First attempt i5-6600k

[pDESTINYq]

Hello, 

I started overclocking my i5-6600k today, I got to 4.5ghz at 1.3vcore, it ran prime95 stable for about 1 hour, afterwards I went to 4.6Ghz, the CPU didnt like it at all, I tried 1.3, 1.31, 1.32 and 1.33 vcore, it booted, but windows crashed every time. So I went with 4.5ghz 1.3vcore for further testing, everything is fine except CS:GO, it crashed a few times and I went back to 4.4ghz with 1.3vcore, which is running nicely. I had some weird RAM read/write errors [with the 4.5 setting], but they were gone after 2 restarts and did not happen again until now. 

Overview of the changed values:
Multiplier is set to 44.
Vcore is set to 1.3.
LLC at level5 - as far as i get it, LLC brings the full load voltage and the idle voltage closer together, so i could just set it to the max, sacrificing a bit of CPU life, right?
CPU Core/Cache Current Limit max is set to the maximum.

So 4.4ghz is good, but this is the first attempt, i am pretty sure it can do more. But where do i go now? More vcore and try a multiplier of 46? I have not touched the BCLK at all, should i mess with it? I read the BCLK will mess with sata connection and the built-in sound card and so on, that would be pretty bad. 

The other hardware, which is probably interesting at some point:

Mainboard: asus Z170 pro [it is not the 'pro gaming' one]
RAM: 2x8GB DDR4 G.Skill with 3000mhz [intel XMP activated]
GPU: 1070 Zotac amp extreme
PSU: be quiet powerzone 750W 
SSD: 2 Samsung SSDs
HDD: 4HDDs, 3x 3,5" 1x 2,5"
CPU Fan: be quiet dark rock topflow
CPU: i5 6600k skylake (obvious...)
Case: some phanteks one with windows
Fans: 2x 140mm (front)  1x 120mm (back)

The most interesting thing is probably the CPU cooler, be quiet states it can handle up to 220W TDP - should not be the problem, compared to most of the other CPU cooler it looks weird, but i could not fit a bigger one into my old case, so...

Temperature should not be a problem as well, the fans are barely running and it never went over 80 degrees celsius. 

 

So main questions: 

- might reinstalling CS/other games fix the crash issue? 
- what should i try next? There are a lot of options, more vcore with 4.6? Like 1.35?
- LLC to the max?
- mess with the BCLK? 
- is the CPU cooler or other hardware the bottleneck?
- am i doing something completly wrong?

 

lg

Dessy 

 

edit: as this is skylake the thermal paste intel used is pretty bad, should i change that one? If yes: is liquid metal a good option? I do not want to change the liquid metal every year, removing and mounting the CPU cooler is a pain. 

Edited May 13, 2018 by pDESTINYq

[Leeghoofd]

Could be you are reaching a sweet spot and another 100MHz require a hefty voltage bump and maybe also a big temp increase. I would first try the below:

Question: Is there an AVX offset in the bios? If so set that one to 2, this means if an AVX program is launched, it will reduce the cpu mulitplier by 2x, all other non AVX programs will run flatout.

We all delid our Skylake CPUs and replace the thermal paste on the DIE, temps could drop like up to 20°C in best case.

No mattter what the Bequiet specs tell you the a top flow cooler is never as good as a high end Tower cooler. Always Monitor your temps with eg Realtemp

and no don't touch the bclock, no need...

[pDESTINYq]

Hello Leeghoofd, 

the news for today: I searched the uefi for the AVX offset - sadly i couldnt find anything, so i updated the bios, still no AVX. I tried the 4.5ghz with 1.33V and that runs still stable after 2 hours of prime95 - and even CS is not crashing. 

So, about the CPU cooler, i had a look in to the case manuel, it can fit a 194mm CPU cooler or two 360mm radiator(s). If i want to use a air cooler, i can either use a be quiet dark rock pro 4 or a noctua DH15. I would probably preffer the be quiet cooler, because the noctua would just look ugly af in my case. And I had a look into AIO water cooling systems, be quiets silent loop 360 looks nice, but has some bad reviews about pump failture. Any AIO recommendations? (perhaps not too flashy... i am not into into the whole RGB thing...)
I dont want to spend more than 200€, so custom water cooling is out of price range. 

And when i am replacing the cooler, i ll delid the CPU as well and replace intels thermal paste with liquid metal. 

 

lg
dessy

edit: after the BIOS upgrade the mainbaord thinks the Case fans are the CPU fan and the CPU fan is the case fan, i have to look into this one...

Edited May 14, 2018 by pDESTINYq

[Leeghoofd]

just delid the CPU first before cashing out, now at 4500MHz it should be more than plenty.

[pDESTINYq]

I received the conductonaut liquid metal today and started with well... frustration. It is not possible to remove the cooler without removing the whole motherboard. So, I removed the whole motherboard and started deliding the CPU with a razor. One edge was sitting pretty close to the PCB, so it got scraped a  bit there. I poured a little bit of conductonaut on a sheet of paper and slowly put it on the CPU and the heatspreader, I did not bother with glouing the heatspreader on again, CPU mount has to be enough.  Afterwards I put everything back and thankfully it started right up. I ran Prime 95 for 45 minutes right now, it did not crash and the temperatures are about 10 °C lower, while the power consumption rose almost 20Watts. 

I am actually pretty happy, I did not mess up the CPU, I did not pour LM all over the PCB and the results are - in my opinion - acceptable. So, later today I ll try to go up to 4600MHz.

 

edit: 4600MHz running with 1.37V quite a bump...

Edited May 16, 2018 by pDESTINYq

[Splave]

Lm is magic

[pDESTINYq]

So, here we go again... 4700MHz with 1.42V.... Temps are between 60 and 65°C at 100%. Voltage is still set to "manual mode", is it ok to just leave it like that or should I go with offset mode or adaptive? 
As I understood it from reading things: adaptive only affects turbo mode and offset always adds the given voltage, so offset is probably the best?
 

As a overall goal I want to reach 5000MHz stable (is it realistic?). I read a lot, I can just continue adding voltage and multiplier, but there is a lot of other stuff, should I try something else? I actually tried setting the LLC to Level 4 - that did not go well, a few weird things like freezes or windows crashing, any suggestions why? With level 5 it is stable. 

Edited May 17, 2018 by pDESTINYq

[Leeghoofd]

If I was you for 24/7 settle at 4500-4600Mhz, 5ghz 24/7 with this CPU is not advisable, maybe for short term non-multicore benching yes...

Just enjoy your free unleashed power

[pDESTINYq]

On 5/18/2018 at 8:16 AM, Leeghoofd said:

If I was you for 24/7 settle at 4500-4600Mhz, 5ghz 24/7 with this CPU is not advisable, maybe for short term non-multicore benching yes...

Just enjoy your free unleashed power

I do not want to use it 24/7 with this kind of clocks, I set a second profile in the uefi with almost stock speeds, so whenever i want to play or browse the internet, I am using this one.

And i think i ran into a wall with the method "add multi and add vcore" - PC doesnt boot with 1.53V "CPU over voltage", it boots with 1.525V. That is why I changed the clock speed, I want more. Anyway, I ran into some weird problem with XTE (see picture): XTE says the base clock is at 99.5, but "in real" it is set to 102 in the bios? And there is big spike in the chart, i marked it with an arrow. 

Lets say I want more power and I do not really care about the CPU [and the mainboard], should i try other ratios? I had a look at the rankings, sometimes you can find things like 80 base clock with a multiplier of way over 50.

[pDESTINYq]

Ok, I got it sorted out, I had to turn off the core voltage monitoring in the UEFI bios, afterwards I was able to boot with over 1.525V, i reached 5000Mhz with about 1.6V. So goal reached ?

I have not decided what I want to do next, getting a CPU pot is pretty much set, in my opinion 200€ just for a pot is too much, I searched a few metal sellers online and I came up with this thing (see attached image), the base is 5cm diameter, 3cm thick and the holes 2cm deep. The green thing is a copper pipe with almost 3mm thickness, for sure this cannot beat any industrial produced pot, but it is way cheaper. Overall it d set me back 70€.

But what to overclock with it, my i5 is pretty bad,  i mean1.6V for 5000Mhz?!

[Wiwells]

1.6v are you crazy? I'm running an I5 8600k but I'm getting 5.1 with a -2 avx offset @ 1.36v LLC6, 5.3 / -3 / 1.42v, I'm still trying to find a stable 5.4 / 5.5 but I'm waiting until I delid. BTW wth is that a pic of???

[Leeghoofd]

Yes your 6600K CPU is not even average... cold will aid it to go further though don't expect miracles as you already delidded it

[GeorgeStorm]

Agreed, not sure if it would be worth spending time/money/effort going cold with it, maybe try to find another cpu or even find an older platform you can play going cold with.