i5-4590 overclocking on H97M

[wmanu]

Hi Experts,

This may be a stupid question, but would like to get things clarified/confirmed before I invest further. I'm building a new rig with following spec, most of the items have been procured except GPU and Case, which I'll be ordering in couple of weeks max.

I was wondering whether there is any scope for mild over clocking on following build, I'm aware that Non-K and Non-Z series are not meant for real overclocking. May be by increasing the multiplier or slight voltage tweaking (if possible).

I've read that i5-4590 has a Turbo frequency of 3.7Ghz and can be achieved on stock cooler. But is it really possible to get her to 4.0GHz with some sort of tweaking somewhere? If so, I would invest on a suitable air/liquid cooling solution. If it is not at all possible, then there is no point in spending more on a cooling solution, I think. Or what could be the best overclocking achieved with stock or aftermarket cooler on this build?

Request your feedback and guidance to proceed further.

• 
  ■ ASRock H97M ITX/ac
  ■ Intel Core i5-4590
  ■ Crucial Ballistix 16GB 1600
  ■ WD Blue 1TB
  ■ ADATA SP550 120GB SSD
  ■ XFX TS 550W
  ■ GIGABYTE GTX 960 OC
  ■ Cooler Master Elite 130

Many thanks.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Well, there is a VERY MINOR type of overclocking that will probably get you 3.8ghz but that's it.

Here are two types of "overclocking" that you can actually do.

1. Up the BCLK a tad to achieve maybe 3.8ghz. However, haswell isn't really designed for bclk overclocking so expect stability issues off the bat if you up it too much.

2. I'm pretty sure you can make ALL CORES go to 3.7ghz instead of the usual 4 cores = 3.4ghz, 3 cores = 3.5ghz, 2 cores = 3.7ghz.

However, you'll only get a very very very minor bump in performance. Your way better off overclocking the RAM and the video card.

 

[XiPH3R]

Hi Experts,

This may be a stupid question, but would like to get things clarified/confirmed before I invest further. I'm building a new rig with following spec, most of the items have been procured except GPU and Case, which I'll be ordering in couple of weeks max.

I was wondering whether there is any scope for mild over clocking on following build, I'm aware that Non-K and Non-Z series are not meant for real overclocking. May be by increasing the multiplier or slight voltage tweaking (if possible).

I've read that i5-4590 has a Turbo frequency of 3.7Ghz and can be achieved on stock cooler. But is it really possible to get her to 4.0GHz with some sort of tweaking somewhere? If so, I would invest on a suitable air/liquid cooling solution. If it is not at all possible, then there is no point in spending more on a cooling solution, I think. Or what could be the best overclocking achieved with stock or aftermarket cooler on this build?

Request your feedback and guidance to proceed further.

• 
  ■ ASRock H97M ITX/ac
  ■ Intel Core i5-4590
  ■ Crucial Ballistix 16GB 1600
  ■ WD Blue 1TB
  ■ ADATA SP550 120GB SSD
  ■ XFX TS 550W
  ■ GIGABYTE GTX 960 OC
  ■ Cooler Master Elite 130

Many thanks.

You need a K-series CPU for proper overclocking. Non-K CPUs have a locked multiplier.

A non-K CPU can still be overclocked by increasing the base clock but those overclocks will be much lower and harder to get stable.A You can hit about 3.75~ ghz at the max. i dont think it will go above that.

And one more suggestion. As you didnt buy the gpu, instead of the gtx 960 get the r9 380. its faster being somewhat cheaper. And your psu will be able to hold the card fine. if you need performance then go for the r9 380

 

[wmanu]

Well, there is a VERY MINOR type of overclocking that will probably get you 3.8ghz but that's it.

Here are two types of "overclocking" that you can actually do.

1. Up the BCLK a tad to achieve maybe 3.8ghz. However, haswell isn't really designed for bclk overclocking so expect stability issues off the bat if you up it too much.

2. I'm pretty sure you can make ALL CORES go to 3.7ghz instead of the usual 4 cores = 3.4ghz, 3 cores = 3.5ghz, 2 cores = 3.7ghz.

However, you'll only get a very very very minor bump in performance. Your way better off overclocking the RAM and the video card.

