My I5 4690k is acting really weird

[niko_theboy]

Hi, I built my first pc about two months ago and I have a problem with my cpu.
When I first booted it up and such I let it go a few days until i decided to go ahead and overclock my cpu, I mean, I did just pay extra cash so that it would be unlocked. I overclocked it to 4.2GHz and didn't do anything about the voltages as I didn't know that I should nor did I know how to do it. I had it running like that for a month when I thought to myself "I did just blow 155$ for cooling (Cooler Master Nepton 280L) and two fans for 50$ (Noctua NF-A14) so heck if I'm not gonna overclock more (MORE POWER!!) anyways, clocked it to 4.64GHz and around 1.30V? (Really not sure about the voltages I used) I even finally made speedstep work (Another story, TLDR: Couldn't make speedstep work) And I was thrilled that it was going from about 1GHz (Very Light Load) up to 4.6GHz (Heavy Load) had really good temps and was happy.

But then on that faithfull day of 10th June 2015, I came home from some meeting at school to see a warning on my monitor. You probably know the " OVerclocking unsuccesfull!" or whatever it says "Press F1 to run everything at stock and boot" "Press F2 to do whatever" and "Press Alt+Tab to return to last known good settings) which was weird considering I left it in rest mode before I left. So I choose to run everything at stock and booted up. I then preceded to overclock to 4.5Ghz 1.35volt or something and tried running a Prime95 test. I could hear my fans ramping up and I was like "Why are they running so fast" so I checked the cpu temp on the motherboard and it was 90 degrees C! so I excited prime95 immediately and lowered both my clockspeed and my voltages and rebooted. This time the pc turned on, the fans started running then it died, then it sterted up, then it died, then it started up again and so on and so on. So I checked some Tomshardware posts about people that had the same issue so I removed the CMOS Battery and waited a little before I put it back in, now it booted up and the "Overclock failed" thingy showed. So I chose to run it at stock and booted up, I tried launching Intel Extreme Tuning Utility but my pc froze and died on me. So I booted up once again and used the pc for a little while bfore I tried to overclock to 4.05Ghz just to see if I even could anymore, but guess what appeared on-screen when I booted up? "failed Overclock!"

A few hours have passed, and everything seems to be fine, haven't touched any clockspeeds or anything else since. I'm really wondering what's causing these issues and I would like to know how to overclock without it ending in a failed overclock screen, I know not every cpu is overclockable to the same degree but I had it at 4.6GHz for 2 days or something. It's really frustrating because I just spent extra money so that I could have an overclockable pc!

Some backround info:
Rig:
Gtx 970 G1 Gaming
Rm750 Psu
I5 4690K
Msi z97a gaming 6
Nepton 280L (Noctua NF-A14 FLX x2)
Hyperx Fury Red DDR3 1600MHz 16GB

I'm using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility to do the overclocks, since Click Bios 4 is way to hard for me. Sorry if there were any typos, english is my second language. Thanks in advance 😀

 

[synphul]

I would suggest reading some overclocking tutorials. Obviously you were enthusiastic to dive into it but there are some things to be aware of and proper steps to doing so. Even though a system will usually shut down if there's a problem (over voltage, too high temps etc) and you have some leeway to adjust core voltages there are limitations. They're still delicate electronics and you can't just juice them up to 'whatever' and go. In terms of vcore, .05-.1 volts may look small but are pretty healthy increments.

You need to know what vcore you're setting, not just "1.35 or something" which is nearing what many consider the uppermost end of safe vcore limits (1.4v). That doesn't mean just take it to 1.4v and let her rip. It's more of a safety ceiling and less would be preferable. When using prime95, you should be using v26.6 which is an older version, not the latest up to date version and using small fft's for steady load state for thermal testing.

