Overclock not applying (feel like I've tried everything)

[smitty1505]

I recently upgraded my CPU to a i5-7600K and I'm trying to overclock it. When I change the settings in my bios the clock speed, in my bios, changes after save and restart. However when I run a stress test and HWMonitor my clock speed still maxes out at 3400MHz. Right now my bios is set to 51x multiplier and in the bios clock speed is reading 5100MHz. Have noticed the temps do seem to increase though. What gives?

Here is my current system:
CPU
Intel - Core i5-7600k

CPU Cooler
Corsair - H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard
Gigabyte - GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory
Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

Storage
Samsung - 850 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card
Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB G1 Gaming Video Card

Case
Fractal Design - Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply
EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Operating System
Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

Bios version F21

Tried turning memory XMP on and off
Tried boot legacy and UEFI.
Tried turning intel turbo boost on and off
Turned up and down voltages.
just cant seem to see a difference in clock speeds. Please help! Thanks!

 

[vapour]

remove cmos battery for 1 min and put back. Is cool n quiet off?

 

[smitty1505]

Ok will try in a second and Ive looked all over for that setting but cant find it anywhere.

 

[weberdarren97]

remove cmos battery for 1 min and put back. Is cool n quiet off?

This is a Z170 board. There's no Cool N Quiet on this board.

 

[smitty1505]

Ahh, ok so I'm not crazy haha. Thanks weberdarren97

 

[vapour]

try 6:42 setting like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV-J2TU08Qk
others remain default

 

[weberdarren97]

Let's start with the basics.

CMOS clear likely isn't necessary, but since you've been messing with XMP settings, I'd at least do a Load Optimized Defaults.

Here's what I'd do:

1) Go into BIOS Setup and press F7 to Load Optimized Defaults.
2) Go to Advanced Frequency Settings in the MIT tab. Set CPU Clock Ratio to 44 (4.4GHz) to start with.
3) Go to Advanced CPU Core Settings in the MIT tab. Set Intel Turbo Boost Technology to Disabled.
4) Press F10 to Save and Exit.
5) Windows starts. Open the Start Menu and type choose a power plan. Click on the search result.
6) Make sure High Performance is selected. If it isn't please select it now.
7) Click on Change Plan Settings to the right of High Performance.
8) Change Advanced Power Settings.
9) Processor>Maximum Processor State: 100%, Minimum Processor State:100%.
10) OK, Save Changes, close the window.

Now just check to see if system behavior has improved.

Note that Vapour's recommendation for 46 instead of 44 would likely work as well, but I like to start small just to be sure that the motherboard isn't going to throw a fit.

 

[weberdarren97]

Hey check out the description for BIOS version F22D "Update CPU micro code to fix HT flaw issue". But as we know, an update to the CPU microcode will affect the CPU as a whole. This could change the system's behavior.

I'd recommend updating to BIOS version F22D.

 

[smitty1505]

WOW........ this whole time its been a stupid windows 10 energy saving feature. I feel so dumb right now lol. Thank you so much weberdarren97, that has been driving me nuts for two days lol.

 

[weberdarren97]

WOW........ this whole time its been a stupid windows 10 energy saving feature. I feel so dumb right now lol. Thank you so much weberdarren97, that has been driving me nuts for two days lol.

Oh cool.

You were offline for almost 15 minutes... I thought maybe the board threw a fit lol

 

[smitty1505]

Sorry about that. And nope it worked like a charm. I’m running a realbench benchmark right now and it’s night and day so far. If I could pick your brain a bit more though. Running realbench aida64 prime95 and 3Dmark benchmarks what do you think a safe max temperature reading is for a i5-7600k? Is 75c to high?

 

[weberdarren97]

Sorry about that. And nope it worked like a charm. I’m running a realbench benchmark right now and it’s night and day so far. If I could pick your brain a bit more though. Running realbench aida64 prime95 and 3Dmark benchmarks what do you think a safe max temperature reading is for a i5-7600k? Is 75c to high?

