New to overlocking - what should my RAM speed be?

[Legion]

Hi all,

 

I'm completely new to the world of overclocking. I'm attempting my very first overclock with my i7 4770k and I'm following a guide I found on this site: http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/overclock_intel_4770k_guide/

 

My question is - what should my RAM speeds be. To my understanding, I'm using the included XMP profile to reach the 2400 MHZ my RAM was designed for. I've read in a few places that when you OC or stress test you should use 1600 MHz, even if you RAM speeds are higher than that. However, I did not see that mentioned in this guide - is there something I'm not understanding? I just started my pre-OC Prime95 test to check for stability but I did not turn down the RAM speed to 1600MHz. Should I do that before I go any farther?

 

Also if you happen to have any general advice or guidance for someone just starting out in overclocking, I'd be very grateful!!

 

 

If it is at all helpful, here is my full parts list:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler   
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk   
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive   
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card   
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  
Case: Azza Hurrican 2000R ATX Full Tower Case  
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  
Monitor: Asus VE278Q 27.0" Monitor

[ir_cow]

no your fine stress test at 2400. I think what they are saying it can be harder to find your max CPU speed because the extra voltage needed to be applied to the controller (system agent ) when the CPU is overclocked. I would just set it +.195 and call it good. I was able to get up to 4.3 without extra voltage but 4.4 would crash without it and now I just leave it at .195 @ 4.2 for extra stability .

 

As for your question , if you set the XMP profile the voltage for ram it applied with that automatically.

[Legion]

Ok, thanks for feedback!

 

One other question - I've read in a few different places that it is a good idea to stress test for 24 hours - even before you OC your CPU during the stability test. To me this just seems like it wouldn't be good to run the CPU at 100% for an entire day, and the life of the CPU would degrade. But maybe I'm way off base about this since I'm so new to overclocking. I appreciate some clarification around this. Thank you very much!

[Waco]

To me this just seems like it wouldn't be good to run the CPU at 100% for an entire day, and the life of the CPU would degrade.

Unless you're running unsafe voltages you could run 100% every day for years without issue.

[SpikeSoprano]

Ok, thanks for feedback!

 

One other question - I've read in a few different places that it is a good idea to stress test for 24 hours - even before you OC your CPU during the stability test. To me this just seems like it wouldn't be good to run the CPU at 100% for an entire day, and the life of the CPU would degrade. But maybe I'm way off base about this since I'm so new to overclocking. I appreciate some clarification around this. Thank you very much!

Some might disagree with this but when I stress with prime I just let it run for 45 to 60 minutes and if there's no errors or blue screens  I call it good. I also keep a check on the temps so when  I oc I have a reference.

[Waco]

Some might disagree with this but when I stress with prime I just let it run for 45 to 60 minutes and if there's no errors or blue screens  I call it good. I also keep a check on the temps so when  I oc I have a reference.

If you don't test for longer you run the risk of corrupting things due to an unstable OC.

 

The best way to test is a wide range of long-running tests. Personally I run IntelBurnTest for at least 15 rounds at 50% memory capacity and Prime95 for at least 2-3 hours.

[SpikeSoprano]

Ha Ha, when I said ( some ) you were #1 on my list .I do agree with you though 2 or 3 hrs. is good enough .(I'm just lazy so I do  60 min,) But imo 24 hr prime test is ridiculous unless you think the cpu or mb has hardware problems already. 

[Waco]

It depends on how close to the edge you run. I tend to OC in large jumps (100 MHz at a time) and back off by 50 MHz when I hit instability. It usually leaves a nice margin for error and the long long tests aren't warranted.

[SpikeSoprano]

It depends on how close to the edge you run. I tend to OC in large jumps (100 MHz at a time) and back off by 50 MHz when I hit instability. It usually leaves a nice margin for error and the long long tests aren't warranted.

Yup, that works for me too, I would rather have a 100% stable 4.5 oc 24/7 than a 4.8 semi stable oc that blue screens once a week that could corrupt the os or data .

[Legion]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I've got a few additional questions - I'm kind of overwhelemed by the amount of information out there and just looking for the basics lol.

 

What temps should I expect when running Prime95? I used my motherboards auto-OC options in the UEFI to set the speed to 4.0GHz and ran Prime95. After about 20 mins I was starting to hit 90C - is that normal? I had read in some places that auto-oc features tend to put the voltages too high.

 

Edit: One other quesiton: if I just want to do a basic overclock in the 4.2 to 4.5 GHz range, can I just tinker with the CPU Ration (set it to a multiplier for All Core) and CPU Vcore voltage (set it to override for testing and then to adaptive for everyday use)?

 

I really appreciate your help guys. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information out there, so getting to clarification to just do a simple OC REALLY helps!

Edited February 23, 2014 by Legion

[SpikeSoprano]

Most of us here will not use any type of auto oc for that very reason, more volts mean higher temps, I am using sandy bridge so the voltage is quite a bit higher than you would use, I'm sure some of the people here that use your cpu will offer some good advice on what volts to set in the bios to get to the oc you want.

[Legion]

Most of us here will not use any type of auto oc for that very reason, more volts mean higher temps, I am using sandy bridge so the voltage is quite a bit higher than you would use, I'm sure some of the people here that use your cpu will offer some good advice on what volts to set in the bios to get to the oc you want.

 

That's definitely understandable.

 

I know there's dozens of settings that can be changed to fine-tune an OC, but if I just wanted to get up to 4.2-4.5 GHz with safe voltages and temps can I just be looking at the Vcore and CPU Ratio and leave everything else as Auto? Once I have a stable OC, I'd switch the voltages to adaptive as I've read this allows you to bring voltages back down when the CPU is idle.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Legion