Ovc my i7-6700k

[Sativa]

https://rog.asus.com/19262015/overc...ng-core-i7-6700k-on-the-maximus-viii-extreme/

I just followed the above guide. This was the real bench benchmark I ran before adjusting anything in the bios so all is at stock bar xmp for memory.



Into bios and set to 4.6 at 1.35 volts and ran the real bench stress test for an hour. First SS is just before the hour long test finished.



Second just after test complete.



The benchmark score at 4.6 after the stress test complete.




Unsure whats the best thing to do now? Dont even know how them scores rate tbh.

Should I try 4.7 or lower the voltage from 3.5 till the system crashes to see where its stable at 4.6 then continue? If every test will take an hour this will take a few days to for me to test. If reducing the voltage should it be dropped per run 3.4 / 3.3 / 3.2 etc till the system crashes then + 1 for a stable run.

My temps although they hit 80-82 where mostly for the hour long test around the 75-77 mark. Is it worth trying to push any more due to the temps? what would be the max for a stress test run? Though no game will push the system this hard so the temps should be okay while gaming and this is the most demand my pc will get.

 

[Kilbane]

1st off, you will need to find what your chip can do before just punching in numbers.

Looking at the screens you have posted, the first problem I would concentrate on your Vcore. Your Vcore has risen to 1.4v ..... much more than I would be happy to push through the chip.

Even though you have set the Vcore to 1.35 (Around the highest I would use), LLC will push the voltage up based on what you have set it at.

Take the 4.7 and start dropping the voltage. Is there a set speed you are looking for? If so, try that speed at say 1.3v and see how it goes, you have to debate which school of thought you want to follow. Either all out speed where temp, volts and longevity of the chip are not a major issue. Or go for a decent OC at low voltage. Personally I find a good OC at a low stable voltage is a better indicator of time spent then just hammering the volts through with a 48+ multiplier on that chip.

Use a program such as OCCT to do a quick test of stability and temps between changes in the BIOS. Run each test for 10 mins or so to give an indication of how the OC is working. Once you are happy with where you have gone with it. Run a longer stress test and try some games etc. Even though stress testing will keep your CPU at 100%, games such as GTA V will show a unstable OC better than any stress testing due to the way it uses the CPU and has a constant change in usage.

 

[Sativa]

So why does it not use what I input into the bios? and override?

Why does it disregard what I enter and do its own thing? I have not seen many OVC guides mention this "llc" they all say the same thing change to "44,45,46 in bios choose a starting volt within cpus range (i7 no more then 1.4 safe -1.45 max) and test if it crashes then raise or lower one or the other.

I reran the hour long test last night before going to bed, before reading the above this was at 1.34 in the bios and again it passed the hour long test.

Again at the 57min of an hour mark.


finished


Should I continue to lower the volt via the bios and test till i get a crash? How do i stop the volts doing there own thing?

Hero viii motherboard.

 

[Sativa]

So i have done a bit of reading up regarding the LLC > still confused lol as not to sure what this does and within the asus bios there is 1-8 level settings along with auto which it has been left on for all my tests (till now)

I revert back to default bios after each test till i know a little more and am happy as i do not truly know what impact this has both in testing and long term.

core ratio - 46
manual mode - 1.35
LLC - set at level 5

idle desktop


A quick 15-min realbench test which passed


both HW and cpuz showed 1.344 and 1.360 and jumped between only theses two numbers over the 15 min test. The temps where also 10c cooler then when the LLC was set to auto yesterday. Is level 5 the right setting to be on? should it be lower or higher?


Am I making the right changes here?

 

[Sativa]

core ratio - 47
manual mode - 1.35 / 1.36 / 1.37
LLC - set at level 5

I just tried the above, 1.35 blued at start of test. 1.36 after 5 mins, 1.37 after 10 mins and now im worried to go any higher as am still unsure if theses setting are right. Thought there is a bit of room to play with if 1.45 is the very max too go. The CPU vcore volts were not over 1.4 when the 2 tests started up or ruining before the bsod.


