios and in the info tab the speed is still 3000 mhz .

it's obvious what's happening in here
sync all cores pushes all the cores to 4000 mhz
by specific core pushes only 1 core to 4000 mhz
but in both situations the speed in the info tab in the bios still say 3000mhz .
if it was considered as an overclock it should display 4000 mhz in the speed tab .
at least when i choosed sync all cores and they all were running at 4000 mhz .

so i am not sure what can i call this ,
is it overclocking of my CPU ?
or is it more like an extra option that let my motherboard apply the turbo boost 3.0 to all my cores instead of 1 core ?

note that when i choose sync all core
i got the option to add a specific number " multiplier " for core #0
but i left it to auto , it decided to be 4000mhz not me .
and i know that if it was an overclocking i have to set it myself

that what got me thinking its might be enabling turbo for all cores , not an overclock ,
especially that in the sync all cores tab it say
target cpu turbo mode frequency : 4000
target cpu @ atx frequency : 4000
it doesn't say target cpu clock speed it said turbo , so that was so confusing

so what do you think ?
is it an easy way of overclocking my cpu ?
or is it a special option in the motherboard that let me enable the turbo boost 3.0 to all
cores not just one and it have nothing to do with overclocking ?

peoples were splitted in half
some are saying this is OC , others are saying it's just enabling turbo 3.0 for all cores .
so i couldn't get an obvious answer

you can watch a video if you like :

https://ark.intel.com/products/9445...ssor-Extreme-Edition-25M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz



thanks .

 

[Blaylock]

I wouldn't consider myself an Intel expert but from what I'm reading here you are simply allowing the Motherboard and CPU to enable the turbo feature to all cores. This by nature is not overclocking as there are preset limits to voltages per clock speed. Overclocking is raising the settings above these pre-defined (or stock) limits. I would leave what you have so long as the system is stable and you're not experiencing any heat problems.

FTR Overclocking doesn't necessarily shorten the life of the CPU. Excessive voltage and mainly heat do. It is possible to overclock while staying within the voltage and heat limits defined by Intel and AMD.

 

[Ray_]

I wouldn't consider myself an Intel expert but from what I'm reading here you are simply allowing the Motherboard and CPU to enable the turbo feature to all cores. This by nature is not overclocking as there are preset limits to voltages per clock speed. Overclocking is raising the settings above these pre-defined (or stock) limits. I would leave what you have so long as the system is stable and you're not experiencing any heat problems.

FTR Overclocking doesn't necessarily shorten the life of the CPU. Excessive voltage and mainly heat do. It is possible to overclock while staying within the voltage and heat limits defined by Intel and AMD.

first thank you so much for helping me out
the way you saw it is the same exact way i did
its not OCing , its enabling the turbo for all cores , but in my case the cpu is

Processor Base Frequency : 3.0
Max Turbo Frequency : 3.5
Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency : 4.0

so i am lost , is my turbo 3500mhz or is it 4000mhz ?
i also noticed a voltage increases
when all cores set to 4000 mhz , the max voltage is 1.217v " sync all cores AUTO "
when all cores set to 3900 mhz , the max voltage is 1.190v " sync all cores 39* "
when all cores set to 3500 mhz , and core #9 to 4000 mhz ,
the max voltage is 1.084v " this was the default setting * " by specific core "

some are saying
Theoretically your CPU is overclocked when you change anything in the BIOS that increases CPU performance, which you have done (changing it to " sync all cores

so what have i done ?
allowing turbo boost for all cores and its a good thing ?
or i ocerclocked the cpu to 4000mhz on all cores ?

cinebench score " by specific core " = 1860 cb
where all cores were running at 3500 , and core 9 at 4000

cinebench score " sync all cores " = 2112 cb
where all cores were running at 4000mhz ,

and OC affect the cpu even if the temps are super low on the long run
so how can i tell if its enabling the turbo for all cores ?
or overclocking the cpu ?
thanks a lot .

this one was with sync all cores and the value set to AUTO , it gave me 4000mhz .

