Question Overclocking an I5-7600K First time
Question Overclocking an I5-7600K First time
after completing one and a half years with my i5-7600k on a b250 motherboard, i finally received the MSI Z270 Sli plus yesterday. The day after, i upgraded to the Arctic Freezer 34 duo cooler and began reassembling my PC once more. Once everything was reassembled, the overclocking process started. 😊
initially, i attempted the MSI auto OC, which achieved a boost of 4.5Ghz at 1.300v. although this voltage is quite high for such a clock speed, i decided to try it out because i was nervous. later, i stabilized at 4.5Ghz at 1.125v after testing in prime95/aida and playing some games—most of my usual activities. returning to the BIOS, i tried 4.6Ghz and it worked again with the same 1.125v setting. after a while, i wanted to push it to 4.7Ghz, but i felt that 1.125v wouldn't support it. so i increased the voltage to 1.140v (though i know this isn't much).
while in the BIOS, i thought about trying 4.8Ghz if it worked—right? so i set the 48 CPU ratio and started the system. it ran stably initially, but i noticed that at 1.125v, i couldn't run 4.7Ghz. therefore, i adjusted the vcore to 1.130 and tried 4.8Ghz. it was still stable. after some gaming sessions, i became confident this CPU could reach 5Ghz. i changed the ratio to 50, set the new vcore to 1.200v, rebooted, and when windows logo appeared, i saw my first blue screen.
i then increased the voltage slightly to 1.240v and loaded windows. after running my tests, i played games for about an hour with temperatures around 60-63°C. today, i was considering trying a new vcore. i lowered it to 1.230v and the system remained very stable while running AIDA64 for about 24 minutes. average temps were around 63-65°C, with a max of 67-68°C. my fourth core reached 70°C. but i’m not sure if it’s safe to try 4.8Ghz with aida running and watching a stream on another monitor while typing on the main one.
if someone could advise me on more advanced settings to possibly lower the temperatures, i’m not very confident yet.
my current PC specs are:
mobo - MSI Z270 Sli plus
cpu - i5 7600k
ram - 2x8 ddr4 2400mhz (i plan to upgrade soon to at least 3000mhz, since i’m unsure how to overclock ram and doubt it can reach close to 3000mhz)
cooler - arctic freezer 34 duo
psu - cooler master 600w 80+ bronze
gpu - aorus 1060 6gb + 750 ti for my other monitor
note: my main monitor has gsync, and putting both monitors into the same GPU with gsync enabled isn’t recommended for eye comfort. 😊
here’s a short test in aida64 for 30 minutes—i’ll continue running it for another 1-2 hours.
http://prntscr.com/nu8ngn
update: lowering the vcore to 1.230v after an hour and 15 minutes in aida caused the system to freeze briefly (about 1-2 seconds) during browsing. so, 1.240v seems more stable.
also, would you mind giving advice on advanced settings to possibly reduce temperatures? i’m not very sure.
lastly, is it worth investing in a cooler for 5Ghz at 1.240v? or should i revert to 4.8Ghz with 1.130v?
I have to admit, this looks like a very promising CPU sample. With temperatures that low at 5Ghz, performance should improve significantly. You can slightly raise the uncore frequency to boost speed. Keep in mind that as you increase Vcore and clock speeds, you may need to adjust the voltage input—usually starting around 1.8 volts, though you might already have fine-tuned it for this level. I run my uncore at 4.5Ghz with a 5Ghz all-core setup, using 1.416 volts, water cooled, delidded but not liquid metal. That gives me about 1.24 volts for 5Ghz, which is excellent. (I haven’t had much luck with my CPUs, it seems they often come out as solid chips—maybe a silicon lottery next time.)
You might be surprised by the memory performance; testing timings from higher-speed kits could help. I usually undervolt my RAM to reduce CPU heat, but aim for an XMP profile of 3000Mhz. Raising the voltage to 1.3 could push it even higher.
i dont have XMP because my ram is just 2400mhz , can be OC but i dont know how to do it really ,welli did some kind of adjustments and ran prime95 for ~20min and there're the temps n etc
http://prntscr.com/nujeqc
is not really 1.240v even tho in BIOS is but i guess i have something that boost the vcore a bit , which i dont know
😀
i guess i could get better results with better cooler and better mobo snice mine are basicly trash but still do the work for me ,i made the back fan to spin at full speed so it can exhaust the heat from the gpu and cpu faster ( i guess ) and the temps are okay , im just trying not to hit 80 C in benchmarks and this core #3 is giving me hard time with reaching 81 C i dont know whats his problem
are temps under 80 C safe for longer gaming sesions?
Yes, an average of 80C is fine for regular use and the voltage is also acceptable. The Load Line Calibration tries to compensate for the high current that leads to a drop in voltage. You may notice values higher than you intended. It seems some Auto OC settings are still active. I don’t claim to be a memory overclocker; I usually just select the speed I prefer. A simple approach is to test with a kit like 2400Mhz, which could run at 16-16-16-39 at around 1.2 volts or close to that. A 2666Mhz kit might work around 16-18-18-38 at 1.2 volts, while a 3000Mhz kit could be 16-20-20-38 at 1.35 volts. Many of these timings are similar, and the main variation lies in the chip performance rather than the settings. The kits are packaged with guarantees for those specific configurations. Adding a bit more voltage can push the chips to higher frequencies, though they may not meet the full specifications of the more advanced models. They are essentially the same chips, just tested under different conditions. Check your memory model for higher frequency versions and try them out. With luck, they should function well even without extra voltage. As I previously mentioned, I run my memory at 1.29 volts instead of the recommended 1.35 volts, and I could easily overclock to 3200Mhz if desired, but it doesn’t seem necessary right now.
With voltage available, there remains greater danger for the CPU. It is a 1.2 volt memory controller stock that can handle up to 1.35 volts. Personally, I never exceed 1.35 volts, and I’ve actually undervolted slightly. The system I recently used at its memory voltage limit began losing channels gradually. While it’s acceptable for short-term benchmarking, I prefer to be cautious with daily operation and keep the memory safe.
The score isn't great, but I think adjusting the uncore around a few hundred megahertz could help. I recall the guideline was roughly keeping it close to 500MHz above the maximum core clock speed.
5.0 at 1.24 might be an overstatement, but it's a great compliment. It's quite unusual to achieve such a high voltage with a low Vcore using an air cooler. I'm currently around 4.8 with a 1.29vcore.