Does anyone have any input? Am i on the right path here?

 

[RobM]

if your not sure then why are doing it?
You need to approach overclocking with care start with stock then increase your cpu in steps when it fails back it off then increase voltage a little and up the cpu again.
You need to be doing a little more research imho before going any further to make sure you know and understand what the settings do and how they interact and affect each other.

 

[Sativa]

if your not sure then why are doing it?
You need to approach overclocking with care start with stock then increase your cpu in steps when it fails back it off then increase voltage a little and up the cpu again.
You need to be doing a little more research imho before going any further to make sure you know and understand what the settings do and how they interact and affect each other.

That is why I am posting here to try and get some help and a better understanding of all this Rob.

If you see my first post i started with a stock score/test and then just done a basic core ratio @46 and set the voltage to 1.35v like so many ovc guides say to do tbh (not many mention over settings) I expected it to fail at 4.6@1.35v I ran the bench mark test / 15min test and an hour long test which all passed without a failure.

It was not till Kilbane mentioned LLC and that some volts looked hot that i had an area to research but having looked at quite a few threads now I have some understanding but dont understand the true difference between 1-8 on the motherboard as some talk about 50% 100% etc rather then 1-8 levels. But changing it to 5 had an effect compared to auto.

After adjusting this to 5 and repeating the test everything seemed okay and again passed without issue the volts along with the temps were all lower. But i am unsure if what i am doing is right which is why I added so many screenshots and have asked for some advice.

I already bricked one i7 thanks to asus jank AI Suite. So am trying to figure out an ovc manually now



.....................
Edit

Below is 2 hours gaming at stock default bios. If the high voltage Kilbane mentioned was aimed at the VID at stock the max VID is higher then an hour long test at 4.6 with the max at 46 being 1.413 and after gaming it being 1.436 and while gaming not one core was fully maxed out in 2 hours although two where close.

So yeah still confused lol

 

[Kilbane]

Sorry for the late reply dude.

Right then, LLC is load line calibration. The easiest way to look at it is as follows :

Say you are overclocking your CPU and you want to ensure stability. One issue you will find is that just occasionally the CPU may require just a fraction more voltage than you have allowed for. In this instance, LLC will allow the CPU to draw x amount of voltage above and beyond the parameters you have set.

Now on initial contemplation, this is a great idea. However, if you have already needed a large amount of voltage for your OC, LLC will allow the CPU to draw more power than you would like it.

Asus, as with many manufacturers, give you the option to adjust the LLC level. Basically what this will do is restrict the amount of voltage above and beyond your setting. For example, level 1 may only allow a 0.05v increase, whereas level 8 may allow 0.2v increase. These are not the actual figures that it works on, only to demonstrate the differences.

So the only true way to stop the CPU being allowed more voltage would be to turn off LLC. Personally I run LLC at level 2 on my board, allows small incremental gains if ever needed.

Keep an eye on HWmonitor (Vcore) or CPUz (Core Voltage) to know what your Vcore is actually running at under load. The VID you referred to earlier is the Voltage Identifier, basic terms, the required voltage needed to run at stock based on Intel figures for stability.

Voltage wise, I would suggest using 1.4 as an upper limit for a 6700k. But that is my opinion based on longevity over performance. Also the most important part of all of it is to keep an eye on temps. High end cooling will allow higher voltage than say stock cooling (Which to be fair if you are on stock cooling, you shouldn't be overclocking at all).

As mentioned earlier, if you are unsure of anything then ask before jumping into it. Anyone can OC, especially with modern motherboards and chips, the skill is in keeping it cool and stable.

 

[Sativa]

Kilbane, Nice reply thanks.

I guess then I should find out what the high end and low end of the 1-8 levels are before I progress any further and just what they allow. I've just gone through the manual and there is no mention of what they are. My guess would be 8 high 1 low. Would be nice if the manual was a little more detailed.

