How do you do bios overclocking - Asus x99-a, i7-5820K?

[AlveKatt]

I know nothing about how to do this. But I want to try, as it will speed up Blender Internal render times.

 

I can't use windows software to overclock as I am running Linux. And I can't find any guides when searching that doesn't use the accompanying windows software.

 

Motherboard: ASUS X99-A, Socket 2011-3,

Cpu: six core i7-5820K 3.3GHrz.

Corsair AX 860 PSU,

The case is sound proofed Fractal Design Define R5. The fan is a Noctua NH-D15S.

 

I figure I can't go too crazy, the fan is a good one, but sound proofing is a compromise with air flow, and 3d rendering has all the CPU threads running at 100% for extended periods of time.

 

Thank you.

[mrgooglegeek]

There should be several options in the bios, you may have to enable them. You can adjust the multiplier and voltage for the easiest OC. You can also enable XMP Profiles.

[Omon_Ra]

You can also run Asus's AI Suite and let it figure out an overclock for you, if you don't want to tinker with the BIOS. AI Suite modifies the BIOS, so it's not a 'software' overclock and will basically customize itself for your system. It pushed my 5930K to 4.3ghz, but I got it to 4.4 after I did some tweaks myself. Personally, it was good starting point, but I really don't like the software all that much. It works, but going back and forth between making changes in the BIOS and then in AI Suite, things wouldn't always stay the same.

[mrgooglegeek]

1 minute ago, Omon_Ra said:

You can also run Asus's AI Suite and let it figure out an overclock for you, if you don't want to tinker with the BIOS. AI Suite modifies the BIOS, so it's not a 'software' overclock and will basically customize itself for your system. It pushed my 5930K to 4.3ghz, but I got it to 4.4 after I did some tweaks myself. Personally, it was good starting point, but I really don't like the software all that much. It works, but going back and forth between making changes in the BIOS and then in AI Suite, things wouldn't always stay the same.

Not sure if there is a linux version of that available...

[AlveKatt]

9 minutes ago, mrgooglegeek said:

There should be several options in the bios, you may have to enable them. You can adjust the multiplier and voltage for the easiest OC. You can also enable XMP Profiles.

 

Sorry, I am a complete noob at this. I need more exhaustive instructions. I don't know the safe values or where the correct settings are located.

 

3 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

You can also run Asus's AI Suite and let it figure out an overclock for you, if you don't want to tinker with the BIOS. AI Suite modifies the BIOS, so it's not a 'software' overclock and will basically customize itself for your system. It pushed my 5930K to 4.3ghz, but I got it to 4.4 after I did some tweaks myself. Personally, it was good starting point, but I really don't like the software all that much. It works, but going back and forth between making changes in the BIOS and then in AI Suite, things wouldn't always stay the same.

 

Yeah, no Linux support for that from what I can dig up.

[mrgooglegeek]

1 minute ago, AlveKatt said:

Sorry, I am a complete noob at this. I need more exhaustive instructions. I don't know the safe values or where the correct settings are located.

In the bios, you will need to enter advanced mode (f7 or click the button). Then click AI Tweaker. Under this tab, you have the options to increase/decrease Core ratio, cache ratio, voltages, RAM frequencies, and other settings. You should keep the cache ratio at default or if its set to auto, set it to the default value that appears when you switch it to manual. For core clock, you can increase little by little. Once a core clock becomes unstable, you can increase the voltage by a tiny bit (hundredths of a volt). This will increase heat but it can enable higher core clocks to be stable. For RAM, there may be an XMP profile already there that runs well on your RAM. Overclocking ram is a pretty minor if noticeable at all improvement. Remember to check you temps, and to make sure an OC is stable, run something like prime95 (or some other Linux stress test) for a while, and make sure its not too hot or has serious issues. Have fun!

[Omon_Ra]

18 minutes ago, AlveKatt said:

 

Sorry, I am a complete noob at this. I need more exhaustive instructions. I don't know the safe values or where the correct settings are located.

 

 

Yeah, no Linux support for that from what I can dig up.

