If you have a Corsair Power Supply then you can use Corsair Link, its a pretty neat bit of software that gives accurate temps of every component in your case. My 4770K overclocked to 4.5GHz @1.25V never exceeds 70C when using FSX/P3D, it is cooled by the H110. For stability tests you can use Intel Burn Test, its a pretty neat stress test program that will stress test your overclocked CPU, if your computer blue screens then you need to go back to the BIOS and change a few things, once you pass 10 tests on Intel Burn Test then you can be sure that your overclock is stable.

 

I would imagine you could increase your CPU Cache Ratio min and max to 39 at least if you are going for a manual overclock of 42. It is my understanding that you want this number to be closer to your core ratio, not more than it though. With a Core ratio of 42 you can start with 39 on the CPU Cache ratio.

 

If you Google "Haswell 4.8Ghz on air - Building a Haswell System", there is a very detailed guide courtesy of "Nick N" (a long but informative read, even for first timers) He uses an Asus motherboard but much of the logic and settings will be the same on your board.

 

With a 'light' overclock of 42, you are safe with adaptive V Core.  A V-core override of 1.18 should get you stable - but there are so many variables that makes it impossible to copy settings from one system and expect that they will work on another.

 

 

Thanks ghutcheon! I'm retesting with my CPU Cache set to 39. If that BSODs, I'll drop it incrementally until I find what works. When I started my OC tweaking this weekend, I initially set my vcore at 1.200 and I got BSOD so I didn't bother going lower than that - I'm not sure if I'd make 1.18 unless there is something I'm not understanding?

 

I'll also check out the guide you referenced in your post. I would definitely like to push my OC higher if I could (4.5 ideally), but my biggest concern so far has been temps; I don't want to risk running too hot to get from 4.2 to 4.5, if that makes sense. Do you think I have the headroom with my current temps to try?

 

If you have a Corsair Power Supply then you can use Corsair Link, its a pretty neat bit of software that gives accurate temps of every component in your case. My 4770K overclocked to 4.5GHz @1.25V never exceeds 70C when using FSX/P3D, it is cooled by the H110. For stability tests you can use Intel Burn Test, its a pretty neat stress test program that will stress test your overclocked CPU, if your computer blue screens then you need to go back to the BIOS and change a few things, once you pass 10 tests on Intel Burn Test then you can be sure that your overclock is stable.

 

 

Thanks Shamrock727 (I love that username btw)! I actually downloaded Corsair Link earlier but didn't look at it too closely for temperatures. Maybe I'll have to go back and take a look. Do you use Corsair Link instead of other utilities like HWMonitor?

 

Also, did you set up Custom fan speed settings or do you just use one of the profiles already given? I was originally using the 'Performance' profile, but I found that the fans ran too loudly, so I switched it back to 'Default.' I also have my Corsair radiator at the top of my case and set up as the exhaust with all the front and side fans as intakes.

 Do you use Corsair Link instead of other utilities like HWMonitor?

 

Also, did you set up Custom fan speed settings or do you just use one of the profiles already given? I was originally using the 'Performance' profile, but I found that the fans ran too loudly, so I switched it back to 'Default.' I also have my Corsair radiator at the top of my case and set up as the exhaust with all the front and side fans as intakes.

Well to be honest I prefer Corsair Link to any other temp monitor software I have used, but its personal preference! 

 

I set the fan speed's to full in the BIOS, the stock fans that come with the Corsair H110 are unbearably loud so I bought two Noctua 120mm fans to replace them, WOW, what a difference!! They're set to maximum performance and they're barely noticeable! Ofcourse there is some noise as the air passes through the radiator but its considerably better than the H110 stock fans. I have a total of 6 intake fans two of them being for the H110 radiator, and one Alpenfohn 180mm exhaust. Case airflow is superb! 

Not sure I understand how, but I changed my cpu cache to 39 and vcore to 1.180 and was almost able to run Prime95 for 2 hours before it reboot (I guess it still needs some fine-tuning). I haven't tried to run IBT yet. My temps were remarkably lower: stayed around 45-60C across all 4 cores and for just a moment hit 74C. So right now my numbers look like:

 

CPU All Core Ratio 42

CPU Cache Ratio 39

Vcore override voltage 1.180 *will be set to adaptive after testing

Vcore voltage additional offset Auto

CPU Cache Override Voltage Auto

CPU Cache Voltage Offset Auto

System Agent Offset Auto

Fixed Voltage 1.900

TEMPS

Prime95 high 74 C

Prime95 avg 45-60 C

 

I will do some more fine-tuning this week to see if I can get it stable and stay at these much better temps. Perhaps this would leave me with enough headroom to push my OC a bit higher - maybe 4.4 or 4.5 and still stay in safe temp ranges?

 

Its all a gamble when overclocking, you could get a good or a bad chip you never know, you might only get 4.2GHz out of it or you might get up to 4.7GHz you never know until you start to overclock.

For stability tests you can use Intel Burn Test, its a pretty neat stress test program that will stress test your overclocked CPU, if your computer blue screens then you need to go back to the BIOS and change a few things, once you pass 10 tests on Intel Burn Test then you can be sure that your overclock is stable.

Except for the fact that IBT isn't validated for use with Ivy Bridge, or Haswell, thus may not effectively test all aspects of the CPU, and may even over stress other aspects.

 

I've used it myself for Ivy Bridge... but take care.

 

Aida64 on the other hand is validated for use with Ivy Bridge and Haswell.

