New System, New Overclock... Core 2 seems to be hotter than the other

[TheOriginalAce]

Hey fellers.  Thanks to good ole' uncle sam, I had some extra cheese to drop $480 on:

 

Asrock z87 Extreme4

i5 4690K

Thermaltake Water3.0

 

I put it all together on my cool EasyXL I won from the Christmas contest, got it all set up and tested a few things.  Threw it in my case today and proceeded to explore the new BIOS.

 

Before I changed anything I ran Prime95 for 20 minutes and found my temps were getting into the 60's without any kind of OC.  Core 2 was hovering in the upper 60's, while all other cores never topped 61.  I figured I screwed up with the thermal paste, so I took it apart and wiped off the paste that came with the Thermaltake and applied some Arctic Silver 5.  Put it back together and with no OC the temps are all under 30... Except for Core 2, which is steady at 31.

 

Went into the BIOS, and going off of some information from a reliable individual, was told that a straight bump of the multiplier from variable 8-35 to fixed 42 was a 100% safe quick-change for a first step.  

 

Did that, ran Prime95 for 20 minutes, and everything went fine.  Temps actually stayed in the 40's, much to my surprise... Except for that damn core #2.  After 20 minutes in Prime95, Cores 1, 3 and 4 were a steady 43 degrees C, but Core 2 was bouncing around in the lower 50's (51-53).  

 

I decided it would be a smart move to halt my OC progress and consult the pro's here at OCC before going any farther.

 

I've overclocked a few CPU's in my day, but admittedly only one other quad-core CPU and I don't recall having one core hotter than the others.  I'm sure I've applied the thermal paste properly this time around.  Is this a common thing with quad-core CPU's, or might I have another issue going on?

 

Also, I've read a few things about people having 100% stable 4.5ghz overclocks on entry-level air coolers...  What do you guys think should be my target frequency with this setup?  I was thinking my next step would be a jump to 109.0 and keep it at 42 for 4.57, then if im still under 55 C going for 114.0 x42 for 4.78.

[ccokeman]

On just about every CPU I own there is one core a few degrees hotter than the others. Under load the 4770K I use in my gaming system has one core specifically that is 5 degrees higher when you look at the maximum temperature reached in Real Temp. 

[Waco]

Even with the improved thermal paste on Devil's Canyon they still almost always have one core significantly hotter.

 

I wish they'd bring back soldered chips.

[SpikeSoprano]

My sandy bridge cpu even with the soldered chip at idle has 1 core about 6 degrees hotter than the other 3, always has been for the 2 years I've had it, however when I run prime they are all within 1 degree of each other. I'm not sure about your cpu but I know it is not a good plan to raise the fsb on the new intel cpu's, maybe some owners can comment on that.

[TheOriginalAce]

My sandy bridge cpu even with the soldered chip at idle has 1 core about 6 degrees hotter than the other 3, always has been for the 2 years I've had it, however when I run prime they are all within 1 degree of each other. I'm not sure about your cpu but I know it is not a good plan to raise the fsb on the new intel cpu's, maybe some owners can comment on that.

 

Yeah, i can attest to that already! After some confirmation that the one-core-hotter thing was normal, I went in and started playing around again. First I tried 120 x 35 for 3850 as a starting point, no boot.  Then, tried 110 x 35, no boot.  Tried 101 x 35, no boot...  put it back on Auto (Dunno what the "auto" does, it stays at 99.98, but it's the default) x 35 and it boots fine.  

 

Was running @ x42 for 4.2ghz for a while, noticed I was getting a wierd studdering in FPS in ArcheAge that I never had before, not even on my E8500, so I ran Prime95 for 60 minutes and got no errors, but I still put it back on defaults until I learn some more about these new-fangled chips and study some documentation on this new and very strange BIOS utility...

[TheOriginalAce]

Just thought I'd throw it out there...  Overclocking seems to be less fun than it used to be with these new chips.  lol!

 

Spent the better part of my day today playing with the only two numbers this chip seems to be OK with me altering...  Ratio and Vcore.  Started at 40 with Vcore on Auto, stable.  Worked up in increments of 1 to 45, and realized the "auto" Vcore was pushing 1.3, and I don't know how much truth there is to this but a friend previously told me he fried his chip 6 hours after installing it when trying to hit 4.9 GhZ w/ 1.310... so after a quick shut down and a change of underpants I set the vcore to fixed override and set it at a liberal 1.240 w/ ratio at 44.  Prime95 seemed to be OK with it after 20 minutes, and temps were a stable 66-68, but it just didnt feel right. 

 

As much as I'd like to test limits, I can't afford to replace my chip so I've settled at 4.4Ghz w/ VCore at 1.220, maintaining temps under 64C and a solid increase across the board in 3DMark Physics and CPU-Mark scores.  

 

It is 800MhZ over stock which is pretty significant in my amateur opinion, however I gotta say i'm somewhat disappointed in my first ever venture with a water cooler...  I anticipated it being miles better than any air cooler I've ever used, but it seems to be just on-par with the typical high-end air cooler.  

 

I am curious...  It came with 2 fans, one for each side of the radiator.  I currently have them configured to blow the same direction, inside of the case outward (I've got two large fans in the front of the case sucking in, so I figured it would be great for air flow.)  Is this the proper setup for these?  The documentation that came with it didn't specify and I've found mixed feelings about it online.  

[SpikeSoprano]

That seems to be the typical setup for those coolers, seems like your oc worked out fine !

[RedFury77]

Yeah, air coolers can actually keep up pretty well with the all in one h2o coolers.  But the clearances and cleanliness is better and often the noise levels too, so there's that.  

