Question Overclocking 4790k

[Reidfira]

I've had an i7-4790k for a long time and I'm starting to feel the power decrease in my FPS so I want to overclock but I have no knowledge in this matter. I would need the help of an expert to tell me if I can overclock with my current setup. Here is my complete setup:

CPU: Intel i7-4790K
GPU: Zotac Geforce GTX 1080 AMP Extreme 11 GB
Motherboard: Asrock Anniversary Z97
Water Cooler: Corsair H100-i
Power Supply: Cooler Master EX2 625W
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600mhz 4x8GB

I tried a long time ago to overclock my 4790K and i had some bluescreens or my pc was restarting so i stopped trying because i didnt want to break anything. I have a feeling my motherboard cant handle overcloking since its a cheap board but i need to know if its safe to overclock with my setup and if no what should i change to make it possible and if theres any tipŝ i need to know before doing it. Thank you very much.

 

[bmockeg]

I’d be more concerned with your PSU than your motherboard. That thing wasn’t a good unit when it released in 2012. 3 year warranty has long come and gone. Can’t believe you are powering a 1080 with that thing!

 

[Reidfira]

Thank you for answering so quickly. So you think if i change my PSU i can overclock my CPU kinda safely?

 

[bmockeg]

No guarantee in overclocking but your power supply needs to be good before you try.

 

[Reidfira]

How many watts should i get to handle my setup and the overclocking?

 

[bmockeg]

Wattage isn’t an issue really. 650 should be sufficient, just need a QUALITY gold rated unit. Seasonic Focus Plus, EVGA g3 series, Corsair TX, RX or RMx.

 

[Reidfira]

Alright ill buy a Seasonic Focus GX-650 80+ Gold Full-Modular and give it a try. That would explain why my PC was restarting when i was trying to overclock. If you have any advice about overclocking please let me know. Thank you very much for your help!

 

[tennis2]

Go into your BIOS, click the OC Tweaker tab at the top, locate "CPU ratio" and set it to "all core", type in 45 in the next line, then scroll down to the "voltage configuration" section and set "CPU voltage offset" to "offset mode", then select -0.01V for the offset voltage (to start).

Boot into windows, run OCCT "small data set" for 10 minutes and record what voltage (CPU VCORE) the CPU is getting.

If that doesn't crash, go back to your BIOS and lower your offset to a value that would result in about 1.15V CPU VCORE total. (this an average stable voltage for these CPUs at 4.5GHz)

Rinse & repeat from that point in +/- 0.02V offset increments for fine tuning.

 

[Reidfira]

Alright i received my Seasonic Focus GX-650 and i've installed it. I applied your instructions which were super precise and easy to follow (thank you for that) and as soon as i start the OCCT test my PC crash right away. My cores are at 25-29 degrees on idle while im overclocked at 4.5 and i have a good cooler so i doubt its overheating. Any idea what would cause my PC to crash when overclocked?

 

[bmockeg]

There are lots of settings that need to be adjusted when overclocking. There are a to of tutorials on YouTube.

 

[Reidfira]

Actually when i do the OCCT test my PC crash but when i play games it does not. Maybe because i have not tested it for long enough but well see. Will give updates but for now my 4.5ghz overclocking works!

 

[tennis2]

Type in 43 for the all core multiplier instead of 45 in the first step. That certainly should work.

 

[Reidfira]

If my PC dont crash during my normal use of my computer(gaming) should i just leave it at 45? Right now i've been up for almost 2hrs and nothing crashed. My temps are between 45 and 63 degrees when im playing a CPU intensive game. hopefully im not overheating my CPU

 

[tennis2]

Anything below 75C is nothing to worry about.

 

[Reidfira]

That's exactly what i needed to know! You guys are awesome what a great help you brought me. I can't thank you enough for the help! I wish you the best and thanks A LOT for the help. I have one last question. If i wanna overclock more, the only thing i need to change is the 45 for 46 or 47?

 

[tennis2]

First, complete the remaining steps from above to find the lowest stable voltage for 4.5GHz.

Then, yes, increase the multiplier to get a higher frequency. Higher frequencies require more voltage. Monitor temps. Also, at some point, the amount of voltage increase needed to make the next 100MHz stable will become parabolic. Also, don't apply more than 1.3V

 

[Reidfira]

So then i have to test it at 0.01V and if im crashing on OCCT then i try 0.02V and then 0.03V and on and on and on until i dont crash the test?

 

[tennis2]

If you're intermittently crashing at -0.01V offset, put it on +0.1V (so the CPU gets more voltage and see if that works (don't exceed 1.3V total voltage though). If it does, see if +0.05V offset works.

 

[Reidfira]

alright so i did a small data set on -0.01V , +0.1V and +0.05V and i instanly crash on all of them

 

[Reidfira]

Any idea what i should do now?

 

[tennis2]

Starting to make me suspect RAM.

Please return your CPU to stock and run the test again.

 

[Reidfira]

Alright so i put everything back to stock and i didnt crash but my CPU temps went up to 89 degrees after 2 minutes of testing so i stopped it just in case. I wouldnt be surprised that its my RAM because its very old and was not even good at the beginning anyway. When i do some PC benchmarks, they say my RAM is what is holding me back the most.

 

[Reidfira]

Update: i tried setting my core at 43 instead of 45 and im still crashing but instead of being instantly, it takes 2 seconds. Another useful information maybe is that when i set everything to AUTO in my bios, it set my cores at 4300mhz

 

[Reidfira]

So do you think its the RAM?

 

[tennis2]

Sorry for not responding!

89C for a stock i7-4790K under an H100i seems awful high for a non-AVX stress test. Can you confirm that your pump cable is plugged into a fan header that's set to a constant 100% duty cycle?