 

Oh snap, I forgot you said you were using Linux. My bad. Do as @mrgooglegeek said and go into the Advanced Settings of your BIOS. After that it's all pretty much the same as any other BIOS for overclocking. Just so you know, most Haswell-e chips can hit 4.4-4.6 @ 1.3v relatively easily. I wouldn't go beyond 1.3v for your core voltage, especially on air and for long renders. I'd start around 4.2 or 4.3 and go from there. In the Asus BIOS there's also a 'quick tune' (I forget what it's called) automatic overclocking utility.

 

 

 

[mrgooglegeek]

2 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

In the Asus BIOS there's also a 'quick tune' (I forget what it's called) automatic overclocking utility.

I believe its called CPULevelUP! and i haven't had great luck with it but it may work better for you.

[done12many2]

1 hour ago, AlveKatt said:

I know nothing about how to do this. But I want to try, as it will speed up Blender Internal render times.

 

I can't use windows software to overclock as I am running Linux. And I can't find any guides when searching that doesn't use the accompanying windows software.

 

Motherboard: ASUS X99-A, Socket 2011-3,

Cpu: six core i7-5820K 3.3GHrz.

Corsair AX 860 PSU,

The case is sound proofed Fractal Design Define R5. The fan is a Noctua NH-D15S.

 

I figure I can't go too crazy, the fan is a good one, but sound proofing is a compromise with air flow, and 3d rendering has all the CPU threads running at 100% for extended periods of time.

 

Thank you.

Okay so the guides provided apply to all 5820k, 5930k, and 5960x chips.  All you need to do is fine tune from the base information provided.  These are directly from Asus and were based on tons of chips samples that they tested.  

 

This stuff is very accurate and very informative.  Take the time to read through the entire 5960x OC as it covers overclocking CPU, CPU cache, DDR4, and much more.

 

Personally, I think they were very aggressive on their CPU speed/voltage requirements, which is good because you end up with more than you expected.

 

Oh, and they cover the built-in auto overclocking as well, but I've never used it.

 

Enjoy overclocking that x99 beast.  I know I enjoy the hell out of mine!

 

 

5960X OC rev 4.pdf

ASUS X99 Motherboards easy OC.pdf

[Omon_Ra]

1 hour ago, mrgooglegeek said:

I believe its called CPULevelUP! and i haven't had great luck with it but it may work better for you.

I never tried it..haha. But like I used AI Suite's auto-overclock, it's not bad to set a baseline to start your overclocking from if you're unsure. Since it seems like you're relatively new to overclocking, be prepared to set aside pretty much a whole weekend to it. I enjoy that kind of tinkering, but for some it's not worth the effort.

[AlveKatt]

1 minute ago, Omon_Ra said:

I never tried it..haha. But like I used AI Suite's auto-overclock, it's not bad to set a baseline to start your overclocking from if you're unsure. Since it seems like you're relatively new to overclocking, be prepared to set aside pretty much a whole weekend to it. I enjoy that kind of tinkering, but for some it's not worth the effort.

Your very welcome to come do it for me.

[done12many2]

2 minutes ago, AlveKatt said:

Your very welcome to come do it for me.

Just mail the x99 rig to me and I'll send it back overclocked and possibly a little lighter.  

[AlveKatt]

I wish there were a table of Core voltage/CPU-multiplier pairings for this specific CPU... This touch and go thing feels scary.

[done12many2]

21 minutes ago, AlveKatt said:

I wish there were a table of Core voltage/CPU-multiplier pairings for this specific CPU... This touch and go thing feels scary.

Best thing to do is create your own spreadsheet as you go.  You only want to go through this once if you can. 

 

You should overclock one thing at a time.  A lot of people waste a lot of time trying to do a fast overclock and end up with at bunch of headaches and an unstable system.

 

Start with CPU only.  Then do CPU cache separately.  Finish it off with memory.

