s about overclocking i7-4790K and related discussions
s about overclocking i7-4790K and related discussions
Here’s a revised version of your message:
I understand, I’ll make sure to reach the goal soon. If you haven’t tried it yet, you can turn off single-threading and adjust your multiplier settings—like CPU1 at 50, CPU2 at 48, CPU3 and CPU4 at 48, and CPU4 at 46. This helps reduce heat from the other cores and gives you a bit more headroom. I’d really look into guides tailored to your board and compare your results with a guide specific for the 4790k.
I’d prefer to keep the Vcore around 1.35 to 1.37 unless all other options are exhausted, aiming for another 100MHz. The Vcore of 1.4 is pushing it too much, and I definitely shouldn’t run it normally above 1.25 to 1.3 Vcore. Good luck!
Have you tried any kind of speed testing to verify these performance levels? Just to clarify—I haven’t conducted a formal stability check, but I used the High-Performance (Windows Power Profile) setting to run at 100% (it reached around 5.0985, possibly up to 5.1001 at one point). I played World of Tanks with Google Chrome playing an audiobook and opened over ten tabs simultaneously, which put it under significant stress. That said, I’m not certain yet, but I feel confident it handled the load and remained stable.
The_Tester,
I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for your helpful suggestion. While I’m not very familiar with this area and definitely not an expert in voltage matters, your advice is quite solid. After testing it intensely last night at 5.1GHz (while gaming, browsing, and listening) and trying to raise the frequency that morning, I reverted to the standard 4GHz (4.4 GHz Intel Turbo) using the Balanced profile, which now runs at about 800 MHz across all cores and a voltage of .72V to .73V. Of course, it can increase further, but your observation about the VCore is valid.
I had planned to overbuild my system with high-performance components—like the ASRock Z97 OC Formula motherboard, a premium power supply, and a well-cooled case with multiple fans. I thought I was well within safe limits for power, temperature, and stability. However, I read some discussions online about people pushing their i7-4790K to higher frequencies, achieving speeds like 6s and 7s GHz, which made me slightly complacent.
I still believe I could push it even higher and achieve more stable performance, but I must consider the long-term impact. These systems have a finite lifespan, and continuously stressing them could reduce their durability. Would you mind if I reflect on whether I’d be content with a temporary success or prefer to stop now to avoid potential risks?
I think I just skimmed through some online discussions about people boosting their i7-4790Ks to reach 6s and 7s GHz. I got a bit careless and thought I could easily push them up to the 5.x range without realizing how much stress I was putting on the hardware. Anything above 4.8~5GHz requires a lot of unconventional tweaks, plus a top-notch setup and equipment. And you have to be ready to risk damaging the components in pursuit of better performance. I’m sure I could achieve higher speeds and stability, but the issue is, as you mentioned, these devices have a limited lifespan. Pushing them faster and at higher voltages shortens their usable life, doesn’t it? Basically, MOSFETs can handle the recommended voltage and current for years, but once PN junctions start degrading, performance drops sharply. Just be careful!
The_Tester shared some observations based on online discussions about overclocking high-end processors. He noted that achieving stable speeds above 4.8~5GHz often requires more than just a good chip—complex hardware tweaks and careful equipment are essential. He also mentioned being cautious about the long-term effects of pushing components to their limits, pointing out that parts have finite lifespans. He shared his concern after reading warnings about potential damage from prolonged high-speed operation. He asked if he might be at risk of permanent harm and sought advice on how to verify any possible damage.
I'm really struggling — it reminds me of the gambling issue I had a while back, especially in 2004 and 2005...
I can't resist.
I used to play with it for hours.
Even though I told myself I wouldn't.
Now I'm at 5GHz. @ 1.3V .....
the challenge here is that 4.9987 GHz with 1.299V across 3 cores and 1.3V on 1 core stays consistent without any changes.
http://prntscr.com/9i9bmt
The problem is, when I use the "Balanced" Windows Power Profile, it always reduces the power voltage and MHz rates accordingly — this time it's strictly at full power. I'm not sure what to do. When I switch to "Low," it drops in MHz but not in Balanced (even though it usually does).
Also — am I running into trouble with 1.3V? Because part of me wants to break records, or at least silence the person who keeps saying "beat 5.2 bitch"... but another part of me just wants to be as powerful as possible safely. Is 1.3V safe?
Thanks again and have a merry Christmas.
