New to ocing, need advice

[-CJF-]

Hey all,

It appeared that my GTX 970 was being bottlenecked by my 4670k @ stock in Crysis 3 "Welcome to the Jungle, so I decided to try OCing my CPU. My FPS went up by 20 on average and the stuttering issue I was having disappeared. Temps in game seemed to be between 40 and 58c when I had it at 1.25v.

I know very little about overclocking but reading a bit online I have been able to get the system seemingly stable at 4.4 GHz @ 1.235v. To do this I have set the CPU Ratio to 44, CPU Core Voltage to 1.235v and mode to Override.

I'm not sure how high the temperatures can get and still be safe. I ran IntelBurnTest on the maximum stress level and the highest temp I saw in realtemp was 86c. Prior to that I was using Prime95 SmallFFT at 4.4 GHz @ 1.24v and saw 93c after 15mins. I was told it's not safe to use Prime95 with the 4670k so I have been avoiding using that since, but I know if I were to use it the temp would probably be between 92 and 96c at my current voltage.

One odd thing I've noticed is that even though I have my Vcore set to override, my Core Voltage as reported by CPU-Z fluctates. At idle it switches between 0.105v-0.123v and at 100% load in stress testing it jumps up to 1.272v even though I have it set to 1.235v in the bios. Is that normal?

Specs:

Intel Core i5 4670k @ 4.4 GHz
CM Hyper212 EVO
Corsair CX600W
MSI Z87-G41
8 GB Kingston Hyperblu DDR3 1600 (XMP Enabled in BIOS)
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970 4 GB

What should I do? Should I lower my OC or are these temps acceptable? Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[AviateX14]

It is normal for your voltage to fluctuate in that style (Google: vdroop.) so don't worry too much about that. The temperature is fine also, 40-60 is okay. Generally you don't want to be going over 50 on a desktop PC, if that starts to happen consider reducing the OC or adding a different method/more powerful cooking As long as everything is stable and you're averaging a temperature that's about 50 or below (give or take a few degrees) you should be okay. They can go higher, but generally upwards of 55 isn't going to end well. I've assumed this is a desktop PC btw.

If your PC is going upwards of 60 and to 90, then by god, turn it off and work out why, if it's the OC or if it's broken cooling, it shouldn't get that high, it's a risk to both you and itself.

 

[-CJF-]

The temperatures only go that high in IBT/Prime 95. I've been running the System Stability Test in Aida64 for 25min and the max temp has been 69c so far, but I know I get temps in IBT of ~86c and 90+ in Prime95. Is this something to be concerned about? Should I lower the OC because of the temps in IBT/Prime95?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AviateX14]

That is a little too hot, it's not dangerous, but will reduce the life span of the processor somewhat. I hope this sounds like a silly question, but you did apply thermal paste to the processor didn't you? First I'd try taking the can off of the CPU, reapplying thermal paste and then reseating the fan, then retest, if you're still getting those sort of temperatures I'd scale back the OC'ing.

When you say your GTX970 was being bottlenecked by your CPU, can I ask how you found that out? Your PC is very similar in spec to mine, what storage drives do you have? SSD or HDD or both?

 

[-CJF-]

I did apply thermal paste, and I only built this computer maybe 4-5 months ago so it is relatively fresh.

I was having some stuttering issues and massive framerate drops in Crysis 3 " Welcome to the Jungle" level with the 4670k at stock. I used MSI Afterburner to monitor the CPU and GPU usage. CPU usage on all 4 cores was 100% with the GPU usage bouncing around from 70~99%. I noticed in certain areas with dense grass my framerate would tank into the 30s and bounce back up to 60-70 and when this happened my GPU usage would be much lower than 99%.

After OCing to 4.4 I gained a 20fps boost across the board in that level and the fps drops reduced drastically. I have heard Crysis 3 is one of the most CPU intensive games and one of the few games that can benefit from 8 or more cores and Hyperthreading, so I guess it makes sense in a way, even though people have told me the 4670k shouldn't be bottlenecking a single 970... I have no issues in any other games.

I don't mind dialing back the OC/Voltage some, what kind of temperatures should I be looking for in Aida64 test and in game? Should I be using IBT/Prime95? I noticed my temperatures in IBT/Prime95 are much much higher than in Aida...

Err just did some more Crysis 3 testing, CPU core #2 is hitting 65c...

 

[AviateX14]

Stick with the testing sofware you've been advised to use. Temperatures, don't go over 60, aim to stay under 55. Average yous should be 20-35, high should be 35-50(+5). Generally system bottlenecking is caused by using an HDD, it can't RW files fast enough for the system, it's kind of like an average person trying to catch Usain Bolt, they can't, but Usain can't do anything until the person has caught up with him. Or, more straightforwardly, your computer can only go as fast as it's slowest component.

Check the paste, reseat the fan. If that doesn't work, dial back the OC. If that doesn't work then there's something else at work causing an issue in your system. If that does work but the game becomes unplayable, when it's running, open up task manager and look at the disk usage, if it's maxing out then it's your disc that's causing a problem. IF that doesn't work, and the disc is fine, then, again, there's something else causing an issue.

 

[-CJF-]

I have a regular HDD and no SSD, but I don't think the HDD is the problem. The overclock fixed the problems I was having in Crysis 3 which wouldn't have had anything to do with the HDD.

As for temperatures, do you mean 55-60c in stress testing or 55-60c in game? From what I've read online in guides anything under 80c in stress testing is acceptable since it pushes your system beyond what you would ever use, but I don't know.

Hmm.. apparently the 90c+ temps I was getting in Prime95 was due to a bug with AVX and Haswell according to this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2408733/temps-make-sense.html

I downloaded the older 26.6 version linked in that post and my temperatures are much better in Prime95, mostly in the 60s and topping out around 72c @ 4.4 GHz with the 1.235v Vcore.

 

[AviateX14]

An SSD would be a very good investment, a mechanical hard drive is the cause of system slowing and hanging in 99% of cases. It's not just storage it's active read/write, i.e, page file etc. So it is key that it can do this fast when the CPU and GPU are both demanding resources extremely fast. It's also a great addition to any PC.

55-60 in game, higher is expected in stress testing.

It honestly sounds like you'd be fine, just keep an eye on it, if it starts creeping north of 55-60 in game lower the OC, otherwise you should be okay.

 

[-CJF-]

Thanks. An hour in prime95 max temps Core 1: 71c, Core 2: 74c, Core 3: 69c, Core 4: 66c. Only thing I'm a little concerned over is Core 2 is hitting 65c in Crysis 3 in "Welcome to the Jungle"

OC Seems stable enough 4.4 GHz @ 1.235v though.