I7 6700k Overclocking with Asus z170-a Mobo

[Pillage]

OK, so yesterday I installed the i6700k and new Asus z170-a mobo.

Current system specs:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz. Samsung Evo 850 500 gb SSD drive.

Yesterday I installed the i6700k and new Asus z170-a mobo.

I was under the impression that the Asus mobo had an auto tuning feature which would automatically overclock my cpu. Yesterday it was running GREAT in a game I was playing I was getting on average around 170 fps while streaming.

Fast forward to this morning I wake up and my computer is unresponsive, monitor won't turn on, and the reset switch wouldnt even work. So I completely shut the computer down. Upon restart I get an error message stating overclock failure. I did some research and found out it can be the ram being on XMP or over clocked to 3000mhz, but I never enabled this. Now eventually I was able to get back to desktop and all was well.

I started playing the same game that I was playing yesterday around the 170 average fps mark and I was falling significantly below this average. More around 110-90. This may not seem like a big deal, but when playing with a 144hz monitor it is a significant difference and noticeable (to me).

SOOO... I went to mobo BIOS and went to AI tuning and changed to XMP profile and checked my CPU multiplier. It was automatically set to the following settings (1st core 43x, 2nd 42x, 3rd 41x, 4th 40x). I DID NOT MESS WITH THESE SETTINGS EVER. The only thing that was ever done was in the EZ tune settings of my BIOS, which was set to Optimized (highest performance option available). Now I am assuming this setting allocates the multipliers to the 4 cores.

Maybe I am crazy but I can notice there being a change in-game from the first day I played as far as fps' are concerned and they are also much more volatile. I just want to make sure everything is running seamlessly and consistently whether it's for better or for worse.

So my question is:

1. Will I achieve consistency with this EZ tune feature or is this what is causing the significant decrease in my frames? When on the optimized setting is always guaranteed to overclock at same multipliers?

2. Should I just overclock my CPU manually to 4.6ghz? If so will a standard color master fan and coils be sufficient?

I apologize for the length of the post, but it seems best to lay it all out.

Appreciate any assistance and thanks in advance.

 

[Grugbug]

Concerning overclocking, I think you are referencing the Asus AI Suite. The AI Suite did a nice job with my 4790K and Z97-A mobo.
I'd start with recording the settings the AI Suite uses and then tweak the settings manually in the BIOS and save your profile.
The AI Suite tends to overdo the CPU voltage so you may wish to lower the voltage.

 

[geofelt]

Automated overclock systems can be overly aggressive.

I suggest the following:
Reset all including ram to default.
Install a stress tester like OCCT. Not prime95 or IBT which are unrealistic loads.
Then, leaving all voltages on auto, gradually raise the multiplier from the stock 40 to a higher number.
Stress test with occt. It will shut down the test if temperatures reach 85c.
You will run out of safe vcore before you run into thermal limits.
Monitor vcore. CPU-Z will tell you.
While Intel spec says 1.5v is a limit, more like 1.4 would be max.
When you reach your comfortable multiplier limit, stop.
use only the maximum ram xmp that will run with the stock 1.2v voltage.
Overclocking ram to 1.35v to get faster ram speeds will reduce your overclock.
Faster ram is not that helpful since it is accompanied by higher latency.
Here is a study:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1478-page1.html

When you are done, implement speedstep and adaptive voltage.
That will reduce your multiplier and vcore when there is little to do.

As of 10/11/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.40v Vcore.

I7-6700K
4.9 3%
4.8 19%
4.7 61%
4.6 95%

 

[cl-justin]

You should overclock your CPU manually. I'd get liquid cooling if i were you. Preferably a H115I. I have my 6700k- running at 4.6 Ghz with no problems. 20-25 degrees on idle.

 

[geofelt]

Liquid cooling is not necessary, and in fact, is no more efficient than a good air cooler.
I have no problems with a well binned I5-6600K@4.8 using a noctua nh-U12s cooler that has a single 120mm fan.

 

[amtseung]

Water cooling is not necessary, and not recommended, unless you are attempting to heavily overclock an fx octacore or derivative thereof. I've outdone the tdp of a Scythe Ninja with an fx8320, so it is possible. I suggest no one ever try to do what I did, unless you have a literal blizzard outside to cool your PC with (yes, I did actually try this once, it works if snow doesn't get in, don't try this at home kids). I wouldn't worry about thermals if you have a 120mm fan tower cooler or better. I'd be more worried about whether it's mounted properly.

From my experience, manual overclocks are far more reliable than the automatic ones, although the auto-OC utilities usually give you a baseline to see what your CPU is capable of, and then you can twiddle and alter values from there. I remember when the OC Genie utility on my MSI a88x-g45 told me, hey, your athlon 760k is totally capable of running at 5.4ghz @1.55V purely on multiplier, and I immediately realized something was horribly wrong, since with manual settings, I could barely scrape out 4.6ghz stable at the same voltage. From that day on, I stopped trusting auto-OC utilities. Turned out, the fastest that CPU ever ran stably was nearly 5ghz @1.6V with some absurd BCLK speed like 124 or 125 or something, which forced me to severely underclock my memory for stability.

YMMV.

Oh, and I managed to fully heat soak a Hyper 212 with the 760k, prompting me to run this massive overclock under the loving caress of a now-deceased H100i. The intense heat, over time, prematurely killed my AIO. So for sanity and longevity and ease of maintenance, don't get an AIO. With the way current CPU's are designed, if you can't achieve the overclock you want on air, chances are, you won't get it on water either.