Overclocking i7 4790k

[Joben Tan]

Will be getting this mobo set tommorrow and wanted to overclock it to 5ghz is it possible and will it be stable?

It is an i7 4790k with Asrock Z97 Extreme 6 motherboard.
With sliverstone liquid cooler.

I had overclock once on my i7 2600 on my Asus P8P67 Motherboard at 4.2ghz.After 6 months broke down.is it the cause of overclocking or is it just the motherboard not up to its quality?

Hope to hear from your opnion soon!

 

[BrandonYoung]

5Ghz may be a stretch, but it is possible. When overclocking use baby steps, and try to find the sweet spot, which is the highest stable overclock, with the lowest possible core voltage with reasonable temperatures. Test at every step to ensure stability, if you crash you either need to reduce clock speed, or increase core voltage.

The reason why your old computer broke down is hard to say, heat kills CPUs eventually, excessive core voltage increase heat substantially. If you were running 4.2Ghz with a very high core voltage this will burn your CPU eventually. When you overclock this time, try not to go crazy with your core voltage, it just adds heat, and wear.

Currently I'm running my i5 3570k at 4Ghz and it is undervolted, meaning I am using a lower voltage than stock settings. The higher I go, the more voltage is required to maintain stability. At 4.8Ghz my CPU requires so much voltage that my temperatures are much higher than I like, so I don't even attempt to run that speed on a day to day basis, if I did, I'm sure my CPU would be toast before long.

There are tons of guides out on the web that can explain the overclocking process in far greater detail than I.

Baby steps, go easy on increasing voltage (try to find the safe "max voltage" for your CPU) and DO NOT go beyond this value. Monitor temperatures during this process (both idle and under load). Have fun!

 

[Alpha3031]

The safe recommended voltage on Air/CLC for Haswell/Devil's Canyon is 1.3. Bump voltage up in 0.01 increments max, and try keep temperatures below 85 °C stress testing and 80 °C normal.

 

[Sleetz]

The safe recommended voltage on Air/CLC for Haswell/Devil's Canyon is 1.3. Bump voltage up in 0.01 increments max, and try keep temperatures below 85 °C stress testing and 80 °C normal.

Below 80°C? Talk about destroying life expectancy. I would say stay below 60°C to be safe and not repeat what happened to your previous setup.

 

[Alpha3031]

Below 80°C? Talk about destroying life expectancy. I would say stay below 60°C to be safe and not repeat what happened to your previous setup.

Well, if OP is stressing his CPU 24/7, 60 °C is a sensible goal (I'm thinking server CPUs and hot water cooling), but 80 °C won't reduce the lifetime by too much if he's only doing it 8 hours a day.

So, yeah, downclock a bit if you want to start folding@home or something, otherwise I stand by my 80 °C (peak temperature) target.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

As the manufacturing process has been refined, the Devils Canyon chips seem to have gotten a little better. At launch 4.7Ghz to 4.8Ghz seemed to be the limit for air/liquid. That has edged up a little since then, but since half of all chips are below average, there is some, but only a small, probability of reaching 4.9 or 5.0Ghz with that set-up. Nothing much you can do about it, it all depends on the 'silicon lottery'.

80C 8 hours a day at reasonable voltages will reduce CPU life, but seven years or so reduced to four or five is something most gamers can take. I wish Intel would publish their research on this.

 

[madchemist83]

Op, as for ur 2600 it wasn't really overclocked but just turbo boosted as it is locked cpu. Did the mobo died or cpu ? Check ur power supply, might be failing. As for 5 ghz for 4790k, most likely not. Ud be lucky to get 4.7 without too much voltage, I'd stay under 1.3 V and under 65 degrees full load

 

[Joben Tan]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! But if the voltage is low and my cpu is at a higher clock,will it gain its full potiential?After reading this few feedbacks,probably ill clock it to 4.7ghz to maintain its temperature,lifetime and voltage haha :]
And furthermore i wasnt really a pc gamer.more of a console.But recently a few games came out for pc and i bought a new graphic card so intended to play some good games with it.So i dont usually spent much time on pc.probably 2-3hrs if school holiday maximum i think is 5hrs haha cuz im not im not used to using keyboard and my hands would feel tired.

 

[BrandonYoung]

More voltage wont gain you any performance, only heat and wear. Use the minimum voltage that keeps your CPU stable (idle and loaded) at whatever clockrate you decide to run.

You can get a gamepad for your PC, infact, if you have a xbox usb controller, or a playstation controller with usb charger cable, you can use them on your PC if you have the proper drivers installed! For 3D shooter games I strongly encourage you to use a mouse/keyboard however, its much more accurate once you get use to it.

 

[Schwartzinator]

I'm curious to hear if you ever managed to get it up to 5 GHz. I've tried, but just simply cannot seem to get there even going as high as 1.375V. I'm currently sitting rock solid at 4.8 with 1.289V with temps only ever above 45 when I run a stress test.