 

Go through all of the CPU multipliers you'd like to use and set voltages for them.  Start a little higher and cut voltage until you get a crash.  I use Cinebench R15 to run really quick tests at each multiplier/voltage.  I just keep dropping voltage until it crashes.  Once it does, I add a small amount back in.   Usually as I'm adding I stay in the .05v increments.  

 

Once it's stable in Cinebench, I move onto long term stability testing.  I'll hit my overclock with a combination of RealBench, AIDA64, and OCCT.  I usually only run each for around a hour.  I've found that running different tests for a hour each is more dependable than running one, say AIDA64 for 12 hours.  

 

Once I've dialed in all of the CPU multipliers that I want to use and have them saved on a spreadsheet, I move on to doing the same thing for CPU cache and then memory.  Keep in mind that when you are testing one aspect of the overclock, you'll want to keep the other two at stock to eliminate them from your voltage troubleshooting.  

 

After everything is said and done, you'll want to tie all of your individual overclocks together.  When doing so, you many have to do some final tweaking to each part's voltage because often times adding them back together will cause increased throughput on one or all of the parts requiring a tad bit more voltage.

 

Lastly, save those overclocks to individual profiles within BIOS so you can switch back and forth to different overclocks as needed.  I have profiles ranging from stock to 5.0 GHz and from 4 to 8 cores.  It really makes setting your rig up for different workloads very easy.

 

Like Oma_Ra Omon_Ra said, be prepared for a long weekend, but it is definitely worth it.  

[Omon_Ra]

7 minutes ago, AlveKatt said:

I wish there were a table of Core voltage/CPU-multiplier pairings for this specific CPU... This touch and go thing feels scary.

It would be nice, but the 'silicon lottery' is a real thing and there will be variation from chip-to-chip in stability. And then your RAM, motherboard, PSU (to a degree) and other components will determine the optimal overclock for your specific system. Even if someone has the exact same parts as your build, their overclock could be quite different.

 

Thank you @done12many2 for saving me from typing all of that out..haha.

[done12many2]

2 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

It would be nice, but the 'silicon lottery' is a real thing and there will be variation from chip-to-chip in stability. And then your RAM, motherboard, PSU (to a degree) and other components will determine the optimal overclock for your specific system. Even if someone has the exact same parts as your build, their overclock could be quite different.

 

Thank you @done12many2 for saving me from typing all of that out..haha.

No sweat bud.  I like seeing folks push their rigs!  There's a lot of hidden and free potential in every system.  

[AlveKatt]

What would happen if I turn off Hyperthreading? Why is 12 threads better than 6 twice as fast threads? I am suspecting that animating in Blender, moving bones around, might get better with more clock speed per thread.

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, AlveKatt said:

What would happen if I turn off Hyperthreading? Why is 12 threads better than 6 twice as fast threads? I am suspecting that animating in Blender, moving bones around, might get better with more clock speed per thread.

You won't gain anything in your x99 overclock by disabling Hyperthreading.  2 threads per core increases core efficiency and disabling it will not net you any benefit in the form of a higher overclock.  I would also suspect that you are correct in the higher clock rate speeding up Blender, but I have not used Blender myself.  If Blender correctly utilizes multi core/ multi threaded CPUs, then you can bet that it will also take advantage of multi core/multi threaded CPUs at a higher clock speed.

[AlveKatt]

3 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

You won't gain anything in your x99 overclock by disabling Hyperthreading.  2 threads per core increases core efficiency and disabling it will not net you any benefit in the form of a higher overclock.  I would also suspect that you are correct in the higher clock rate speeding up Blender, but I have not used Blender myself.  If Blender correctly utilizes multi core/ multi threaded CPUs, then you can bet that it will also take advantage of multi core/multi threaded CPUs at a higher clock speed.

Speeding up rendering is certain. But I am actually hoping to get results in the animation process even more. The posing of complex rigs on highly subsurfed characters has gotten a lot smoother than on the old computer, but it still is a bit laggy.

 

Thank you so much for the walk through. I'm going to try it when I have worked up the courage and had a night with better sleep. (Was reading a book, and all of a sudden it was five in the morning...)

