Needs assistance with overclocking i5-3570K
Needs assistance with overclocking i5-3570K
Hi everyone!
I'm looking to push my i5-3570K overclock and want to know the safe temperature limits during full load. My current setting is 3.8 ghz from a base of 3.4 stock, and after 20 minutes of Prime95 blend testing, the peak reached was 81°C in full load. I left the system running all night with the CPU under heavy stress and it froze this morning. Too much heat? Was the test too intense? Could it have happened even at stock speeds with that level of stress? Is my cooler capable of handling up to 4.0 ghz? Any guidance on overclocking this CPU would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your support.
My setup:
Mobo ASUS P8Z77-V
Intel Core i5-3570K
Artic Freezer 13 cooler
PSU Coolermaster 600W (name not remembered)
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB Sapphire Nitro+ OC
16 GB DDR3 @1333MHz
81c is suitable for the stress test temperature. If the PC freezes during testing, raise the CPU voltage. The PC should not freeze at default settings during testing. What voltage are you currently applying? I suggest increasing it slightly and observing the results. Which version of Prime95 are you running?
81c is suitable for the stress test temperature. If the PC freezes during testing, raise the CPU voltage. The system shouldn't freeze under normal settings during stress tests. What voltage are you currently applying? I suggest increasing it slightly and observing the results. Which Prime95 version are you using? It shows cpuZ as 1.288V (testing with p95 now). If you're using v289, that's fine.
I have now experimented with increasing the voltage by 0.005V and raising the multiplier to 39. Currently, the blend test for prime95 is running smoothly without any issues. I aimed to reach 4.0 GHz but so far (after about 40 minutes) the highest temperature peak was on core 2 and 3, reaching 87°C. The guidelines warn against exceeding 90°C. Would it be better to switch to 4.0 GHz instead of 3.9 GHz without changing the voltage? Should I continue with this setup and conduct an 8-hour test? The CPU Z indicates the maximum voltage I’m using is now 1.304 V.
UPDATE: I tested this configuration and experienced a freeze after exactly one hour, with the issue recurring twice during repeated tests. I’m curious about how many people are achieving 4/4.2 GHz at 1.25V... I notice freezes at 1.3V at 3.9GHz, while at 4.0GHz I get stability issues.
It seems you might be experiencing issues with your overclocking setup. I would recommend adjusting the voltage to stabilize at 3.8ghz before attempting higher frequencies. The newest prime95 versions are quite effective, and switching to v26.6 could help achieve more stable temperatures. Don’t lose confidence in your efforts—your 3570 OC is already running at 4ghz on a solid setup. If you haven’t updated the motherboard BIOS yet, that might be worth checking.
I've adjusted the settings to 1.25V and 3.8ghz. Despite this, I'm still experiencing crashes after an hour. I also discovered my HDD reports an S.M.A.R.T error indicating bad status, which requires backup and replacement. Interestingly, this happened during the first overclock attempt—just a slight +0.005V offset and a multiplier increase from 34 to 36. To add, my PC slowed down a few weeks before I started overclocking, and a defragmentation resolved the problem. It seems the HDD's lifespan might be running out. What's odd is that the S.M.A.R.T error appeared right away. Also, the drive has been around about four years, which could explain why freezing occurred again after restoring default BIOS settings during a one-hour gaming session—exactly the same pattern I see when testing my OC. Is my conclusion accurate, or am I missing something? Maybe the OC is actually speeding up the HDD's wear? Thanks for your help, and appreciate it.
I would apply the default bios configuration and perform a stress test to observe the outcome. Initially, I’d keep it at full default settings to verify complete stability; if instability persists, it might indicate a memory problem. Following the first execution, I’d manually adjust the voltage to the stock level, configure LLC to ultra high (the second highest setting), conduct a brief 10-second stress test to monitor voltage changes, then return into bios to align the voltage with the stock value. At the stock level, voltage variations are expected, so I’d calculate the average and fine-tune accordingly. Afterward, I’d re-test to confirm ongoing stability. I’d likely address your HDD issue first, as it could be the root cause of the restarts—better safe than sorry. It seems this failure might just be a coincidence linked to the start of the OC process.
from what i later found out, every overclock i performed worked well (i set llc to high which helped) and the default bios settings produced the same freeze after an hour as the overclocking mode did. this led me to believe my oc was actually stable, and I hadn’t mentioned this before. every time i boot, i encounter the s.m.a.r.r. error, so i have to press f1, go into bios, boot menu, and select hdd. a disk check using a utility i downloaded showed that s.m.a.r.r. had some damaged sectors. on my desktop, a shortcut turned into a white sheet, and when i clicked "open file location," i realized it had been cancelled. this confirmed that the hdd needs to be replaced definitely, as it might have caused these freezings. if not, why do the default settings give the same freeze after the same time as the overclocked full load test? let me know what you think, and i’ll follow your advice.
I might start with another HDD to verify the problem isn't caused by the drive itself.
If freezing persists even at default settings, it might point to a memory problem; I’d run memtest86 to check for errors.