Version of Prime95 to use for i7 4770k OC to 4.3Ghz (prime above Ver 26.6 give fake temps?)

[angelfrost]

Hello everyone!
I finally take the decision to overclock my 4770k, although some questions come across as usual. Let's start with my Specs

Cpu: i7 4770k
Cpu fan: Noctua NH-U14S
Mobo: Gigabyte z87xud4h
Ram: 16gb corsair vengeance 1600 (4gb*4)
Gpu: msi 1070 gaming X
Case: Corsair 400R
Psu: Coolermaster 850 silent pro M
Ssd: Samsung 840 pro 128gb
Hdd: Caviar black 640 sata II
Hdd: Caviar black 640 sata II
Hdd:Caviar black 1Tb sata III
Sound: Soundblaster x-fi titanium fatality
Monitor: Dell ultrasharp U2414H
Os: Win 7 ultimate 64bit

This is my first OC with haswell but i manage to OC my 4770k to 4.3Ghz with 1.22v.
What i change:

1)set cpu base clock to manual
2)set cpu clock ratio to 43
3)set cpu v core to 1.22v
4)set XMP to profile 1,(also set dram voltage to 1.5v and timings manually to 8-8-8-24 for both channels just to be sure)
5)disable turbo boost,C1E,C3,C6/C7,EIST
(I set them again to auto AFTER the OC except of turbo boost)
6)disable Intel Processor Graphics
Everything else was auto.

I was using Prime95 ver 28.5 with small FFT's and the temps was too high, above 90c in the first minute.
Then i saw this: {Please Read}
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3219770/prime95-insane-temps-4770k.html?58a5e87a5e317=reload&58a5e944a519b=reload&58a5fab86e399=reload&58a624e573bd7=reload

I download Prime95 ver 26.6 , set it again to small FFT's and after 45 minutes with 0 errors and 0 warnings max temp was 69C !
I also run intel burn test V2.54 with stress level at standard, times to run 10, with max temp of 79C.
Ambient temp for both tests was 15C.

The questions are:
A) Do i believe the Prime95 ver 26.6 temps?
B) If Prime95 ver 26.6 temps are true are this temps ok?
C) If A and B are yes means my OC is stable?
Thank you in advance for your time dear experts, I respect your opinions and your knowledge!!!

 

[weberdarren97]

Sounds like you at least have some idea what you're doing.

I recommend AIDA64 Extreme. I will post instructions below.

Using AIDA64 to test the stability of your system.

1) Drop down the Tools menu across the top, select System Stability Test.
2) Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the interface. Detailed instructions listed below.
3) Select everything except for Local Disk. Local Disk has killed SATA controllers on my boards before, please don't use it. For basic temperature testing, run the test for at least 15 minutes. For full stability testing, run the test for at least 24 hours.
4) If something goes wrong and Windows remains stable, AIDA64 will stop the test and report a failure. If Windows crashes, you'll have to back off on your OC before you can figure out the problem (hopefully it's overly agressive OC settings).

Interpreting the information provided by AIDA64 Extreme System Stability Test.

1) CPU Usage and Throttling graph. This graph is present on all tabs except for the Statistics tab. This graph shows CPU usage and CPU thermal throttling. CPU usage (default: yellow) should always be at least 99% when stress testing. CPU thermal throttling (default: green) should always be at 0%. If CPU thermal throttling goes above 0%, stop the test, your CPU is getting too hot.
2) Temperatures tab. This graph shows temperatures across system devices. I think that explanation is enough.
3) Cooling fans tab. This tab shows the current speed of system and device fans. Mine often tells me that my CPU fan is greater than 10,000 RPM (it exceeds the height of the graph). IDK if this is my motherboard not wishing to tell Windows the speed of the CPU fan or if this is a problem with the accuracy of this tab.
4) Voltages. All this tab will do is lye to you. It's not a problem with AIDA64. Software voltage readings are not accurate. If you wish to know PSU output voltages, connect a multimeter and measure it directly.
5) Clocks tab. This tab shows the current clock speed of system devices measured in MHz. 1GHz=1000MHz. Memory speed sometimes gets cut in half. Ignore this, it is the nature of double data rate (DDR) memory.
6) Statistics tab. This tab does not show the CPU Usage and Throttling graph. This tab organizes information collected by AIDA64 into four separate categories: current value, minimum value, maximum value, average value. Cooling fans and voltages in this tab are just as inaccurate as they are in other tabs.

