Overclocking help/recommendations

[MR2]

So, at the title says.. looking for a bit of overclocking help. (For both CPU & GPU)

I've got a few beginner questions & some more about the process itself.

 

1) Is overclocking worth it?

Is there any processor degradation of sorts, or will it shorten my CPU's lifespan? (I mean, going to upgrade it anyways in 2 years or less hopefully)

It this a just, better way to squeeze more performance out of your CPU or is it kinda risky? I know tons of people that buy "k" model i7s and never plan on overclocking, so just wondering.

 

2) If it's worth it, how do I go about it for my system for both my CPU & GPU.

 

Firstly, specs.

CPU - Intel i7-4790K 

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

GPU - MSI GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V

Power Supply - Corsair CX500 or 600..

Motherboard - MSI - Z97-G45 Gaming Mobo

 

Now, I would assuming the GPU OC's would be done in MSi Afterburner or so, and the CPU OCing is in the BIOS, but I have no clue about voltages & all that stuff.

That's kinda why I'm here. :^) Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DXMember]

 

what's your cooler for CPU?

for GPU it's piss easy - just open MSI Afterburner and max all the sliders.

for CPU it's also pretty straight forward, set voltage to like 1.3 set multiplier to like 45, and try going for 47 if you can't, start lowering voltage

[The Sloth]

here 

 

[The Sloth]

16 minutes ago, Xurah said:

Is overclocking worth it?

yes

 

16 minutes ago, Xurah said:

Is there any processor degradation of sorts, or will it shorten my CPU's lifespan? (I mean, going to upgrade it anyways in 2 years or less hopefully)

 

yes, but not noticeable, by the time that happens your PC will be outdated

16 minutes ago, Xurah said:

2) If it's worth it, how do I go about it for my system for both my CPU & GPU.

 

it will depend on you

 

[LooneyJuice]

Whether it's worth it or not depends entirely on whether you require the extra juice for any of your use scenarios. Be it gaming, content creation, streaming and the like. Additionally, OC headroom varies from not-a-whole-lot to quite-a-bit, depending on the generation, which can also determine whether it's worth your time. I.E. if you have a chip which can achieve a 35% OC, it's way more worth it than something that can achieve a 15% OC, and so on.

 

Additionally, when it comes to CPU lifespan, unless you run constant voltage all the time, it really doesn't matter at all. Modern processors have so-called C-states, which are power states the CPU drops to according to load. So, if the CPU is idling, it'll be using lower voltage, and the frequency will throttle down. This has no adverse effects unless you're benching and OCing on LN2 or something (Liquid Nitrogen). So basically, peak OC voltage isn't used during those states, which greatly improves the lifespan of an OCed chip. Additionally, heat is a bigger component killer than voltage sometimes, so that's definitely something to take into account. But just for reference, my current CPU (i7 2600K) has been running at 4.6 since 2011. Original Base Frequency was 3.4GHz and Boost was 3.8, so even though it's a small sample of the overall GPU market, it's definitely lived some.

 

Now, regarding people who buy unlocked CPUs without ever considering overclocking I find rather bizarre, but then I guess different people have different sensibilities. In my personal view, almost regardless of generation, if it's an unlocked CPU, and you have the cooling to deal with it, Overclocking is free performance, which can sometimes even make or break a chip. I would have definitely gotten rid of my 2600k were it not for the ridiculous headroom Sandy Bridge had. It's the only thing that makes the chip relevant. And luckily enough, this chip will do 5.2, which will extend its life if I ever need the extra juice as it gets even longer in the tooth.

 

Now, regarding more specific OC procedures, I recommend what I always recommend. For CPU, look for video (or other) tutorials based on your specific CPU/Board combo. The 4790k is an established and well documented chip along with MSI's UEFI(Bios). Videos or tutorials like that will point out nuances based on your chip or motherboard better than me guestimating what you have to do.

