I7 4790k Overclocking

[Ic3d]

Hey, 

 

Havent been active on here for a while but I recently upgraded to an i7 4790k in a good deal, in overclocking I have it stable at 4.6GHz and 1.3v, I can push it up to 4.7GHz at 1.4v and 4.8 at 1.55v. This seems rather high to me, and 1.4v is the upper limit of my cooling, despite a custom water loop (rather bad CPU block which needs upgrading, I also have suspicions that the IHS needs lapping). 

 

Are there any tips for overclocking the 4790k that I might be missing? Because the voltages seem rather high for the respective clock speeds.

[CommanderAlex]

There are still plenty of videos still out there in regards to overclocking the 4790k. This was one of them that I used in trying to get a general idea on how to. 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBfXruwe8w4

[Dedayog]

Leave it at 4.6GHz and 1.3v.  That's a very solid OC,anything higher won't give much real world gain especially for the voltage increase.  I wouldn't go 1.4v and above personally.

[Thorium19]

Is that the stable voltage for those speeds? especially the 4.6 voltage, I've seen a few 4790Ks get that at around 1.25-1.27v, including my own at 1.26v.

What motherboard are you running it on by the way?

[Ic3d]

34 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

There are still plenty of videos still out there in regards to overclocking the 4790k. This was one of them that I used in trying to get a general idea on how to. 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBfXruwe8w4

this certainly seems to show 1.3 at 4.7 which is close enough considering the silicon lottery, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

34 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Leave it at 4.6GHz and 1.3v.  That's a very solid OC,anything higher won't give much real world gain especially for the voltage increase.  I wouldn't go 1.4v and above personally.

yeah ive heard a few people saying dont go above 1.4-1.5 range 

 

27 minutes ago, Thorium19 said:

Is that the stable voltage for those speeds? especially the 4.6 voltage, I've seen a few 4790Ks get that at around 1.25-1.27v, including my own at 1.26v.

What motherboard are you running it on by the way?

its sitting at 1.3 dead right now, the motherboard is an Asrock H81M-G, it was released after the H81 overclocking unlock and its pretty much only redeeming feature is beefy power delivery and caps

[CommanderAlex]

21 minutes ago, Ic3d said:

this certainly seems to show 1.3 at 4.7 which is close enough considering the silicon lottery, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

yeah ive heard a few people saying dont go above 1.4-1.5 range 

 

its sitting at 1.3 dead right now, the motherboard is an Asrock H81M-G, it was released after the H81 overclocking unlock and its pretty much only redeeming feature is beefy power delivery and caps

No problem. I still got my old computer rig parts in all of its boxes with a Z97 Gaming 5 from MSI. Served me well. Yeah around 1.3V sounds right for this now that I recalled. 

[-rascal-]

34 minutes ago, Ic3d said:

this certainly seems to show 1.3 at 4.7 which is close enough considering the silicon lottery, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

yeah ive heard a few people saying dont go above 1.4-1.5 range 

 

its sitting at 1.3 dead right now, the motherboard is an Asrock H81M-G, it was released after the H81 overclocking unlock and its pretty much only redeeming feature is beefy power delivery and caps

 

I would leave it at 4.6 GHz, especially with that H81 motherboard.

A 4.6 GHz overclock on a i7-4790K is not bad.

 

Not a i7-4790K, but I've got a i5-4690K in my secondary system.

4th Gen Intel can still hold it's own once overclocked -- close to stock 6th Gen i7 / i5 performance.

 

[Thorium19]

3 minutes ago, Ic3d said:

its sitting at 1.3 dead right now, the motherboard is an Asrock H81M-G, it was released after the H81 overclocking unlock and its pretty much only redeeming feature is beefy power delivery and caps

I definitely wouldn't be pushing it any further than 4.6 for now. It's a H81 board, and only a 4 phase power delivery, that's not going to provide a great delivery for pushing the 4790K.

If you can get a z87/97 board on ebay/craigslist etc. for a reasonable price, I reckon you could get those voltages down a bit further, maybe 1.28v for 4.6

[Dravinian]

11 hours ago, Thorium19 said:

I definitely wouldn't be pushing it any further than 4.6 for now. It's a H81 board, and only a 4 phase power delivery, that's not going to provide a great delivery for pushing the 4790K.

If you can get a z87/97 board on ebay/craigslist etc. for a reasonable price, I reckon you could get those voltages down a bit further, maybe 1.28v for 4.6

I have a z97 board (ranger Vii) my larger concern is temps.  Running an air cooler Dark Rock 4 (not pro).

 

At 4.5 with stock voltage (whatever that is - i didn't change it) I tend to see it peaking at 70c with the fan at 100%. Fan curve set to ramp up at around 68c in AI Suite 3.

 

Is there any headroom for pushing it a bit further without upgrading the cooler?

[Thorium19]

28 minutes ago, Dravinian said:

I have a z97 board (ranger Vii) my larger concern is temps.  Running an air cooler Dark Rock 4 (not pro).

 

At 4.5 with stock voltage (whatever that is - i didn't change it) I tend to see it peaking at 70c with the fan at 100%. Fan curve set to ramp up at around 68c in AI Suite 3.

 

Is there any headroom for pushing it a bit further without upgrading the cooler?

I think that's probably a voltage tweak that will help, not by a huge amount but to some degree. Stock voltages always run higher than necessary. For example, I got my 4790k to 4.7Ghz at auto (stock) voltages and I think it was hitting 1.37v to 1.4v, possibly even higher, which was pushing my temps up to 85C+ on a H80i v2.

 

at 4.6Ghz, 1.26v and with a custom curve in corsair link to realistically max out at 60-65% fan speed, I get spikes up to 80C, but the temps mainly sit at 75C under load. 

 

I'd look at what your current voltages are at stock, then try and tune those down until it starts to become unstable under load, then add voltage back on to a level that was stable.

 

Also, 70C is quite cool, you could easily afford to be more lenitent on your fan curve if noise is an issue, these chips can run quite hot, being in the mid 70s to mid 80s isn't a problem for them.

[Ic3d]

2 hours ago, Dravinian said:

I have a z97 board (ranger Vii) my larger concern is temps.  Running an air cooler Dark Rock 4 (not pro).

 

At 4.5 with stock voltage (whatever that is - i didn't change it) I tend to see it peaking at 70c with the fan at 100%. Fan curve set to ramp up at around 68c in AI Suite 3.

 

Is there any headroom for pushing it a bit further without upgrading the cooler?

From my experience the 4790k is pretty happy running up to around 95 degrees although I would never recommend running it at that temperature, mine sits in the 30s at idle, 50s while gaming and low 70s when under a stress test. The thing to remember is that air coolers can sink significantly more heat as the temperature difference between the air and cpu increases, if you want to push it higher just go up slowly and I rekon you could see 4.6-4.8 on that cooler considering its 200w TDP

[Mick Naughty]

Think mine was 4.8 at 1.36 or so. But still performed the same as running it at 4.5. Nothing to gain for the extra voltage unless you play cpu benchmarks.