• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

General discussion based on Extreme Overclocking

Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Hey guys,

I was thinking of finding a way to promote extreme overclocking here in TPU.
As I saw that there wasn't something regarding Xtreme OC, I had the idea to create a general discussion thread. :)

Purpose of this thread is to discuss about Xtreme OC, see if there are people who are interested in this. BUT I am aiming for people who are just enthusiasts and wanna try their hw's limits like I do.

So, we gonna chit-chat about creating some threads like FAQ and How to in order to inspire new.

Rules of this thread:
1) No flaming, we are here to talk and I will try to solve some of your questions so be polite
2) Everyone is free to express his ideas, thoughts and opinion
3)Forgot what 3 was for... xD Thanks cadaveca... 3) is to have some FUN :D

So, first question. Are here people who want to participate, learn and discuss with others how to overclock in xtreme ways? :D


what to include list:

Components insulation/preparation for extreme cooling methods.
Operating System (OS) preparation and optimization
Overclocking guides for specific hardware
Post Codes errors and meaning of them
How to bin hardware, mostly processors.
How to find best driver for a specific benchmark
Which OS is best for each benchmark
Software (may be possible to make a kit of software) thats helps you overclock you components
Overclocking terminology like what is CB, CBB, LOD,Copy Wazza and so on :)
Hardware modding which will include voltmodding, bios modding and similar mods that can help you achieve higher frequency or solve problems like cold-bug

More to add :D
Where to buy equipment and what you can do by yourself

[XO] Tweaked and Tiny Operating Systems
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2884450#post2884450

[XO] Motherboard's Post Codes & Meaning
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2884451#post2884451

[XO] Overclocking (and not only) Glossary
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2884476#post2884476
 
Last edited:

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
A list of shops, global, where people can get supplies for extreme OC...pots, insulation, electrical modding bits...would be useful?

3 is for "Have FUN!" ;)

Every board maker has different place to get beta BIOSes and LN2 BIOS for OC. That needs to be all put in one place, too.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Yeap everything is useful :)

Cant create that anytime but first lets see if some newbies wanna join the club :D

This is why I added FAQ and How To, in order to help people who want to go to the dark side but they can't understand some points ;)
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Yap, basic tools needed, a checklist, would be great.

breakdown is needed too..

OS prep.
board prep.
vga prep.
mem prep.

Extreme-OC-specific POST CODE list. Like, If I post "23" is IMC, "55" is timings, what does that mean? How do you get around things like that? Cold bug...oy, the cold bug.

Tips on binning parts quickly, etc...

I got lots of ideas, but little time to develop them. :-/ and for me right now, time is becoming more and more of a premium item.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Love the way you are thinking about whole project :D

Can make guides how to tweak OSes and make them tiny and when I mean tiny I mean tiny :D

Everything will be added to first post's list :) thanks for the ideas
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Love the way you are thinking about whole project

Been thinking about it for years, wanted to put LN2 clocking into my reviews, but that is a bit expensive, and W1zz suggested I not bother. Today, I agree with his suggestion, but I still want to see more LN2 lovin'. :)


But so, I know that there's lots of guys that want to get into LN2 and such, but because there isn't a step-by-step guide, and nowhere to go for real help other than by joining a team(not everyone wants to commit to a team), and lots of "secrets" for getting the most outta clocking, these are huge barriers to jumping in that first time.


I thought long and hard on this subject. As you can maybe tell. :p

lots of info to cover on Extreme OC, you need a Guru to hold your hand, really, if you get what I mean. Figuring all this stuff out on my own was really really hard, let me tell you.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Been thinking about it for years, wanted to put LN2 clocking into my reviews, but that is a bit expensive, and W1zz suggested I not bother. Today, I agree with his suggestion, but I still want to see more LN2 lovin'. :)


But so, I know that there's lots of guys that want to get into LN2 and such, but because there isn't a step-by-step guide, and nowhere to go for real help other than by joining a team(not everyone wants to commit to a team), and lots of "secrets" for getting the most outta clocking, these are huge barriers to jumping in that first time.


I thought long and hard on this subject. As you can maybe tell. :p

lots of info to cover on Extreme OC, you need a Guru to hold your hand, really, if you get what I mean. Figuring all this stuff out on my own was really really hard, let me tell you.


Extreme Overclocking is something I will definitely add to my upcoming reviews.
I have the gear to do so ;)

Yeap, this is the place where everyone will be able to ask for help and help others. :)
Also, I agree, I got bored of that silly and outdated guides with really old insulation methods :D

PS. just for the record 23 Post Code error is 100% IMC when 55 can be mem settings (high freq or tight timings) BUT can be IMC aswell ;)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
My question is this... what cooling methods do you consider to be "Extreme"? My list is:

LN2
TEC (Including multi-layered)
Compressive cooling (Including cascade)

Of those three, only the second two really lend to any constant use scenarios.