 

[Blaylock]

I'm not sure of the terminology for Intel but AMD uses what's called P-States. For each specific clock speed they have determined what voltage is necessary to be stable. This table is stored in the CPU and is read by the motherboard. That's how the AUTO knows what to set on demand. It's not overclocking as you are simply allowing the board to use the CPU as it was designed. What IS confusing to me is that the Turbo boost 3.0 should only set one core to 4.0Ghz. Again as long as your system is running stable and cool this will not hurt anything, but it is odd.

The voltages you are displaying are fairly standard for that processor and well within the safe limits for Intel.

EDIT:

"how can i tell if its enabling the turbo for all cores ?" You can leave HWMonitor up while running Cinebench. It should show pretty accurately what the core clocks are.

 

[Rainwater]

First off, Nice fricken Cpu. I have to run to the store real quick and get breakfast before the gf kid gets up for school. If someone else doesn't chime, which they will this forum is really good about that, I will help shortly. You have a 10 core Cpu. It will be listed 0-9. A properly overclocked Cpu will run the same speed ON ALL CORES. Your max turbo without an overclock is 4Ghz if I recall correctly with the 6950x. Just going into windows power plan and setting it to high performance should have you running at that speed. With all cores. Anyway I'll be back.

 

[Ray_]

I'm not sure of the terminology for Intel but AMD uses what's called P-States. For each specific clock speed they have determined what voltage is necessary to be stable. This table is stored in the CPU and is read by the motherboard. That's how the AUTO knows what to set on demand. It's not overclocking as you are simply allowing the board to use the CPU as it was designed. What IS confusing to me is that the Turbo boost 3.0 should only set one core to 4.0Ghz. Again as long as your system is running stable and cool this will not hurt anything, but it is odd.

The voltages you are displaying are fairly standard for that processor and well within the safe limits for Intel.

EDIT:

"how can i tell if its enabling the turbo for all cores ?" You can leave HWMonitor up while running Cinebench. It should show pretty accurately what the core clocks are.

10 million thanks Blaylock .
Exactly my friend
turbo boost should give me 3500mhz on all cores
and turbo boost 3.0 they are saying it should give me 4000 mhz
but when i choose sync to all cores , all my cores are running at 4000 mhz
i tried hwmonitor and the readings were just like i said
by specific core : all cores are running at 3500 , core 9 at 4000
sync all cores : all cores running at 4000

here where it gets even more strange
if the limit was 4.7 for example on a CPU ,
turbo boost should give me 4.7 if only 1 core is active
and 4.5 if 2 cores are active , and 4.3 if all cores are active
the speed change depends on how many core are being used and the load

here i have 100% load on all cores * , and i am still getting the full speed 4000
so that speed isn't like enabling turbo for all cores ?
its started to seem more like overclocking
like an easy mode to overclock without editing any of the options

in the context while choosing sync all cores
i only get the chance to add a value for 1 core
when i set it to auto its automatically 4000
but still how its overclocked without me setting any voltage at all !

Speed while idle 1200mhz by the way .

- - - Updated - - -

First off, Nice fricken Cpu. I have to run to the store real quick and get breakfast before the gf kid gets up for school. If someone else doesn't chime, which they will this forum is really good about that, I will help shortly. You have a 10 core Cpu. It will be listed 0-9. A properly overclocked Cpu will run the same speed ON ALL CORES. Your max turbo without an overclock is 4Ghz if I recall correctly with the 6950x. Just going into windows power plan and setting it to high performance should have you running at that speed. With all cores. Anyway I'll be back.

thank you so much for helping me out .
of course i'll be glad to have you on the post when you come back

the problem my friend isn't the power saving option
even when i set it to power saver i still can achive 4000 mhz per core

what me and Blaylock are trying to figure out here is
have i overclocked my cpu by choosing " sync all core " ?
or have i just enabled the turbo for all cores ? which is have nothing to do with overclocking .

since all cores after " sync all cores " are running at 4000 at 100% load
and you know turbo should decrease the speed if all cores were active
but here its just 4000 while 100% load , and 1200 on idle
so did i overclocked the cpu ?
or was it just an option to enable the maximum turbo for all cores ,
so it's super fast without overcooking it
like if this is the maximum speed without overclocking .

