Question i7 870 base clock vs turbo clock?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

veeljko23

Reputable
May 24, 2020
338
2
4,685
Am i going to see any benefit from boosting the cpu to 3.6ghz, it was on base clock always since i had a bad cooler but im thinking about getting a new one so it can run on turbo, is it worth it? Am i going to see any benefit in games?
 
Im using lc power 6650 v2.2 i bought it used from a local repair shop for $30 never had any issues with it and i dont know how old it is nor how long the person before me used it.

Never heard from this unit, maybe someone else knows more about it. Couldnt even find reviews probably so old.

What kind of temperatures are you getting on stock voltage? I only had one motherboard with H55 chipset and getting past 3.8ghz was pretty hard, might be you dont even need new cooler since cpu voltage needs spike from 3.8ghz onwards anyway. Download something like cinebench and geekbench (you can also save bench results for testing), run those while measuring keeping an eye on temperatures, good temp monitor is for example Hwmonitor, just keep it on the backround and see what was max temps your cpu cores went to.
 
Got it, i actually found the model of my case and i have removed the side panel and first plastic cutout where you are supposed to put optical drives is open because i removed the drive when i got the pc since i didnt need it + i see that i can put 80 or 90mm fan in the back and thats it, can you recommend me a cheap case with atleast one outtake fan? There is a ton of stuff but when ur on a budget everything matters so i can get best value.
Oh dear, that's quite old. I think that any case with a front panel mesh should be fine. There is a cheap Cougar case on PCPartPicker for ca. 55$ that looks like it got decent airflow.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V8Dkcf/cougar-mx331-mesh-x-atx-mid-tower-case-mx331-mesh-x
It would be an improvement at least.

What you could try first, though, is a) check temps while running the computer with the open side panel and b) get two fans. Install one in the back blowing out, and one in the side where the mesh is blowing in. Then close the case and see what happens. I don't think that installing a fan in the back that blows in makes any sense, considering that CPU coolers are normally set up so they suck in air from the front and exhaust to the back, meaning a back fan sucking in could make matters worse, but yours might be configured differently so check first. But I think that installing two fans as described above would likely be your cheapest option.
 
Im using lc power 6650 v2.2 i bought it used from a local repair shop for $30 never had any issues with it and i dont know how old it is nor how long the person before me used it.

If you get any issues like PC freezing, rebooting itself, shutting down completely. In that case the PSU is unstable, and boosting cpu clocks or getting gpu with even higher power demands will cause even more issues, when you overclock most important thing stable PSU.
 
Never heard from this unit, maybe someone else knows more about it. Couldnt even find reviews probably so old.

What kind of temperatures are you getting on stock voltage? I only had one motherboard with H55 chipset and getting past 3.8ghz was pretty hard, might be you dont even need new cooler since cpu voltage needs spike from 3.8ghz onwards anyway. Download something like cinebench and geekbench (you can also save bench results for testing), run those while measuring keeping an eye on temperatures, good temp monitor is for example Hwmonitor, just keep it on the backround and see what was max temps your cpu cores went to.
I just ran cpuz stress test for 60-70 seconds and temps were 76-78 which tells you enough i think... On base clock speed. View: https://imgur.com/s7YRcIX
 
If you get any issues like PC freezing, rebooting itself, shutting down completely. In that case the PSU is unstable, and boosting cpu clocks or getting gpu with even higher power demands will cause even more issues, when you overclock most important thing stable PSU.
Never happened before, i will get the mentioned cooler and i will see if its any better with the turbo clock speed, if not there isnt much to do except buying a GOOD pc case and just upgrade one by one except that if i want to go with anything better its a MUST that i get a cpu,ram and mbo which is the most expensive option
 
I just ran cpuz stress test for 60-70 seconds and temps were 76-78 which tells you enough i think... On base clock speed. View: https://imgur.com/s7YRcIX

That means you probbaly get around 5-10c more in tests like cinebench/prime95, i like for cpu to stay below 85-89celsius under heavy tests, that usually means it will stay below 80celsius in any games and programs. Im running 3 fan AIO to keep mine cool at 1.45v cpu voltage.
Also when you talk about "turbo clock speed" the 3.6ghz does not mean all cores, that means 1 core boosts to 3.6ghz for a short period of time, this is very early intel turbo boost technology, that is basically the first thing i turn off when i start overclocking.

EDIT: more than likely you get to 3.6ghz all core before even raising any voltages.
 
That means you probbaly get around 5-10c more in tests like cinebench/prime95, i like for cpu to stay below 85-89celsius under heavy tests, that usually means it will stay below 80celsius in any games and programs. Im running 3 fan AIO to keep mine cool at 1.45v cpu voltage.
Also when you talk about "turbo clock speed" the 3.6ghz does not mean all cores, that means 1 core boosts to 3.6ghz for a short period of time, this is very early intel turbo boost technology, that is basically the first thing i turn off when i start overclocking.

