Question Overclocking my cpu and gpu ?

[breakingjak431]

hey all , as the titles says ,i want to overclock my cpu and gpu , as for me im pretty noob when it comes to software , hardware atleast better , for me i always thought that everything writte on a cpu for example ( i7 6700 vs i7 6700k ) for example i just know about the 'K' at the end means overclocking , but i just thought that the K is already overclocked? I just never know that u have to do it by ur self and that means this cpu can handle overclock


my question now , i heard my friend said about overclocking and how worth it is if you overclock your system , it gives you 10+ fps , but my real question here , what are the risks ? Is it worth it ? Would i fry my whole pc ? Also can i overclock my gpu also ? I really appreciate your help

Note : at the moment my pc is out of the case , no case , i put it on a like a card box came with the motherboard , and my temp is always good, max 65 70


spec : i7 6700k
GTx 970 oc
power supply : cougar 550w
cpu fan : corsair dual ( the other fans doesnt run fast maybe its broke or something )
16 gb ram

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i7 6700 vs i7 6700k

K series are "unlocked", not "overclocked".

my friend said about overclocking and how worth it is if you overclock your system , it gives you 10+ fps

your friend probably shouldn't be consulted in this if this is their advice.

the amount of gain you might receive is totally based on how much boost you may get out of your overclocks along with your overall system's performance,
what particular game/game engine you may be referring to,
and possibly how well you can keep it cool with the boosted power usage.

power supply : cougar 550w

what particular model?
cougar produces mostly mid>low grade options and some you would not want to use in this scenario.

cpu fan : corsair dual ( the other fans doesnt run fast maybe its broke or something )

are they split to share the CPU_FAN header,
one is using CPU_OPT header,
or is one using a SYS_FAN header?

likely they are not set to use the same speed/temp curve if they are not syncing.

my real question here , what are the risks ? Is it worth it ? Would i fry my whole pc ? Also can i overclock my gpu also ?

risks:
overheating,
burning out the CPU and/or socket,
instability in the OS and other applications, etc.

GPU also:
yes, it's always possible but it's up to the individual card how much of an overclock you may get with the core and/or memory frequency and how much of a power boost it may be able to handle.

my temp is always good, max 65 70

a lot of overclocking can have to do with temperature thresholds and your ability to keep things cooled with a higher power draw.

a nice case with optimal airflow, a nicer CPU cooler, and the specific GPU in question can have a lot to do with the outcome.

your motherboard also has a large affect on the possibilities.
lower quality boards may not even offer the options for any type of manual overclock.

 

[Eximo]

Depends on your motherboard what you can do to the CPU. You need a Z series board.

Listing your CPU cooler will help, you may not have that much headroom depending on what it is. An overclocked 6th gen chip can reach about 150W.

The GPU you can overclock with MSI Afterburner. As long as you monitor temperatures, it is quite safe as Nvidia puts pretty harsh limits on the more recent cards.

If I recall from when I had a GTX980 they didn't have a lot of room for overclocking.

You need to pick some standard test to run. (Unigine Valley or 3D Mark Firestrike) max the power limit, and slowly increase the GPU clock and then separately the Memory clock, then try them together to find the most stable point. When it crashes, that is a sign to back off.

 

[breakingjak431]

K series are "unlocked", not "overclocked".

your friend probably shouldn't be consulted in this if this is their advice.

the amount of gain you might receive is totally based on how much boost you may get out of your overclocks along with your overall system's performance,
what particular game/game engine you may be referring to,
and possibly how well you can keep it cool with the boosted power usage.

what particular model?
cougar produces mostly mid>low grade options and some you would not want to use in this scenario.

are they split to share the CPU_FAN header,
one is using CPU_OPT header,
or is one using a SYS_FAN header?

likely they are not set to use the same speed/temp curve if they are not syncing.

risks:
overheating,
burning out the CPU and/or socket,
instability in the OS and other applications, etc.

