Overclocking?

[emshomar 0]

So I recently built a whole new Computer with i7-4790k and GTX960 and installed my copy of P3D plus several addons on it when then I noticed it framewise just didn't run as fast as I've seen on several YouTubers with almost the same specs. I figured that might be because they have overclocked to something like 4,6GHz to even 4,80GHz. I am really not liking the idea of overclocking my CPU mainly because my super cheap chassis wasn't made for that purpose yet I tried overclocking to 4,6GHz and to my surprise I got 2x more fps than before. I reduced the frequency to 4,5GHz and saw maybe 1-2 frames less but still very solid. Now I have it to 4,4GHz set and I see practically the same performance as before with 4,5GHz. I understand that with TurboBoost when all 4 cores are active it will go to only 4,2GHz (i think-not sure) but still that shouldn't have like half of the performance. Is it maybe something with P3D that fails with Intel TurboBoost?

[Luke 782]

If your frame rates doubled from 4.4Ghz (stock turbo for an i7-4790K) to 4.6Ghz then something else got changed as well.

 

Cheers!
 

Luke

[emshomar 0]

GSX Activation Services detected a new hardware config after doing the overclock which was weird even with 4,4GHz set.

The only thing I did was sliding the CPU Clock Ratio from auto to 46 which gave me 4,6GHz.

Like stated before I have slided it to 44 which runs now at 4,4GHz and even with that I am getting two times as much FPS as if I left it in Default. Don't get me wrong. TurboBoost did work, but for somereason when "overclocking" to 4,4GHz on BIOS it gives much better perfomance. But it runs a little hotter (around 70°C max) now and I fear I still might dammage my system here.

[PaulGR 168]

Devil's Canyon is a mini reactor and for the safety of your wallet you should install some aftermarket cooler if you don't have it yet.

I run mine at 4.7 / Cache 45 and I'm getting 65-68 celcius under full load.

[emshomar 0]

I have CoolerMaster 212 Evo installed...

[martin-w 3,234]

GSX Activation Services detected a new hardware config after doing the overclock which was weird even with 4,4GHz set.

The only thing I did was sliding the CPU Clock Ratio from auto to 46 which gave me 4,6GHz.

Like stated before I have slided it to 44 which runs now at 4,4GHz and even with that I am getting two times as much FPS as if I left it in Default. Don't get me wrong. TurboBoost did work, but for somereason when "overclocking" to 4,4GHz on BIOS it gives much better perfomance. But it runs a little hotter (around 70°C max) now and I fear I still might dammage my system here.

As Luke said, some other variable must have been at play. Overclocking is linear, if you overclock by 10% you get roughly a 10% increase in frame rate. I'd be grateful and not worry about why. Just guessing, probably talking nonsense, but it may have been some kind of bottleneck phenomenon at work.

 

As for temps, 70 degrees under load [as long as that's core temp not CPU temp] isn't a big deal and won't fry your CPU, 80 is generally regarded as the max to shoot for under load. However, as the other lads said, a better cooler would be a great idea in order to keep the heat down. Don't know if you are in your summer or winter, but if in winter, then the temp will be higher in summer.

 

You say you have a 212 Evo, not a bad cooler for the money, but far from the best. The reason your temp is higher than it would otherwise be, is that you allowed the motherboards auto rules to set the CPU voltage. To do that, without any kind of stress tests, it has to set a higher generic voltage to accommodate as many CPU's as possible, wherever they fall in the silicone lottery.

 

 

But as I said, 70 degrees as measured by something like CoreTemp, or RealTemp is not a huge deal.

 

Some temp measuring utilities measure CPU temp,so be careful because CPU temp is higher than core temp. Core temp is measured from sensors within the CPU die. CPU temp is measured from a sensor just under the IHS, thus it's higher.

 

There's also something called PECI, which often foxes people. It reads backwards, it counts down to zero, zero being TJ.Max.

[Luke 782]

Like stated before I have slided it to 44 which runs now at 4,4GHz and even with that I am getting two times as much FPS as if I left it in Default.

