Version of Prime95 suitable for i7 4770k OC up to 4.3GHz (prime versions above 26.6 may not be accurate)
Version of Prime95 suitable for i7 4770k OC up to 4.3GHz (prime versions above 26.6 may not be accurate)
angelfrost, Here's the recommended operating range for Core temperature: 80C Hot (100% Load) 75C Warm 70C Warm (Heavy Load) 60C Norm 50C Norm (Medium Load) 40C Norm 30C Cool (Idle) 25C Cool Core temperatures up to 80C are safe. There's a Sticky near the top of the CPU's Forum you should read: Intel Temperature Guide - Pay close attention to Sections 12 & 13... "Do NOT use versions of Prime95 later than 26.6 on 2nd through 7th Generation i3, i5 or i7 CPU's, which all have AVX (Advanced Vector Extension)...
Sounds like you at least have some idea what you're doing.
I recommend AIDA64 Extreme. I will post instructions below.
Using AIDA64 to test the stability of your system.
1) Drop down the Tools menu across the top, select System Stability Test.
2) Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the interface. Detailed instructions listed below.
3) Select everything except for Local Disk. Local Disk has killed SATA controllers on my boards before, please don't use it. For basic temperature testing, run the test for at least 15 minutes. For full stability testing, run the test for at least 24 hours.
4) If something goes wrong and Windows remains stable, AIDA64 will stop the test and report a failure. If Windows crashes, you'll have to back off on your OC before you can figure out the problem (hopefully it's overly agressive OC settings).
Interpreting the information provided by AIDA64 Extreme System Stability Test.
1) CPU Usage and Throttling graph. This graph is present on all tabs except for the Statistics tab. This graph shows CPU usage and CPU thermal throttling. CPU usage (default: yellow) should always be at least 99% when stress testing. CPU thermal throttling (default: green) should always be at 0%. If CPU thermal throttling goes above 0%, stop the test, your CPU is getting too hot.
2) Temperatures tab. This graph shows temperatures across system devices. I think that explanation is enough.
😀
3) Cooling fans tab. This tab shows the current speed of system and device fans. Mine often tells me that my CPU fan is greater than 10,000 RPM (it exceeds the height of the graph). IDK if this is my motherboard not wishing to tell Windows the speed of the CPU fan or if this is a problem with the accuracy of this tab.
4) Voltages. All this tab will do is lye to you. It's not a problem with AIDA64. Software voltage readings are not accurate. If you wish to know PSU output voltages, connect a multimeter and measure it directly.
5) Clocks tab. This tab shows the current clock speed of system devices measured in MHz. 1GHz=1000MHz. Memory speed sometimes gets cut in half. Ignore this, it is the nature of double data rate (DDR) memory.
6) Statistics tab. This tab does not show the CPU Usage and Throttling graph. This tab organizes information collected by AIDA64 into four separate categories: current value, minimum value, maximum value, average value. Cooling fans and voltages in this tab are just as inaccurate as they are in other tabs.
To address your query, anything after v26.6 involves AVX instructions, which generate inaccurate temperatures. That’s why you should trust the 26.6 readings, since most operations won’t require such complex CPU instructions, let alone the AVX set.
Thank you for your time both. I followed what weberdarren97 recommended and downloaded the AIDA64 Extreme trial version 5.80, running it for nearly 32 minutes.
Results:
http://imgur.com/a/96TLv
http://imgur.com/vAImkJZ
http://imgur.com/PNA6GW8
http://imgur.com/XB39lhW
It seems the temperatures are fine, so I need to focus on stability now.
4.3Ghz appears to be the ideal setting for me.
Angelfrost, Here is the suggested operating range for Core temperature: 80C Hot (100% Load) 75C Warm 70C Warm (Heavy Load) 60C Normal 50C Normal (Medium Load) 40C Normal 30C Cool (Idle) 25C Cool Core temperatures up to 80C remain safe. There is a sticky area near the top of the CPU in the Forum you should check: Intel Temperature Guide - Be careful with Sections 12 & 13... "Avoid using Prime95 versions older than 26.6 on 2nd through 7th Generation i3, i5 or i7 CPUs, which all support AVX (Advanced Vector Extension). Newer Prime95 releases, such as 28.9, execute AVX instructions on the CPU's Floating Point Unit (FPU), leading to temperatures up to 20C higher. The FPU test in AIDA64 confirms this. Core i Pentium and Celeron models, along with all Core i Previous (1st) Generation and Core 2 processors, are unaffected because they lack AVX support." Additionally, Intel advises against using the latest Prime95 versions: Troubleshooting Intel® Core™ i7-4790K / i5-4690K overheating - https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-23517 "Overheating happens rapidly on motherboard products with specific BIOS configurations when executing the Small FFT test included in Prime95 version 28.5... Overheating is less severe with earlier Prime95 versions... " Although this guide mentions Prime95 version 28.5 and Devil's Canyon processors, it also applies to your 4770K. P95 V26.6 is the most recent pre-AVX release, while the latest is 28.9. CT
Good morning, thank you for your message. Your guide is very helpful and easy to understand. Since my temperatures are normal and I’m not an expert in overclocking, could you advise me on the stress test to run and its duration to check system stability? I think Prime95 V26.6 with Small FFTs would work, but I’d like to know how long it should be.
Prime95 V26.6 suits thermal evaluation, yet offers the best platform for stability assessment. Asus RealBench is recommended for this purpose. Running it for 1 to 2 hours is advised. Despite its variable load, peak temperatures will remain comparable to P95 V26.6 Small FFTs. It won’t cause unrealistically high core temps like Intel Burn Test, which wasn’t developed by Intel. Remember, if your CPU, DRAM, GPU, and VRAM are also overclocked, the test will also stress those components. This allows you to check each subsystem’s stability separately by running the rest at default settings, except for the one you’re testing.
Dear CompuTronix,
I know from RealBech that my system is stable! I completed the stress test for two hours and everything was fine.
Do you understand why I receive this alert during the Benchmark "Unable to properly parse system specs, please report to RealBench forum"?
Could it be because I use a Gigabyte motherboard instead of an Asus one?
I didn’t mention Temps, but it was also good!
Here are the two pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/UdWQJ
http://imgur.com/a/eVQEf
Edit:
I repeated the stress test for another two hours. At the bottom of the main window (not in the log), I saw "stress test passed," which I didn’t see in the first run. Maybe I should have taken a new one.
Thank you to The_Staplergun and weberdarren97 for their time, and of course to you for everything.