During these tests, the CPU gets warmer than it will when using it maxed out normally (even encoding). So I'd say 85C would be my max for these tests. I don't like long term temperatures above 80C.

Also, you have a very basic liquid cooler. The H60 is advertised as High Performance, and it is for its price, but it's still pretty basic. This isn't meant for overclocking these chips. It'll run these chips super quiet at stock settings, but once you overclock, I usually recommend a 240mm rad.

Your case has a brace that gets in the way, so I wouldn't recommend 140mm, 280mm, or 420mm rads.

240mm would be great for overclocking and would keep your CPU cool and stay relatively quiet. 360mm would be silent.

Compare my recommended coolers for your case and CPU: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/CrDzK8,7TYWGX,wqRFf7,NMtWGX/

 

[weberdarren97]

I forgot to mention, since you have a liquid cooler, it will take time for the coolant to heat up and the temperatures to even out.

You need to let these tests run for at least 45 minutes so that the coolant can heat up so you can see the actual max temps.

 

[weberdarren97]

Sorry I keep posting, the edit button isn't working for me.

Anyway, what version of Prime95 are you using? Anything newer than v26.6 is not a good combination with that CPU and will push the temps up stupidly high. 26.7 and later stress the AVX instructions, which those chips are not designed to do. Those instructions are meant to help out the rest of the CPU, not do all the work themselves.

If your Prime95 is older than v26.6, please delete it and download 26.6 here: http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=15504

 

[smitty1505]

Ahh yeah I know. When I built this PC I bought it with room to grow at the time but even at the time I knew that cooler wasn't the greatest. I just happened to get a really good deal on it and didn't want to spend $100+ for a H100i. Ill push this CPU as far as I can with this cooler then upgrade when I get some new video game that's unplayable on it.

In regards to the coolant heating up I didnt realize that was something to take into consideration. Thanks for that heads up. Right now I'm at 4.80 Ghz without adding any voltage. My temps are hovering around 38c to 40c and maxed out at 73c during a couple benchmarks. Should I rung AIDA64 for a hour or so before I try to push it anymore?

 

[weberdarren97]

Ahh yeah I know. When I built this PC I bought it with room to grow at the time but even at the time I knew that cooler wasn't the greatest. I just happened to get a really good deal on it and didn't want to spend $100+ for a H100i. Ill push this CPU as far as I can with this cooler then upgrade when I get some new video game that's unplayable on it.

In regards to the coolant heating up I didnt realize that was something to take into consideration. Thanks for that heads up. Right now I'm at 4.80 Ghz without adding any voltage. My temps are hovering around 38c to 40c and maxed out at 73c during a couple benchmarks. Should I rung AIDA64 for a hour or so before I try to push it anymore?

Sure. Do a System Stability Test with everything selected except for Local Disk. You, check the GPU. Not only does that add heat to the air in the case (like it would while you're gaming), but it also forces the CPU to feed it data while it's doing its own test. That'll get you really high synthetic usage, so you'll get true max temps after 45 minutes.

Stressing hard drives doesn't really do much here, since it would stress the SATA controller which is on the motherboard not in the CPU, and even HDDs with motors in them don't make enough heat to increase the air temp inside the case.

You didn't remove any of the fans that came with the case, did you?

For the best results, I'd put your cooler on the rear as exhaust and take the fan that was there, and put it on the front as intake.

Don't worry about the top, it's still open and any leftover heat will find its way out.

 

[smitty1505]

Will do! And nope still has the original two in the front and then the cooler on the back. Plus I removed the bigger hard drive cage and only have the small one on the base.

 

[smitty1505]

I probably won’t get to those stress test tonight and don’t want to leave it running overnight without double checking the max temps an hour from now. But I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow. Thanks again you’ve been a huge help. I really appreciate it!