Want to get into overclocking, don't know where to start.

Wishmaster said:

Should be fine.

Before you do anything, I would suggest starting up Windows and run Prime 95 for a while at stock settings.

Make sure temps look good, and that it can handle running Prime a hour or so at stock settings.

This way you'll know that there are no heat issues before you start trying to OC.

When you do go to OCing, Id stick with something like 70-72C MAX temp under Prime after running overnight. See what kind of speeds you can get in that heat range.
Reason is,Prime stresses more than you ever will in a real world situation. So you'll end up with a nice OC that's running cool.
In the event the chip would ever get pushed to its absolute MAX, you are still safe.

I downloaded prime 95, but what do i do with it??

kbrady1979 said:

I'm saying it's too much thermal paste. Just look at how much is on there! I don't have to ask "experts" to see that. The OP can choose any way he wants, he's got opinions from both sides.....FIN

No, that is not too much. That's the way it's supposed to be for HDT coolers like this one. Look, I've been on Overclock.net for over 4 years, over 12 hours per day. I think I know what I'm talking about here.

kbrady1979 said:

As to actually overclocking: I have a couple of really good guides on overclocking Ivy Bridge platforms.......something good for first time overclockers. It really gives you the nuts and bolts you need to successfully overclock. Should be required reading imo. If the OP wants to PM me, I'll be happy to assist him further. :)

His core temps will be much higher than expected. So, we'll come back to this later.

Jemjem787 said:

Wishmaster said:

Should be fine.

Before you do anything, I would suggest starting up Windows and run Prime 95 for a while at stock settings.

Make sure temps look good, and that it can handle running Prime a hour or so at stock settings.

This way you'll know that there are no heat issues before you start trying to OC.

When you do go to OCing, Id stick with something like 70-72C MAX temp under Prime after running overnight. See what kind of speeds you can get in that heat range.
Reason is,Prime stresses more than you ever will in a real world situation. So you'll end up with a nice OC that's running cool.
In the event the chip would ever get pushed to its absolute MAX, you are still safe.

I downloaded prime 95, but what do i do with it??

You will also need Real Temp and CPU-Z:

Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring

Direct download page: Download Real Temp 3.70 | techPowerUp

CPU-Z - CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Direct download: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Open Prime95 and tell it that "you're just stress testing". Then click OK when you see a dialog box come up that has 4 testing options. The "Blend" test will be selected and that's the test that you want to run.

For now, run Prime95's "Blend" test for 10 minutes. Then report back what your temps were in Real Temp and also report what your core voltage was in CPU-Z. It's important for me to know what your temps and core voltage were during the 10-minute run.

TwoCables said:

Open Prime95 and tell it that "you're just stress testing". Then click OK when you see a dialog box come up that has 4 testing options. The "Blend" test will be selected and that's the test that you want to run.

For now, run Prime95's "Blend" test for 10 minutes. Then report back what your temps were in Real Temp and also report what your core voltage was in CPU-Z. It's important for me to know what your temps and core voltage were during the 10-minute run.

Done, here are the results, hopefully these are the right things.

I was afraid of this. Your temps should be much lower than that. I think you'll need to reapply the thermal paste like this:

Fill in the gaps as shown here:





After that, apply the paste like this:





Then it will spread like this:




With HDT heatsinks like yours, this is the way it has to be done. If you don't do this, then your temps will always be higher than they should be.

Any things i should use to spread it out?

If you want to fill in the gaps, I would use the credit card method to fill in the gaps, so there won't be as much excess. If you haven't lapped your cooler, then the method above won't give you the same result. Also, if you aren't familiar with lapping something, I would advise that you DO NOT try it. When you overclocked your rig, did you use the OC Tuner feature in the BIOS?

I'm not recommending that he lap it. Again, it's optional, and I would skip it.

I should correct myself....I said credit card, but you shouldn't actually use a credit card. Any smooth, laminated card that is flexible will work fine. You don't want to glob the thermal paste on it as most brands spread much better than you would think. Also, using too much is not only wasteful, but won't give you the thin coating you need. If you should ever want to remove the cooler later on, an excess amount can set up and make it an absolute pain to remove. I don't have a clue what thermal paste you used, and all I can do is generalize.

The reason I asked if you used the OC Tuner feature is it looks like it has raised the multiplier, and the BCLK, giving you a frequency of 4223MHz. The OC Tuner Feature also doesn't fine tune your CPU Voltage either. We also don't know what quality CPU you ended up with.......if you didn't know already, not all CPU's are equal in terms of temperature, ability to OC, and voltage required. If you used the OC Tuner feature, I would recommend loading default settings, clearing the CMOS, and starting fresh. We can walk you through all of this if that is what you want.......it's not a problem:)

I would take a look at this guide......it gives you a rough outline of what can be changed, what can't and more importantly, why. Ivy Bridge Overclocking Guide