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- Most recent version of this guide:https://pastebin.com/QL2zrrND
- First of all, if you follow these steps & you end up with a dead cpu or mobo, I'm not responsible.
- Quick&Dirty sky-lake, kaby-lake, coffee-lake / all round laptop cpu overclocking guide (overvolting & undervolting), sorry no amd experience here.
- Overvolting applies here to intel i3-/i5-/i7-/i9- 6xxxK, 7xxxK, 8xxxK, but may be compatible with 4xxxK, 3xxxK, 2xxxK aswell, do keep in mind I'll be talking about ddr4 instead of ddr3.
- For laptop cpu's, i would recommend undervolting using bios or XTU for better performance, since you'll be limited by temperature.
- undervolting will lower temps & therefore allow for higher turbo clocks under high load, since you will be thermal-throttling less or not at all.
- If you have a xx-xxxxK CPU and a motherboard that supports overclocking, continue reading.
- Tips for getting out of a boot-loop blue-screen-loop can be found at the bottom of the guide.
- Desktop CPU's:
- Intel uses adaptive voltage by default, meaning it will lower the voltage based upon clock speed.(so also lower temps & power consumption during idle VS. manual voltage.)
- Something too keep in ming when going for those last 100MHz, since adaptive voltage will be less stable at higher frequency.
- I will be ignoring memory speed/timings & ring/cache clock for now, since they will impact overall performance the least.
- As for reaching maximum stable core speed as fast as possible:
- you should have these applications installed & ready for use: realtemp, cpu-z and realbench or intelburntest.
- Step #1 "Finding the right load-line-calibration (LLC) setting" (Important for high load stability.)
- Set the cpu voltage in the bios to your maximum "safe" voltage, I do not recommend going higher than 1.35~1.4 volt for 24/7 use. (Please do some research on this)
- Save changes&reset
- Open cpu-z & look at the voltage, is it close to what you've entered in the bios? Yes, then continue. No, comment #1.
- Now open realtemp for cpu temps, Try to keep it below 90C when overclocking, 80 would be better.
- And open realbench, or intelburntest (will be faster, but is waaaaay hotter, perhaps the 512MB setting is better)
- Anyways for this guide I'll be using realbench Handbrake encoding benchmark.
- Run a single handbrake encoding benchmark & monitor cpu voltage
- Does the voltage stay the same or does the voltage slightly increase (let's say by 0.030v or 30mv)? Yes, then continue. No, comment #2.
- Step #2 "Finding the right core frequency"
- I recommend using the sync-all-core-multiplier option over the per-core-multiplier (harder to determine being fully stable)
- Start out with a multiplier of 45 on all cores for 45 x 100(baseclock) = 4.5GHz
- About 95% of users should be able to get this stable with 6th,7th and 8th gen CPU's @ 1.35v
- Anyways to ensure stability run a realbench encoding run, let it loop 5~10 times. (or intel burn test 30 loops of 1024MB)
- Did it finish the run without encoding error's/crashes? Yes, continue. No, comment #3.
- Congratz, you got your chip stable at 4.5GHz on all cores.
- Want to get higher clocks? No, goto step #3. Yes, comment #4.
- Step #3 "Finding the right ring/cache clock" (small gains, or big gains in memory intensive workloads. big=5%)
- Same as step 2, but increasing voltage will help less or not at all & change ring/cache multiplier instead of core multiplier.
- Also make a recovery point/backup or your system, I have corrupted my OS once this way, but I was not sure if it was memory or cache clock related.
- Step #4 "Memory speed/timings" (small gains, or big gains in memory intensive workloads. big=10%)
- Hopefully you bought 2 or more RAM modules and did not go the cheap way & bought 1 stick of 8GB, because performance will suffer quite a bit with single channel VS. Dual channel. (up to 50% in memory intensive full loads & up to 10% in "normal" full loads.)
- If you have a higher rated memory kit, let's say 3200CL15 ddr4, they have an XMP profile (eXtreeme Memory Profile), this is an overclock & you have to enable it in the bios in order to get the extra performance you paid for.
- I you do not enable XMP the stick will default to 2133 with one of the many JEDEC memory timing profiles (CL15-15-15-36-T2 for example).
- Example if you bought an single 8GB 3600CL16 ddr4 module your system would perform way worse that person 2 who bought 2 sticks of ddr 4 2133CL15, why you spend almost 1.5x as much.
- But i digress.