GPU also:
yes, it's always possible but it's up to the individual card how much of an overclock you may get with the core and/or memory frequency and how much of a power boost it may be able to handle.

a lot of overclocking can have to do with temperature thresholds and your ability to keep things cooled with a higher power draw.

a nice case with optimal airflow, a nicer CPU cooler, and the specific GPU in question can have a lot to do with the outcome.

your motherboard also has a large affect on the possibilities.
lower quality boards may not even offer the options for any type of manual overclock.

I really appreciate these informations , and it helps me alot thanks you very much actually , is there a way i can try to make the other fan run as the same speed? Or am i missing something on motherboard, my motherboard is z270 tomahawk arsenal gaming , and should i risk the overclock and try it ? For the last time , thanks in advance, cpu fan is corsair a1225m12s dual

 

[breakingjak431]

Depends on your motherboard what you can do to the CPU. You need a Z series board.

Listing your CPU cooler will help, you may not have that much headroom depending on what it is. An overclocked 6th gen chip can reach about 150W.

The GPU you can overclock with MSI Afterburner. As long as you monitor temperatures, it is quite safe as Nvidia puts pretty harsh limits on the more recent cards.

If I recall from when I had a GTX980 they didn't have a lot of room for overclocking.

You need to pick some standard test to run. (Unigine Valley or 3D Mark Firestrike) max the power limit, and slowly increase the GPU clock and then separately the Memory clock, then try them together to find the most stable point. When it crashes, that is a sign to back off.

Depends on your motherboard what you can do to the CPU. You need a Z series board.

Listing your CPU cooler will help, you may not have that much headroom depending on what it is. An overclocked 6th gen chip can reach about 150W.

The GPU you can overclock with MSI Afterburner. As long as you monitor temperatures, it is quite safe as Nvidia puts pretty harsh limits on the more recent cards.

If I recall from when I had a GTX980 they didn't have a lot of room for overclocking.

You need to pick some standard test to run. (Unigine Valley or 3D Mark Firestrike) max the power limit, and slowly increase the GPU clock and then separately the Memory clock, then try them together to find the most stable point. When it crashes, that is a sign to back off.

Thank you for ur reply , my motherboard is z270 tomawhawk arsenal gaming , and the cpu fan written on the fan , is corsair a1225m12s but its dual
Pretty similar to this https://www.corsair.com/eu/pl/p/cpu-coolers/cafa70/air-series-a70-dual-fan-cpu-cooler-cafa70

 

[SkyNetRising]

my question now , i heard my friend said about overclocking and how worth it is if you overclock your system , it gives you 10+ fps ,

Not 10+ fps, but ~10% more fps.
So if you have 30fps before oc, then with it you get 33fps.

Is it worth it ?

More likely not.

but my real question here , what are the risks? Would i fry my whole pc ?

Yes it's possible. General risk is unstable system.
With extreme OC you can certainly kill your system, if not careful.

Also can i overclock my gpu also ?

Yes, you can. It's the same thing. Hardly worth it.

Overclocking is not free performance. You pay with life expectancy of your hardware.

 

[Eximo]

Thank you for ur reply , my motherboard is z270 tomawhawk arsenal gaming , and the cpu fan written on the fan , is corsair a1225m12s but its dual
Pretty similar to this https://www.corsair.com/eu/pl/p/cpu-coolers/cafa70/air-series-a70-dual-fan-cpu-cooler-cafa70

That motherboard should do fine.

A tower cooler like that should be good for a mild overclock.

CPU should already boost to 4.2Ghz. You can maybe increase that to 4.5 or 4.6Ghz with a little core voltage increase. So something like a 7% performance increase.

I would not exceed 1.35 volts with that CPU cooler, likely you will have temperature problems before reaching that point. VIN / VInput may also need to be increased (from 2.0 to 2.1 or so)

 

[breakingjak431]

Not 10+ fps, but ~10% more fps.
So if you have 30fps before oc, then with it you get 33fps.

More likely not.

Yes it's possible. General risk is unstable system.
With extreme OC you can certainly kill your system, if not careful.

