Help me OC this i5-2500k for me :D

[happita]

System Specs: Listed in specs
Setup: Stock cooling w/ AC MX-2

I rummaged through the threads here and found a few that were a bit helpful. I copied some of erocker's settings seeing as though his setup is almost identical to mine if I remember correctly and I tweaked them accordingly(But I'm not leet enough for 4.8GHz yet

Here are a few screenshots of my BIOS and the settings I used so far.

BCLK is at default which is 100









Did 1 run of Intel Burn Test to see it's stability at 4GHz and the temps quickly jumped to over 90c so I quickly stopped the test after 4 passes.



Also 1 last thing, CoreTemp always shows that Core #1 is hotter than the rest, I don't want any hotspots, I haven't really OC'd this sandy yet till a little bit now. Should I re-apply my paste?
Temp at stock (1 FireFox web browser & Steam open)


I don't want to go much further than 4GHz as I think that is a comfy spot for me. Any suggestions?

[specks]

That stock cooler is no use for overclocking. If you want to overclock then get a better cooler.

[happita]

It can definitely take it to 4GHz no problem. It's just been done on stock cooling anyway. I'm just thinking to re-apply the thermal paste cuz I might not have squooshed it enough for the paste to get everywhere on the chip? I dunno...we'll see if I can get the temps down a little further and more even, but I'll find out sooner or later

[JrRacinFan]

You're fine on temps although I myself wouldn't push past 1.2v on stock, just to be even more safe. Everything looks spot on, you might be able to lower cpu PLL but that does not play into cpu temps.

[Yo_Wattup]

Dude... you can't seriously overclock with the stock cooler, it was meant for stock speeds.

The thermal paste that comes on the heatsink is impossible to get wrong because its already spread out for you. It's not the paste that is the problem.

And jrracinfan since when is 90C 'fine'?

[specks]

A thinner layer of goop might help. They say less is more.

[Scheich]

The board should have autooverclocking out of the box, maybe there is a hint in the manual. I tried it with the P version and got 4.8 in an instant around 1.375v, the stock cooler works with 4.8 but you should disable 2 cores first.

If you set it up manually, keep in mind that Offset changes the voltage at all times.
Powerlimit is just a generic multiplierlock. It doesnt really do anything smart.
Addtional Turbo Voltage is applied on top of normal voltage when the cpu jumps to 40 or 48.

Max temp for Sandy is pretty low, i tink 85 or so. Better safe than sorry.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by Yo_Wattup

And jrracinfan since when is 90C 'fine'?

105C 98c delta max on his, and it's a stock cooler at stock voltage.

EDIT
Corrected myself, but yeah you are right. That is running a risk per Intel.

[OneMoar]

anything above 85c sustained = you need a better cooler
get a hyper 212+ and call it a day save your self some money and the lifespan of your cpu

[erocker]

I agree a new cooler is needed.

I have the same motherboard and processor. I've been running these settings for quite some time now. Rock stable.

*Btw, you can hit F12 and it will save a screenshot on to an installed USB stick.

[Yo_Wattup]

Originally Posted by OneMoar

anything above 85c sustained = you need a better cooler
get a hyper 212+ and call it a day save your self some money and the lifespan of your cpu

This.

[AsRock]

Yes at least get some thing like the XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283, and you get much better temps for your $30.. And as for a core running hotter it could be just how it is.

I use 2 Couger fans on mine running at 1200 and the other at 850RPM when the system is idle.

[caleb]

Why do u want to touch that bclk ? I just run mine at 46x with a little upper vcore and that PLL voltage with stock cooler (similar to erocker). CPU gets instantly overheated in benchmarks but works rock solid in BF3 which is good enough for me.

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by caleb

Why do u want to touch that bclk ?

bclk overclocks the ram. I dont think many SB boards handle much OC on bclk youre lucky if you get an extra 10mhz without crashing.

bclk overclocking was a lot more improved in the X79 platform afaik
----

as for stability testing, Id prefer to use Prime95 or LinX(for 20runs minimum) IBT is just bad, I could do 50runs of IBT without crashing but crash or BSOD as soon as i load a game up

[happita]

Originally Posted by caleb

Why do u want to touch that bclk ? I just run mine at 46x with a little upper vcore and that PLL voltage with stock cooler (similar to erocker). CPU gets instantly overheated in benchmarks but works rock solid in BF3 which is good enough for me.

I never touched my bclk...from what I kept hearing is that it's very hard and it causes nothing but problems for the system. Unless your an expert, best to stay away from it.

Edit: I also updated my CPU Max Ratio from 40 down to 38 to get stable temps and still a decent OC on a stock cooler. Temps reach 69/70 at full loads.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by happita

I never touched my bclk...from what I kept hearing is that it's very hard and it causes nothing but problems for the system. Unless your an expert, best to stay away from it.

Only time Bclk is an issue is some boards are 99.99 or 100.01 or 100.10 I really don't know why but if you want a clean looking freq then if your board is not an EVEN 100.00 you can set it manually so it looks better.

My Asrock Z68 Pro3-M was 99.99

[cadaveca]

You could probably remove the voltage offset, too, if you haven't already. stock votlage should get you that 4.0.

erocker uses watercooling, so as others mentioned, better cooling will get you farther quite easily.

If you get a better cooler, and wanna max things out, there's a little trick for multis recargding the BCLK. The lower the BCLK, the more multis are available, and the higher you go, sometimes, you can lose a few too. Most boards sit just under an even 100 MHz.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

The lower the BCLK, the more multis are available

Having a hard time understanding why someone would want to do this? 2Ghz memory if your board only has 1866/2133 straps?

[brandonwh64]

BCLK= 96.16 X 52 = 5000.32MHZ

So, someone who has issue with standard BLCK and high multi's can fix that by using lower BCLK and higher multi.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Having a hard time understanding why someone would want to do this? 2Ghz memory if your board only has 1866/2133 straps?

I dunno why you'd WANT to do this, but it IS how the platform behaves.


So, say you are testing for max multi, and your borad sits @ 99.98 MHz. You find that you max multi is 51....and for argument's sake, let's say it uses just 1.3 V to get there.

So, you've got some room left in voltage to clock the CPU...so you decide to move the BCLK up...using the same 51 multi....


You set 51x 101 Mhz......and get no boot! That would not be becuase the system cannot handle the overall frequency...it'd be because the multi isn't stable on that BCLK.

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

So, someone who has issue with standard BLCK and high multi's can fix that by using lower BCLK and higher multi.

OK so in theory, 60.5x67 for 4Ghz would net results if 40x100 didn't result in a boot/post. Hypothetical numbers but I understand.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

OK so in theory, 60.5x67 for 4Ghz would net results if 40x100 didn't result in a boot/post. Hypothetical numbers but I understand.

If I am understanding correctly what dave is saying then yea.