Overclock tools needed - new PC ordered

[Jetset408 108]

Hi all

 

Exciting news - i bit the bullet and new PC ordered. I have gone for a 6700K, Asrock OC Z170 board, 16GB 2666MHz memory, and 1070 GTX card

 

My aim is to overclock to 4.6Ghz and use XMP. I have a H115i AIO water cooler coming too.

 

The question to you good folks is: What OC/test tools do you recommend to get me up and running?

 

I will need temp measurement, stress testing and perhaps memory testing software. Its been a while since I last did an OC so am out of the loop. My research on whats best has been inconclusive. I'm not looking to prove to the world that I'm stable with some insane test, I'm just after something that will test my OC robustly enough to not leave me fearing a BSOD during a Prepar3D flight with the FSL A320 between some hardcore airport addons!

 

I previously used Prime95 and CPUID but have read that P95 is not too realistic for testing Skylakes.

 

I was considering AIDA64 - anyone have any experience? If so, will the trial version be enough?

 

MemTest84 - is this worth it for testing RAM? I assume I could use it to test my setup at stock, then once I have OCd the CPU, I will go back to set XMP on the RAM, then I re-run MemTest (as well as AIDA)?

 

Grateful for any advice to get the best out of my new system!

 

Thanks

 

Rich

 

[Manny 1,293]

You can expect 4.6-4.7Ghz with that

 

Don't use Prime... its not required. 

[ryanbatc 12,853]

I used Intel burn test but not sure if that's up to date anymore.

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

I used Intel burn test but not sure if that's up to date anymore.

 

Prime95 and LInX are probably the best and use Real Temp for CPU temp monitoring. 

[martin-w 3,235]

Hi all

 

Exciting news - i bit the bullet and new PC ordered. I have gone for a 6700K, Asrock OC Z170 board, 16GB 2666MHz memory, and 1070 GTX card

 

My aim is to overclock to 4.6Ghz and use XMP. I have a H115i AIO water cooler coming too.

 

The question to you good folks is: What OC/test tools do you recommend to get me up and running?

 

I will need temp measurement, stress testing and perhaps memory testing software. Its been a while since I last did an OC so am out of the loop. My research on whats best has been inconclusive. I'm not looking to prove to the world that I'm stable with some insane test, I'm just after something that will test my OC robustly enough to not leave me fearing a BSOD during a Prepar3D flight with the FSL A320 between some hardcore airport addons!

 

I previously used Prime95 and CPUID but have read that P95 is not too realistic for testing Skylakes.

 

I was considering AIDA64 - anyone have any experience? If so, will the trial version be enough?

 

MemTest84 - is this worth it for testing RAM? I assume I could use it to test my setup at stock, then once I have OCd the CPU, I will go back to set XMP on the RAM, then I re-run MemTest (as well as AIDA)?

 

Grateful for any advice to get the best out of my new system!

 

Thanks

 

Rich

 

 

 

There are some individuals that still like to use "synthetic" stress tests like Prime95 or IBT.... the problem is precisely that,  they are synthetic stress tests that bear no resemblance to the applications we run day to day.

 

Further more, if you run Prime 95 Small FFT's you will generate that much heat your CPU will be a miniature supernova [i exaggerate but you get the picture] and may shut down if it's a high overclock. If you decide to ignore me and still run Prime95, don't use Small FFT's, use the blend test only.

 

Aida64 is pretty good, but I would not tick the FPU option, so that it doesn't run AVX instruction sets, if you don't it will run AVX and generate considerable heat. You may find that as long as your overclock isn't extremely high that you can run with FPU ticked, I can on mine, but to be honest, the only applications that run AVX are professional applications like Adobe Premier. In normal use, most of us will never encounter AVX.

 

I haven't used Prime95 or IBT for some time, instead I use Asus ROG RealBench.  And to be honest that's all you need. 

 

RealBench will run a series of stress tests that closely match how we use our PC's day to day. For my 6700K overclock, all that was required was one hour of RealBench to ensure stability. My rig is now 100% stable. I also ran Aida64 for one hour but it wasn't really necessary.

 

Be sure to dive in to intensive games as well, to ensure stability, the applications we run are always the best test of stability. 

 

The trial edition of Aida64 is fine, all you need.

 

For temps, you need CoreTemp or RealTemp, I prefer RealTemp.

 

RealBench...

 

Download RelBench here...

 

http://rog.asus.com/rog-pro/realbench-v2-leaderboard/

 

About RealBench here...

 

http://rog.asus.com/articles/overclocking/realbench-benchmarking-stress-test-insights/

 

 

RealBench is a benchmark that uses open source applications and simple scripting to simulate real world performance of a PC system.

