Time to change my sig :( there's an i5 in the house!

[Cyrix_2k]

It's been six years and the opty held it's own, but I finally upgraded. The opteron is now a media server (and transcodes 720p video on the fly without a problem!)

So, here's the new system. You'll probably recognize some of the parts as new egg deals

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.5 ghz
HS: Cooler Masrter Hyper 212 EVO (BEASTLY)
MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3
RAM: 4x4gb Corsair XMS 3 DDR3 1600
GRAPHICS: Sapphire X1900XT (from my old system for now) + onboard HD3000
HDD: Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB
PSU: Seasonic 650w X-series
CASE: Antec 300 "Illusion"
OS: Win 7 x64

Notes:
Overclocking this i5 is the easiest processor I've ever overclocked. I literally bumped the multiplier from 33 to 45 and it's stable... I haven't touched the voltage at all. ASRock is currently my favorite motherboard manufacturer. I've been using them since the Athlon 64 days and have yet to experience a failure or even stability problems. That's better than I can say for some other namebrand board (although I suppose ASRock is namebrand these days?) The features packed into the ASRock boards are unrivaled for the price, at least IMHO. This board had numerous features important to me like 4 dimm slots, 2 pci-e x16 slots, onboard optical audio, onboard video with HDMI, DVI, and VGA connections, a CMOS clear button on the IO panels, and onboard power and reset buttons.

As for the processor, I debated between the 2500k, the 2600k, and the fx-8120. Most of what I do involves heavy single or double threaded tasks and the only highly parallel tasks my system ever sees is some 3D rendering, but mostly video transcoding. Once I read about Quicksync, the 2500k became the clear leader for me. I'm an AMD fan at heart, but their current processors can't hold a candle to Intel for what I, and probably most desktop users, do on a daily basis. That said, I just put together an FX-8120 based system at work and it subjectively does feel smoother... I'm not sure why. It's now running VMs.

Finally, does anyone have some tips for oc'ing this i5? It looks like it has some more headroom.


:edit:
Copying this for old time's sake
ASRock Dual939-Sata2 1.55 Vmod
165 Opteron @ 2.7ghz
LIQUID COOLED- WW, MCP600, D-tek Core
vCore 1.58v |Idle: 37°c | Full load: 42°c
2gb G.Skill | Sapphire X1900XT

 

[ChaosInMind]

You can probably set the voltage to around 1.3-1.35 or so. I forget what mine was set to at that speed.

I can get mine to 5.1 but it's not needed for everyone. I also have an ASUS which has an EFI bios, not use about ASROCK.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

You can probably set the voltage to around 1.3-1.35 or so. I forget what mine was set to at that speed.

I can get mine to 5.1 but it's not needed for everyone. I also have an ASUS which has an EFI bios, not use about ASROCK.

I have a UEFI BIOS although I'm not entirely sure what that adds.

I'm now at 4.8ghz @ 1.287vcore (reported).

 

[aaawew]

I have a UEFI BIOS although I'm not entirely sure what that adds.

I'm now at 4.8ghz @ 1.287vcore (reported).

what have you edited in BIOS for that overclock? I can do 4.7GHz stable but only with many BIOS changes and 1.415Vcore

 

[Cyrix_2k]

what have you edited in BIOS for that overclock? I can do 4.7GHz stable but only with many BIOS changes and 1.415Vcore

I raised the multiplier from 33 to 48 & changed "turbo boost power limit" to manual with a 300w limit. The latter prevents throttling under load. Everything else is currently default.

 

[aaawew]

I raised the multiplier from 33 to 48 & changed "turbo boost power limit" to manual with a 300w limit. The latter prevents throttling under load. Everything else is currently default.

hmmm sounds like you got a good chip of yours runs at 4.8GHz with 1.287 vcore. I can only get mine to run at 4.7GHz with 1.415vcore and i have to disable a lot of other things for stability, you can run prime95 with 4.8GHz with that little vcore?

edit:this is what i have edited:
-Internal PPL overvoltage: enabled
-Intel Speedstep technology: disabled
-Turbo boost power limit: 300 (like yours)
-Core current limit: 300
-Spread Spectrum: disabled
-Power saving mode: disabled (actully i think this is default disabled)
-CPU core voltage: fixed at 1.415
-LLC is at 2 (ASRock board does it backwards, and 1 is over voltage)
-C1E/C3/C6/C state support all disabled

 

[Cyrix_2k]

hmmm sounds like you got a good chip of yours runs at 4.8GHz with 1.287 vcore. I can only get mine to run at 4.7GHz with 1.415vcore and i have to disable a lot of other things for stability, you can run prime95 with 4.8GHz with that little vcore?

edit:this is what i have edited:
-Internal PPL overvoltage: enabled
-Intel Speedstep technology: disabled
-Turbo boost power limit: 300 (like yours)
-Core current limit: 300
-Spread Spectrum: disabled
-Power saving mode: disabled (actully i think this is default disabled)
-CPU core voltage: fixed at 1.415
-LLC is at 2 (ASRock board does it backwards, and 1 is over voltage)
-C1E/C3/C6/C state support all disabled

Yes, prime95 test 2 across all 4 cores.
I apologize for the large image - I forgot my second display was enabled.

Make sure your heatsink is making good contact. I mounted mine, removed it to look at the contact patch, corrected problems, and remounted it. I was only making contact with approx half the chip at first. Also, I would seriously look at your power supply. Do the rails sag under load?

 

[aaawew]

Yes, prime95 test 2 across all 4 cores.
I apologize for the large image - I forgot my second display was enabled.

Make sure your heatsink is making good contact. I mounted mine, removed it to look at the contact patch, corrected problems, and remounted it. I was only making contact with approx half the chip at first. Also, I would seriously look at your power supply. Do the rails sag under load?

I got a good PSU corsair 850w silver. my heatsink is mounted good, but how would i check it?

How long did you run prime95?

 

[Cyrix_2k]

I got a good PSU corsair 850w silver. my heatsink is mounted good, but how would i check it?

How long did you run prime95?

looks like 8 min in that screenshot - I just wanted to show that it's not crazy unstable. I haven't done a 24 hour test or anything, but I did 30 min the other day without a problem. I've been using the computer so I hate stability testing for a long time

For the heat sink, just remove it and look at the thermal compound - if it's not covering the whole chip evenly, the heat sink isn't making proper contact.

 

[aaawew]

looks like 8 min in that screenshot - I just wanted to show that it's not crazy unstable. I haven't done a 24 hour test or anything, but I did 30 min the other day without a problem. I've been using the computer so I hate stability testing for a long time

For the heat sink, just remove it and look at the thermal compound - if it's not covering the whole chip evenly, the heat sink isn't making proper contact.

okay, also you said check the PSU how do i do that