[SOLVED] What does the overclock % refer to?

[ganymede-]

I have an Asus Z390 MB and an Intel i9 (9th generation). I overclock in the BIOS by configuring the CPU Core Ratio to AI Optimized. Also, Asus MultiCore Enhancement to Auto - Let BIOS Optimize.

Each time I start my system I see the word “Overclock 38%,” but other times it will read “Overclock 41%.” Why is there deviation in numbers. Shouldn’t the overclock speed be at a constant rate?

Also, what does the overclock and % number refer to? Is it overclocking the base clock speed of 3.7GHz by 38% or is the % referring to voltage, or something else?

 

[alceryes]

Actually, that may be indicating your percentage overclock from the CPU's base clock.
The i9-9900k's base clock is 3600MHz. 3600 x 1.38 = 4968MHz. If I turn on my MSI 'enhanced overclock' it boosts my CPU to 5000MHz so that sounds about right. Whether your CPU stays at that speed under full load is a different story.

 

[ganymede-]

Ok. That’s what I thought. That the base clock was being increasing by 38-41%. So when I see “overclock 41%” then I’m really at the maximum for my CPU right? Based on your numbers, 3600mhz x 1.41=5076mhz, so a tad over 5Ghz, right? Thanks.

 

[alceryes]

Yup. If your voltage settings are still at 'auto' then your motherboard is probably feeding the CPU up and over 1.37v for 5+GHz.
Be careful at those speeds unless you have an exellent cooler. Be sure to monitor your temps.

 

[ganymede-]

Ok. Thanks for the info on how to understand the percentage reading.

I have a Corsair H150i (I think?) 360mm radiator w three Corsair RGB LL 120 mm series fans attached to it and running at the “performance” level setting in Corsair’s iCue, software, so pushing the maximum amount of air through the radiator all the time.

I think the Corsair iCue software in programmed to alert me when a temperature is running high, though I have never received any such alert, and iCue is always running in the background.

With that said, while I have your attention, what temperature range do u consider to be safe for the CPU when running fast? In Celsius and /or Fahrenheit.

It seems like a lot of posts on temperatures for any aspect of a computer fall into the Celsius camp, which I’m not familiar w at all. But I’m also ignorant to what the best Fahrenheit temperature range is too for the CPU and motherboard and graphic card?

Do u know perhaps a place that offers a chart or just a breakdown of temperatures for inside the computer?

if I’m being honest, I don’t even play my games like Assassin’s Creed or Gears 5 that often, and when I do play a game it’s for maybe an hour or so max. I just use my computer much more for Photoshop work as a hobbyist, so no whopping sized files to save most of the time.

I think most of my equipment is a little above what I really need, except the graphics card is only 4GB and I suppose 6GB would be more ideal, though the games look very good to me w 4GB card.

And anyway it’s like impossible to find a good graphics card now. I went to MicroCenter like two weeks ago and they were completely sold out of every graphics card, and I Beas told that people were waiting in lines for an hour or more on days when the store receives more video cards. Amazon doesn’t have much either. Not sure what is causing this lack of supply in cards? If u know, please share.

So any info you or anyone has on temperatures or a good source document on temperatures that I could reference would be great. Thank you!!!

 

[alceryes]

I'm a little conservative on CPU temps. Some will say up to 89C is okay but I don't like my CPU getting above 85 at all.
If your CPU spikes above 90C or is constantly above 80C I would call that too high.


I'll leave the below but BEFORE you do the below, you should run the Prime95 stability test at full stock settings for CPU/RAM/MB. Getting a baseline is very important to proper overclocking.

If you want to test stability at full 'reasonable' load, install Prime95 and run the stress test, blended test. First test without AVX options checked. 15-30 mins of that will give you a good idea of how hot your CPU will get in most worst case scenarios. Note that if Prime95/your system freezes, that's most likely an indication that your system is unstable (due to temp or just CPU binning) at the ~5GHz speeds.