Learning about OC

[Quantos]

Yeah, I've seriously never seen anything like this before, so I really don't know what to call it. Let me see if I can describe it somewhat adequately.

I was playing Shadows of War and the game started to run slower as time went on, this lasted for about 15 - 20 seconds and then it was like the computer was racing to catch up. The framerate shot up for about the same 15 - 20 seconds. It kept doing that like a roller coaster or a breathing effect for LEDs.

 

[EarthDog]

That is weirdness, lol... but doesn't seem like a symptom for VRMs...unless the processor is throttling? What are temps? See if the cpu is throttling.

Another way to tell... does it happen at all stock?

 

[Quantos]

It's not happening at stock. The temps are fine and I can't seem to replicate it. Maybe it was just a glitch. Some strange alignment of the stars that just decided to mess with me a bit.

 

[The_Jizzler]

I was playing Shadows of War and the game started to run slower as time went on, this lasted for about 15 - 20 seconds and then it was like the computer was racing to catch up. The framerate shot up for about the same 15 - 20 seconds. It kept doing that like a roller coaster or a breathing effect for LEDs.

Weird things like that can happen when the disks are super busy. How's your page file usage?

 

[Quantos]

Weird things like that can happen when the disks are super busy. How's your page file usage?

I don't have one, I can't seem to replicate the symptoms even with high synthetic traffic though.

<edit> The Jizzler, I'm not sure which is funnier, your nick or your avatar... ...I approve though. </edit>

 

[Quantos]

Just to give you guys an update - it's still running fine at 5.2 and I still haven't seen that glitch that I encountered again. It must've just been something anomalous.

So I'm really happy with my i9, I have another project if you're up for it - I have an i7 3820 and a GT 635... (I do, but I'm not interested in OC for it)


<edit> I really want to express my thanks for the help and information. I know how little I know about it - I'm going to keep sending my clients here for OC advice though. But at least I can answer the occasional general question now. </edit>

 

[Nebulous]

Hey, I'm getting a little weirdness. I'm getting the idea that my motherboard might have VRM issues. Is there anyway to verify that or troubleshoot it?

Remove heatsinks and check to see if the thermal pads are making good contact with the VRMs and the heatsink. Also manually check if the heatsinks are getting warm by touching them. If they are, then you need airflow over that area.

 

[Quantos]

Remove heatsinks and check to see if the thermal pads are making good contact with the VRMs and the heatsink. Also manually check if the heatsinks are getting warm by touching them. If they are, then you need airflow over that area.

I will do that, it sounds like good maintenance to add to the list.

 

[Quantos]

Sorry that it took so long to update you guys. Life is like that for me, I don't often bother with things that are working properly

Yeah, the VRMs were getting a bit toasty, not sure how hot they can handle, since my only way that I know of to test them is to point an infrared thermometer at the heatsink. Adjusted the fan curve on the nearest fan and it's doing much better now. I also installed a rear exhaust fan on the outside of the chassis and that's helped considerably. (the radiator fittings on the AIO doesn't leave much room for an exhaust fan). I fired up that intel tuning bit o' crap just to check and I'm no longer getting the Current Limit Throttling error.

Overall I'm very impressed with the results, and I'm very glad that I tried it out. I had some people telling me that all it does is generate more heat and kill parts faster. I don't see a huge temperature difference, but more importantly I had a major uplift while calculating pi to 50 million places.

Thanks a lot to everyone that gave me a hand or advice. How do I give thanks on this forum? Haven't figured that bit out yet.


<edit> NVM, I'm a freaking idiot, I found the thanks system </edit>

 

[EarthDog]

Glad to hear things worked out. Odd that you adjusted nothing and the current limit throttling went away, but...it's gone soooooooooooooo. We can tackle that if it comes back.

 

[Quantos]

Well, before I posted here I was attempting to OC using the intel extreme tool - and it's a tool alright. It kept showing that I was hitting current limit throttling in it's own benchmark. Even without applying any settings. After following the guide that I was graciously given a link to is when I found some semblance of stability. I reran that test this morning, I was just curious what it would think. That's when I noticed that the current limit throttling wasn't an issue anymore.

 

[Quantos]

Hi again guys, thanks so much for the help you've already given me.

