Anyone have some quick pointers on where to start with overclocking a 9700k?

[cmorris975]

Man, this new system is pretty freakin' awesome, but the overclocking on this z390 + 9700k is looking very in depth.  I doubled the RAM to 32 GB of DDR4-3200 and also plopped a 3060 ti in it.

 

So this looks like a complex topic, and I cannot expect anyone to walk me through much of it, but since many of you must have this processor and board combo...  Can you point me as to where to start?  I'm used to computers, but not so much this "overclocking with colored fans in cases with glass windows" stuff.  I'm old, lol!  

 

It looks like I am going to be using the z390 BIOS overclocking utility?  In my last 6700k system I was playing around with Intel's XTU.  That easily allowed me to up the processor to 4.4 ghz.

 

I noticed that the clock speed is not constant in CPU-Z, which seemed odd.  I don't know... Just not sure where to start.

 

Thanks for any guidance.  Don't feel like you have to write me long explanations or step-by-step stuff.  

 

Maybe I need to read a book on this...  That's what it feels like!

 

The card I have I already boosted via MSI Afterburner.  It part seems pretty straightforward, thankfully.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by cmorris975

[-332FG-Gordon200]

@cmorris975 This is the reference I used to oc my 8086k. Luckily he uses the same motherboard as in your rig.

Good luck.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD1Ze80GpLo

[cmorris975]

7 hours ago, QB.Gordon200 said:

@cmorris975 This is the reference I used to oc my 8086k. Luckily he uses the same motherboard as in your rig.

Good luck.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD1Ze80GpLo

 

Hey Gordon200 - thank you.

 

I actually stumbled across that video before I posted this.  I tried doing exactly what he said, but then my system became unstable.  That freaked me out, this being a brand new computer and quite the luxury purchase for me (the computer wasn't even able to fully boot and load the operating system sometimes), so I backed off and reset the BIOS to default settings.  I then just used the BIOS "ez overclock extreme performance" profile while also using the "XPM" (not the right acronym, but something like that) RAM profile, while also pushing my GPU a bit with MSI Afterburner.  This has been stable, but I am guessing not really ideal or not fully taking advantage of what I would guess overclocking can achieve.

 

I'm wondering if my problem with that video is that I tried using all of his recommended settings at once.  Did you just try a few at a time and see if the system was stable, progressively working through all of his settings?

 

Thanks again.

[-332FG-Gordon200]

I no longer have that computer or I'd take screen shots of the bios settings.

The first thing I did was enable XMP for the ram. Second I increased the cpu timing in stages beginning with 4.5 while keeping the voltage at 1.35v. With a 360mm AIO cooler I was stable at 5.2 with a little head room. Everything else was auto or default. Keep an eye on your temps and you should be safe.

CPU-Z is a good utility for monitoring your components. https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

 

[Voxman]

I recommend this guide and have used it to OC my recent build.  Basic and well written

https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/cpu-overclocking-guide-and-tutorial-for-beginners.3347428/

[cmorris975]

Thanks guys - that will get me going.  Appreciate it.