 

[The_Staplergun]

To answer your question, anything past v26.6 uses AVX instructions, which produce false temperatures. This is why you always read that. You should believe the 26.6 temps, as most things you do wont be near that complicated of instruction for the CPU in the first place, let alone the AVX instruction set.

 

[angelfrost]

First of all thank you for your time both. I did what weberdarren97 said downloaded AIDA64 Extreme trial version 5.80 and run it for almost 32 minutes.
Results :
http://imgur.com/a/96TLv
http://imgur.com/vAImkJZ
http://imgur.com/PNA6GW8
http://imgur.com/XB39lhW
I guess the temps are ok, so i have to worry about stability now right?
Looks like 4.3Ghz is the sweet spot for me.

 

[The_Staplergun]

As long as neither program errors, or you have no errors running anything, you haven't hit the recommended temperature limit, or max voltages, you're set.

 

[CompuTronix]

angelfrost,

Here's the recommended operating range for Core temperature:

80C Hot (100% Load)
75C Warm
70C Warm (Heavy Load)
60C Norm
50C Norm (Medium Load)
40C Norm
30C Cool (Idle)
25C Cool

Core temperatures up to 80C are safe.

There's a Sticky near the top of the CPU's Forum you should read: Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

Pay close attention to Sections 12 & 13 ...

"Do NOT use versions of Prime95 later than 26.6 on 2nd through 7th Generation i3, i5 or i7 CPU's, which all have AVX (Advanced Vector Extension) instruction sets. Recent versions of Prime95 such as 28.9 run AVX code on the CPU's Floating Point Unit (FPU) which causes unrealistic temperatures up to 20C higher. The FPU test in the utility AIDA64 shows similar results. Core i Pentium and Celeron variants, as well as all Core i Previous (1st) Generation and Core 2 processors are unaffected since they do not have AVX instruction sets."

Further, Intel discourages the use of recent versions of Prime95: Troubleshooting Intel® Core™ i7-4790K / i5-4690K overheating - https://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-23517

" ... Overheating occurs very quickly on motherboard products with certain BIOS settings when running the Small FFT test that is part of the Prime95 application, version 28.5 ... Overheating is not as severe with earlier versions of Prime95 ... "

Although this document specifically refers to Prime95 version 28.5 and Devil's Canyon processors, it obviously applies as well to your 4770K. P95 V26.6 is the latest pre-AVX version, while the most recent version is 28.9.

CT

 

[angelfrost]

CompuTronix,

Good morning and thank you for your time.
Great work by the way with the guide , it's truly informative and easy-simple to read. Great Job!!!
Since my temps are within the normal range and from what i understand (I'm not an expert to overclocking) my volts too,
can you please tell me what stress test should I run and for how long to see if my system is stable?
I imagine Prime95 V26.6 Small FFT's test but for how long?

 

[CompuTronix]

Prime95 V26.6 is ideal for thermal testing, but the ideal utility for stability testing is Asus RealBench - http://rog.asus.com/rog-pro/realbench-v2-leaderboard/

I recommend that you run it for 1 to 2 hours. Although it's a fluctuating workload, your peak Core temperatures will still be similar to P95 V26.6 Small FFT's. Also, it won't push your Core temperatures unrealistically high such as Intel Burn Test (which was not developed by Intel).

Since your CPU is overclocked, keep in mind that Asus RealBench is a full system stability test. If your DRAM, GPU and VRAM are also overclocked, it will stress those as well. This means the overclock stability of each individual subsystem can be independently tested by temporarily running all other subsystems at their default settings, except for the one you intend to test.

CT

 

[angelfrost]

Dear CompuTronix

I can tell you, that according to RealBech my system is stable!
I run the stress test for 2 hours and everything is ok!
Do you have any idea why i get this message during Benchmark "Unable to properly parse system specs, please report to RealBench forum"?
Is it because i have a Gigabyte mobo and not Asus???
I forget to mention Temps where also Good!
Here are 2 pics
http://imgur.com/a/UdWQJ
http://imgur.com/a/eVQEf

Edit:
I repeated the stress test for another 2 hours, i had a message (at the bottom of the main window not the log output),
"stress test passed" which i didn't in the first run as you see in the pic. Forget to take a new one.
I would like to thank The_Staplergun and weberdarren97 for their time.
And of course you for everything.