i5 4690k Overclock
i5 4690k Overclock
I received an i5 4690k on an MSI Z97 PC Mate board. I passed it on to my son for gaming. I’m not very experienced with overclocking limits on older Hastwell components. It also features a 240mm AIO. I achieved 4.5 GHz at 1.22V using Prime95 small FFT stable. Is this acceptable or does the voltage exceed safe levels for the chip or board?
1.22v works well. It's safe. Unless you go too far, voltage isn't lethal, but heat is. Anything below 1.4v is considered safe as long as you manage temperatures and keep the higher voltages manageable for your motherboard VRMs. Because the MSi PC mate MB is a budget model, I wouldn't push the voltage too high.
The VRM temperatures aren't showing correctly on the HW Monitor. I'll stick with 1.22v, CPU temps are normal. Even with Prime95, temps stay around 72°C. The VRM heat sink is warm but still manageable (no display). It should be fine while he plays his Lego games. His setup looks solid for a 7-year-old: i5 4690K, GTX 1660s, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 1080p at 144Hz.