 

http://ark.intel.com/products/80807/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_40-GHz

 

The default Turbo speed for the i-4790K is 4.4Ghz. You've done something else as well.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

[emshomar 0]

Thank you all for your tips! So I experimented a little more and found out that P3D runs actually much smoother if I disable TurboBoost. With TurboBoost on my CPU ran at first core at 4.4GHz. Second one went to 4.3GHz and third and forth went to 4.2GHz. Appearnetly P3D didn't like that the cores ran a different clock speeds 

Then I put the multiplier to 4,40GHz so all cores run at 4,40GHz at the same time without playing with voltage settings, I kept it to auto. I ran a stresstest using LinX and watched how the temps reached almost over 100°C in RealTemp. I immediatly stopped the stresstest and started reducing the voltage until I reached 1.12V. I ran multiple stresstests and couldn't really find any errors at that voltage, also the temps are much better now going to 86°C at max.

 

Now I finally see something worthy for the price I've spent!

[TheFamilyMan 279]

Something to know about turbo bins.  This is the stock behavior for a 4790K:

3 or 4 cores running, max turbo 4.2 Ghz

2 cores running, max turbo 4.3 Ghz

1 core running, max turbo 4.4 Ghz

 

Essential this means an out of box 4790K is really a 4.2Ghz part, unless one disables turbo in the bios.  Plus, this is what intel considers rock solid safe.  If you extrapolate this a bit, it means that each core is easily capable of 4.4 Ghz , though enhanced cooling and perhaps an extra bit of voltage is necessary to maintain stability to push all four cores at this speed.

[jjjallen 37]

4.6 Ghz seems to be the sweetspot on my Ivy Bridge.  Add volts but not too many to achieve a stable OC. 

 

Regards

jja

[Guest JustanotherPilot]

4.6 Ghz seems to be the sweetspot on my Ivy Bridge.  Add volts but not too many to achieve a stable OC. 

 

Regards

jja

 

jja

 

Do you have any liquid cooling at 4.6? I'm running my 4790K at 4.4ghz which is stable on large cpu fan and ancillary case fans but don't want to go any higher without liquid, I don't know how far I can go just on fan cooling.

[emshomar 0]

4,60GHz would be a dream. But with 4,40GHz I am already archiving my goal. P3D with all the addons (REX SC - ORBX FTX Global - ASN - AS A320 - almost all addon airports I own) run now at butter smooth 30fps. Sometimes higher sometimes lower but 30fps is now average. So I'm fine if I can get 4,40GHz running.

 

I've followed this guide here too: http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-introduction-to-overclocking-your-intel-pr-5580998

I cannot go more than 4,40GHz though. 4,50GHz requires me to have higher voltage to even boot into Windows without immediate crashing. One step higher and the temps rise over 90°C so that's a no go to me.

1.120V is running quite stable on my mashine at 4,40GHz. I did at least 5 stress tests on it spread through the whole day and not yet encountered any crashes, bsods or errors from LinX. From what I've read so far, the lower the Vcore voltage the better.

 

Please let me know if I still missed out something. I just recently built up this mashine and I really don't want to dammage my system here.

[jjjallen 37]

I wouldn't worry about the Vc too much.  Is all in the temps.

 

jja

[martin-w 3,234]

jja

 

Do you have any liquid cooling at 4.6? I'm running my 4790K at 4.4ghz which is stable on large cpu fan and ancillary case fans but don't want to go any higher without liquid, I don't know how far I can go just on fan cooling.

You've never heard of the Noctua NH-D15 then?

 

Trust me, the best air coolers are perfectly capable of competing with closed loop water coolers.

 

Check this out...

 

Kraken X61 closed loop cooler overclocked 67.33 degrees.

Noctua NH-D15 air cooler overclocked 69.33 degrees.

 

Barely anything in it.

 

Noise levels...

 

Kraken X61 29 decibels.

NH-D15 24 decibels. Much quieter.

 

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7301/noctua-nh-d15s-style-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

 

My new Skylake build will be cooled by the NH-D15S and yes, overclocked too.

My current Ivy Bridge system is cooled by an NH-D14, and yes overclocked too.

[Datalink 26]

My system will be a skylake 6700K when I get my next pay packet, already have my NH-D15 waiting