 

[Blaylock]

By syncing all core I believe you are enabling turbo to all cores not overclocking. You don't need to add voltage because Intel has already pre-determined what voltage is needed for that particular sample at 4000Mhz. In this case about 1.217v. Until you take it off auto and change the multiplier or bus speed you are running at a stock speed.

 

[trents]

If you sync all the cores at the stock turbo speed then it could be said that you are not overclocking. But if you sync all the cores and then increase the multiplier beyond what is the stock turbo frequency then it could be said that you are overclocking. Kind of depends on how you define overclocking.

 

[Ray_]

By syncing all core I believe you are enabling turbo to all cores not overclocking. You don't need to add voltage because Intel has already pre-determined what voltage is needed for that particular sample at 4000Mhz. In this case about 1.217v. Until you take it off auto and change the multiplier or bus speed you are running at a stock speed.

i have an update .
in the bios " asus x99 a ii " in the ai tweak tab
after choosing sync all cores , and auto for the core value
it updates the numbers at the top .
target cpu turbo mode frequency : 4000 mhz
target cpu @ avx frequency : 4000 mhz
apply the setting and restart when i go again in bios
in the easy mode in the system information tab
it still say speed : 3000 mhz . not 4000 mhz
but after booting to desktop and running cinebench i get 4000 on all cores
so i belive you are right , its turbo not the base clock speed of the cpu

smiller picture of the same bios i have , this is from internet
would you like me to take few pictures from my bios ?
so its final and official
sync all cores will enable the turbo and have nothing to do with overclocking .

by the way all peoples who have the same cpu
score around 1750 - 1800 , same old score as mine before syncing all cores
why they leave it like that ? now i am getting 2150 its huge jump
i just hope that all what ewe figured out today were right ^^
thank you so much for all the help you gave me today
you are really the best !



- - - Updated - - -

If you sync all the cores at the stock turbo speed then it could be said that you are not overclocking. But if you sync all the cores and then increase the multiplier beyond what is the stock turbo frequency then it could be said that you are overclocking. Kind of depends on how you define overclocking.

hi there ,
well , i don't know what is my max turbo intel said
Processor Base Frequency 3.0
Max Turbo Frequency 3.5
Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency 4.0
so is it 4000 mhz as they said or is it 3500 mhz as they also said ,
when i sync all cores i have the option to add multiplier for core 0
i left it to AUTO ,
this is what i did . and now cores are running at 4000

 

[Blaylock]

Thank you for the very kind words Ray. You are very welcome. I doubt we need other screen shots. It's running stable and cool and the volts are fine. Now to enjoy it. Why others don't I can't say. Many just don't want to fuss around with it I suppose or just don't know you can.

 

[Rainwater]

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, it's kinda confusing to be honest. You say up there that turbo boost should decrease the speed if all cores are active. Turbo boost speeds up the cores that are active. Your max turbo boost 3.0 speed is 4 Ghz. So by deafult you will have a max turbo boost 2.0 of 3.5 Ghz on all cores. You will have a max turbo boost 3.0 speed of 4 Ghz on one core, designed to give you better single threaded performance. I only have turbo boost 2.0 so I have a 4.2 Ghz turbo available for all cores. Yours is 3.5 Ghz for all cores. Turbo boost 3.0 allows one core to speed up to 4 Ghz on single threaded applications and will slow the speed down of the cores not being used to save power consumption. So turbo boost 3.0 applies to one core that is why by default 9 lcores are synced to have a turbo of 3.5 Ghz and you have one that is set to 4 Ghz

- - - Updated - - -

You can set it to sync all cores and that will allow your turbo boost 3.0 max speed of 4 Ghz to be applied to all core simultaneously.

- - - Updated - - -

I hope that is correct as that is my understanding of it and I hope I have helped you better understand it.