- For those who do not have higher speed kits, or want to push them to higher frequencies anyways, continue reading.
- frequency & timings depend on the type of memory, samsung has for example B-die which are at the moment one of the best, really tight timings, while able to hit high frequencies.
- But that is one of 3 factors(maby more), the motherboard may not be able to handle certain frequencies...(bios firmware updates can sometimes help with compatibility)
- and the Internal Memory Controller (IMC), which can also limit performance.
- I'm not even sure why I'm writing this.
- Maximizing your memory bandwidth, can be done easily:
- This works kind of the same way as core multiplier, scaling with voltage will stop at some point.
- Note I´m talking about ddr4 not ddr3, ddr4 default voltage is 1.2v, XMP often use 1.35v or 1.4v even 1.5v(so yeah why would you not feel safe at this voltage, i mean corsair gives a lifetime warranty for their ddr4-4600MHzCL19@1.5v kit, which no your cpu can not handle).
- (I believe ddr3 uses like 1.5v by default, all the way up to 1.8v)
- Set vdimm/memory module voltage to 1.35/1.4v or whatever you feel is safe.(too high of a voltage can kill your IMC, )
- Use auto timings in the bios, change your dimm/memory speed from 2133 (default) to let's say 3000MHz, thats already more than what my 2133 kit can do.
- save changes & reset.
- (tips for getting out of a boot-loop are at the bottom of this guide)
- upon getting to your maximum stable memory OC (yes you should also do a benchmark, realbench handbrake encoding again, this time way more reliable than IBT), you can start tuning the timings.
- For timings, you should look up an in dept guide, all i can say about primary timings is, lower is better.
- COMMENTS:
- #1 I have no clue, could be LLC, or sketchy mobo, or incorrect cpu-z reading(did you get the latest version?), or maby you're using an old mobo with a newer CPU(is the Bios firmware up to date?)
- #2 If the voltage jumps way higher than expected, lower the LLC setting in the bios.
- If the voltage drops below your "target" voltage, increase the LLC setting in the bios
- #3 Either increase voltage, or lower core multiplier in the bios. (steps of 10mv, should be good.) then try again.
- #4 Increase core multiplier in the bios & do the realbench loop 5~10 times. (or intel burn test 30 loops of 1024MB), again and again untill you get errors or crashes. want to go further? No, goto step #3 Yes, comment #3
- Laptop CPU's:
- If your cpu supports overclocking, so an ix-xxxxHQ chip, you can do the same as for desktops.
- Undervolting:
- Meaning you want more performance for less power, or you want to extend battery life, or you want yout laptop to run cooler, etc....
- ix-xxxxHQ chip owners should just use an offset voltage in the bios, let's say start with offset -0.050volt or -50mv
- save&reset, do a benchmark like explained in Step #2 of Desktop CPU's.
- all the other Intel chip owners should get an application called XTU (intel eXtreem tuning utility).
- from there just lower the voltage in steps of 10mv or 0.010volt
- then run a benchmark like explained in Step #2 of Desktop CPU's.
- Note that the XTU profile has to be re-enabled every time you restart the laptop.
- By lowering voltage, you can essentially do more with less, allowing the chip to turbo for longer or hit a higher (maby even max) turbo clock.
- power limits can also be regulated from within XTU, have fun playing, as long as you do not increase voltage, you cannot break your machine, whoohoo.
- also for those people who want to have a cool laptop, i suggest turning off hyper-threading in i7&i3 laptops & disable the turbo with realtemp, or XTU. (uses 35% or less power under load and ofcourse with lower temps)
- GETTING OUT OF A BOOT-LOOP/CRASH-LOOP(the system keeps resetting/default to settings which let it crash again):
- Turn the PC of by holding the power button
- Then unplug the power cable&flip the on/off switch(for laptops, unplug the cable & remove the battery)
- Now hold down the power-button until all the capacitors are fully uncharged(usually 10 seconds or so), if you look in the case, all mobo lights will turn off, i believe even the light from the Ethernet-cable.
- plug everything back in, start your machine & enter the bios, change the memory values back to default & save&reset (if they havn't reset already)& try step 4 again, maby a bit less aggressive this time :)
- For non-laptop users:
- If that did not work, do it again, but before plugging the cables back in, look for the CMOS battery.
- take it out, hold the power button down again for a few seconds, then put it back in.
- now enter the bios, change the memory values back to default & save&reset (if they havn't reset already)& try step 4 again, maby a bit less aggressive this time :)
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