Is it stable?

Hardware Hub Overclocking
1

First of all, let me tell you about my PC specs to make things easier to understand.

 

i5 3570k

Asrock z77 extreme4

CM Hyper 212 Evo (push-pull config)

Arctic Cooling MX-4

Patriot Viper 3 DDR3 1600MHz (9 9 9 24) 2x4GB

Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM

HIS 7950 IceQ

Seasonic G-650 80+Gold

NZXT Phantom 410

 

I built this rig 2 weeks ago, and finally today I had the time to overclock my CPU and test it. This is what happened during the test. My target was 4.2 GHz. I used OCCT for stability testing.

Stock 3.6 GHz @ 1.050 volt --> fail, OCCT stopped running after 15 minutes

Stock 3.6 GHz @ 1.080 volt --> success, OCCT was running for 32 minutes

4.0 GHz @ 1.100 volt --> fail, OCCT stopped running after 8 minutes

4.0 GHz @ 1.125 volt --> fail, OCCT stopped running after 8 minutes

4.0 GHz @ 1.150 volt --> success, OCCT was running for 1 hour

4.2 GHz @ 1.150 volt --> success, OCCT was running for 2 hours 30 minutes (and this is my final setting)

I set my max temp limit to 80C for all cores, and during all conditions I mentioned, my CPU never touched 80C. So I guess OCCT stopped running not because of the CPU temp, but because the core voltage was too low,

 

So, my question is, after running OCCT for only 2 hours 30 minutes, can I consider my CPU stable for daily usage? Is it necessary to run the test for 24 hours? How long ideally should I run the test before I can say my CPU is stable for daily usage?

2

Loaded up a couple (1 for every core in the system) of instances of Prime95 and Run FurMark on the max settings. This shall test the whole system for stability, not just the CPU. If it survives that for a 2-3 hours then your good.

That's how I test my systems, as sometimes you get a "stable" overclock and as soon as you launch something graphically it crashes. Just my 2cents

- zanginator

3

Yeah, I would get a 3d mark, or unigine to try some benchs. My system would be intel burn test, furmark and prime stable and still fail 3d mark. With some more tweaking I got it completely stable.

4

Do you set you LLC at all when you Overclocked ?

5

I don think he needs to, should just be a simple matter of upping the multiplier and seeting rhe voltage manually/leaving it auto.

What i do for OC stability is change my settings, run prime95 blend for an hour. If it's stable after an hour then i check my thrmal headroom and move up/down testing for an hour with each increment. Then when i find something i like, i burn in for 16-24hours of Prime, then i run IntelBurn for 50 passes. Might seem like overkill, but i use this thing for ~8hours a day and i personally need that kind of assurance.

I'd say 16hours of prime is the absolute minimum.

6

I watched Tom from TimeToLiveCustom. In his tutorial video, he used Gigabyte mobo and he set the LLC to extreme to prevent voltage drop. With my Asrock mobo, the LLC has options from Level 1 to Level 5, and by looking at the description, the one that will prevent voltage drop is Level 1, so I set the LLC to Level 1.

Well, something did happen after I created my post here. I ran OCCT once more, but surprisingly I got the "quack quack" just after 3 minutes in. I restarted my system and then turned OCCT back on and I got the "quack quack" after 12 minutes. So I guess my system is not stable enough. I think I will increase my voltage and run OCCT for at least 12 hours.

7

Do you run the Intel Burn with Maximum stress level?