I have a 360-Aio so temps should not be much of an issue. and so far a hour test has bought temps to low 80s at max spike and mid 70s mostly for the duration of the test.

So once i find out the H/L, set it to one above the lowest. Repeat hour test at 46 @ 1.35, if this passes decrease 1.34 1.33 etc till crash, or step up and try 47 and raise up to 1.4

Is there anything that could come into play as the bios does have a lot of setting on auto.

Thanks for the help.

Edit so it seems the LLC level - 1 is high, 8 is low. So I should try 7 ?

 

[tinytomlogan]

I have a 360-Aio so temps should not be much of an issue. and so far a hour test has bought temps to low 80s at max spike and mid 70s mostly for the duration of the test.

Youll find that any more volts and youll overload the cooling ability of the IHS - thats the metal bit on your CPU

TBH smashing your volts straight to 1.35v is a n00b move and youve learnt nothing about your cpu at all.

Just shows me that I really need to find the time to do some proper guides on all of this.

 

[Sativa]

Youll find that any more volts and youll overload the cooling ability of the IHS - thats the metal bit on your CPU

TBH smashing your volts straight to 1.35v is a n00b move and youve learnt nothing about your cpu at all.

Just shows me that I really need to find the time to do some proper guides on all of this.

Ouch called a n00b Yeah okay maybe this is true! and is silly of me to blindly follow guides, but so many guides say the same thing and follow the same path in order to overclock a skylake cpu

Where would you suggest I start Tom? I thought this was meant to be rather strait forward

 

[lebel22]

Ouch called a n00b Yeah okay maybe this is true! and is silly of me to blindly follow guides, but so many guides say the same thing and follow the same path in order to overclock a skylake cpu

Where would you suggest I start Tom? I thought this was meant to be rather strait forward

I was (am) in the same boat as you. The last time I over-clocked a cpu was with an Athlon 3200 back in the day, it was very simple to do back then with minimum settings to play with.
So this time around I chose the I7 6700k as I would like to try a bit of OC'ing again. Wow was I in for a wallop. The settings you now get on a motherboard's UEFI scared and amazed the hell out of me. I tried reading the supplied manual and to be honest it's geared up for enthusiasts with good base knowledge beforehand and not for the novice that I was (am). That said, undeterred, I watched many many YouTube clips, read many forum posts and browsed numerous reviewer sites & tbh came to the same conclusion, that I was still somewhat out of my depth with a full comfortable understanding of my mobo & cpu for overclocking.
A big problem as I see it is with any decent or true guide to overclocking is the breadth of different mobo's and their current bios's and the silicon lottery that is your cpu.

My journey (in brief) has got me to a comfortable & stable 4.6 @ 1.27 core colts with a llc of 5, xmp on for memory only & everything else on auto. I can get to 4.8 but only with 1.4v, but because there are so many mixed opinions of what is a decent, safe and long serving max voltage, I decided to Knock it back 200mhz.
When kaby becomes available and funds permit, I might see what 1.5v would get me just for the hell of it.

Edited:

 

[Kaapstad]

Ouch called a n00b Yeah okay maybe this is true! and is silly of me to blindly follow guides, but so many guides say the same thing and follow the same path in order to overclock a skylake cpu

Where would you suggest I start Tom? I thought this was meant to be rather strait forward

Try and get your head around the subject rather than blindly following guides.

I have not overclocked a skylake CPU but I would just follow the same principles I use for other CPUs and GPUs.

One thing that is important is not to go too high on the voltage to start with as Tom said earlier. You get most of the performance improvements with no/very little voltage increases. It is only for the last few mhz that raising the volts makes the biggest difference.

Oh and keep an open mind as some of the err experts on other forums sometimes get it wrong and don't know as much as they think.

One of the best overclockers of intel CPUs I know is a mate of mine who works for AMD as a tech rep lol.