1.4Vcore is not where you want to go on a regular basis, but it depends on if you have other stuff set to pull it back down if things start going out of control. 1.3Vcore should be fine as a safe max to start with, it's when you start going too much over over that things can get tricky.
I'm not familiar with the Formula OC UEFI specifically but i'm going to give you some settings to try that I'm pulling from the Extreme9 (should be fairly similar to what you can see). First start up a blank profile (or put everything to do with OC'ing back to disabled/stock/normal/auto), save changes and cycle through with F2 back into the UEFI for it to take effect.
Go in and select the "optimized" setting for 4.7GHz and then again cycle through back into the UEFI for it to take effect. Go through everything that states that it will help or improve overclocking and set it to that setting like filter PLL set to high bclk mode, internal PLL overvoltage set to fixed etc, BCLK spead specturm to disabled... Basically enable all the settings that allude to it "helping" or "improving" overclocking if it doesn't do it automatically.
Also go to boot failure guard and set the number of attempts to 2, I belive the FOC has this
. And be sure to have all your fans running max speed. Save changes > exit
Cycle into the operating system and go into the device manager > disks and be sure to disable write caching on all drives (will help prevent corrupted data in the event of a crash). Then undock/disconnect any USB devices and ethernet cord. In power options, set everything to "max performance" or "disable power saving mode". Set CPU min state to say 50% and the max to 100% (will let CPU throttle back). Then restart the computer and let all this take effect.
Once you get it into an "overclock ready state" as I'll call it Try these settings to start with in the UEFI
RAM XMP profile set high performance (like XMP.2 or something) and the ram is running at it's 2133 target freq
CPU ratio (per core)
0=48
1=48
2=44
3=44
CPU cache=44
CPU fixed mode=auto
(will allow the cpu to throttle down as long as power plan lets it)
Long duration power limit=105
long duration maintained = 2 secs
(to start with, so things won't spike too long)
Short duration power limit=125
(long will bring it back down but the short should allow you to see it hit a max set frequency briefly)
CPU vcore (adaptive)=1.3
(let's go right to the max safe to start with)
CPU cache (adaptive)=1.2
(should not need to change this unless you up the cache freq)
CPU input voltage (fixed mode) = 1.875
(roughly 0.45V~0.55V difference on the regulator should be good enough to compensate for any voltage drops)
DRAM=1.615
should only need 1.6 but a little over is ok for stability
PCH 1.05=1.15
or whatever it will let you set it to between 1.150 and 1.175
PCH 1.5=1.53
or whatever it will let you set it to between 1.530 and 1.550
If this works, systematically up the Core0 multiplier by one (for example to 49). If this works keep going up buy 1 on the multiplier for core0 until things start saying no in your system
(after successfully entering the operating system).
When things start saying no in you system allow it to "do it's thing" and collect info on the error. The next thing will be to start slowly upping the Vcore voltage and trying again
(up the voltage by .1 increments for example 1.300 to 1.310).
If you are approaching 1.350 Vcore with only changing core0 freq and it wont go any higher, back the Vcore down to 1.3 and the core0 48.
Now up the cache buy one multiplier (to 45 for example) and set the cache voltage to 1.25 and start over with core0.
Follow this trend until you either hit 1.38Vcore and or 1.35 cpu cache voltage
(max, but not sustained as it should throttle back). You may need to increase the short duration power limit if you noticed it won't quite hit the target freq. But differently don't set it to more than 150% of TDP (4790K TDP=88@stock | 4790K TDP@150%=132
Once you get it to a point where it seems somewhat stable, you can increase the duration up to like 10 sec then 30 up to the max and see if it crashes. For the purposes of getting max OC, stability beyond being able to enter the OS and check the cpu freq is irrelevant. You definitely want to back off for regular use though
I would not try to go any higher on the above voltages without a lot more investigating on how to tune with your particular motherboard (it actually has quite a bit of stuff you can tweak). i'm not super heavy into overclocking but i'm also not into magic smoke much either
😉
Anything beyond this and you would need to make the call.
The_Tester suggests a few adjustments for overclocking. They recommend starting with 1.4Vcore if needed, but 1.3Vcore is safer initially. They advise enabling certain settings like high bclk mode, fixed PLL overvoltage, and disabling BCLK spread spectrum to help with overclocking. They also mention setting the FOC to 2 attempts for boot failure guard and ensuring fans run at max speed. The user should disable write caching on drives, disable power saving mode, set CPU states appropriately, and adjust RAM XMP profile. They provide detailed CPU parameters and voltage recommendations, emphasizing testing gradually and monitoring system responses.
