Avoid using Prime 95. As noted here already, it is not a good reflection on real life usage of your PC under any heavy load condition. It can push your system to a blue screen failure and CPU over-temp very quickly, resulting in you bringing back the clocks totally unnecessarily. it can be downright dangerous if you leave your PC unattended - CPU temps can skyrocket, even at a low o/clock.

 

Your best test option is simply to run your programs including your sim at a reasonable o/clock and work your way up from there. Conservatively, start at 4.5 GHz with no changes to voltage. Once you hit a blue screen/crash, either wind it back slightly or add some voltage to the CPU. Make notes as you go. It may take a couple weeks to arrive at the sweet spot but this is your best test. You should be able to do 4.6Ghz easily.

 

The 6700K overclocks well. I have mine running at 4.7GHZ full time. I have never tried 4.8Ghz and I have no interest in fiddling in the BIOS on every second start up, so this is a good upper level for me. I have NEVER had a o/clock related error. The best part of all is that to set this o/clock, I have simply done the "one click" thing for both the CPU and RAM (XMP) in the MSI boards BIOS. No manual fine tuning of voltage which can sometimes be a dark art. Your ASRock might offer similar options.

 

I run the older H100i water cooling system and idle CPU temps are around 30 degrees Celsius where the ambient room temps are around 24 degrees Celsius.

A belated thanks Greg - some great advice and tips, thank you

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.

 

No, producing a lot of hot air is the one thing they ARE both good at

Oh yes, that's right. Good point Rich.  :smile: