Advice: 4690k OC'd to 4.5 voltage @1.33

[mjdupuis]

I have what seems to be an average or below average overclocker. The sweet spot from my results seems to be 4.3. I get 4.3 stable at 1.23v and load temps are 58 while stress-testing brings it to 78. For 4.5 I'm stable at 1.33 with load temps at 67 and stress-testing at 89.

I'm using a Cryorig H5 Ultimate and a well-ventilated case. I really wanted to keep voltage nearer to 1.2, and def under 1.3, so the 4.5 clock is past my envelope, but the temps seem acceptable even if they are on the edge. Gaming and real-world loads, even at 4.5, stay under 70.

The main question: Can I safely run 4.5 as my daily driver or should I stick with a safer 4.3?

System specs:

Corsair 350D
4690k
Asus z97m-plus
XFX Black Edition 290
Seasonic X-650

 

[crashtech]

How about a happy medium and see what 4.4 will do as far as voltage. Haswells seem happiest when they can stay under 1.3V, especially on air, and the difference won't be noticeable in actual operation.

 

[Erithan13]

The performance difference (if any at all) between 4.3 and 4.5 is going to be very little, meanwhile as your tests show the extra voltage needed and heat produced are pretty considerable. I don't think chasing that last 200mhz is worth it, I'd keep it safe at 4.3.

 

[fourdegrees11]

That makes me think I have a great chip. I've been stable with

4.5 ghz 1.25 V
4.6 ghz 1.275 V
And I'm currently working on 4.7 ghz 1.325 V

I've got a 120mm AIO with p/p fans, hitting 72c at 4.7 load testing.

MSI Z97S sli krait
EVGA 750g2

 

[mjdupuis]

I've done the numbers and tests on 4.4. I'm getting 1.27 volts stable with load temps at 67 and stress at 86, so it's really not much better than 4.5 on the temps.
The statement about performance is spot on, I'll willingly acknowledge that. I don't think the difference is meaningful, and because of that I'm leaning towards 4.3.
I actually switched from a Cooler Master Seidon 120m (bottom of the barrel, but it was free to me) to the Cryorig, which lowered my temps 2 degrees on average on all these tests. The Cryorig is much quieter which is what I wanted, the lower temps were a bonus.

 

[know of fence]

I've done the numbers and tests on 4.4. I'm getting 1.27 volts stable with load temps at 67 and stress at 86, so it's really not much better than 4.5 on the temps.
The statement about performance is spot on, I'll willingly acknowledge that. I don't think the difference is meaningful, and because of that I'm leaning towards 4.3.

Agree. Going to 4.4 GHz required a 50 mV bump, going to 4.5 another 55 mV bump in my Haswell Pentium tests, so a total of 0.105 V, which alone adds more than +20% to power consumed.

Also can confirm this, however if you use adaptive OC, with speedstep and all power saving measures in place you could try to reach high, as long as Tmax allows it. I didn't go over 4.3 GHz because I didn't want my CPU fan to rev up to audible RPMs. Also I didn't want to fry my CPU with ~1.5 V in case I set my optimized negative offset (- 0,160 V) to 0 by accident.

 

[Kenmitch]

Your greatest speed gain as far as behind the wheel experience is going to be from a SSD. Didn't state if using one already.

As far as your overclock goes are you worried about the vcore or is it the temps during unrealistic stress testing....As in more severe than your everyday uses for the rig.

 

[mjdupuis]

Thanks for the comments everyone.
I'm using a SSD.
I am comfortable with the temps at 4.5 and 1.33v, load is still under 70C. Stress was high but that was only to validate stability and it still stayed under 90C so that's acceptible to me.
I'm more concerned about the vcore and it degrading the CPU (too) prematurely. From what I've read, as long as the temps are acceptable and you're out of the danger zone for voltage (1.4v) it should be fine. I plan to run it on adaptive during regular use, and I'm under the assumption adaptive would keep the voltage down enough to keep me safe (max voltage on adaptive would be set at 1.33 and I won't be running stress tests while on adaptive).
I don't want to run it into the ground, I'm expecting the CPU to last another 2-3 years at least.

 

[Kenmitch]

Sounds reasonable to me. Intel does offer a protection plan with a reasonable price if your worried about it.

You could try 2c load at 45x and 4c load at 44x and see if it's stable with a lower voltage if your paranoid. Nothing in the overclockers rule book saying you have to run all cores at the same speed.

Not like your going crazy mode with your chip

No harm, maybe a foul as far as it was concerned. No ill effects from the one time adventure.

 

[Jacky60]

Seems you have a decent chip I would say at 4.5 70c is fine and I very much doubt you'll degrade before you upgrade. If you Intend keeping the rig 10 years then maybe dial it down a notch. 2 or 3 years is fine.