Overclocking Assistance

[Grimreaper86]

Hello, I completed a computer build recently and much of my hardware comes ready to overclock. Some of my new parts are a little older though in the sense that they aren't the latest models so I'm looking to squeeze some more fps and in general, greater performance by utilizing the overclocking utilities. That being said, I have no experience overclocking anything and I'm afraid to screw it up.

 

The computer build; or at least the parts that matter to this I would think are an: MSI 970A Gaming Pro Carbon mobo, an MSI Geforce GTX 1070 graphics card, a AMD FX-8370 processor which came with a wrath cooler but which is being cooled via liquid cooling, corsair vengeance 32GB ddr3 sdram 1600, and an antec 750W power supply. I have afterburner  software and my mobo has an "overclock" mode you can turn on; which I have. Although I don't know if the generic overlock settings are set to anything different or if it simply enables you to edit the options necessary to overclock it...again...not entirely sure how that particular feature works in this and I'm trying to get more bang out of my buck; despite the fact that I really haven't noticed performance issues with anything I play except the CEMU emulator and I think that has much more to do with Cemu's ongoing development then it does my computer. My graphics card also comes with a software that lets you turn on an overclock setting but again; I'm not entirely sure if it's as simple as turning on overclock mode or if I actually have to edit the values in overclock mode to really get the most out of it.

[Armakar]

First, don't use  the "Overclock" mode - it'l bump the clockspeed but give it ridiculously high voltage. My 6700k can hit 4.9 at less than 1.32, but Auto overclocking gives it 1.49.

 

First, turn off auto voltage. You want to dial in voltage manually.

Second, find what your max rated voltage is. Most CPU's are around 1.45 max voltage, but most people don't like to go over 1.35 for daily usage. Going over the max safe voltage is usually the only way to fry a chip when overclocking (unless you seriously torture it or put ridiculous numbers in).

 

You need to find 2 things to overclock the CPU:

CPU Frequency/Ratio - where you will select a clockspeed. In my MSI board, I believe this is called something like CPU Frequency, and to set it to 4.9GHZ, I put 49 (as an example). To confirm the speed, it will usually say the end result speed (for example 4500MHZ). This isn't hard to find, it's usually obvious.

 

CPU Voltage - on most boards this is set to Auto by default. TURN THIS OFF BEFORE CHANGING ANYTHING -  the Auto voltage often feeds the CPU way, way too much voltage which can kill it if you dial in a high clockspeed.

 

 

Now, pick a clockspeed. Start at something middle range and give it 1.35 on the voltage. See if it boots.

If it boots, great, then ruin a stresstest like Cinnibench, Aida 64 etc. If either the system or the test crashes during the stresstest, lower the clockspeed, as you don't want to have to start going over 1.35v just to get a good clock.

 

If it runs through the stresstest, do one of two things:

If your happy with that clockspeed, gradually lower the voltage until you find the lowest voltage the system will run that clockspeed at. Signs of too low voltage range from PC crashes to not being able to boot. Get the lowest possible voltage - this will reduce the toll this takes on your CPU's lifespan, and reduce temperatures, so spend some time getting away with the lowest you can.

 

If you want a higher clock, raise the clockspeed until you find the maximum speed it will do at 1.35. Then, see if you can get away with lowering the voltage slightly. Often times, taking the chip just 100MHZ more can mean you have to bump the voltage by like .4. For example, 4.9 on my 6700k runs at below 1.32, but 5GHZ takes almost 1.4.

 

When you've found the max clockspeed it'l run at 1.35V (or the max speed you can run before it starts to overheat) then run a long stresstest. This will help ensure it's a solid overclock. Run something overnight like Aida64. If you wake up and it's still running, it's a solid clock. You can run an "unstable" clock if the voltage is 1.35 or lower, but it's hard to tell if this has an effect on CPU lifespan, otherwise you'll just be dealing with occasional crashes. From what i've heard, unstable clocks don't damage anything.

 

 

Enjoy.

[Armakar]

Also, I saw you wanted to overclock your GPU too. It's slightly different, so here's another guide. Follow this after you've ensured your CPU is stable.