Thanks Shamrock727 and martwin-w - I appreciate the feedback. I'll try Aida64 for testing my OC, as well.

 

At this stage, should I raise my vcore incrementally or lower my CPU cache incrementally? I crashed just before the two hour mark. I sincerely appreciate you guys taking the time to answer my questions - it's been an enormous help.

 

CPU All Core Ratio 42

CPU Cache Ratio 39

Vcore override voltage 1.180 *will be set to adaptive after testing

Vcore voltage additional offset Auto

CPU Cache Override Voltage Auto

CPU Cache Voltage Offset Auto

System Agent Offset Auto Fixed Voltage 1.900

 

TEMPS

Prime95 high 74 C

Prime95 avg 45-60 C

Hey PC Pilot Dave,

 

Do you have Hyper Threading switched on or off in the BIOS?

 

FSX does not use hyper threading and turning this off will usually give you some reduction in temperature - at absolutely no cost to the simulator. This implies more stability or scope for a higher over clock. If you do turn it off and you have the 'hyperthread tweak' [Affinity Mask] in your fsx.cfg, remember to edit (or delete) that tweak.

 

If you can run Prime 95 for almost 2 hours before the system crashed, you are close to a good setup. If your high temp was 'only' 74 C, try a Vcore of 1.20. You may well find that FSX or any other application you run will never crash your system at 1.18 though as it does not stress the system like Prime 95 does. Prime 95 is capable of crashing non overclocked PC's too.

Personally I think you can over clock much higher. 

 

The way I would go about it is by setting a voltage that would result in a temp of about 85C in Intel burn test. 

 

Then find the ratio that will be stable with that voltage. 

 

Make final small adjustments to the voltage to make sure you are stable in Intel burn test. 

 

I would not be afraid to go much higher if I were you.

 

Don't forget that if you see 80 - 85 C during intel burn test, your temps during fsx usage will be about 20 C lower. So the highest you will every see in normal usage would be 65C, which is very nice and way below the safe temp of this chip, which is 90C. (Which is still below the intel max of 104!)

 

Just my 2c.

Hey PC Pilot Dave,

 

Do you have Hyper Threading switched on or off in the BIOS?

 

FSX does not use hyper threading and turning this off will usually give you some reduction in temperature - at absolutely no cost to the simulator. This implies more stability or scope for a higher over clock. If you do turn it off and you have the 'hyperthread tweak' [Affinity Mask] in your fsx.cfg, remember to edit (or delete) that tweak.

 

If you can run Prime 95 for almost 2 hours before the system crashed, you are close to a good setup. If your high temp was 'only' 74 C, try a Vcore of 1.20. You may well find that FSX or any other application you run will never crash your system at 1.18 though as it does not stress the system like Prime 95 does. Prime 95 is capable of crashing non overclocked PC's too.

Thanks for the feedback ghutcheon. I have already disabled HyperThreading (i read that on another forum), but I certainly appreciate the suggestion! I also double-checked to make sure I did not ahve the affinity mask edit in my cfg file.

 

I was trying to tweak the settings where I had the CPU Cache at 39 and the Vcore at 1.180, but the system would crash in  under an hour. I tried rerunning with those same settings where I almost reached the 2 hour mark and it started to crash in under an hour, as well. Can that happen? Those settings ran Prime95 for nearly 2 hours one day and then didn't even make 1 hour a few days later? 

 

Here were the settings:

 

CPU All Core Ratio 42

CPU Cache Ratio 39

Vcore override voltage 1.180 *will be set to adaptive after testing

Vcore voltage additional offset Auto

CPU Cache Override Voltage Auto

CPU Cache Voltage Offset Auto

System Agent Offset Auto Fixed Voltage 1.900

 

TEMPS

Prime95 high 74 C

Prime95 avg 45-60 C

 

 

 

EDIT: Sorry should have used multi-quote. Thanks for the reply outofphaze! I would love to push my OC higher to 4.4 or 4.5ghz if I could. I believe it's been mentioned that IBT isn't designed for Haswell though. I will definitely try to go higher once I can get 4.2 locked in (my UEFI allows for 3 profiles, so I'm trying to set up a non-oc, a 'light' OC, and a moderate OC if I can).

Try setting Vcore at 1.20 and failing that, at 1.22, leaving the other settings alone. If you are also overclocking your RAM, leave that be (or on an XMP profile if your RAM and motherboard support it).

I agree with outofphaze that you can get a higher o/clock but you are right to take it one step at a time.

I believe it's been mentioned that IBT isn't designed for Haswell though.

Strictly speaking it's not no. Aida64 is available as a free trial, run the stress test with just "stress FPU" ticked, and it will run a test almost as extreme as IBT, but with the added advantage that you will know it's testing all instruction sets properly.

 

I'm not telling you to never use Prime or IBT, just to bear in mind that they aren't validated by Intel, and thus, may not be as efficient as you think. Theoretically, they could also over stress.

 

Strictly speaking it's not no. Aida64 is available as a free trial, run the stress test with just "stress FPU" ticked, and it will run a test almost as extreme as IBT, but with the added advantage that you will know it's testing all instruction sets properly.

 

I'm not telling you to never use Prime or IBT, just to bear in mind that they aren't validated by Intel, and thus, may not be as efficient as you think. Theoretically, they could also over stress.

 

 

Aida64 is a really nice utility! It gives you a lot of great data!

 

I've also noticed a big difference in my results - right now I'm testing using 1.175 vcore and cpu cahce 39 and having no issues. Temps are in the mid 70s when using FPU and low-to-mid 50s when testing CPU.