Non-K, i5-4570s, mild overclocking

[agent031693]

Recently ran upon a few threads and a few videos that explain how certain non-k intel chips (other than the G3258) are in fact overclockable to a certain degree with the right motherboard. I have a Asrock Z87 M8 motherboard and an i5-4570s cooled by a Coolermaster Liquid Pro 120mm AIO and it never sees heat past 50c. So I found that some i5 cpus are able to have their turbo frequencies raised in the bios, while some others are able to have the turbo disabled and the base frequency raised up to 400MHz (basically raising base frequency to the turbo frequency). I found one video specific to the i5-4570 (non-s) where all that had to be done was change the multiplier from 32 to 36 in the bios, and then the chip would bench at 3.6GHz and not throttle unless thermals went too high. In my bios, I was able to change the multiplier to 36 (won't go any higher), changed the PCIE/BLCK frequency from 100 to 111.1 (which changed the target turbo frequency to 3.999GHz from 3.6) and changed the long term TDP limit to 84W (the TDP of a non-S i5-4570), and short term TDP limit to 99W (just a guess). After all of that, I ran a few benchmarks (mainly CPUz and Cinebench) while using open hardware to monitor my frequencies on the CPU. 3.2GHz is the speed which all cores run at with bursts up to 3.6 on a single core. First I thought I had done something, then out of frustration of that number not changing with various tweaks to the bios, I reset the bios to default settings (which sets the target turbo frequency to 2.9GHz), and ran the benchmarks again. Identical results. All cores run at 3.2GHz with bursts of single cores going to 3.6GHz

With that lengthy explanation, my questions are: Is my CPU overriding what I put in the bios so that I cannot get any more juice out of it? Or am I simply not putting in the right information and changing the correct settings in order to see any significant change? Also, is it normal that I could hold all four cores on an i5-4570s to a steady 3.2GHz (3.2GHz is supposed to be the base clock of the non-S variant) under about an hour long stress test when the base clock with default settings is supposed to be 2.9GHz?

 

[agent031693]

Also found a link that suggests the world record for overclocking an i5-4570s is 3934.21MHz using dry ice. Doesn't say anything about bios settings. Doesn't seem like if there is a way to change the bios to get the frequency that high, that one would need dry ice. That seems excessive. Anyone have any clue to the bios settings this guy in Germany used?

Link: http://hwbot.org/submission/2484263_true_monkey_cpu_frequency_core_i5_4570s_3934.21_mhz

 

[agent031693]

I did figure out that if I disable two cores and enabled fixed oc mode (which disabled turbo boosting). Benched again and got two cores to stabilize between 3.5 and 3.6ghz. Enabled three cores and during benchmarking got the cores to all jump around 3.4 and 3.6... I'm not sure if enabling fixed oc mode is safe, however. Even when I'm not benchmarking my CPU or using it at all, hardware monitor states that I'm still using over 3.4GHz. So I guess I need to figure out how to get my clock speed that high without locking it that high, and if possible not have turbo boost disabled...

 

[agent031693]

IFigured it out. Probably possible, but Intel really doesn't like it. After many resets back to defaults ueif settings in bios and then minor tweaks to bios these last few days two things happened no matter what bios settings I used: First off, my CPU got locked into using only 3 cores. 2ndly, turbo boost stopped working and my CPU became stuck at 2899MHz. My guess is that it is Intel's way having fail-safes to tell those who try this, "F@@k you for trying to oc our less expensive/non-k chip, even though it was built in an identical die as the i5-4570k"

Lesson? Pay extra $50 for unlocked Intel chip or go AMD

 

[Viking2121]

I haven't had my hands on many Haswell Based CPU's other than my I7 5820k, But my old Ivy Bridge i7 3770s you can overclock the turbo, I was able to get my i7 3770s from 3.1ghz on all cores to its turbo of 3.9ghz single core and the Asus Z77 board I had would lock all cores to 3.9ghz, I was able to get to 4.2ghz with the FSB and I was also able to keep the 2 boost steps.

4 Core at 4.2ghz
3 Core at 4.4ghz Boost
2 Core at 4.6ghz Boost

I read somewhere that this only worked with Sandy and Ivy Bridge locked CPU's, But I do not know if locked Haswell is the same way.