 

You'll need MSI Afterburner, and some kind of benchmark. I use Valley or Heaven benchmark, you can also just use a game, though these are less reliable.

First, start by launching MSI afterburner. Go into the settings, somewhere in the settings is a setting that says "Unlock voltage control". Find this, and tick it.

 

GPU overclocking (atleast in software) is alot more forgiving because the software prevents you from frying it. So don't worry about breaking it.
 

You'll notice there's sliders in the middle, if memory serves these are Voltage, power limit, temperature limit, core clock and memory clock.

 

My 1070 can get a whopping +450 on the coreclock, some can only get +75. It's a lottery - some CPU/GPUs will get insane clocks, some will get garbage (known as the silicon lottery). Don't try and spend too much time, if it starts crashing at a certain clockspeed, it likely won't go past that ever.

 

Start by changing the power limit and temperature limit sliders all the way to the max. This instantly gives you more FPS without changing the clock using GPUboost 3- as explained in Jayz video here .

Next, give the core clock something like +100 Run a benchmark, if it runs without crashing, up the core clock until it crashes. Sometimes the benchmark will crash, sometimes the whole system will. When you get a crash, do one of the following:

A) Up the voltage. You can be very generous - i've even heard Jay say you can just slide the voltage to the max if you don't want to fiddle with Voltage. He gives his titans max voltage and hasn't had a problem, i'm pretty sure you can do this.
B) If voltage doesn't work, lower the clock. If you up the voltage all the way, start lowering the clock by 5 or 10 until it runs smoothly without crashing.

 

Rinse and repeat until you find a clockspeed that doesn't crash. Most people will probally get between 75 and 200.

 

Do the same thing with the memory. Just up the memory frequncy / speed until it either crashes, or you get artifcats - weird purple/green marks or tears in the screen. When this happens, lower the memory clock.

 

Done. GPU overclocking is really easy.

 

[Grimreaper86]

3 hours ago, Armakar said:

Also, I saw you wanted to overclock your GPU too. It's slightly different, so here's another guide. Follow this after you've ensured your CPU is stable.

 

You'll need MSI Afterburner, and some kind of benchmark. I use Valley or Heaven benchmark, you can also just use a game, though these are less reliable.

First, start by launching MSI afterburner. Go into the settings, somewhere in the settings is a setting that says "Unlock voltage control". Find this, and tick it.

 

GPU overclocking (atleast in software) is alot more forgiving because the software prevents you from frying it. So don't worry about breaking it.
 

You'll notice there's sliders in the middle, if memory serves these are Voltage, power limit, temperature limit, core clock and memory clock.

 

My 1070 can get a whopping +450 on the coreclock, some can only get +75. It's a lottery - some CPU/GPUs will get insane clocks, some will get garbage (known as the silicon lottery). Don't try and spend too much time, if it starts crashing at a certain clockspeed, it likely won't go past that ever.

 

Start by changing the power limit and temperature limit sliders all the way to the max. This instantly gives you more FPS without changing the clock using GPUboost 3- as explained in Jayz video here .

Next, give the core clock something like +100 Run a benchmark, if it runs without crashing, up the core clock until it crashes. Sometimes the benchmark will crash, sometimes the whole system will. When you get a crash, do one of the following:

A) Up the voltage. You can be very generous - i've even heard Jay say you can just slide the voltage to the max if you don't want to fiddle with Voltage. He gives his titans max voltage and hasn't had a problem, i'm pretty sure you can do this.
B) If voltage doesn't work, lower the clock. If you up the voltage all the way, start lowering the clock by 5 or 10 until it runs smoothly without crashing.

 

Rinse and repeat until you find a clockspeed that doesn't crash. Most people will probally get between 75 and 200.

 

Do the same thing with the memory. Just up the memory frequncy / speed until it either crashes, or you get artifcats - weird purple/green marks or tears in the screen. When this happens, lower the memory clock.

 

Done. GPU overclocking is really easy.