Yes, you can. It's the same thing. Hardly worth it.

Overclocking is not free performance. You pay with life expectancy of your hardware.

I understand thanks to your information , its interesting because , some popular youtube channel , also help us how to overclock the cpu , ofc they say it with cautious , if not i wouldnt ask for it , 3fps more is really not worth it at all tho, well i guess i will wait for a bit and maybe i try it later when i have the courage , thanks anyway

 

[breakingjak431]

That motherboard should do fine.

A tower cooler like that should be good for a mild overclock.

CPU should already boost to 4.2Ghz. You can maybe increase that to 4.5 or 4.6Ghz with a little core voltage increase. So something like a 7% performance increase.

I would not exceed 1.35 volts with that CPU cooler, likely you will have temperature problems before reaching that point. VIN / VInput may also need to be increased (from 2.0 to 2.1 or so)

Yea i will give it a try man , i will try to check and see how it goes laterr , thanks to ur help mate , ur information just helped alot , also i mentioned above about my corsair cooler fan that one run fast and the other just run very slow , with the motherboard , anything i can do. To make them run together as same speed? Thanks

 

[Eximo]

As others have mentioned you need to check what fan headers they are plugged into. And you should have fan control options in the BIOS.

 

[breakingjak431]

As others have mentioned you need to check what fan headers they are plugged into. And you should have fan control options in the BIOS.

Ok so i checked there is one on cpu fan 1 , and the other one is on pump fan 1, on the left side there is system fan but nothint is plugged there , i think its because the cable is short to reach it there

 

[Eximo]

That may be it. Pumps generally have a different RPM/PWM ratio because they are poled differently to typical fan motors.

If you have a CPU_OPT that would work, but you should also be able to command pump fan 1 to behave differently.

 

[breakingjak431]

That may be it. Pumps generally have a different RPM/PWM ratio because they are poled differently to typical fan motors.

If you have a CPU_OPT that would work, but you should also be able to command pump fan 1 to behave differently.

Okay so i went to bios and checked cpu fan 1 , running 1370 rpm like that , i went to pump fan and speed is 0rpm

 

[breakingjak431]

Thanks all for you help guys , i actually overclocked my cpu to 4.6 , set the voltage to 1.3, and i tested it , to be honest i felt like my fps now is stable, im getting 51 to 69c cpu temp , im just tempted abit to overclock my gpu abit but i dont know yet, or idk if its worth it

 

[SkyNetRising]

im just tempted abit to overclock my gpu abit but i dont know yet, or idk if its worth it

Were you able to sense performance improvement?
If no, then probably not worth it.

 

[breakingjak431]

Were you able to sense performance improvement?
If no, then probably not worth it.

Actually i would say its abit better , because i tried pubg which is sometimes at some places game go below 65 to 75fps , but now i feel like its better. Or atleast a stable 84fps ( my monitor locked fps ) all i want is a stable 84fps whenever i go places , so maybe if i overclocked my gpu abit i would get thats stable 84fps all the times ? Thats what is was thinking tbh and thanks for ur reply

 

[breakingjak431]

Okay so today i was playing normal , playing pubg , after like a few minutes of playing i got bsod , i overclocked my cpu like 4.6 , and core voltage 1.3 , is that the cause of the oc? And what should i do about it , pls quick response would be really appreciate thanks

,my cpu temp was 60 to 71

 

[SkyNetRising]

i overclocked my cpu like 4.6 , and core voltage 1.3 , is that the cause of the oc?
And what should i do about it

Reduce OC.

 

[breakingjak431]

Reduce OC.

Okay so reduce my oc to 4.2 , and i got bsod, core voltage was 1.33

 

[breakingjak431]

Reduce OC.

To be honest , i put everything back to auto lol , i was just anxious if i might broke something , did i? Or would i ? At the moment , or what should i do now if i want to fix the bsod , now it didnt crash even tho i didnt try anything after putting everything on auto

 

[Eximo]

Not likely to have broken anything.

You just kind of have to fiddle with it until it is stable. Memory controller is on the CPU, so you may have to make adjustments.

4.2 would be back to stock, so not really an overclock aside from potentially forcing it to stay at 4.2GHz. You would do that by disabling the C-States or flipping Windows to High Performance mode.

Never really messed with too much voltage at lower clock speeds, but that could lead to instability due to localized heating. Kind of like the circuits trying to hold back extra pressure (voltage) but running a faster clock means more time spent passing current, not sure.

I've used this before, quite in depth:

https://www.tweaktown.com/guides/74...e-intel-skylake-overclocking-guide/index.html

And referenced this one a few times:

Skylake Overclocking Guide [With Statistics]

www.overclock.net

I had a Kabylake chip that I tortured to run at 5Ghz, but nothing I did would be considered wise.

 

[breakingjak431]

Not likely to have broken anything.

You just kind of have to fiddle with it until it is stable. Memory controller is on the CPU, so you may have to make adjustments.

4.2 would be back to stock, so not really an overclock aside from potentially forcing it to stay at 4.2GHz. You would do that by disabling the C-States or flipping Windows to High Performance mode.

Never really messed with too much voltage at lower clock speeds, but that could lead to instability due to localized heating. Kind of like the circuits trying to hold back extra pressure (voltage) but running a faster clock means more time spent passing current, not sure.

I've used this before, quite in depth:

https://www.tweaktown.com/guides/74...e-intel-skylake-overclocking-guide/index.html

And referenced this one a few times:

Skylake Overclocking Guide [With Statistics]

www.overclock.net

I had a Kabylake chip that I tortured to run at 5Ghz, but nothing I did would be considered wise.

Thank you my friend now i feel better actually lol, so basically and what i understand i can go for example 4.7 or 4.8 , and if it keeps crashing i can just increase voltage everytime? Like for example 4.8 core ratio , voltage 1.35, 1.34 1.36 1.38 and so on until it works ? And nothing to concern about

 

[Eximo]

No, you do have to keep an eye on the temperature, and there is a point where the voltage alone will kill the processor. You don't want it running at 90C all the time. With a pretty normal cooler like you have, I think 1.35 volts is a good stopping point. You can set it to that, and see how it does under a load with stock clocks. Just remember, that ideally you are testing a full load with some benchmark, so that the CPU is capable of operating even in the worst case scenarios. Then you would move on to overclocking, but that is kind of the backwards way to do it. Generally set yourself some target, like 4.5Ghz all core with a 4.2Ghz cache or something. Then see what it takes to do that. If you still have temperature overhead and the voltage hasn't gotten too high, you can aim for higher. If the temperature gets too high, you back off the voltage and revert to your last known good settings and call that your best.

Some people do tune for gaming only and will run a higher core clock and voltage knowing the CPU won't face a full load scenario. But that gets less and less true the newer the game. Plenty that can push a 6700k to the limits.

For example, I had an i7-4770k that would run at 4.5Ghz, but required a high voltage of like 1.45 or something and ran at 100C. Dropped the voltage back down to 1.28, if I recall, and ran at 4.3Ghz with a nice 80C maximum. (older CPUs could tolerate a little more voltage)

My i7-7700k I ran flat out at 5Ghz with a 4.5Ghz cache. That required de-lidding, custom liquid cooling, and running at a 1.416 volts, well beyond the everyday safe threshold for Skylake/Kabylake. Temperatures were okay at the low 80s after the de-lidding and undervolting the memory a bit, and it never died on me. It then ran at stock for another few years until I retired it.
Original Skylake only rarely was able to go that fast, and usually only the very golden sample chips, so you can't take those numbers and use them,. Especially with air cooling.

Every CPU is a little different, read through those guides and see what you can do. Worst case you are out a CPU/Motherboard/RAM. But replacing an i7-6700k isn't that bad these days. i3-12100 and a cheap motherboard and ram totals a little over $200.