 

[Ray_]

Thank you for the very kind words Ray. You are very welcome. I doubt we need other screen shots. It's running stable and cool and the volts are fine. Now to enjoy it. Why others don't I can't say. Many just don't want to fuss around with it I suppose or just don't know you can. D.

you are like the kindest person i've met
i really can't thank you enough for all what you did
to read all what i am saying and try your best to figure it out with me
well, that is more important than my whole workstation ,
i wish you all the best because you deseve it , you are the boss !
hope to talk soon , have a nice day . ^_^

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, it's kinda confusing to be honest. You say up there that turbo boost should decrease the speed if all cores are active. Turbo boost speeds up the cores that are active. Your max turbo boost 3.0 speed is 4 Ghz. So by deafult you will have a max turbo boost 2.0 of 3.5 Ghz on all cores. You will have a max turbo boost 3.0 speed of 4 Ghz on one core, designed to give you better single threaded performance. I only have turbo boost 2.0 so I have a 4.2 Ghz turbo available for all cores. Yours is 3.5 Ghz for all cores. Turbo boost 3.0 allows one core to speed up to 4 Ghz on single threaded applications and will slow the speed down of the cores not being used to save power consumption. So turbo boost 3.0 applies to one core that is why by default 9 lcores are synced to have a turbo of 3.5 Ghz and you have one that is set to 4 Ghz

- - - Updated - - -

You can set it to sync all cores and that will allow your turbo boost 3.0 max speed of 4 Ghz to be applied to all core simultaneously.

- - - Updated - - -

I hope that is correct as that is my understanding of it and I hope I have helped you better understand it.

welcome back i hope you had a good breakfast ^^
well the problem was , i was trying to figure out
am i overclocking the CPU , or am i just enabling turbo boost 3.0 for all cores
thanks to Blaylock , he helped me a lot and you too , i appreciate that you came back
so we came to a conclusion that
syncing all cores HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH OVERCLOCKING AT ALL
its just applying the max turbo 3.0 to all cores not just to one
so not only 1 core will run at 4000 , but all cores will run at 4000 mhz .

why i started this ? because i like having 20 threads running at 4000 mhz
at the same time i had to make sure that by syncing all cores i am not overclocking
since its still a brand new and very expensive CPU
so i wanted to have the maximum performance without OC

but its strange " sync all cores " should be on by deafult since its not OC
10 cores running at 4000 mhz are way better than 1 core running at 4000 and the rest at 3500

thanks a lot my friend , have a lovely day .

 

[Rainwater]

I agree with you that I too would much rather have them all running at 4 Ghz as well but since your turbo is 3.5 Ghz in essence you kind of are overclocking your cpu to 4 Ghz. If literally 90% of your Cpu has a max turbo of 3.5 Ghz then you are overclocking your other 9 cores to 4 Ghz. So keep and eye on voltages and temps because it will take a little more voltage to run all cores at 4 Ghz then it will to run them at 3.5. It's kinda of weird to understand but your cpu has a turbo of 3.5 Ghz. Turbo boost 3.0 applies to one core and since it's main purpose is to improve single core performance it's going to try and downclock other cores where it can to reduce power consumption so it is somewhat an overclock but don't panic if your temps are good and from the sounds of it your voltage under load is great so you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Very very nice Cpu, I want one so bad even tho I have absolutely no use for it but I want to buy one anyway. Have a great day.

 

[Ray_]

I agree with you that I too would much rather have them all running at 4 Ghz as well but since your turbo is 3.5 Ghz in essence you kind of are overclocking your cpu to 4 Ghz. If literally 90% of your Cpu has a max turbo of 3.5 Ghz then you are overclocking your other 9 cores to 4 Ghz. So keep and eye on voltages and temps because it will take a little more voltage to run all cores at 4 Ghz then it will to run them at 3.5. It's kinda of weird to understand but your cpu has a turbo of 3.5 Ghz. Turbo boost 3.0 applies to one core and since it's main purpose is to improve single core performance it's going to try and downclock other cores where it can to reduce power consumption so it is somewhat an overclock but don't panic if your temps are good and from the sounds of it your voltage under load is great so you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Very very nice Cpu, I want one so bad even tho I have absolutely no use for it but I want to buy one anyway. Have a great day.

thanks for the explaining
those were my results
all cores set to 4000 mhz , the max voltage is 1.217v " sync all cores AUTO "
all cores set to 3900 mhz , the max voltage is 1.190v " sync all cores 39* "
all cores set to 3500 mhz , #9 to 4000 mhz , the max voltage is 1.084v
lowest 1.084v , and highest as 1.217v .
would you think there is no difference between the two in the long run ?
since cpu is not 4000 all the time , only under load , idle at 1200 mhz , 0.783v
so it only will get to 1.217v under 100 load .
i might even give it a try for something inbetween , like 3700mhz for all cores maybe .
temps are good , 50-52 under 100% load
i recommend you to get one its fun ,
if you need any benchmark for this cpu give me a shout , thanks for your time .