I consider simple watercooling to be a passive technology, and in all the years I've worked with it, have come to the conclusion it doesn't get you much other than a somewhat cooler CPU, and somewhere on the order of 5%-10% OC over good aircooling.
 
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,878 (2.31/day)
Location
Manchester uk
System Name RyzenGtEvo/ Asus strix scar II
Processor Amd R5 5900X/ Intel 8750H
Motherboard Crosshair hero8 impact/Asus
Cooling 360EK extreme rad+ 360$EK slim all push, cpu ek suprim Gpu full cover all EK
Memory Corsair Vengeance Rgb pro 3600cas14 16Gb in four sticks./16Gb/16GB
Video Card(s) Powercolour RX7900XT Reference/Rtx 2060
Storage Silicon power 2TB nvme/8Tb external/1Tb samsung Evo nvme 2Tb sata ssd/1Tb nvme
Display(s) Samsung UAE28"850R 4k freesync.dell shiter
Case Lianli 011 dynamic/strix scar2
Audio Device(s) Xfi creative 7.1 on board ,Yamaha dts av setup, corsair void pro headset
Power Supply corsair 1200Hxi/Asus stock
Mouse Roccat Kova/ Logitech G wireless
Keyboard Roccat Aimo 120
VR HMD Oculus rift
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores 8726 vega 3dmark timespy/ laptop Timespy 6506
My question is this... what cooling methods do you consider to be "Extreme"? My list is:

LN2
TEC (Including multi-layered)

Compressive cooling (Including cascade)

Of those three, only the second two really lend to any constant use scenarios.

I consider simple watercooling to be a passive technology, and in all the years I've worked with it, have come to the conclusion it doesn't get you much other than a somewhat cooler CPU, and somewhere on the order of 5%-10% OC over good aircooling.
I have the above concerns but im interested in this in general.
Im interested but isn't the costs involved high I mean I often have bits lieing around but they are low end tat mostly though might be good for practice.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Any method is xtreme except air and water (liquid helium, liquid nitrogen, cascade, dry ice, single stage, Tec , etc... BUT even then you can make you air/water cooling method extreme ;) Chilled water for example.


Also no high-end hw is required for example I benched with my asus commando earlier today ;)
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
377 (0.09/day)
Location
Rizal, Philippines
System Name Poor Man's Build
Processor Intel i7 3960X 4.9Ghz Sandy Bridge E
Motherboard MSi X79A-GD65 8D
Cooling XSPC 240mm and 360MM (External) Rad
Memory 64Gb Corsair Dominator Platinum
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX770 SC ACX SLI (non water cooled yet)
Storage Intel 520 240GB SSD x2 /x2 WD Caviar Black 3TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache
Display(s) ASUS 27" 2560X1440 x3
Case Corsair 900D (upgraded from my lvl 10 gt and 600T)
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar Essence STX
Power Supply Corsair AX1200i 80PLUS Platinum
Software Windows 7 Ultimate (FPP)

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
18,914 (2.86/day)
Location
Piteå
System Name Black MC in Tokyo
Processor Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory 2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s) XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage Kingston A400 240GB | WD Black SN750 2TB |WD Blue 1TB x 2 | Toshiba P300 2TB | Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s) Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s) Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse Logitech G602
Keyboard Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Rimworld 4K ready!
http://www.thingstolearn.net/2010/08/whats-the-closest-city-to-the-northsouth-pole/

after reading that with the small town in the pic, just bring your pc there and overclock like hell XD well you might need rads and nice tubing thought and just bury it in snow.

Last winter we had -40C here in the nights for about a week (I live close to this place), that would do for some nice overclocking. Make a cold room in the house and use a KVM so you don't have to be near it. :p
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Yeap even that is an extreme way ;)
Just think how to do your ordinary air cooling or water cooling systems crazy and extree. Then start overclocking :D
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
3,628 (0.63/day)
System Name Ultra 64
Processor NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i)
Motherboard proprietary design
Cooling Fanless aircooled
Memory 4.5MB 250 MHz RDRAM
Video Card(s) 62.5 MHz Reality Coprocessor
Storage 32 - 512 Mbit ROM Cartridge
Display(s) 720x576
Case Clear Blue Funtastic
Audio Device(s) 16-bit CD quality
Power Supply proprietary design
Mouse N64 mouse for use with N64DD
Keyboard N64 keyboard for use with N64DD
I remember when i first joined there used to be a club house for xtreme or real high oc's. Don't know if its still in use at the moment though?
 