OK a bit of an update-
I played with this extensively the last 36-48 hours or so. A few things to report, some disappointment but some positives etc.
When I had initially said "This is 5GHz right? " and then "5.1 right?" above, I didn't realize the OC "EZ-Setting" was making the voltage 1.4V - straight up, no adjustments or up/down scaling, it was 1.4... so even if I set the Windows Power Profile to Balanced or even Power-Save, and the GHz went down to say .79 which is where it idles a lot, it was still at 1.4V. Which I of course now realize is dangerous, and certainly not acceptable for always-on full-time use.
I went and played with a lot of things- I *cannot* get the system work with adaptive power settings above 4.8GHz. Will not work , tried a multitude of combinations and various adjustments but without manual voltage control it won't go above 4.8GHz, and unfortunately it wants a fairly high level of 1.3xxx V to do it. The problems with this is that I just can't think it's acceptable to run a full-power-Voltage-setting all the time the machine is on and in use.... What I mean is, this makes it revving up the engine close to redline the entire time you're driving, even when slowed down and/or cruising gently on the highway.
I WAS however able to scale back my hopes and dreams, and get the thing to use adaptive power control at 4.8 GHz, which works out very very nicely. it stays low @ .7x V at lower GHz speeds and usages, and as the speeds increase/CPU usage increases up to 4.8GHz, it goes up to like 1.26 or something like that- IMHO acceptable for top-end power and usage, no? I ran a McAfee All-Access scan (which taxes the system to 100% across all the cores) while browsing w/ many tabs & watching as Youtube, and it was in the low-to-mid 60s and I think it only touched 70 once or twice briefly, staying in the 50s-60s. And as I said, the adaptive power is on-the-fly so it immediately scales back down when you are done or the CPU usage is less etc.
This is in contrast to my above attempts at the highest speeds possible.... it wants over 1.35V to do 5Ghz and a full 1.4V to go to 5.1 Ghz, I wasn't able to get it above 51 when I was trying before. I personally believe I could get the thing several ticks higher with increased voltage- but why really? So I can post on here that I did it? And what exactly would that get me? Or WORSE, I *couldn't* post on here because I ruined it etc. Or somewhere perhaps at a worst-case-scenario, I don't ruin it at once but significantly hurt it which lowers its capabilities AND lifespan, giving me less of a machine for less of a lifespan etc.
I went back to "normal" before bed last night, but I'm pretty sure I can replicate the 4.8 GHz w/ adaptive power settings for the voltage whenever I want... I'm not sure if I want to run that way full time or not, maybe I should just look at this as a fun experience over the course of a week or so, I know what my system can do a bit more now than I had, and take it as a trip to the casino and leaving with a bit extra money, can't call it a bad experience. There is a part of me who'd love to try to juice it up as big and bad as possible but I realize there is NO REASON really, what is it going to do for me, other than let me post about it on the internet lol?
Thanks again if and when I have more to report I will get right on it!
I recently realized I’ve been working full-time for the past 30-45 days at 5 GHz with adaptive power controls. I adjusted the overclocking to run at 5 GHz with a max voltage of 1.345; although it rarely exceeds 1.343–1.344, it can briefly reach 1.345 when it actually hits 5.1 GHz. I’m pleased with this setup because it maintains stable operation at around 0.72–0.73V, allowing me to leverage the chip’s full potential and achieve high performance without needing dangerous voltages (such as the 1.4 I didn’t realize was possible when I first started).
This configuration is quite reliable and keeps things cool. Previously, I mentioned having the best thermal characteristics among chips. When running at 4/4.4 GHz under normal settings, I rarely exceed 29°C—unless I’m doing heavy tasks like virus scans or World of Tanks, in which case the increased voltage and speeds raise temperatures, but my usual high-performance settings only push it to 40–50°C, with a breakout above 59°C occurring only a few times. Generally, this is when I disable the CPU cooler fans completely (I use a 240M at 50% normally, but boost them during games).
Overall, everything seems fine and stable. I’m content and confident it won’t cause long-term harm or reduce my CPU’s lifespan; it appears I’ve reached a solid “Medium” Happy-Power setting.