Now I'm on a slightly different project. I'd like to learn how to set my RAM timings manually.
This is still an Asus Prime Z390 A motherboard and my RAM is Kingston Hyper X Fury model number HX424C15FB2K2/16. I'm wondering if someone could provide some reading so that I can learn about this before I try it.

<edit> There are so many values in the BIOS that I'm not sure where to start. </edit>

 

[JLK03F150]

Hi, can you post a screenshot with three instances of CPUz open. One on the CPU Tab, one on the Memory Tab & one on the SPD Tab.

I'm sure someone will stop in and find you a link on the basics of setting timings & RAM frequency.

 

[Quantos]

Hi, can you post a screenshot with three instances of CPUz open. One on the CPU Tab, one on the Memory Tab & one on the SPD Tab.

I'm sure someone will stop in and find you a link on the basics of setting timings & RAM frequency.

Three instances or three screenshots of one instance on diff tabs?
I ask because there could be a difference that I'm not aware of.

 

[JLK03F150]

No difference. It's just what you find easiest to do. I like opening 3 instances & uploading 1 image. Others may prefer capturing & uploading 3 separate images.

Until others with much more experience than me chime in... EDIT: Start with making sure you know how to Clear CMOS incase a memory setting freezes your PC. I think they are better at fixing themself, but always good to know how to manually recover from a bad setting. Second, if you can save your current CPU overclock in a BIOS profile, do so (easy restore if you need to Clr CMOS). Third try raising the RAM Frequency one step (2400 to 2667), leave all the timings & DRAM Voltage on Auto for now.

 

[Quantos]

You know, I've never thought of backing up my settings for the BIOS/UEFI. That's going to save me about an hours work.

<edit>Is there a particular program or test for stability that I should start with? Other than it just booting successfully I mean </edit>

 

[JLK03F150]

I used MemTest86 on a CD image (haven't used it in a while), but these days the image is put on a flash drive. Boot to the flash drive & run a couple loops. You should see no errors - 1 error is too many. Now I need help finding you a benchmark that will show your system's improvement.

BTW, did you notice your RAM timings "loosened" (numbers got higher) themself when you increased the frequency. The 4 primary timings went from 15-15-15-35 to 15-17-17-36. That's the basic process, increase the frequency and slightly loosen timings to maintain stability. Raising the DRAM Voltage is dependent on the ICs on the memory, some like voltage & others do not. Going from 1.2v to 1.3v at 2800 or 2933 could be the next steps. It is a very time consuming process, as you can see.

 

[Quantos]

I used MemTest86 on a CD image (haven't used it in a while), but these days the image is put on a flash drive. Boot to the flash drive & run a couple loops. You should see no errors - 1 error is too many. Now I need help finding you a benchmark that will show your system's improvement.

BTW, did you notice your RAM timings "loosened" (numbers got higher) themself when you increased the frequency. The 4 primary timings went from 15-15-15-35 to 15-17-17-36. That's the basic process, increase the frequency and slightly loosen timings to maintain stability. Raising the DRAM Voltage is dependent on the ICs on the memory, some like voltage & others do not. Going from 1.2v to 1.3v at 2800 or 2933 could be the next steps. It is a very time consuming process, as you can see

I ran Cinebench R23 and found an increase from 11717 to 12424. Yeah, I noticed the timings too, they stood out to me. I wasn't sure about memtest for testing stability. I have been playing a few games and I did some CPU rendering as well with no crashes or errors.

<edit> The difference on Cinebench may be greater, but I've manually set my CPU max at 85℃. </edit>

<edit2> It seems a little bit counter intuitive to me, wouldn't there be a greater performance increase in just tightening the timings at a stock speed? </edit2>

 

[Johan45]

re's a post wgere Woomack overclocked a very similar kit https://www.overclockers.com/forums...2400-cl15-hx424c15fbk4-32.757257/post-7802674

 

[Quantos]

re's a post wgere Woomack overclocked a very similar kit https://www.overclockers.com/forums...2400-cl15-hx424c15fbk4-32.757257/post-7802674

Thank you very much for that, I can get a few guidelines from that I think.

<edit> Your eyebrows need trimming </edit>