How to overclock?

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Waltjie

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Hi all,

Has anyone here overclocked this combination? My motherboard is a MSI Z77A-G43 and I have an Intel i5 3570K.

I'm hoping to push it only to about 4Ghz.

Can't seem to find anything online that gives simple "overclocking for dummies" instructions.

Cheers!
 
Firstly, I'd recommend that you use an aftermarket CPU cooler.

Secondly, all you need to do to reach 4GHz is to increase the CPU multiplier in the BIOS.

Thirdly, watch your system temperatures with something like HWMonitor by CPUID. If they exceed like 80'C, then you should stop and do something about it.
 
Dont know why you would want to overclock with an i5. You can overclock your GPU I think that would be better.
 
The MSI Z77A-G43 is the worst Z77 chipset motherboard for overclocking.
It might have the look and feel of an overclocker's board, but it's really just
a value-oriented board.

You should have gone for something like a Z77A-GD65 if you wanted to OC.

Don't get me wrong, this board is great value for ~R1200, but it's certainly
not a full-featured Z77 motherboard.
 
If your motherboard supports Intel TurboBoost, enable it. It ill push it from 3.4gHz to 3.8gHz.

PS: I accidently choose Asus Optimal on My Asus Z68 mobo and it overclocked it from 3.3 to 4.5gHz....I was really surprised that it could do that at a push of a button but when I found out my CPU was hitting 101 degrees C...I returned it to stock.
 
Rickster said:
If your motherboard supports Intel TurboBoost, enable it. It ill push it from 3.4gHz to 3.8gHz.

PS: I accidently choose Asus Optimal on My Asus Z68 mobo and it overclocked it from 3.3 to 4.5gHz....I was really surprised that it could do that at a push of a button but when I found out my CPU was hitting 101 degrees C...I returned it to stock.
Click to expand...

Yes, it does support Turbo Boost. It's not overclocking in the true sense of the word though, but it'll certainly boost overall performance.
 
I have just bought the i5-3570, not the 'K' version. It performs the same out-of-box as the 3570K. I am not a big believer in Oc'ing. When your system gives you grief, is it your OC, your hardware, or your software? Just buy the damn thing that gives you what you want!

If you look at the i5-3570's performance in benchmarks, standard clock, it pretty much trounces everything else, even R8K chips from previous i7 generations.

If you want performance - look at SSD's (and more RAM), and if you can't afford a big one, look at Intel's Smart Response Technology - using your SSD as an OS cache. A 60GB SSD will change your world - OC'ing yields so little as to not be worth the time and effort!
 
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What is the difference between the 3570 and the 3570k? Need to get 1 next week.
 
crysis said:
Why not, its free performance. Let me say it again, FREE!
Click to expand...
Not quite. The CPU's price difference is about R100, and you'll need an aftermarket cooler if you want to push it past 4GHz without having too high temperatures.
 
Also to add onto Pada's post, only overclocking the CPU wont be much help if your other core components are slower. At the very least you want ram to keep up. Furthermore the performance gain is negligible if nothing is able to leverage that sort of power, like number crunching or using multi GPU in SLI/Crossfire to stave off bottlenecking, you have simply shortened the lifespan of the chip (this effective can be debatably negligible if you have a regularly short upgrade cycle).
 
So long your voltages are good no lifespan will be taken... also all depends which kind of "Overclocking" going to be done. I have a I7 2600k @ 4.4GHZ and my voltage is max 1.32V at 100% load and temps @ 67C max.

Remember stock voltage on CPU's normally 1.3V

like you guys say proper cooler is a must!

2 versions of overclocking = Manual mode and Offset mode.
Manual mode is the Legit way to Overclock! if your cpu running @ 1.6ghz or 5ghz the voltage will and WILL stay at whatever set it to. so basicly what say you go to a robot in car and idle car at 4000rpm. that is real Overclocking but yes that will shorten lifespan.
Offset mode is where you put and offset voltage from stock voltage. if your cpu drops to 1.6ghz the voltage also drops and if at 5ghz then Increases. this is great for everyday use. but this Isnt actaully overclocking.

if you looking for stable and everyday OC then Offset the way to go. but like the guys say beter CPU cooler and Mobo.

you need those extra features to keep it stable and a healthy OC.

Test OC with Prime95 and on all cores! and run for 20min to check if stable and keep HWmonitor open to check temps.

as for the guy using ASUS AI suite thing - that program normally pushes for too much voltages. if OC it correct does same thing but it more efficient...

if your Voltage is Lower no matter what, your temps WILL be lower as well!

if go to low on voltage and gets unstable revert back by +0.01V...

It does take time to get 100% but when it is works great.
 
I can't recommend overclocking with Asus AI. My systems crashed the whole time when I tried to overclock more than 5% using Asus AI Suite.
When I overclock from within the BIOS, I get like 30% increase.

The Voltage Offset feature is something rather new, and very nice if you're concerned about your power consumption. If you're going for this method, then also enable Intel Speedstep, because then your CPU will downclock itself when idling - saving even more money.