 

 

 

 

Neither Asus or Intel recommend Prime95. As I said though, there are still some traditionalist enthusiasts around that use Prime95 and some are bound to come along and advise you to use it too. I have no problem with that if it's their choice or your choice. But you have my opinion and the opinion of Asus and Intel.

 

You might want to consider Intel XTU as well, it comes free with Asus motherboards. I haven't used it but you might like to check it out.

 

Nice, simple, very effective 6700K overclocking guide...

 

http://rog.asus.com/articles/overclocking/guide-overclocking-core-i7-6700k-on-the-maximus-viii-extreme/

 

You can make it more complicated than this, in order to tweak to the max, not required in terms of frame rate, not required unless you are a competitive overclocker.

[Jetset408 108]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

I take the point that P95 etc... are tools for vanity overclock and that the only real test is using P3D itself. However i really dont want to find mid-flight that my OC fails, so im still keen to get something to test as far as possible. i dont do any gaming other than P3D so cannot use that to stress test things.

 

AIDA64 trial edition may be the way forward in this case!

[martin-w 3,235]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

I take the point that P95 etc... are tools for vanity overclock and that the only real test is using P3D itself. However i really dont want to find mid-flight that my OC fails, so im still keen to get something to test as far as possible. i dont do any gaming other than P3D so cannot use that to stress test things.

 

AIDA64 trial edition may be the way forward in this case!

 

 

 

As I said Rich, ROG RealBench has you covered. It runs a series of different stress tests to ensure your system is stable. I would suggest RealBench, and Aida64 if you fancy it, but not essential.

 

Prime 95 is synthetic and not applicable to how we use our PC's in day to day use. ReaBench is akin to how we use our PC's in day to day use. It's excellent, I can't praise it enough.

 

If it's stable in RealBench it should be stable in P3D.

 

My overclock is stable in RealBench and was stable in P3D. [While it was on my system]

[Boomer 1,619]

ROG RealBench is excellent advice. It's all I use now.

 

Prime95 causes stability issues that I am convinced wouldn't normally occur. CPUZ is no longer updated.

[Jetset408 108]

Thanks both, my mistake in thinking RealBench was only available to Asus board owners!

 

I will use RealBench

[Manny 1,293]

Download RelBench here...

 

http://rog.asus.com/...v2-leaderboard/

 

 

Thank you.

 

I used this tool to check my OC. I increased my voltage to 1.39v and OCed to 4.7Ghz and running this tool RealBench  was fine and temp is steady at 65C sometimes max at 72C.

 

But I could not increase the the OC to 4.8Ghz even if I up the voltage to 1.42 at temp at 75-80C. I got bluescreen.

 

so my dead Motherboard, gave me the opportunity to go from 4.5 to 4.7 with the WaterCooler (100i V2). I'll take the .2 (2 FPS?) increase!   When the FPS drops to 10-15, the +2 matters.  

[martin-w 3,235]

so my dead Motherboard, gave me the opportunity to go from 4.5 to 4.7 with the WaterCooler (100i V2). I'll take the .2 (2 FPS?) increase!   When the FPS drops to 10-15, the +2 matters.  

 

 

 

That's about 4%. So at 10 FPS you would get 0.4 FPS. You wouldn't even notice that. At 15 FPS, you would get 0.6 FPS. In both cases way less than even one frame per second.

 

Overclocking isn't just about frame rate though, it's fun, gives you a sense of achievement to eek out more megahertz. So in that sense, great news that you achieved a higher overclock Manny. And the most important thing is that you're happy of course. 

 

You had the 212 Evo before I recall... so make sense your temps would be somewhat lower with the H100i. Th Evo is a reasonable cooler for the price, but struggles at higher overclocks. 

[Manny 1,293]

 

 

You had the 212 Evo before I recall... so make sense your temps would be somewhat lower with the H100i. Th Evo is a reasonable cooler for the price, but struggles at higher overclocks. 

 

Yeah the 212Evo is a great and economical air cooler and does a pretty good job. Due to the limits of the CPU, using expensive cooler has marginal diminishing returns. 

 

The thing is, I have always used fairly cheap coolers and never invested in a water cooler.. .so I chalk this one up for education.

[martin-w 3,235]

The thing is, I have always used fairly cheap coolers and never invested in a water cooler.. .so I chalk this one up for education.

 

 

 

Don't forget my beloved NH-D15S Manny.  Water is for fish!

[Manny 1,293]

 

 

Don't forget my beloved NH-D15S Manny.  Water is for fish!

 

My next build would be an NH/

[martin-w 3,235]

Perfect... another convert! Soon we will take over the world! The world will be dominated by big air coolers and their wise purchasers.

 

I bet there'll be a big air cooler in the White House! Would probably do a better job than the two candidates at the moment.