Maximum Safe i5-6600K overclock that will last 3yrs+

[WelcomeToMyChasm]

MY PC SPECS
Okay so I have no clue how to word this but basically i want to overclock my 6600K but don't know how far to go. I know nothing about computers and I am confused about what is a safe overclock and a safe voltage to put a 6600K with only a Corsair H60 cooling loop. If someone could just give me some good settings then I will b very greatful

Thanks

 

[philipew]

Of course there are much better results then mine, never said mine was awesome or anything.
I don't run stress tests for hours on end, I run ibt for one hour and that's good enough for me as I have never crashed doing the things I use my computer for(99% gaming)
Honestly that huge list looks simple to the average overclocker but I think the newbs are gonna take a look at that list and get scared lol. Skylakes are the easiest cpu I have ever overclocked, don't need a fancy motherboard or anything just grab a z170 board and go to town lol.

Yes, I agree, even from within the BIOS (manually).

 

[philipew]

So basically I should leave the vcore on auto, and keep increasing the GHz and running a cpu stress test and see if it works?

Exactly.
Use small increments.

any recommended cpu stress testers?

Prime95 is still my favorite. It offers mostly a "blended" test (default) and a "heat" test (top selection). They are demanding beyond belief (or even beyond practical everyday use?), so if you pass these two tests for say 2H and 30 min. respectively with all green results, then you already have a pretty good idea that your rig will cope with anything you could possibly throw at it.

The heat test is probably the most important. For example, after a perfect "blend" test of 2H under 4.7 GHz at 1.40 V VCore, I started a "heat" test. After five minutes into the test it already gave me a BSOD (blue screen) error. The reason was easy to determine --> too much heat (package temp. over 85C, throttling of the CPU, and eventually precautionary stop by the system to avoid damage).

So in the end, it's the temps more than anything that limit performance. It's OK when connected to a Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 CPU Cooler instead of my cheap single fan air cooler. However, I really don't like water cooling. So I stay on a quiet 4.6 GHz air cool.

 

[philipew]

^with respect to the rant, we've also seen a large number of 'my AIO isn't working' and the pump is dead, with no notice, leaving the cpu sitting at 90+C, and the pump isn't replaceable. If the fan on an air HS dies, you replace the fan, and you have a great big lump of copper soaking up heat, meaning it takes a long time to get to 90+C if it ever does get that far.

I also always considered that water and electricity don't mix, just like rough mechanics and fine electronics. Maybe it's just me, but water cooling seems like a bad idea altogether. If at least an inert gas (like with the compressor of a refrigerator or air conditioning unit) were used instead of highly conductive plain tap water, then maybe... My rig is not the motor of a truck ;-). Here is a picture of the inside: http://imageshack.com/a/img923/3196/PjaqTS.png

 

[philipew]

So what you guys are saying right now is that I could easily overclock to 4.7GHz with no problems at all? Do I even need to change the voltage or vcore or whatever you call it

Try 4.6 GHz with:
CPU VCore at 1.355 V,
CPU Core Ratio at 46,
Uncore (cache) Ratio at 45,
FCLK at 1 GHz,
XMP on Profile 1,
PCH at 1.00 V,
LLC (Load Line Calibration) on High, and
Internal Graphics Disabled (using graphics cards).

Leave all the other settings on their default value (been there, done that, not worth the trouble and maybe dangerous).

 

[philipew]

So basically I should leave the vcore on auto, and keep increasing the GHz and running a cpu stress test and see if it works?

Exactly.
Use small increments.

any recommended cpu stress testers?

Prime95 (like 28.9 build 2) is still my favourite (free download). You can have a blend test (CPU + memory) and a heat test (mostly CPU) - this is like a gold standard among many overclockers and has been for years now. Just make sure you keep an eye on your temps (in real time) when you do it. Using CPUID HWMonitor (free version) is sufficient for that.

Here are my current, and ultra stable/safe, BIOS settings for i5 6600K on Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI:
[1] - CPU Core Ratio: 46
[2] - FCLK Frequency For Early Power: 1 GHz
[3] - Uncore Ratio: 46
[4] - CPU Flex Override: Disabled
[5] - Intel Turbo Boost Technology: Disabled
[6] - CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E): Disabled
[7] - C6/C7 State Support: Disabled
[8] - C8 State Support: Disabled
[9] - CPU Thermal Monitor: Enabled
[10]-CPU EIST Function: Enabled
[11]-Voltage Optimization: Enabled
[12]-Residency State Registration (RSR): Disabled
[13]-Hardware Prefetcher: Enabled
[14]-Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch: Enabled
[15]-Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.): Profile 1
[16]-System Memory Multiplier: 32
[17]-Memory Enhancement Settings: Relax OC
[18]-Channel Interleaving: Enabled
[19]-Rank Interleaving: Enabled
[20]-CAS Latency: 15
[21]-tRCD: 17
[22]-tRP: 17
[23]-tRAS: 28
[24]-Command Rate (tCMD): 1
[25]-CPU VCore Loadline Calibration (LLC): High
[26]-CPU VCore: 1.355V
[27]-CPU VCCIO: Normal
[28]-CPU System Agent Voltage: Normal
[29]-PCH Core: Normal
[30]-DRAM Voltage (CH A/B): 1.360 V
[31]-Internal Graphics: Disabled

Have a look here for the fans: https://postimg.org/image/3t7g3ljjt/

 

[nikoli707]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-28.html

1.35v on the core under load is your limit. small fft using prime 26.6 for stress testing.

 

[WelcomeToMyChasm]

I changed the multiplier and the multiplier only to 44 and I got this

https://gyazo.com/60d2b723b6fd5497212cf716b4d7ce9f

and this

https://gyazo.com/9869971df97c7fe274440d48bc05457f

What now?

 

[nikoli707]

go to 45x multiplier, put the vcore to normal, and put the dymanic vcore to +0.010v and try again. if you fail/bsod move to +0.020v... etc. keep an eye on temps.