[SOLVED] i7 8700 Overclock question

[zbowman]

I have a brand new enclosed watercooling system, with an 850w power supply that I just installed tonight into my computer. I have tried overclocking my CPU (Intel B360 MB), tonight, unsuccessfully. This is my first time trying to overclock a CPU and I'm doing so since I've been unable to get my hands on an NVIDIA 3000 series (currently have a 1070Ti) and I want to improve my streaming quality. Back to the issue at hand, in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility tool, the option to adjust package or per-core speeds is greyed out and I cannot find anything online about fixing this that fixes it for me. I've heard of, "unlocking," the CPU but I haven't had any luck doing so. I can only adjust the processor core IccMax, the Turbo Boost Short Power Max, the Turbo Boost Power Max, and the Turbo Boost Power Time Window. I can also adjust the Cache IccMax, but I don't feel that that is relevant to my issue and haven't touched it. Since I've been unable to get any GHz boost from changing settings in the Tuning Utility, I tried my hand at overclocking from BIOS. Here, I'm unable to push the CPU ratio past 46, and it caps at 43 if I leave it in Fixed mode instead of Dynamic. Even putting the ratio to 46, the ring to 43 and adjusting my voltage accordingly my CPU speed remains unchanged, only varying between 4.31GHz and 4.33GHz. I've poured over videos and forums and cannot find any relevant help, am I maybe missing something simple? From what little knowledge I do have about overclocking, from my understanding if I change the ratio from auto to 46 it should give me a boost of 0.3GHz. If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong please help me, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[Lutfij]

Make and model of your PSU and the watercooling(kit/loop)? You can't perform any for of overclocking due to the chipset unfortunately.

Best list your specs to your build so we can further understand what you're trying to work with.

 

[zbowman]

Make and model of your PSU and the watercooling(kit/loop)? You can't perform any for of overclocking due to the chipset unfortunately.

Best list your specs to your build so we can further understand what you're trying to work with.

That is quite unfortunate. :/ By chipset are you referring to the Motherboard? And the cooler is a Corsair H60, the PSU is the Super Flower Leadex III Gold, and I apologize it's a 750w not 850w, I must have fat-fingered my previous post.

 

[Phaaze88]

You killed any chance of this with the non-K cpu and B series mobo; all the 'fun' stuff lies with the K cpus and Z series mobos.
XTU also knows you don't have those parts.

The only option that may be available to you is base clock(BCLK), but it's very unstable, as it changes core clock, memory clock, and cache clock all at once; you can't change them individually like with the K and Z parts.

 

[zbowman]

You killed any chance of this with the non-K cpu and B series mobo; all the 'fun' stuff lies with the K cpus and Z series mobos.
XTU also knows you don't have those parts.

The only option that may be available to you is base clock(BCLK), but it's very unstable, as it changes core clock, memory clock, and cache clock all at once; you can't change them individually like with the K and Z parts.

I screwed up and I'm SO SORRY for the confusion, this is all new to me! I do have the 8700K!

 

[Phaaze88]

But you still have a B series motherboard, right? The situation hasn't changed.
You need both a K cpu and Z mobo.

 

[zbowman]

But you still have a B series motherboard, right? The situation hasn't changed.
You need both a K cpu and Z mobo.

Oh.... yeah that's still true. Well that's rather unfortunate, but thank you so much for your help!! I'd rather do a stable build than mess with something unstable due to my experience level. You seem to have a very good handle on this, is it worth the risk to get that small boost in adjusting BCLK? I've done a bit of research on that since talking to you about it and it seems that the issue is that it adjusts things in ways that may cause problems. Maybe I should just be patient and wait for a graphics card upgrade that isn't $800. :/

 

[Phaaze88]

You're best off skipping it.
It wouldn't be quite so bad if it didn't touch the memory clock. Since it does, that means having to mess around with memory timings to make that stable, and that's a headache on its own.

Maybe I should just be patient and wait for a graphics card upgrade that isn't $800. :/

A combination of patience and luck.
I don't see just being patient working: Because people gave in and bought from scalpers, the same thing will happen with the next gen of cards too, until Covid blows over and supply becomes plentiful again.
Luck is just luck. I hope you have a high luck rating!

 

[zbowman]

You're best off skipping it.
It wouldn't be quite so bad if it didn't touch the memory clock. Since it does, that means having to mess around with memory timings to make that stable, and that's a headache on its own.


A combination of patience and luck.
I don't see just being patient working: Because people gave in and bought from scalpers, the same thing will happen with the next gen of cards too, until Covid blows over and supply becomes plentiful again.
Luck is just luck. I hope you have a high luck rating!

I've almost caved and bought one, but I just hate that system and it would bring me great pleasure to see a bunch of scalpers get stuck with a ton of worthless stock. > I'll just have to keep trying! Thanks friend!

 

[Phaaze88]

Best of luck to you!

I've been watching Best Buy: they sell Nvidia FE cards at the MSRP. They had drops the Friday before last, but I missed it.
EVGA has a queue system in place, but the line has gotten darn long. I signed up for a 3080 FTW3 Ultra Hybrid back on Jan 8, but I'm not expected to see my notification to purchase before April; the hybrid cards aren't as popular as the air cooled models either.

 

[RodroX]

So you are streaming, are you using nvidias nvenc encoder by any chance? If answer is Yes, then OC your CPU wont really make anything for your stream quality.

Also your current CPU have 6 cores / 12 threads, and a max all-core turbo speed of around 4.4GHz which should be plenty enough for RTX 3000 series. Unless of course you wana play at low settings@1080p or even worst 720p for those nasty +300 FPS.