Safe OC for i5 4690K?

[JESSE1408]

I've started, in the past, to overclock my 4690K but I found that in games, particularly GTAV, the computer would crash over and over. At the time I had my 4690K running around 4.5-4.6Ghz while the voltage was set is AUTO as I'm a novice at this.

How might I make it stable?

Since then, I just have my processor on Turbo.

-- SET UP / HARDWARE --

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($63.95 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: MSI - Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($238.25 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($63.75 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Founders Edition Video Card
Optical Drive: LG - WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($180.95 @ Vuugo)
Monitor: BenQ - GL2460HM 24.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor ($169.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Keyboard: AZIO - MGK1 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($88.06 @ DirectCanada)
Other: EVGA 750 GQ 210-GQ-0750-V1 80+ GOLD 750W Semi Modular EVGA ECO Mode ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Other: Nexxtech Wireless Mouse - Silver (Purchased)
Other: Deepcool Tesseract SW Mid Tower Computer Case (Purchased For $49.99)
Other: Hynix 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz (2x2) ($45.00)
Total: $1244.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-10 11:31 EDT-0400

 

[hdmark]

do you know why it was crashing? overheating?

 

[synphul]

You're better off setting the vcore manually. Auto has a tendency to push core voltage too high in order to guarantee stability, all cpu's are different. I leave eist (speed step) enabled. Generally for 24/7 use you want to stay below 1.3v if possible and consider 1.35v the max. The higher the core voltage the more heat it produces. If you can run 4.5ghz with 1.3v without crashing there's no point in running at 1.35v. The extra .05v is just wasted power/heat.

Start off around 1.2 or 1.25v and increase your multiplier a little at a time. Say x42 (4.2ghz). Check thermals using something like p95 version 26.6 with small fft's (steady load) and monitor with realtemp. If it's within the safe range, around 80-85c should be ok for p95 (normal loads will be less). If it's more like 85-90c that's getting too hot and you may need a better cooler, better case cooling, a/c to reduce ambient room temps etc. Check stability with something like rog realbench. If no crashing, up the multiplier a little to x43 or x44, retest with p95 and realbench. Rinse and repeat.

If it crashes, try upping the core voltage a little to 1.26 or 1.27, retest. If it crashes, up the core voltage a little to 1.28 or 1.3v etc. If it won't stop crashing you may have to back your overclock off. The idea is to keep temps within safe ranges, voltage within safe ranges and run stable. Once you get it stable where it can run p95, realbench, maybe others like ibt (intel burn test) you can try to slowly decrease the core voltage and retest. Finding where the lowest stable vcore is. If you have to push the core voltage beyond 1.3v you may want to reduce the overclock. If your temps start climbing into the high 80's or 90's C, consider backing off the overclock as well as the core voltage and/or improve the cpu cooling.

P95 is pretty intense, it places a harsher load on the cpu than just about anything else you'll use whether games, video editing etc. That's the point of a stress test, it's a worst case scenario. If your cpu/cooling can handle the worst situation you're likely to encounter then there's little cause for concern. If you only stress it a little like with aida64 then it will probably be fine a lot of the time but you may encounter a scenario where it's more intensive than aida's stress test. Now you have to be concerned with temps rising too high. Same with ibt, it's a harsh test and it's meant to be.

Unfortunately since each cpu is different the only real way to oc it is to go through the steps. Your 4690k might reach 4.7ghz at 1.27v or it might crash at anything over 4.4ghz. Mine is at 4.5ghz and 1.28v, I backed it off a bit because it's summer and my ambient room temps are less than ideal. "Normal" ambient temps used for cooler testing is usually around 22c (71-72F). My ambient's right now are almost 33c (91F).