EDIT: more than likely you get to 3.6ghz all core before even raising any voltages.
Well to be honest i have no idea how those voltages work and how do i know if my mbo is going to handle it well and what are the factors that have impact on it like vrm becaues whenever i wanted to build anything someone mentions vrm and voltages which i dont know nothing about. Or someone just tells me to get a 100e cpu and 150e mbo... But in short im not sure should i first build the "ambient" and get good psu case and cooling and after that just save up money for a good motherboard cpu and ram.
 
Download cinebench and geekbench and run those , save the scores then go to bios and "ai tweaker" section, select ai overclock tuner to XMP (always saves setting with enter key) if theres no xmp setting there select "manual" , if you selected XMP you might need to select the profile for your ram from under that. Max out "cpu ratio" setting should be 21 value, disable speedstep, enable "xtreme phase full power mode" , dram frequency 1333mhz , BLCK frequency 133 , QPI frequency with this select the lowest frequency possible for example if theres 6400mhz and 5800mhz select the lower one.

With the voltage settings put "cpu voltage mode" to "manual" , in the "fixed voltage" under that type in 1.20v, for IMC voltage (for your memory controller) put that one from auto to 1.15v, Dram voltage should be at 1.50v, leave rest settings under that to auto.

Then scroll down below the voltage settings and enable load line calibration , disable cpu spread spectrum, leave pcie spread spectrum on auto, everything i dont talk about just leave auto.
After this change the main tab to advanced => cpu configuration and make the settings like in here : https://imgbb.com/86TZdCR

After that you can go to "tools " menu on the right and save this settings on the cmos profile , Make a name for it and press enter on the "save to" , after that press F10 (IMPORTANT always doublecheck that now the changes are right, expecially voltage numbers) and select yes/save. Computer should reboot. You can see how much voltage the cpu is actually using when you do cinebench for example again with cpu-z or hwmonitor, keep an eye on temperatures too if you want to increase voltages later, if you see any core max go above 89c that is the limit.

This is just baseline your running now 2.9ghz on all cores without turbo boost, overclocking means increasing the "BLCK " setting in your case from default 133. That multiplied by cpu ratio makes the total frequency, for example 22 ratio x 133 blck => 2.9ghz. If everything works fine after cinebench go back to bios and start increasing the BLCK in increments save with F10 and test cinebench/geekbench again. Always use the highest multiplier you can use, some allow 22 , some 21 this means you dont have to increase the BLCK that much for higher frequency. You will start crashing in stress test or booting / bsod when you get to the limit with these voltages, just lessen the blck if that happens.
 
Last edited:
Download cinebench and geekbench and run those , save the scores then go to bios and "ai tweaker" section, select ai overclock tuner to XMP (always saves setting with enter key) if theres no xmp setting there select "manual" , if you selected XMP you might need to select the profile for your ram from under that. Max out "cpu ratio" setting should be 21 value, disable speedstep, enable "xtreme phase full power mode" , dram frequency 1333mhz , BLCK frequency 133 , QPI frequency with this select the lowest frequency possible for example if theres 6400mhz and 5800mhz select the lower one.

With the voltage settings put "cpu voltage mode" to "manual" , in the "fixed voltage" under that type in 1.20v, for IMC voltage (for your memory controller) put that one from auto to 1.15v, Dram voltage should be at 1.50v, leave rest settings under that to auto.

Then scroll down below the voltage settings and enable load line calibration , disable cpu spread spectrum, leave pcie spread spectrum on auto, everything i dont talk about just leave auto.
After this change the main tab to advanced => cpu configuration and make the settings like in here : https://imgbb.com/86TZdCR

After that you can go to "tools " menu on the right and save this settings on the cmos profile , Make a name for it and press enter on the "save to" , after that press F10 (IMPORTANT always doublecheck that now the changes are right, expecially voltage numbers) and select yes/save. Computer should reboot. You can see how much voltage the cpu is actually using when you do cinebench for example again with cpu-z or hwmonitor, keep an eye on temperatures too if you want to increase voltages later, if you see any core max go above 89c that is the limit.

This is just baseline your running now 2.9ghz on all cores without turbo boost, overclocking means increasing the "BLCK " setting in your case from default 133. That multiplied by cpu ratio makes the total frequency, for example 22 ratio x 133 blck => 2.9ghz. If everything works fine after cinebench go back to bios and start increasing the BLCK in increments save with F10 and test cinebench/geekbench again. Always use the highest multiplier you can use, some allow 22 , some 21 this means you dont have to increase the BLCK that much for higher frequency. You will start crashing in stress test or booting / bsod when you get to the limit with these voltages, just lessen the blck if that happens.
Okay i understand the process and i will try later, i just dont know what are the benefits i will se from this? And is there any potential damage risks or something, i have never played with this before
 
Okay i understand the process and i will try later, i just dont know what are the benefits i will se from this? And is there any potential damage risks or something, i have never played with this before

I would say 3.8-4.0ghz is the limit with that motherboard and cpu, so you would see change similar to this :
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgvcDdRG6SM


You are already limited by gpu which is probably running 100%, open task manager => performance tab on the left and then you can see graphs about gpu usage (percentage), play game and alt tab , check if its hitting near 100%d

EDIT: Your limit with default voltages is probably around 3.6ghz, these are default what i said in earlier post.
 
Last edited: