Overclocking (Main Thread)

Hey there,
I'm looking at picking up a pre-built, so I wanted to run a few things by you guys...

Are there any specific games that just wouldn't run at all, or maybe wouldn't even hit medium settings, if I paired an overclocked 3.25 GHz chip with a decent GPU that won't cause a massive bottleneck?

Basically, which titles would actually require something like an Intel Core i5-4460 or an Intel Core i5-6600? To be honest, I'm not really feeling like dropping all that extra cash on a better processor if it only makes a difference for a handful of games.

Basically, most modern demanding titles are going to struggle quite a bit on a dual-core setup. You'd be better off telling me specifically what you're planning to play.

Here’s a list of games that would be practically unplayable for you:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1500524/i...w-with-gtx-970

I believe the list has even grown since then (GTA V might stutter, but it runs). One user mentioned that in many newer titles, the cores hit 100% utilization and end up bottlenecking the AMD Radeon HD 7850. If you aren't worried about future-proofing and just want to play older games (aside from a few exceptions), this CPU is actually excellent for gaming.

I've got my AMD FX-6300 clocked at 4.0GHz running on 1.3V right now. When I get a chance, I'm going to try and dial that voltage down to find a more stable, lower setting.
What I'm really trying to figure out is which specific settings I need to tweak in my Gigabyte GA970a-DS3P BIOS to make sure the CPU automatically drops its voltage and frequency while idling, but then kicks back up to full speed whenever there's a heavy load. Or, is it actually better to just leave everything locked at 4.0GHz and 1.3V? 🤔

Here’s what my current BIOS settings look like:
CPU clock ratio x20
Turbo is off
CPB is set to auto
CPU unlocked
C&Q is off
C1E is off
SVM is off
Core control is on auto
I have HPC mode turned ON because otherwise, when the system is idling, it stays at 4.0GHz and 1.3V, but as soon as even one core hits a 30-100% load, it drops down to 3.3GHz and 1.25V.
APM is off

Turn it on if you want things to stay cool and quiet while idling. You should probably just switch it off when you're overclocking (meaning, hunting for those stable voltages) and running stress tests.

HPC Mode (High Performance Computing) - HPC Mode is a setting in the BIOS that prevents the CPU from lowering and locking its clock rate under load in certain conditions. In some benchmarks, HPC Mode can increase performance by about 6%, but these performance improvements are only realized in benchmarks like HPL. Dell tested this setting for the AMD Interlagos server based CPUs and saw very little performance increase outside of HPL benchmarks. HPC Mode did however increase power consumption and power draw for very little benefit.

You didn't mention Load line calibration (LLC), which is what you use to smooth out those voltage fluctuations under load, though it does bump up temps slightly. Generally speaking, it's more worth it to leave it ON.

Timothy Kim60 said:If you just want to chill and keep things cool and quiet while idling, go ahead and turn that on. You’ll probably want to switch it off, though, when you start overclocking—basically whenever you're hunting for stable voltages or running a stress test.

You didn't mention Load Line Calibration (LLC), but that’s what you use to stabilize voltages under load. Just keep in mind it does bump up your temps a tiny bit too. Generally speaking, though, it's usually worth switching it to ON.

Aha, okay. I totally misread the translation from English earlier. I thought "Cool and Quiet" had to stay turned off constantly whenever you're running overclocking settings. My bad. So, what you're saying is it only needs to be disabled during the actual clock searching and stability testing phases. Got it.

As far as the LLC goes, I haven't actually stumbled upon that setting on my motherboard yet, but I'll definitely dig around a bit more and see if I can find it.

I've noticed that on certain games that aren't optimized for multi-core setups, my GPU isn't always hitting 100% load.
It usually sits around 80%, while basically just a single CPU core is doing all the heavy lifting.
I'm talking about World of Tanks and Red Orchestra 2—mostly an issue with WoT, but it happens in the other one occasionally too.

Hardware setup: AMD Radeon HD 7850 at 910MHz and a stock Intel Core i7-920 (reading at 2.67GHz, though some tools say 2.8GHz).
Would overclocking the i7 actually fix this?
I'm noticing that whenever the GPU load drops, my FPS tanks from about 60 down to maybe 45.

What would you recommend for a moderate CPU overclock?
I was thinking somewhere in the 3.3-3.5GHz range.

My PSU, motherboard, and cooler are more than enough, so I'm not worried about hardware limits, but I don't want to push it too far since this rig already pulls quite a bit of power.

thanks in advance

I guess WoT is probably the only game where you can never have enough single-core speed, so there’s definitely some sense in pushing that 2.66GHz a bit higher. You might as well crank it up to 3.5GHz; you should see a pretty noticeable boost.

crimsonstag84 said:WoT is probably the only game where you can never have enough single-core power, so pushing it to 3.5GHz from 2.66GHz actually makes sense. Go for it; you should see a decent boost.

thanks for the quick reply

Even in Red Orchestra, a single core barely scrapes by, somehow hitting over 90% usage
It actually felt like I had a heavier load on an Intel Core i5-3330 at 3.3 GHz

BTW, does this significantly impact power draw during daily tasks—you know, when the CPU isn't under load? This generation seems pretty poorly optimized to me

Anyone got a quick overclocking guide for the Intel Core i7-920, or am I stuck surfing the web for it?

I don't see any massive difference in the load for an overclock like that, and even less when it's idling.



I guess I'm just not sure which BIOS you're running... 😛

crimsonstag84 said:There isn't any massive difference in load for an OC like that, let alone at idle.

Not sure which BIOS you're running... 😛

ASUS P6T SE BIOS from 2010 (0908)

Tweaked everything.
21*160=3,360
Bumped voltage slightly, from 1.25 to 1.265
RAM hit 1600 (1.5V) perfectly, which puts the uncore at 3200 accordingly

Should I be worried about the QPI link frequency or any other voltages?
Btw, couldn't find where to disable Turbo, but since my multiplier is at 21, I assume it doesn't matter.

Performance is up—both in synthetics and World of Tanks (mainly smoother FPS, fewer drops). It maxes out the AMD Radeon HD 7850 without issue now, though occasionally (rarely) I notice the CPU sitting at 80% while the GPU is at 90%, so it’s not a perfect 1:1 utilization.

Since you're tweaking the BCLK, the QPI just ends up hovering around the stock value anyway—it actually has its own multiplier, as shown in the video.

Maybe try aiming for ~3.6GHz at 1.27V. Have you run any stability tests with Prime95 yet? I’d suggest running the Small FFT test for at least an hour, and ideally, you wouldn't want those temps climbing past 80°C during stress testing.

As for heat and power draw, you could probably drop both if you disable Hyper-Threading (HT). That would leave you with 4 cores/4 threads, which should be plenty if you don't need all 8 threads—I doubt older games or WoT are using more than 2 cores anyway.

crimsonstag84 said:QPI just brings you back to stock levels because you're adjusting the BCLK (and QPI has its own multiplier, clearly shown in the video).

Try ~3.6GHz at 1.27V. Did you run stability tests with Prime95? You need to run Small FFT for at least an hour, and I wouldn't want to see it climbing past 80°C during those stress tests.

Regarding temps and power draw—you can drop both if you disable Hyper-Threading (HT). That leaves you with 4 cores/4 threads, which should be plenty if you don't actually need all 8 threads (I doubt older games or WoT use more than 2 cores anyway).

thanks for the advice, think I'm good for now
Prime95 runs fine through all tests for a few hours, temps are hovering around 78°C

but QPI isn't making sense to me
Intel's site says stock QPI is 4800MT/s

My BIOS shows this instead

http://i65.tinypic.com/t64ght.jpg

What you can't see: RAM is 1604MHz, PCIe is 100, Uncore is 3200

I tried using that D.O.C.P. tool
everything stays the same via X.M.P. too

I don't see a QPI multiplier option anywhere. I'm assuming the multiplier is selected like in the image (just like picking RAM frequencies, there's no manual entry; mine seems to be 10 right now, since 1600/160=10)

I could really use some help here...

If I bump up my processor's FSB from 200 to 220 (with a multiplier of 13), it ends up cranking up my memory speed too.

Does the RAM actually run hotter when it's pushed to those higher speeds?

Maybe it's nothing major, but I guess nobody really stresses over this stuff anyway. If it stays stable, it's fine enough

AMD x86, Gigabyte 970A UD3P

1.45v at 4.5GHz

Ran Prime95 for about 40 minutes and it passed without a hitch
But then I threw OCCT at it—it errored out after just 5 minutes

Is this actually stable, or am I just playing with fire here?

Also, my frequency keeps jumping all over the place—anywhere from 4.1 to 4.5GHz according to HW Monitor. Is that normal behavior, or should I be worried?

Which specific CPU are we talking about here? Why is the voltage hitting those levels? What are the temperatures looking like? And did you remember to disable Turbo Boost?

It’s also possible you're dealing with thermal throttling, whether it's due to heat or some other built-in feature.

Well, let's see. The 8350... the voltage isn't even that high—stock sits at 1.4V, right? At that stock voltage, I was already seeing errors in Prime and OCCT after just one minute at 4.5GHz. Once I bumped it to 1.45V, Prime stayed stable for 40 minutes, though OCCT threw an error after five. Just typical, isn't it?

And what do you mean by Turbo? There is no Turbo setting in my BIOS. I disabled Cool'nQuiet and then turned it back on after you mentioned it helps with "chilling," plus I toggled two other power-saving features—nothing else in the BIOS has been touched. I've only overclocked using the multiplier at 22.5. Is that how it’s supposed to be done? Should I leave the BCLK alone?

Once we finally land on a stable clock, do I just turn Cool'nQuiet back on, or should I enable C1E and C6 as well?

It isn't throttling, if that's what you're asking. The cooler is a beefy 1kg Raijintek Nemesis, and temperatures under Prime stay around 45°C.

I even tried 1.5V at 4.7GHz, but both OCCT and Prime were completely unstable.

On Gigabyte systems, it’s called Turbo Boost. Just a heads-up: you can't run Turbo and manual overclocking at the same time—that's the first thing you have to disable. Try turning APM off and setting HPC to on.
Also, nothing seems to work in that narrow window between 1.40V and 1.45V (though you really need to check your turbo settings first). You should also experiment with LLC; just Google that feature so I don't have to lecture you, unless I already did further up.

Regarding stress tests—it's a constant debate, and everyone has their own definition of what "stable" actually means. Some massive AMD fanboy and self-proclaimed AMD guru in the States swears that running 20 passes of ibt-avx is the gold standard for finding instability in AMD chips (apparently picking that up from international experts). Meanwhile, some people test using whatever most demanding software they can find, some hate Prime95, others can't stand OCCT, and so on...

Let’s not overcomplicate things—just take a look and let me know what needs changing 😁





I did a little digging online and realized I had my understanding of throttling all wrong—I honestly thought it was just a temperature issue, but it turns out it was some specific feature causing those constant frequency fluctuations. Now that I've disabled what you suggested, the frequency stays steady during testing.

Also, is it actually worth messing around with the memory settings by trying to shave down the latencies?

northernhawk29 said:that because of some specific feature, the frequency kept jumping all over the place; now that it's turned off per your suggestion, the frequency stays rock steady during testing.

That’s exactly what we’re looking for. You can find a few posts from Rocca just above this one discussing a Gigabyte board.

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