If you're going to use a fixed Voltage (say 1.32V), then I'd recommend that you also go and disable Intel Speedstep & Turbo Boost. When you disable those 2 and use a fixed voltage, you're likely to get a stable overclock without using such a high voltage as when using the Voltage Offset method.

The power consumption can be calculated as follow: P = c * f * (V ^ 2), where c is a constant (unique per CPU), f is the CPU's current frequency and V is the CPU's current voltage.
So you'll reduce your power consumption the most by letting your CPU run at a lower frequency, and you'll get it even further down if you don't set your voltage to a fixed value.
 
snail said:
What is the difference between the 3570 and the 3570k? Need to get 1 next week.
Click to expand...

HavocXphere said:
Unlocked multiplier is the difference afaik.
Click to expand...

What Havoc said. Price difference is about R200 incl. VAT. Performance is exactly the same at stock speeds, BUT if you want to OC, you need a decent OC'ing board which will set you back more than a normal board, AND better cooling.

crysis said:
Why not, its free performance. Let me say it again, FREE!
Click to expand...

I am happy with my 3570. I have messed around with OC'ing quite successfully, but when things go wrong where does one look? I'm sorry, it's not worth my time, or effort - if I am diagnosing my PC I don't need the additional factor added in.

My philosophy is buy the hardware you want. If you think you need X amount of performance but you're only prepared to pay for something that delivers X-Y performance at stock speeds, but that will reach X if you spend hours and hours tweaking it, and you can really be bothered, be my guest. Personally, I'd just buy the item that provides X performance and save those hours - my time is worth more to me than spending hours tweaking something that could potentially add many more hours of wasted time to my life, in the future.
 
Waltjie said:
Hi all,

Has anyone here overclocked this combination? My motherboard is a MSI Z77A-G43 and I have an Intel i5 3570K.

I'm hoping to push it only to about 4Ghz.

Can't seem to find anything online that gives simple "overclocking for dummies" instructions.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

For your chip, stable 4GHz speeds are attainable with that board. You can go into the BIOS and set the multiplier to 40x, set the voltage to 1.1v (most boards show the increases as +.1v, so you have to calculate what the default setting was - for most chips, its 1.032v), turn OFF Turbo Boost and leave Intel Speedstep on. That's all you have to change.

350x700px-LL-cf2d0529_3470-4ghz.jpeg


Cryax said:
Dont know why you would want to overclock with an i5. You can overclock your GPU I think that would be better.
Click to expand...

That's even less useful to overclock because it won't net you much better performance in games or with Quicksync-compatible apps. Maybe keep your opinions to yourself if you don't have anything valid to add to the thread?

snail said:
What is the difference between the 3570 and the 3570k? Need to get 1 next week.
Click to expand...

The K version has an unlocked multiplier but lacks support for Virtualisation and Intel Trusted Platform technology. Nothing you really need to worry about. Personally, for simplicity I'd stick to the vanilla version and a B75 board unless you're planning on overclocking and/or running a multi-GPU setup using two reasonably high-end cards (in the R3000 or more price range). In that case, it's a K-series chip and a P67/Z68/Z77 board all the way.
 
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Sounds like a lot of work to me, but NAG - Wesley makes valid arguments. If you're not trying to pump the most out of your system, you're better off running at stock speeds. If you're trying to run multi-gpu setups, and your processor is the bottleneck, then sure - try. If you're just trying to eke a few extra FPS out of a game, or something silly, then all the extra hassle isn't worth it. Look at SSD's before you look elsewhere.
 
NAG - Wesley said:
The K version has an unlocked multiplier but lacks support for Virtualisation and Intel Trusted Platform technology. Nothing you really need to worry about.
Click to expand...
Just a slight correction:
The K version lacks VT-d support, but it still has VT (Hardware Virtualization) support, which is all you require to run standard Virtual Machines at high speeds.

"The VT-d hardware capabilities for I/O virtualization complement the existing Intel® VT capability to virtualize processor and memory resources." - quoted from http://www.intel.com/technology/itj/2006/v10i3/2-io/7-conclusion.htm

So Wesley was correct with "Nothing you really need to worry about." :D
 
Personally, I'll always overclock.

My experiences in terms of ease of oc'ing:

1> GIGAbyte.
2> Asus.

Good quality ram is a must.
I started overclocking as it saved me money at the time. Q6600 running at 4gHz.
Now I moved on to a Asus Gene Z and a i2600k running @ 4.5gHz. Pushed it up to 5gHz, but the voltage and temps were slightly too high for my liking.

Helps alot if you do media conversions-multiple intensive tasks etc
 
Pada said:
Just a slight correction:
The K version lacks VT-d support, but it still has VT (Hardware Virtualization) support, which is all you require to run standard Virtual Machines at high speeds.
Click to expand...

Somehow I missed that >_> Thanks for pointing it out!
 
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