help with overclocking

MigatteNoJack · February 20, 2024

Hi there, i'm currently running an intel i7-10700KF @ 4.7GHz max boost frequency mounted on an MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS with 2x8 gigs of DDR4 RAM @ 3600MHz CL36. My GPU is the RTX 3060 Ti. I recently noticed that my CPU is bottlenecking my GPU because it doesn't always hit 90-100% usage. Well, according to the official intel specs, the i7-10700KF should reach 5.1 GHz under load (look at the screenshot i linked) but mine only goes and stays at 4.7 GHz when being heavily utilized, sometimes at idle or in very low workloads it jumps at 4.8 GHz for a brief amount of time but only in that case (in the BIOS i did enable both Intel Turbo Boost AND Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0). I was thinking that the 5.1 GHz in the intel specs can be reached with overclocking, and i have the motherboard to do such thing and i want to do it. If 5.1 GHz is only reachable with overclocking, can somebody tell me the upper safe voltage i should use for that chip? I really want to hit 5.1 GHz on all cores to reduce the bottleneck.

I'm also running a 750W PSU so power shouldn't be a problem.

About cooling, i have a 240mm AIO and i don't mind excess noise from the cooler.

TatamiMatt · February 20, 2024

32 minutes ago, MigatteNoJack said:

Hi there, i'm currently running an intel i7-10700KF @ 4.7GHz max boost frequency mounted on an MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS with 2x8 gigs of DDR4 RAM @ 3600MHz CL36. My GPU is the RTX 3060 Ti. I recently noticed that my CPU is bottlenecking my GPU because it doesn't always hit 90-100% usage. Well, according to the official intel specs, the i7-10700KF should reach 5.1 GHz under load (look at the screenshot i linked) but mine only goes and stays at 4.7 GHz when being heavily utilized, sometimes at idle or in very low workloads it jumps at 4.8 GHz for a brief amount of time but only in that case (in the BIOS i did enable both Intel Turbo Boost AND Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0). I was thinking that the 5.1 GHz in the intel specs can be reached with overclocking, and i have the motherboard to do such thing and i want to do it. If 5.1 GHz is only reachable with overclocking, can somebody tell me the upper safe voltage i should use for that chip? I really want to hit 5.1 GHz on all cores to reduce the bottleneck.

I'm also running a 750W PSU so power shouldn't be a problem.

About cooling, i have a 240mm AIO and i don't mind excess noise from the cooler.

To overclock youll actually want to up the core clock multiplier butreduce the voltage to a stable level so the cpu doesnt thermal throttle itself.

The reason it isnt hitting 5.1 GHz is due to that being a bursty workload single core max, a sustained all core workload wont sustain 5.1GHz.

But firstly, what resolution are you playing at? What games? Are they all running on max settings?

What % usage is on all your parts when running a game?

Also, your RAM is 3600 CL36?

Download Hwinfo and give us screenshots of both specs and sensors

ChrisLoudon · February 20, 2024

1 hour ago, MigatteNoJack said:

I really want to hit 5.1 GHz on all cores to reduce the bottleneck.

Hi buddy,

Firstly, I'm not convinced your 10700KF is bottlenecking anything, or at least it shouldn't be. My old 9900k doesn't bottleneck my 3080ti. What resolution are you playing at? At 1440p or 4k your 10700KF should have plenty of horses to keep your GPU busy. Maybe at 1080p you might see a % dip.

When it comes to OCing, as @TatamiMatt said, the key is to actually drop your vCore (if possible) but increase the multiplier until you find a sweet spot between performance and thermals.

Your BIOS will have 5ish settings you'll want to tinker with.

1. Lock Cores

2. Core Multiplier

3. Vcore Mode

4. Vcore Value

5 . LLC

The 1st one is fairly staright forward. A CPU out-of-the-box has its cores separated and all able to boost and throttle independently depending on voltage and thermal limitations. One of the first settings in your BIOSs OC setting will be to lock them together. 1 setting for all.

The 2nd setting will be to set a 'multiplier' value. This will be what all your cores will be locked at. 50 = 5Ghz, 52 = 5.2Ghz...... I would start at 50 and take it from there. You can always try increasing it to 51 or 52 once your comfortable and stable at 50.

The vCore mode usually has a number of options. I tend to stick with 'Override' as this sets it whatever you input. Your BIOS settings might be a little different but you'll have similar options.

The vCore value is where you'll need to play around with your self. Try 1.2v at 50x and hit it with a couple of rounds of Cinebench R23. If it crashes then up the vCore 1.21, 1.22, 1.23 until your stable. If you're perfectly stable at 1.2 then you can either try reducing the vCore further to help with thermals or increase the multiplier to 51.... You get the drift?

The last one is something called LLC. I'd advise a little research into this from your end but in short, when a CPU is hit with a load, the voltage drops (called VDroop). This drop in voltage can cause an otherwise stable system to crash. Increasing LLC levels can help mitigate this issue however, too much LLC can actually damage CPUs.

In terms of cooling, your 240mm AIO might struggle a little. Not sure what 10th gen Intels were like to cool but my 9th and 13th gen ones are proper furnaces.

On a side note, if your motherboard has an AVX offset setting, set it to zero. A negative value of say 2 will reduce your clock multiplier by 2 so 50 down to 48 when under AVX workloads and since Win 11 has background tasks that leverage AVX then you'll be stuck at 48 for pretty much all of the time.

MigatteNoJack · February 20, 2024

thank you both for answering. I play at 1080p often maxed out or high settings games like RDR2, TLOU, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Battlefield V with a 1080p 144hz monitor. I've linked all of my specs from HwInfo64 in the screenshots below. The ram modules are identical but i did send both, just in case. What is the maximum safe voltage for this particular chip for long term use? About thermals, when gaming it stays at around 70 degrees maximum with stock voltage settings, but when i try Prime95 it hits 100 degrees so it's kind of hard to check for stability, that's why i wanted to know the max safe voltage because i don't really think while gaming it's going to exceed 75-80 degrees even with the upped voltage.