 

But, the basic methodology is this:

 

CPU:

 

1. Make sure you have adequate cooling (Very good Air Cooler or Liquid AIO)

2. Increase CPU ratio (multiplier) incrementally, and test boot/stresstest after each step

3. Repeat until failure to boot or crashes occur

4. At instability, either add voltage (by positive offset) or back down the multiplier if you don't want to add voltage

5. When having achieved your target, stress test for a fair amount of time 12-24 hours to validate

 

GPU:

 

1. Accumulate a suite of testing and monitoring software (MSI Afterburner, Unigine Heaven, Valley, 3d Mark, and a few games)

2. Using say, Afterburner, Bump up Core Clock until instant crash when firing up Heaven f.ex. Then back down from that point and test for a few hours

3. After finding your stock voltage limit, max out your voltage slider and repeat process

3. Repeat same methodology for memory

 

With a 970, usually you can net an increase over factory settings of about 9-13%, which is very decent. At first, it might not sound like a lot, but if for example your target framerate is 60 FPS, and you're doing 55 at stock settings, a 10% bump will net you that magic 60. If you're running 60, it'll give you a 6 FPS margin, and so on. 

 

Now, more specifically, regarding the 4790k it's not going to be a night and day difference as it doesn't have that much headroom, partly due to thermals, but with adequate cooling, why not?

 

TL;DR I know, but like I said, for more specific info regarding your CPU/MB combo, consult video tutorials for your combo, which will better illustrate what you need.

 

 

[MR2]

2 minutes ago, LooneyJuice said:

Now, more specifically, regarding the 4790k it's not going to be a night and day difference as it doesn't have that much headroom, partly due to thermals, but with adequate cooling, why not?

 

TL;DR I know, but like I said, for more specific info regarding your CPU/MB combo, consult video tutorials for your combo, which will better illustrate what you need.

 

 

Nice post in general and definitely helpful. I'll start doing some testing tomorrow and would it be fine if I ever decided to DM you some questions or so? You seem to have a bit of experience and I'm also wondering.. is the Hyper 212 Evo I have good enough? I mean..

 

My PC is on "Performance" power plan where it runs constantly at 100%, and right now with an AC keeping the room at about 18C (64F) then the CPU is at around 43C (109F or something) - just sitting on YouTube, Chrome, etc no games running.The GPU is at 59C and it's on the default fan options or so. Is that a bad starting point & maybe I should invest in a better cooler or some case fans before OCing?

 

Just wondering about this stuff, better safe than sorry.

[LooneyJuice]

Just now, Xurah said:

Nice post in general and definitely helpful. I'll start doing some testing tomorrow and would it be fine if I ever decided to DM you some questions or so? You seem to have a bit of experience and I'm also wondering.. is the Hyper 212 Evo I have good enough? I mean..

 

My PC is on "Performance" power plan where it runs constantly at 100%, and right now with an AC keeping the room at about 18C (64F) then the CPU is at around 43C (109F or something) - just sitting on YouTube, Chrome, etc no games running.The GPU is at 59C and it's on the default fan options or so. Is that a bad starting point & maybe I should invest in a better cooler or some case fans before OCing?

 

Just wondering about this stuff, better safe than sorry.

I'm not half as knowledgeable as some dudes on here, but I can help within reason. If you find a hitch along the way, I could probably help here and there.

 

A Hyper 212 can mostly do the job at stock and maybe a tiny bit over, but it would be pushing it eventually. Because cooling relies on many factors, a big one being ambient temperatures, just set yourself an upper limit of 80C and go from there really. For reference, Intel's Tj Max (which is like, max temp before any kind of damage occurs) is 105C, but the lower the disparity between thermal cycles, the better. If you can't stop there, or your target OC drives way past that, then yes, you may have to start looking at more adequate cooling.

 

Regarding your 970 the Twin Frozr cooler is rather excellent, and 970s in general did very well with thermals, so 59C is laughable at load. In fact, you'll never be bothered by temps with the 970 even at your max OC. In fact, voltage on NV cards has a hard cap (more so now than with the 900 series) so at best your 970 will get to 1.250 volts as opposed to the 1.205-1.225 it's probably currently running at stock. That's practically nothing, and again, free performance. So don't worry about the 970. Case fans and such I wouldn't worry about unless you're really really hurting for airflow. You want to get started OCing, get the hang of it, you don't need to break the bank just yet.

 

Just start basic, and work your way up, familiarizing yourself with A) Your UEFI (Bios) and B) Afterburner controls. But it's really nothing to be afraid of. In both cases, there's safeguards to (mostly) stop you from doing something stupid. In the Card's case, you can't do anything to it, it'll crash before you can do anything wrong. On the CPU side, as long as your temps are in check, and you don't end up pumping a crazy amount of voltage through it (1.350+), it's also more of the same.