 

[Blaylock]

Unless you encoding video or some other similar task you will never fully load all 10 cores. LOL

 

[Ray_]

Unless you encoding video or some other similar task you will never fully load all 10 cores. LOL

lHaha very true , i am generally planning to use it for 3d animation and architectural renders
and i left my old 4790k for gaming and entertainment
i can just keep it at 4000 mhz 1.217v because it only will reach that under 100 load ,
and while doing other light stuff that don't require that power the voltage will barely hit the 1.150v
i learned a lot of stuff today from you guys
i hope if i can find a way to repay you someday
thanks from the heart .,

 

[Rainwater]

I have my cpu running at 4500Mhz all the time. With vcore at 1.3v all the time. You will ok with you have going on. If you worry about it You can always set it back to default or sync them all to a lower speed. Set it to suyc all cores at 40 like you were speaking of earlier and change Windows power plan to high performance real quick. If when you do that they all run at 4000Mhz all the time then just like that without a full cpu overclocck then ya don't even worry about it, set it back to balanced and it will automatically clock down the speed and the voltage for you while not under load and it will ensure that when you do render it will allow all cores to turbo to 4000 instead of just the one. Which sounds like exactly what is happening so don't even worry about it. And if you update the bios to a more current version then I'm sure there will be a couple stability improvements as manufacturers and users have had time to learn more about that generations cpu's and adjust default settings even more optimally.

 

[wingman99]

That is odd the Max turbo on the i7-6950X is 3.5GHz LINK: https://ark.intel.com/products/9445...ssor-Extreme-Edition-25M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz

 

[Rainwater]

Right they have turbo boost 3.0 as well. Which allows one core to turbo to 4 Ghz while the rest are 3.5 Ghz. Essentially he's overclocking his Cpu to 4 Ghz all around.

 

[Ray_]

I have my cpu running at 4500Mhz all the time. With vcore at 1.3v all the time. You will ok with you have going on. If you worry about it You can always set it back to default or sync them all to a lower speed. Set it to suyc all cores at 40 like you were speaking of earlier and change Windows power plan to high performance real quick. If when you do that they all run at 4000Mhz all the time then just like that without a full cpu overclocck then ya don't even worry about it, set it back to balanced and it will automatically clock down the speed and the voltage for you while not under load and it will ensure that when you do render it will allow all cores to turbo to 4000 instead of just the one. Which sounds like exactly what is happening so don't even worry about it. And if you update the bios to a more current version then I'm sure there will be a couple stability improvements as manufacturers and users have had time to learn more about that generations cpu's and adjust default settings even more optimally.

thank you for the extra information . very helpful and informative
see the part when you said
" Set it to sync all cores at 40* like you were speaking "

well , i didn't set the multiplier to 40 at all ,
i left it to AUTO and after booting to desktop i get 4000 mhz on all cores
when i did a restart and entered the bios , in the info tab it should say
speed : 4000 mhz since we might overclocked it right ?,
but it still say 3000 mhz , even thogh i am getting 4000 after syncing all cores .

that what got me thinking its might be enabling turbo to all cores not an overclock ,
especially that in the sync all cores tab it say
target cpu turbo mode frequency : 4000
target cpu @ atx frequency : 4000
it doesn't say target cpu clock speed it said turbo , so that was so confusing

when it's by specific core : all runs @ 3500 , core #9 @ 4000
the speed in the information tab is 3000mhz .
cinebench score : 1850-1895 cb

when it's sync all cores : all runs @ 4000
the speed in the information tab is still 3000mhz .
cinebench score : 2050-2115 cb

i see that peoples who do overclocks
get something like 3.2 , 3.5 etc etc in the information tab so they know the speed
but i am still getting the same number : 3000 mhz
whether it set to sync or by specific core
see the video to have a better idea .