Thanks for that, so at max 3.7 or 3.8 if I'm lucky.
Can that be achieved with stick cooler or I need to invest on a better cooler?

 

[wmanu]

You need a K-series CPU for proper overclocking. Non-K CPUs have a locked multiplier.

A non-K CPU can still be overclocked by increasing the base clock but those overclocks will be much lower and harder to get stable.A You can hit about 3.75~ ghz at the max. i dont think it will go above that.

And one more suggestion. As you didnt buy the gpu, instead of the gtx 960 get the r9 380. its faster being somewhat cheaper. And your psu will be able to hold the card fine. if you need performance then go for the r9 380

Thanks for the suggestion. I was trying to avoided AMD chips because of power consumption and heat.
Since I'm planning to have a Mini-ITX build with minor OC, is it safe to have an R9 on it? Do you recommend any specific make for an ITX build under $200?

 

[TechyInAZ]

Well, there is a VERY MINOR type of overclocking that will probably get you 3.8ghz but that's it.

Here are two types of "overclocking" that you can actually do.

1. Up the BCLK a tad to achieve maybe 3.8ghz. However, haswell isn't really designed for bclk overclocking so expect stability issues off the bat if you up it too much.

2. I'm pretty sure you can make ALL CORES go to 3.7ghz instead of the usual 4 cores = 3.4ghz, 3 cores = 3.5ghz, 2 cores = 3.7ghz.

However, you'll only get a very very very minor bump in performance. Your way better off overclocking the RAM and the video card.

Thanks for that, so at max 3.7 or 3.8 if I'm lucky.
Can that be achieved with stick cooler or I need to invest on a better cooler?

The increase in voltage is zero since 99% of all those CPUs can run an extra 100mhz on stock voltage just fine. However, if your going to be putting heavy loads on that CPU, even without any OCing, then I suggest buying an air cooler.

A r9 GPU is perfectly fine in the elite 130. You can easily cool a R9 290X in that case since the GPU has it's own air filter.

 

[XiPH3R]

You need a K-series CPU for proper overclocking. Non-K CPUs have a locked multiplier.

A non-K CPU can still be overclocked by increasing the base clock but those overclocks will be much lower and harder to get stable.A You can hit about 3.75~ ghz at the max. i dont think it will go above that.

And one more suggestion. As you didnt buy the gpu, instead of the gtx 960 get the r9 380. its faster being somewhat cheaper. And your psu will be able to hold the card fine. if you need performance then go for the r9 380

Thanks for the suggestion. I was trying to avoided AMD chips because of power consumption and heat.
Since I'm planning to have a Mini-ITX build with minor OC, is it safe to have an R9 on it? Do you recommend any specific make for an ITX build under $200?

AMD chips run hot, its quite true, but AMD had learnt the lesson with the r9 2xx series. They shipped with the reference cooler and ran loud and hot(but still really fast). it took some time for companies to come up with thier coolers to cool these cards.
But with the r9 3xx series they increased the performance while lowering power usage and shipped them with the custom coolers from various companies like sapphire,asus etc.
so they are not that hot and loud as you think. Aesthetic wise they are on par with nvidia

the r9 380 runs cool and also has a itx version. Totally perfect for ITX builds
i recommend the r9 380 itx from sapphire. its small,stays cool and is quite.

 

[wmanu]

The increase in voltage is zero since 99% of all those CPUs can run an extra 100mhz on stock voltage just fine. However, if your going to be putting heavy loads on that CPU, even without any OCing, then I suggest buying an air cooler.

A r9 GPU is perfectly fine in the elite 130. You can easily cool a R9 290X in that case since the GPU has it's own air filter.

AMD chips run hot, its quite true, but AMD had learnt the lesson with the r9 2xx series. They shipped with the reference cooler and ran loud and hot(but still really fast). it took some time for companies to come up with thier coolers to cool these cards.
But with the r9 3xx series they increased the performance while lowering power usage and shipped them with the custom coolers from various companies like sapphire,asus etc.
so they are not that hot and loud as you think. Aesthetic wise they are on par with nvidia

the r9 380 runs cool and also has a itx version. Totally perfect for ITX builds
i recommend the r9 380 itx from sapphire. its small,stays cool and is quite.

Thanks both, the Toms review doesn't really give me the confidence with the ITX model, FPS seems to be little less from about 30-60.

Will there be any performance difference with ITX and ATX GPUs? With Elite 130, I should be able to use a full length GPU. Should we really consider the form factor while choosing in GPU, in this case? I've found ASUS Radeon R9 380 4GB as well as EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SC, both at about $210, have not gone through the reviews yet.

There are various discussion in this form about 380 vs 960, and 380 seems to have an upper hand on larger resolutions. I wouldn't do anything more that 1080p in near future, because my monitor or TV wont support it anyways. So was really wondering whether 380 makes a difference in 1080p gaming.

 

[TechyInAZ]

The increase in voltage is zero since 99% of all those CPUs can run an extra 100mhz on stock voltage just fine. However, if your going to be putting heavy loads on that CPU, even without any OCing, then I suggest buying an air cooler.

A r9 GPU is perfectly fine in the elite 130. You can easily cool a R9 290X in that case since the GPU has it's own air filter.

AMD chips run hot, its quite true, but AMD had learnt the lesson with the r9 2xx series. They shipped with the reference cooler and ran loud and hot(but still really fast). it took some time for companies to come up with thier coolers to cool these cards.
But with the r9 3xx series they increased the performance while lowering power usage and shipped them with the custom coolers from various companies like sapphire,asus etc.
so they are not that hot and loud as you think. Aesthetic wise they are on par with nvidia

the r9 380 runs cool and also has a itx version. Totally perfect for ITX builds
i recommend the r9 380 itx from sapphire. its small,stays cool and is quite.

Thanks both, the Toms review doesn't really give me the confidence with the ITX model, FPS seems to be little less from about 30-60.

Will there be any performance difference with ITX and ATX GPUs? With Elite 130, I should be able to use a full length GPU. Should we really consider the form factor while choosing in GPU, in this case? I've found ASUS Radeon R9 380 4GB as well as EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SC, both at about $210, have not gone through the reviews yet.

There are various discussion in this form about 380 vs 960, and 380 seems to have an upper hand on larger resolutions. I wouldn't do anything more that 1080p in near future, because my monitor or TV wont support it anyways. So was really wondering whether 380 makes a difference in 1080p gaming.

Get the GTX 970 out of those two for sure, since it's faster.

When searching for Graphics cards, only look at the atx form factors if the case you have fully supports full atx length graphics cards. It's kinda pointless to buy a powerful GPU with a tiny cooler if you have room for more cooling power.

 

[XiPH3R]

The increase in voltage is zero since 99% of all those CPUs can run an extra 100mhz on stock voltage just fine. However, if your going to be putting heavy loads on that CPU, even without any OCing, then I suggest buying an air cooler.

A r9 GPU is perfectly fine in the elite 130. You can easily cool a R9 290X in that case since the GPU has it's own air filter.

AMD chips run hot, its quite true, but AMD had learnt the lesson with the r9 2xx series. They shipped with the reference cooler and ran loud and hot(but still really fast). it took some time for companies to come up with thier coolers to cool these cards.
But with the r9 3xx series they increased the performance while lowering power usage and shipped them with the custom coolers from various companies like sapphire,asus etc.
so they are not that hot and loud as you think. Aesthetic wise they are on par with nvidia

the r9 380 runs cool and also has a itx version. Totally perfect for ITX builds
i recommend the r9 380 itx from sapphire. its small,stays cool and is quite.

Thanks both, the Toms review doesn't really give me the confidence with the ITX model, FPS seems to be little less from about 30-60.

Will there be any performance difference with ITX and ATX GPUs? With Elite 130, I should be able to use a full length GPU. Should we really consider the form factor while choosing in GPU, in this case? I've found ASUS Radeon R9 380 4GB as well as EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SC, both at about $210, have not gone through the reviews yet.

There are various discussion in this form about 380 vs 960, and 380 seems to have an upper hand on larger resolutions. I wouldn't do anything more that 1080p in near future, because my monitor or TV wont support it anyways. So was really wondering whether 380 makes a difference in 1080p gaming.

Since your case supports full light gpus go with the sapphire nitro r9 380 4gb or a asus r9 380 4gb(both are great and on par, so its up to you which one to buy). Clearly faster than the gtx 960 at 1080p.