Intel temperature guide sticky
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

Some good programs to have on hand for overclocking in order to monitor voltages and temperatures and for stress testing. Hwinfo64, realtemp, prime95 v26.6, ixtu (intel extreme tuning utility), ibt (intel burn test). The idea is to make changes in the bios, not selecting 'supercharged' modes from the easy click bios settings. Auto overclocking usually results in the motherboard using values which are too high (and create too much heat) to achieve stability. Instead adjust the cpu multiplier and vcore settings. Manually enter the vcore and take it off auto or the motherboard may assign a value too high. Leave your vcore alone and raise your multiplier some. If the system bsod's, go back in and slightly raise the vcore. Stress test it, check thermals. If things are still safe, raise the multiplier. If it crashes, adjust the vcore up a little until it no longer crashes. Rinse and repeat while keeping thermals in check and vcore below 1.4v (I prefer to stay around 1.3v or less for everyday use). If temps get too hot, back off the overclock and reduce the vcore. Once you've gotten to your target (and so long as it stress tests ok, thermals are good and it's not crashing under stress testing), say 4.6ghz - then slowly reduce the vcore, retesting again with stress tests until it crashes. Then raise vcore back up just slightly. This way you're running your target multiplier at the lowest stable voltage necessary keeping temperatures low as possible (voltage = heat). It's a bit of a process fine tuning things but will ensure a stable system.

Some decent oc guides, there are others. Have a read and if you like take to google and look for haswell or devil's canyon oc guides.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/41234-intel-haswell-4670k-4770k-overclocking-guide/

http://www.overclock.net/t/1411077/haswell-overclocking-guide-with-statistics#

Hope this helps.

 

[niko_theboy]

I would suggest reading some overclocking tutorials. Obviously you were enthusiastic to dive into it but there are some things to be aware of and proper steps to doing so. Even though a system will usually shut down if there's a problem (over voltage, too high temps etc) and you have some leeway to adjust core voltages there are limitations. They're still delicate electronics and you can't just juice them up to 'whatever' and go. In terms of vcore, .05-.1 volts may look small but are pretty healthy increments.

You need to know what vcore you're setting, not just "1.35 or something" which is nearing what many consider the uppermost end of safe vcore limits (1.4v). That doesn't mean just take it to 1.4v and let her rip. It's more of a safety ceiling and less would be preferable. When using prime95, you should be using v26.6 which is an older version, not the latest up to date version and using small fft's for steady load state for thermal testing.

Intel temperature guide sticky
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

Some good programs to have on hand for overclocking in order to monitor voltages and temperatures and for stress testing. Hwinfo64, realtemp, prime95 v26.6, ixtu (intel extreme tuning utility), ibt (intel burn test). The idea is to make changes in the bios, not selecting 'supercharged' modes from the easy click bios settings. Auto overclocking usually results in the motherboard using values which are too high (and create too much heat) to achieve stability. Instead adjust the cpu multiplier and vcore settings. Manually enter the vcore and take it off auto or the motherboard may assign a value too high. Leave your vcore alone and raise your multiplier some. If the system bsod's, go back in and slightly raise the vcore. Stress test it, check thermals. If things are still safe, raise the multiplier. If it crashes, adjust the vcore up a little until it no longer crashes. Rinse and repeat while keeping thermals in check and vcore below 1.4v (I prefer to stay around 1.3v or less for everyday use). If temps get too hot, back off the overclock and reduce the vcore. Once you've gotten to your target (and so long as it stress tests ok, thermals are good and it's not crashing under stress testing), say 4.6ghz - then slowly reduce the vcore, retesting again with stress tests until it crashes. Then raise vcore back up just slightly. This way you're running your target multiplier at the lowest stable voltage necessary keeping temperatures low as possible (voltage = heat). It's a bit of a process fine tuning things but will ensure a stable system.

Some decent oc guides, there are others. Have a read and if you like take to google and look for haswell or devil's canyon oc guides.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/41234-intel-haswell-4670k-4770k-overclocking-guide/

http://www.overclock.net/t/1411077/haswell-overclocking-guide-with-statistics#

Hope this helps.

Hey thanks for the help! I'll be sure to take more care when I overclock from now on 😀