Question I7 5960x and DDR4 @ 3200 MHZ Question

[Xwolfgangx]

Hello, I recently acquired a i7 5960x that had never been opened before, and a board on ebay (EVGA x99 Micro R.2) that was in great condition. My last system was a i7 2700k with an rx580 gpu and 16GB DDR3, so this is a upgrade for me (Im into older parts, recycling is good plus older CPU's run just fine nowadays unless you're on the frontier of development) and was kinda confused because of all the stuff I had read about how if you wanted to OC the memory on a haswell-e past 2666 you had to up the blck to 125. I bought a pack of Corsair Vengeance LPX 4x4GB (for quad channel) @ 3000MHz and when I set the xmp profile, it set the ram speed to 2666 and the blck to 125. Having had bad experiences with a blck of anything other than 100, I changed it back down, went to my BIOS and as 3000MHz wasnt an option, I set to 3200 2 1.35v with 100 BLCK and set the CPU Multiplier to 42 @1.225v. So now Im running at 4.2Ghz CPU, 3.2GHz Ram, all with a blck of 100, and after testing with intel burn test, prime 95, memtest86, and various other bench's over a day or two and Im 100% completely stable.

So my question is, why does every website or forum say I need to increase the blck to OC my ram past 2666 MHz While Simultaneously OC'ing my CPU? My system works fine with a 100MHz multiplier.

https://imgur.com/a/kzGKyKX

View: https://imgur.com/a/kzGKyKX

 

[Aeacus]

So my question is, why does every website or forum say I need to increase the blck to OC my ram past 2666 MHz While Simultaneously OC'ing my CPU? My system works fine with a 100MHz multiplier.

I don't know which sites you've been reading but you don't need to OC your CPU to OC your RAM. OC'ing both gives you the most benefit but you can run OC'd RAM with stock CPU clocks (i'm doing it) or OC'd CPU with 2133 Mhz RAM just fine.

Though, CPU and RAM OC is usually done together for system stability, especially if OCer is pushing the limits of CPU and/or RAM.

 

[Xwolfgangx]

I don't know which sites you've been reading but you don't need to OC your CPU to OC your RAM. OC'ing both gives you the most benefit but you can run OC'd RAM with stock CPU clocks (i'm doing it) or OC'd CPU with 2133 Mhz RAM just fine.

Though, CPU and RAM OC is usually done together for system stability, especially if OCer is pushing the limits of CPU and/or RAM.

Oh I know, I just wanted to overclock my CPU. but on this specific architecture of CPU people were saying the only way to OC their ram past 2666 was to make the blck 125

 

[Aeacus]

people were saying the only way to OC their ram past 2666 was to make the blck 125

Well, that comes down to silicon lottery. Not all CPUs are created equal and some many need blck adjustment while others many not.

 

[Xwolfgangx]

Well, that comes down to silicon lottery. Not all CPUs are created equal and some many need blck adjustment while others many not.

Okay, was just making sure It would be ok and just didnt appear stable; when it wasnt. I know its an older chip but it was a binned new in box that never got used in a build, overclocking it was easier than any cpu ive owned before (spits out a ton of heat had to get a bigger AIO lol), and even the ram worked nicely at first boot after. Maybe its because im not saturating the IMC @ 64gb and only using 16?


Also I had a new question pop up about cache overclocking. Im at 4.2GHz currently on 8 cores, with the aformentioned 4x4gb 3000mhz ddr4, but I cant seem to overclock the cache past 3.4 GHz, no matter the voltage. I DONT have a x99 "OC socket" on my mobo, is that maybe a reason for this?

 

[Aeacus]

overclocking it was easier than any cpu ive owned before

Well, you do have Extreme Edition CPU, which is the top-of-the-line CPU when it comes to OC. This explains why OC is so easy with it.

Im at 4.2GHz currently on 8 cores, with the aformentioned 4x4gb 3000mhz ddr4, but I cant seem to overclock the cache past 3.4 GHz, no matter the voltage. I DONT have a x99 "OC socket" on my mobo, is that maybe a reason for this?

Sorry, my knowledge of OC doesn't go that in-depth. But MoBo can play a role on CPU OC, especially when you have consumer grade MoBo, rahther than enthusiast/power user grade MoBo.

 

[Xwolfgangx]

Okay, so as long as my system is stable with benchmark/stress test software and doesn't bluescreen I should be fine to keep running at my settings? I looked a little further, and it seems most people only had to change their blck to 125 to OC the ram past 2666 , but most of those people were using 64GB ddr4, maxing out the IMC. Im only using 16GB (4x4GB), and only ever plan to upgrade to 32GB (4x8GB), so I guess as long as I dont overload the IMC I can OC my ram No problem

 

[mdd1963]

Should perform about the same as the (non-K) i7-8700; can't recall how much typical OC headroom the typical 5960X had given varying assorted cooling solutions.