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
3,012 (0.68/day)
Location
Zagreb, Croatia
System Name Windows 10 64-bit Core i7 6700
Processor Intel Core i7 6700
Motherboard Asus Z170M-PLUS
Cooling Corsair AIO
Memory 2 x 8 GB Kingston DDR4 2666
Video Card(s) Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB, Seagate Baracuda 1 TB
Display(s) Dell P2414H
Case Corsair Carbide Air 540
Audio Device(s) Realtek HD Audio
Power Supply Corsair TX v2 650W
Mouse Steelseries Sensei
Keyboard CM Storm Quickfire Pro, Cherry MX Reds
Software MS Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
LN2
TEC (Including multi-layered)
Compressive cooling (Including cascade)

Let's not forget Annealed Pyrolytic Graphite.



http://www.ecnmag.com/articles/2011/09/high-performance-solutions-thermal-management-electronics-harsh-environments
http://www.thermacore.com/products/kcore.aspx
 

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
25,793 (3.88/day)
Location
Worcestershire, UK
Processor Rocket Lake Core i5 11600K @ 5 Ghz with PL tweaks
Motherboard MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE + 4 Phanteks 140mm case fans
Memory 32GB (4 x 8GB SR) Patriot Viper Steel 4133Mhz DDR4 @ 3600Mhz CL14@1.45v Gear 1
Video Card(s) Asus Dual RTX 4070 OC
Storage WD Blue SN550 1TB M.2 NVME//Crucial MX500 500GB SSD (OS)
Display(s) AOC Q2781PQ 27 inch Ultra Slim 2560 x 1440 IPS
Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Windowed - Gunmetal
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek ALC1200/SPDIF to Sony AVR @ 5.1
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM650w Gold Semi modular
Mouse Coolermaster Storm Octane wired
Keyboard Element Gaming Carbon Mk2 Tournament Mech
Software Win 10 Home x64
I remember when i first joined there used to be a club house for xtreme or real high oc's. Don't know if its still in use at the moment though?

Not active really, there was a time when there were quite a few of us trying to stretch the bounderies but i think with the gradual introduction of generally better overclocking platforms/CPU's etc it has quietened down around here over the last 2 or 3 years. Having said that, there are still a number of enthusiasts here who continue to push hardware to it's limits but I think more privately as a hobby than publically sharing here.
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
3,628 (0.63/day)
System Name Ultra 64
Processor NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i)
Motherboard proprietary design
Cooling Fanless aircooled
Memory 4.5MB 250 MHz RDRAM
Video Card(s) 62.5 MHz Reality Coprocessor
Storage 32 - 512 Mbit ROM Cartridge
Display(s) 720x576
Case Clear Blue Funtastic
Audio Device(s) 16-bit CD quality
Power Supply proprietary design
Mouse N64 mouse for use with N64DD
Keyboard N64 keyboard for use with N64DD
Not active really, there was a time when there were quite a few of us trying to stretch the bounderies but i think with the gradual introduction of generally better overclocking platforms/CPU's etc it has quietened down around here over the last 2 or 3 years. Having said that, there are still a number of enthusiasts here who continue to push hardware to it's limits but I think more privately as a hobby than publically sharing here.

Thought so i certainly remember some form of club house when i first started here, learnt quite a bit reading through. Then i had temporary leave and when i came back lots of things had changed :p
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
19,366 (3.72/day)
Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
Nice to see this place start something like this. :)

You guys may also want to, once you have some people serious anyway, to create a team at Hwbot.org to post your results and compete with others.

Been thinking about it for years, wanted to put LN2 clocking into my reviews, but that is a bit expensive, and W1zz suggested I not bother. Today, I agree with his suggestion, but I still want to see more LN2 lovin'. :)


But so, I know that there's lots of guys that want to get into LN2 and such, but because there isn't a step-by-step guide, and nowhere to go for real help other than by joining a team(not everyone wants to commit to a team), and lots of "secrets" for getting the most outta clocking, these are huge barriers to jumping in that first time.


I thought long and hard on this subject. As you can maybe tell. :p

lots of info to cover on Extreme OC, you need a Guru to hold your hand, really, if you get what I mean. Figuring all this stuff out on my own was really really hard, let me tell you.
We have step by step guides for insulation one can base theirs off of here... Let me link a couple that are not in our private section.

If not ours, then a simple google finds plenty of methods of insulation among other things. :)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Let's keep it alive guys, I think it worths a try.

Anything to suggest?
 