 

I seem to be having greater issue with the gpu overclock in that I can't seem to get MSI afterburner to let me change the settings on the core voltage despite having selected the unlock core voltage check box in the settings and I can't seem to discern why.

[Armakar]

Just now, Grimreaper86 said:

I seem to be having greater issue with the gpu overclock in that I can't seem to get MSI afterburner to let me change the settings on the core voltage despite having selected the unlock core voltage check box in the settings and I can't seem to discern why.

Exactly what happens when you try to change the voltage? Maybe just a reinstall might fix it.

 

How did your CPU overclock go?

[Grimreaper86]

Just now, Armakar said:

Exactly what happens when you try to change the voltage? Maybe just a reinstall might fix it.

 

How did your CPU overclock go?

CPU over clock was easy. I pretty much just lowered the voltage but setting it to the max 4.3GHz was no problem. I could lower it more but I basically just took it off auto and lower it from 1.44 to 1.35 voltage as you suggested. I might try to lower it more later but I'm comfortable leaving it there honestly as long as I don't have more performance issues.

 

As far as what happens when I try to change it...nothing. It's like the slider is inactive or "grayed" out. As though I never selected the option. I just unchecked the option and rechecked it and am about to perform a restart of the pc as suggested by the software.

[Grimreaper86]

13 minutes ago, Grimreaper86 said:

CPU over clock was easy. I pretty much just lowered the voltage but setting it to the max 4.3GHz was no problem. I could lower it more but I basically just took it off auto and lower it from 1.44 to 1.35 voltage as you suggested. I might try to lower it more later but I'm comfortable leaving it there honestly as long as I don't have more performance issues.

 

As far as what happens when I try to change it...nothing. It's like the slider is inactive or "grayed" out. As though I never selected the option. I just unchecked the option and rechecked it and am about to perform a restart of the pc as suggested by the software.

It was the version of Afterburner I was using. I was using 4.2.0 but there was a newer release (4.3.0) that supports newer graphics cards that the previous version didn't support and until I did a bit of googlefu I was not aware there was newer version because 4.2.0 didn't detect an update despite me checking for one via the software.

[Armakar]

2 minutes ago, Grimreaper86 said:

CPU over clock was easy. I pretty much just lowered the voltage but setting it to the max 4.3GHz was no problem. I could lower it more but I basically just took it off auto and lower it from 1.44 to 1.35 voltage as you suggested. I might try to lower it more later but I'm comfortable leaving it there honestly as long as I don't have more performance issues.

 

As far as what happens when I try to change it...nothing. It's like the slider is inactive or "grayed" out. As though I never selected the option. I just unchecked the option and rechecked it and am about to perform a restart of the pc as suggested by the software.

Odd. All I can say is try a reinstall. I guess it still doesn't work?

[Grimreaper86]

6 hours ago, Armakar said:

Odd. All I can say is try a reinstall. I guess it still doesn't work?

Just needed to update afterburner from 4.2.0 to 4.3.0. I think I'm done with my overclock for now. Thanks for all the help! 44 FPS at 4k isn't bad considering my processor limitations.

[Armakar]

On 2017-6-9 at 4:16 PM, Grimreaper86 said:

Just needed to update afterburner from 4.2.0 to 4.3.0. I think I'm done with my overclock for now. Thanks for all the help! 44 FPS at 4k isn't bad considering my processor limitations.

Grats on the clock. Remember to do extended stresstests though so you can check it's rock solid. What are your end numbers? (CPU voltage, CPU frequency, GPU frequency, memory clock)

[Grimreaper86]

My apologies, I didn't see you ask me this till now. I'm at work but if I remember; I'll let you know what I put my settings on later. So far so good though.

[Grimreaper86]

I have core voltage and power limit maxed for the gpu. The core clock is set to +130 MHz and the mem clock is set to +400 MHz. The CPU frequency is at 4300 if I recall correctly but I lowered the voltage to what you originally suggest as a base line at 1.35 volts which is at least .09 volts lower then what auto had it set to. I considered that a victory and left it alone even though I can likely lower it more if I want to try, but I'm happy with it as is.