Haven't OC'd in over 20 years . . .Please Help.

[Lupus42]

OK, it's been more than 20 years since I OC'd my PC. Back then things seemed simpler. There were fewer options to change, etc. Your clock multiplier was locked unless you spent insane money or modded your CPU. Anyway, I digress. I'm looking for help or guidance and I just don't want to let the magic smoke out. I've looked for OC guides for the motherboard I have but they all use the Old GUI from Gigabyte, so I get lost trying to work with the new interface and finding all the options they are referring to.


Any help is appreciated. I'm especially looking for what I should consider my max Vcore (safely), what power and other auto options in the BIOS I should turn off. I'm planning to use this primarily as a gaming rig. Hence the 3 1440p monitors. Thanks in advance for your help.



Here is what I have:


CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: EK-Kit P360 (EK Waterblocks P360 performance custom water cooling loop kit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS ULTRA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB FTW3 ULTRA+ Video Card
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: HP 1270i DVD/CD Writer
Monitor: VIOTEK GFT27DB 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor
Monitor: VIOTEK GFT27DB 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor
Monitor: VIOTEK GFT27DB 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor

 

[trents]

Do some research and find out what people are saying is max safe 24/7 vcore value for that chip and declare a vcore value in bios modestly less than that but still substantially more than stock. I think you would be safe in starting with something like 1.35. Use "Manual" overclocking and the "Override" voltage setting. Find the CPU Load Line Calibration (LLC) adjustment in bios and set it to one notch below max.

Get some monitoring tools like HWInfo64 or HWMonitor and some stress testing tools. My two favorites are OCCT and Realbench. I would not recommend Prime95 as many consider it dangerously aggressive these days because of the AVX III instructions.

Set the frequency multiplier for "all cores" and start increasing the frequency multiplier in 1X increement with stress testing and temp monitoring after each increase. Test for 1 hr. in the beginning and when you start getting a feel for "the wall" run 2 hr. tests. Max safe temps during stress testing are anything below 100c but 95c to be sure.

Either increase the vcore or reduce the frequency multiplier when you start failing the stress tests.

I think that's the basics. Modern processors are very tough and have thermal overload protection built in. Don't be timid.

https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/9u0o22

Unless someone here has the same motherboard as you we cannot be too specific about the nomenclature of the bios settings so the terms I have used may not apply in every case.

Don't expect the huge overclocks you used to get 20 years ago. Modern CPUs just don't have much overclocking overhead. They are binned from the factory much closer to the top. Because of that, many of us don't bother anymore. The huge number of cores and threads found in higher end modern CPUs really require complex and precise power management to remain within the factory TDP envelope and when overclocking all cores the power consumption and thermals begin to skyrocket quickly.

 

[DaveB]

CPU Cooler: EK-Kit P360 (EK Waterblocks P360 performance custom water cooling loop kit)

Did you get the "Performance" or "Extreme" kit?

I guess either will do the job.

 

[Lupus42]

Did you get the "Performance" or "Extreme" kit?

I guess either will do the job.

Yes, the Performance Kit with the 38mm radiator. With the Enthoo Pro case that I chose the Extreme kit with the 60mm rad wouldn't fit.

 

[SF101]

Lupus you will pick it up fairly fast.
lots of guides and for the most part its bios settings - + vcore + multiplier. play around when it becomes unstable.
its much easier to oc now than ever i feel unless you want to gain perfect oc's that squeeze every last drop.. otherwise its easy

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Heck of a build there. It should be a cakewalk to get that 9900K to ~5GHz with your cooling.
I'll mirror what was said earlier. It's easier now than ever to get a decent overclock, but when you start really fine-tuning for every last percent is when it gets overwhelming.