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
2,132 (0.39/day)
Location
Chicago burbs
System Name Halloween Boo!
Processor Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-Up7
Cooling Custom Water/ Thermalchill TA 120.3/ Swiftech Apogeee XT/ MCP655/ Swiftech M icrores/ XSPC RX 240
Memory 16G G.Skill trident 2400MHz
Video Card(s) 3 x Radeon 7970
Storage OCZ Revo Drive 240G
Display(s) 24 inch Viewsonic
Case Phobia WayCoolIt Test Bench
Power Supply Nexus 1100 watt
Been thinking about it for years, wanted to put LN2 clocking into my reviews, but that is a bit expensive, and W1zz suggested I not bother. Today, I agree with his suggestion, but I still want to see more LN2 lovin'. :)


But so, I know that there's lots of guys that want to get into LN2 and such, but because there isn't a step-by-step guide, and nowhere to go for real help other than by joining a team(not everyone wants to commit to a team), and lots of "secrets" for getting the most outta clocking, these are huge barriers to jumping in that first time.


I thought long and hard on this subject. As you can maybe tell. :p

lots of info to cover on Extreme OC, you need a Guru to hold your hand, really, if you get what I mean. Figuring all this stuff out on my own was really really hard, let me tell you.
Why not DICE? I used to Dice all my reviews. Pulling 6Ghz+ on a review is still impressive. Dry ice is not volatile like LN2 and easy to handle for 1 person.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
226 (0.05/day)
Location
Athens,Greece
Who said no when it comes to DICE? DICE is awesome :D
Helped me many times to test insulation and hardware before LN2 ;)

Shall I start creating threads tomorrow? Guides and FAQ?
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
2,132 (0.39/day)
Location
Chicago burbs
System Name Halloween Boo!
Processor Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-Up7
Cooling Custom Water/ Thermalchill TA 120.3/ Swiftech Apogeee XT/ MCP655/ Swiftech M icrores/ XSPC RX 240
Memory 16G G.Skill trident 2400MHz
Video Card(s) 3 x Radeon 7970
Storage OCZ Revo Drive 240G
Display(s) 24 inch Viewsonic
Case Phobia WayCoolIt Test Bench
Power Supply Nexus 1100 watt
Nice to see this place start something like this. :)

You guys may also want to, once you have some people serious anyway, to create a team at Hwbot.org to post your results and compete with others.

We have step by step guides for insulation one can base theirs off of here... Let me link a couple that are not in our private section.

If not ours, then a simple google finds plenty of methods of insulation among other things. :)


If TPU is interested. I will keep my Z77 UP7... Lining the board is easy. Just pack the socket with dry eraser. It takes 10 minutes or so.

here is one of my dice runs:





If I could find someone in the Chicago area to help handle LN2 (pouring while I OC), i would happily do a run for TPU.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
1,298 (0.25/day)
Location
The Netherlands
System Name PC || Acer Nitro 5
Processor Ryzen 9 5900x || R5 2500U @ 35W
Motherboard MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI || default
Cooling 1x Corsair XR5 360mm Rad||
Memory 2x16GB HyperX 3600 @ 3800 || 2x8GB DDR4 @ 2400MTs
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2080Ti Sea Hawk EK X || RX 560X
Storage Samsung 9801TB x2 + Striped Tiered Storage Space (2x 128Gb SSD + 2x 1TB HDD) || 128GB + 1TB SSD
Display(s) Iiyama PL2770QS + Samsung U28E590, || 15,6" 1080P IPS @ 100Hz Freesync enabled
Case SilverStone Alta G1M ||
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DX
Power Supply Cooler Master V850 SFX || 135Watt 19V OEM adaptor
Mouse ROG Pugio II
Software Win 11 64bit || Win 11 64bit
Some sort of list of clocks reached with specific CPU's(or GPU's) including information about the systems specs (like motherboard, PSU, and cooling used) so people here on the forum can easily view and compare overclocks. Perhaps categorize by type of cooling used.

Furthermore, I suppose building up some sort of database of clocking specifics could lead to some interesting results, like what average voltage is needed for a certain clockspeed. I could see loads of interesting things resulting of putting a bit of effort in that!

Edit: maybe making such a database for analytical purposes is a bit out of this threads scope, but oh well:)
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
I would think the absolute fastest binning method would be to see what the highest OS bootable frequency is. It won't tell you everything but it's a lot faster than going up a notch at a time and stress testing. If I had 50 some chips I'd start with that.
 

HammerON

The Watchful Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
8,397 (1.53/day)
Location
Up North
System Name Threadripper
Processor 3960X
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-XE
Cooling XSPC Raystorm Neo (sTR4) Water Block
Memory G. Skill Trident Z Neo 64 GB 3600
Video Card(s) PNY RTX 4090
Storage Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB + WD Black SN850 1TB
Display(s) Dell 32" Curved Gaming Monitor (S3220DGF)
Case Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) On-board
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G5
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Always changing~
Who said no regarding DICE? DICE is awesome :D
Helped me many times to test insulation and hardware before LN2 ;)

Shall I start creating threads tomorrow? Guides and FAQ?

I think that would be great. I have never gone beyond water (besides extreme Alaska cold winter weather on air) and would be interested in seeing how to accomplish extreme over clocking:toast:
 
Top