 

The vcore adjustment isn't that bad.  Set it manually to the maximum voltage you want to use and get your best OC with that.  Then go back and change the voltage to use the offset that results in the same vcore with that overclock.  iirc the offset will usually be a -(neg) offset because the auto adjustment overvolts too much on a high OC.  It takes a couple of back and forths to set and check the voltage to get it good at the cpu's full speed, but it's not too bad.  

For example if you are trying to hit 4.4 @ 1.22v and on auto the voltage goes to 1.3 you would use a -.08 offset and test again to make sure it is actually at the 1.22.  But if you then go up to 4.5ghz the volts will change as well and you need to readjust again.  Then you can use the dynamic stepping and lower voltages while keeping the OC available when the cpu can use it.  

 

Yes you do want the fans set up to push and pull the air across the rad and out of the case.  Also check the bios settings for cpu fan speed options for better temps. 

[TheOriginalAce]

Yeah, air coolers can actually keep up pretty well with the all in one h2o coolers.  But the clearances and cleanliness is better and often the noise levels too, so there's that.  

 

The vcore adjustment isn't that bad.  Set it manually to the maximum voltage you want to use and get your best OC with that.  Then go back and change the voltage to use the offset that results in the same vcore with that overclock.  iirc the offset will usually be a -(neg) offset because the auto adjustment overvolts too much on a high OC.  It takes a couple of back and forths to set and check the voltage to get it good at the cpu's full speed, but it's not too bad.  

For example if you are trying to hit 4.4 @ 1.22v and on auto the voltage goes to 1.3 you would use a -.08 offset and test again to make sure it is actually at the 1.22.  But if you then go up to 4.5ghz the volts will change as well and you need to readjust again.  Then you can use the dynamic stepping and lower voltages while keeping the OC available when the cpu can use it.  

 

Yes you do want the fans set up to push and pull the air across the rad and out of the case.  Also check the bios settings for cpu fan speed options for better temps. 

 

I was wondering what that Vcore offset voltage meant.  It's currently set to Auto in the bios, and I didnt want to play with it because i didnt know what it was.  According to CPU-Z I'm maintaining a permanent 1.22v and 4.4Ghz.  Setting the ratio to fixed 44 stopped the variable adjustments for load.

[RedFury77]

 I set the vcore to fixed override and set it at a liberal 1.240 w/ ratio at 44.  Prime95 seemed to be OK with it after 20 minutes, and temps were a stable 66-68, but it just didnt feel right. 

 

As much as I'd like to test limits, I can't afford to replace my chip so I've settled at 4.4Ghz w/ VCore at 1.220, maintaining temps under 64C and a solid increase across the board in 3DMark Physics and CPU-Mark scores.  

 

It is 800MhZ over stock which is pretty significant in my amateur opinion, however I gotta say i'm somewhat disappointed in my first ever venture with a water cooler...  I anticipated it being miles better than any air cooler I've ever used, but it seems to be just on-par with the typical high-end air cooler.  

 

From what I've seen the 4690k should do 1.325 just fine, 1.22/1.24 would be quite conservative.  

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Isn't stock 3.9?  4.4 would be +500mhz

 

I was wondering what that Vcore offset voltage meant.  It's currently set to Auto in the bios, and I didnt want to play with it because i didnt know what it was.  According to CPU-Z I'm maintaining a permanent 1.22v and 4.4Ghz.  Setting the ratio to fixed 44 stopped the variable adjustments for load.

 

You should be able to set the multiplier to 44 and keep speedstep enabled to allow the variable adjustments.

 

All in all, your temps are safe, your volts are safe, and you're faster than stock.  winning.

I would personally like the speedstep enabled so that the chip isn't just running full tilt all the time though.  

[TheOriginalAce]

 

 I set the vcore to fixed override and set it at a liberal 1.240 w/ ratio at 44.  Prime95 seemed to be OK with it after 20 minutes, and temps were a stable 66-68, but it just didnt feel right. 

 

As much as I'd like to test limits, I can't afford to replace my chip so I've settled at 4.4Ghz w/ VCore at 1.220, maintaining temps under 64C and a solid increase across the board in 3DMark Physics and CPU-Mark scores.  

 

It is 800MhZ over stock which is pretty significant in my amateur opinion, however I gotta say i'm somewhat disappointed in my first ever venture with a water cooler...  I anticipated it being miles better than any air cooler I've ever used, but it seems to be just on-par with the typical high-end air cooler.  

 

From what I've seen the 4690k should do 1.325 just fine, 1.22/1.24 would be quite conservative.  

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Isn't stock 3.9?  4.4 would be +500mhz

 

I was wondering what that Vcore offset voltage meant.  It's currently set to Auto in the bios, and I didnt want to play with it because i didnt know what it was.  According to CPU-Z I'm maintaining a permanent 1.22v and 4.4Ghz.  Setting the ratio to fixed 44 stopped the variable adjustments for load.

 

You should be able to set the multiplier to 44 and keep speedstep enabled to allow the variable adjustments.

 

All in all, your temps are safe, your volts are safe, and you're faster than stock.  winning.

I would personally like the speedstep enabled so that the chip isn't just running full tilt all the time though.  

 

 

Nope, stock is 3.5GhZ.  I actually have speedstep set to "auto" in the BIOS, but for some reason the moment I set the Ratio from Auto to All Core it bypasses the speedstep all together and locks it at whatever I set it to.  Personally I'm not a fan of this Asrock BIOS, I feel like it's far more overcomplicated than my old gigabyte bios was.  

 

*Edit, actually 900MhZ over stock I can't even Math anymore.

Edited February 4, 2015 by TheOriginalAce