How to overclock the i5 4690k

Martino1994

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Jun 29, 2014
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Hey there, basically i have a a friend who is paying me to install a new cooler and over clock, I just want a clear guide on what steps I should go through to achieve this, he wants a 4.4Ghz over clock, and basically I want to know do I need to touch the ram? or just the ratios and the voltage?

I want a more personalised guide so i am clear as I have found videos and forums to be vague and not as beneficial. I know my stuff when it comes to PCs so I'm not a noob ahha but I just want to be clear as OCing isnt something I have done before so a guide would be very helpful, step by step please.

Thanks :)
 
Solution
Voltage required will depend on the chip. What one is stable at, another may not be. Honestly, for only a 4Ghz OC, I'd probably just leave the voltage on it's auto setting and change multiplier only. I'd probably also leave speed step enabled and change the control panel power option to performance, then go into it's advanced power settings and change the min value to 5% and leave the max value at 100%.
Nobody can give you a guide that's specific to YOUR CPU. They all act differently, and have different characteristics, even when they have the same model number. You should not need to do anything to the RAM, necessarily, although if you're using RAM faster than 1600mhz you'll want to set the XMP profile in the BIOS. For basic overclocking, knowing the board model would be helpful.
 


I understand that and its not my CPU but anyways, I know it depends on the chip thats fine but i see well here is the mobo he has: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K9R1OCW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 


Hmm,okay well I have seen reviews of people over clocking on it fine though

 
I've seen people do a lot of things that I wouldn't recommend. Doesn't mean I'm not going to call it how I see it.



Tier Three: Mid range. Crossfire Capable MoBos with SATA III for budget oriented gamers. Power phases and thermals are not awesome, still decent for everyday use and some OCing, but not with the highest TDP CPUs. Have all the standard features, M.2 is not a compulsion though. Quality is decent, OCing ability is moderate for most boards.

ATX Form Factor:

PC MATE
GAMING 3
Z97 G43
MSI U3 Plus
Guard Pro
Z97 Fatal1ty KILLER (Not the ‘Z97X’, which is SLI capable- Both are good at OCing)
PRO4
Z97 HD3
Z97 D3H
Z97P D3
Z97-K/CSM
Z97-C
Z97 PK

mATX Form Factor

Z97M G43
Z97M PRO4
Z97M D3H
Z97M Plus (has M.2)

Mini ITX Form Factor (Not CFX capable):

Z97I AC
Z97E-ITX/ac
Z97M-ITX/AC
GA-Z97N-WIFI
Z97I DRONE

I've overclocked on that board before and could never gain a stable OC that was worth using. The stock turbo speed is just as good as the OC you'll be likely to achieve using that board.
 


Fair enough, that is a good point, i shall do a 4ghz oc on it and see where I get, if thats stable he will be happy but we shall see, what about this mobo out of interest : https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/Z97PRO_GAMER/

 


lol thats my MB with a i7 4790k stuck on it, ahah thanks tho i paid enough for it but hmm what do u you suggest? shall i boot it up to 4ghz on that other board? or? also this is his PSU, im worried about this PSU, i am talking about my friend tho not the i7 because thats my build.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008RJZR40?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 
The CX series power supplies are not great, but not firestarters either. We don't recommend them for gaming systems or for overclocking, but since that unit has a significant amount of overhead beyond what his system is going to require, it's probably fine for now. They fail early is the problem. They test well initially but they tend to fail early when under constant stress as with overclocking or gaming cards.

What are the full system specs of the target system, especially the graphics card and CPU cooler?

I'd say you're probably ok with a 4Ghz overclock on that board, maybe, since it has a turbo target speed of 3.9Ghz and that board is middle of the road, but I wouldn't go any higher than that and honestly, the extra 100mhz isn't really going to bring you anything much beyond what the stock turbo offers, but if you decide to do so anyhow, it's probably ok so long as you have a good cooler.
 


That's a fair point, and yeah I know, you see he is keen on squeezing a bit out of it, because he has bought a 980 gtx as well, interesting that you say that, i did tell him not to go cheap on his PSU but he simply said its worked ever since. I personally spent £200 on my PSU never regret it but anyways i agree with what your saying, but your saying 4ghz is good? Thats fair enough, i mean my 4790k does that happily on stock with some good temps but yeah its true but since hes paying me i think i should do my best to help. Also 1.2 is the ideal voltage for this? Correct? At 4ghz?

Here is the specs:

I5 4690k on stock cooling solution
8gb at 1600mhz
AMD radeon r9 290
750 watt CX PSU

He wants me to add:

Hyper evo 212 and 4.0ghz to 4.4ghz oc
Gtx 980

Hes paying £20 which is better than the PC store i work in
 
Voltage required will depend on the chip. What one is stable at, another may not be. Honestly, for only a 4Ghz OC, I'd probably just leave the voltage on it's auto setting and change multiplier only. I'd probably also leave speed step enabled and change the control panel power option to performance, then go into it's advanced power settings and change the min value to 5% and leave the max value at 100%.
 
Solution


Well i didnt do all of that but it all worked out just by increasing the multipler to 4.Ghz and well installed the 980 and cooler, but yeah worked well, thanks for your help

 
No problem. I generally make those changes because it drops system power usage when browsing, working with light loads or when not under intensive loads like gaming, down about 60% less power consumption from the wall. Running at 4Ghz full time, with full voltage at all times, will use considerably more power on a regular basis and will probably actually be noticeable on your energy bill if you spend as much time on your machine as I do, or if he does anyhow.

Here's what the numbers look like:


Skylake i7-6700k at stock 4Ghz clock and voltage.

119w startup draw.
45w at idle with 5-100% processor power management setting and Intel speedstep enabled.
118w running Prime95 Small FFT
240w running Furmark fullscreen.
275w running Furmark and Prime95 Small FFT simultaneously.

Overclocked power draw for 6700k@4.5Ghz coming probably tomorrow. Haven't had a chance to test those numbers yet and don't permanently have an overclock configured as I've been dealing with other issues, plus, having random worker stoppages due to what I now know is a microcode bug in Skylake prime numbers crunching processes. Still, it will run plenty long enough to get some numbers. Just the idle speed variance in power draw is enough to raise some eyebrows.

All numbers are as recorded using Kill-A-Watt at the outlet.


The 4690k shouldn't be too much different than that, but will likely be a little lower on each figure as the 4690k is an 88w chip while the 6700k is a 91w chip. Of course, that's at stock settings. With a 4ghz overclock, your numbers will probably look very similar to what your see for the 6700k.