New To OC'ing

[FEAR The Dope]

Hey

As of lately, I been playing a fair more amount of Battlefield 1. Which, I run on Ultra/High, depending on how my computer responds to it. I have been having thoughts about overclocking (OC) for a while, and since I just upgraded my computer, I would certainly like to. I have watched about 5-6 videos on overclocking, so I'm new to overclocking, but fairly smart about computers. I am not certain on what to start at for testing the OC. Just dont wanna destroy my hardware but I wanna be able to play games perfectly, with no frame issues.

i7 7700k Kaby 4.2 GHz
Zotac 1080 TI Amp Extreme
650 W Corsair PSU
MSI Z270 M7 Motherboard

If need any other info, feel free to ask. And thanks for reading

EDIT : I have 2 fans on top, 1 fan on PSU, 1 fan for the heatsink, and 3 fans on my GPU

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

What CPU cooler are you using?
Have you checked your CPU temps in-game?
What framerate are you getting? Minimum framerate?
What resolution are you playing at?

 

[FEAR The Dope]

CPU cooler is Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
I have not checked ingame, but I do have Intel Extreme application that stress tests the comp
Frames really varies. When trying for Ultra, it usually is above 60,. At points, not even times where its graphically challenging, it will start having frame issues
And I play at 1920x1080 144Hz

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Above 60... you should be above 100fps, actually above 140fps.

Install MSI Afterburner and use the on-screen display to monitor in-game CPU and GPU usage and temps.

Also install HWInfo64 and let the sensors run in the background to record maximum CPU temp so you can see it when you are finished playing.

We need to make sure your temps are good before you try to overclock.

*How did the Intel stress test go? What was the max temp?

 

[FEAR The Dope]

Ok, I played 1 game of Battlefield 1 for 30 minutes. GPU Temp was Min 48 Max 74. CPU temp was Min 31 Max 69. And Il run a stress test again, and get you them numbers

Thanks in advance btw 😀

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Okay then you should be able to get 4.5-4.6GHz out of your 7700K w/ the Hyper 212 if you want it stress test worthy stable.

I simply run mine with enhanced turbo enabled on my MSI motherboard and it seems fast enough for me. But you can try for 4.6GHz if you want, I keep mine at 1.225V for 4.5GHz and temps are good.

You can't expect a lot because of your budget cooler though.

 

[FEAR The Dope]

I am not expecting extremely much. I really just wanna get completely smooth games (As truthfully what I expected without overclocking). But Il try for 4.5 1st. Is there any overclock I could do on my GPU? Or would you only suggest CPU?

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

There's no reason to overclock your GPU if you're gaming at 1080p with a 1080 Ti. If you're not getting consistently over 100fps playing BF1 on Ultra with your setup then something else may be wrong.

What did your CPU and GPU usage look like in-game?

 

[FEAR The Dope]

GPU was 98%
CPU was 85%

I dont know what would be wrong with the setup. Drivers are installed, everything seems to be working. Just not to its potential

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Well that looks like it should be performing well enough. What exactly is your average fps and lowest fps? All you said was above 60fps.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

And for 4.5Ghz I use 1.225V on vcore. That's it. All chips are slightly different though and could require more or less voltage.

*Since you have an MSI motherboard you can simply enable Enhanced Turbo along with Intel Turbo Boost in BIOS to run at 4.5GHz on all cores. You may already have this enabled, in which case you'd already be at 4.5Ghz. I suppose it's the same difference as setting the multiplier/ratio to 45.

 

[FEAR The Dope]

I can load and start up BF1 really smoothly. Looks beautiful without any FPS issues. When I get ingame, sometimes, which is random, I can just start dropping FPS. I usually have 100+ when I 1st start playing. When the FPS issues start happening, the lowest I ever seen it drop is like 10, but mainly stays around 20-30, with no real intensive things going on. So, it doesnt happen all the time. It usually happens 1ce per session I play, for atmost 3-4 minutes. It has only happened on BF1, and 1 other time on GTA 5. So must say, the only game I have an issue with is BF1

And I did set up an Profile to use in BIOS. But didnt find it. Tried to just change it from BIOS but didnt allow me, as it was greyed out. I also have the MSI Gaming App that helps with Overclocking and such

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

You may have to enable the advanced view in your BIOS, you should be able to change every setting in there.

As far as your game dropping frames that low, that's not right. Overclocking won't help that because that shouldn't be happening. I get upset when my BF1 Ultra 1080p drops to around 75fps, but that's about as low as mine ever goes with a GTX 1070.

You did a fresh Windows install on your system when you built it didn't you?

 

[FEAR The Dope]

I opened Advanced and I found it 😀

And I did completely wipe my HDD when I upgraded. I upgraded everything but HDD, and tower. I have updated drivers. I keep very good care of the PC. Never understood why it had those issues