 

Is it viable to use Blender as a benchmark? I'll just whip up an scene with a butt load of random highpoly objects, raytrace lights and other sillyness and I should have a scene that will take hours to render in no time.

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, AlveKatt said:

The posing of complex rigs on highly subsurfed characters has gotten a lot smoother than on the old computer, but it still is a bit laggy.

You just blew my mind!    Keep doing your thing man because I'm impressed.  

 

3 minutes ago, AlveKatt said:

Is it viable to use Blender as a benchmark? I'll just whip up an scene with a butt load of random highpoly objects, raytrace lights and other sillyness and I should have a scene that will take hours to render in no time.

Absolutely.  Contrary to anything you may read in this forum, there is no better stability test or benchmark for your specific situation than the regular workload you induce on your system.

 

Keep in mind that if you only test for that workload, it will only be stable for that workload, but based on the first half of your comment, I think you already get it!

[Omon_Ra]

4 hours ago, AlveKatt said:

Speeding up rendering is certain. But I am actually hoping to get results in the animation process even more. The posing of complex rigs on highly subsurfed characters has gotten a lot smoother than on the old computer, but it still is a bit laggy.

I haven't used Blender myself, but what type of storage (HDD or SSD) do you have your source files on?

[AlveKatt]

On 4/21/2016 at 9:18 PM, Omon_Ra said:

I haven't used Blender myself, but what type of storage (HDD or SSD) do you have your source files on?

I am using an Samsung 850 EVO pro SSD as system disk and I keep all my 3d-files on it just in case. Blender has hyperthreading support. I am not sure it has it in all things though, I am pretty sure I have read that rendering benefits from Hyperthreading, but that doesn't make it certain posing bones does.

 

On 4/21/2016 at 5:18 PM, done12many2 said:

You just blew my mind!    Keep doing your thing man because I'm impressed.  

How did I manage that? I am not sure what you are referring to, it can't be my overclocking skills...

 

 

[AlveKatt]

On 4/21/2016 at 4:34 PM, done12many2 said:

Snip

 

 

On 4/21/2016 at 2:24 PM, Omon_Ra said:

Snip

 

 

Ok, it took me a while to gather up the courage. But I overclocked it from 3.3 to 3.6 without any issues or needing to increase any voltage.  Doing an extreme render in Blender at the moment, and the core temperatures are keeping below 60. System is stable. Animating is noticably smoother just with this small overclock. Considering to try and reach 4.0 ghz. Don't feel any need to try and go above that though. In the Linux Tech tips about where they used this same processor to overclock they went straight to 4.6, I don't want to stretch that far though, I don't have a top of the line water cooler, just a top of the line tower cooler. Also, I guess I want some longevity.

 

My benchmark render has been going for 12 minutes. Gonna let it run a bit more and see if I run into stability issues. But the core temperature seems to have levelled out at about 55 degrees Celsius or lower.

[done12many2]

11 hours ago, AlveKatt said:

 

 

 

Ok, it took me a while to gather up the courage. But I overclocked it from 3.3 to 3.6 without any issues or needing to increase any voltage.  Doing an extreme render in Blender at the moment, and the core temperatures are keeping below 60. System is stable. Animating is noticably smoother just with this small overclock. Considering to try and reach 4.0 ghz. Don't feel any need to try and go above that though. In the Linux Tech tips about where they used this same processor to overclock they went straight to 4.6, I don't want to stretch that far though, I don't have a top of the line water cooler, just a top of the line tower cooler. Also, I guess I want some longevity.

 

My benchmark render has been going for 12 minutes. Gonna let it run a bit more and see if I run into stability issues. But the core temperature seems to have levelled out at about 55 degrees Celsius or lower.

 

Outstanding job!  How did the render testing turn out?

[AlveKatt]

On 5/15/2016 at 1:03 AM, done12many2 said:

 

Outstanding job!  How did the render testing turn out?

Everything is stable at 4.0 GHz. Stopped there. Blender is generally more responsive now. I am very happy.