I7 haswell BCLK (base clock) overclocking is safe? How it works?

[Vistangel]

Hi guys, how far can I push the baseclock on Haswell i7 4790? I tried 105x40 on all cores, giving me a nice 4.2ghz for all cores instead of 3.8ghz but I heard it won't even boot on this setting - well it passed a short stress test, so it booted for me and working fine. Also it's still undervolted with -0.20v instead of -0.10 so it's cooler than stock. So I'm confused if I can make a 110x40 (4.4ghz) overclock with it. And also what will happen if it fails? Just BSOD and reset or something serious (just because I've heard that too, it will crash the whole system so I can't turn it on anymore).
And how does BCLK overclocking effect RAM? I see instead of 666mhz, it's on 699,7mhz and I don't know if it's good or bad or what it means.
Also I noticed in passmark that intel HD graphics could beat 2 stock comparable GPUs in all tests instead of 1, also it became number one in all 2d graphics test. So this looks promising, I didn't know this will affect the iGPU too.
System specs are in the system specs.

 

[Shimshom]

Before attempting to overclock I did approx 6 months of reading and started to experiment with an older system to ensure I fully understand what I'm doing (Mostly). You'll find many many forums with great tuts about how to recover from overclocking failure, resetting the BIOS, unlinking your RAM and much more and as long as you do it in small steps and continue to test every time you change settings in the BIOS you'll end up writing tutorials yourself

 

[Dude]

You would be better off just increasing the core ratio's. As shimshom said above, do your research and take it in steps.

Here is a link with some good reading for you

The Intel Devil's Canyon Owners Club

 

[Vistangel]

You would be better off just increasing the core ratio's. As shimshom said above, do your research and take it in steps.

Here is a link with some good reading for you

The Intel Devil's Canyon Owners Club

But I have a non-k i7 4790, not a 4790k. I wouldn't be trying with the harder way then lol. My max fixed core ratio is 40x so I can set 4 cores to 40x105 instead of 38x99.9.

 

[PimpleMaze]

I believe the core ratio's on the i7490 are locked. for overclocking you should've coughed up 30 more for a 4790k.
Overclocking bus speed never gave me anything but problems.

 

[Vistangel]

I believe the core ratio's on the i7490 are locked. for overclocking you should've coughed up 30 more for a 4790k.
Overclocking bus speed never gave me anything but problems.

Yep. OC is not that important to me, I just wanted to see passmark score clock-to-clock with my non-k i7 because I've noticed non-k i7s are a little bit slower with the same clock speed than their k counterparts. I'm not really into OC altough I wish i7 4790 would come with the 4.4ghz turbo boost.
And there's a reason why I didn't buy devils canyon. When I wanted to buy a PC, 4790k was out in US and almost everywhere except my country. The day when they shipped me the i7 4790 for $350, i7 4790k was around $420-$480 in 2 stores which I didn't trust. It didn't worth almost +$100.

 

[Vistangel]

So how far is it safe to set the base clock?

 

[Dude]

I stick with my first comment. Even though you can only get 4-600mhz more, even on a non K version it is more stable. Use the turbo method instead of a straight setting. If you are wanting to push the speed then get a k chip, plain and simple

 

[Vistangel]

I stick with my first comment. Even though you can only get 4-600mhz more, even on a non K version it is more stable. Use the turbo method instead of a straight setting. If you are wanting to push the speed then get a k chip, plain and simple

But how can I use ratio overclock on a non-K i7 if the multiplier is locked to 40??? I've tried to find out and also seen a video about Ivy Bridge on Youtube and he easily set the multiplier to 43 on a non-k ivy bridge i7 but for me, it always jumps back to 40 and doesn't let me to give it higher ratio eg: 42 or 43 like in the video.
And I have asus mobo - altough not the one in the video - but it mine has z97 chipset and I tried with the same XMP profile as he but it didn't work. So how can I earn that "little" 400-600mhz boost? I would be happy if I could set it between 4.2-4.4ghz, I just want it to match the base clock of Devils Canyon, nothing more

 

[Dude]

You have to use the turbo settings. Look in your BIOS under advanced mode. If you can, post some screenshots of your bios and I will try and help.

I use MSI so it is different than asus. I could oc an non k i5 by about 400mhz. It may not work for you but it is worth a try.

 

[Vistangel]

You have to use the turbo settings. Look in your BIOS under advanced mode. If you can, post some screenshots of your bios and I will try and help.

I use MSI so it is different than asus. I could oc an non k i5 by about 400mhz. It may not work for you but it is worth a try.

Okay thanks I'll upload a video and link it here as well as the other guy's video with the ivy bridge and asus. I'll have to render the video first - so it will be smaller - and I'll upload it in some minutes.

 

[Dude]

Sounds good mate. I'm sure you can squeeze some more out of it

 

[Vistangel]

Sounds good mate. I'm sure you can squeeze some more out of it

Other guy who could do this with XMP and asus mobo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymsnV3n8jso

My video: trying the same way he did. I also enabled some kind of boost for non-k processors but seems like it's not working (sorry I've recorded it with my s2 and for some reason nowadays it can't really focus on things fast enough):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJpS3dXy4M

 

[Dude]

Okay, in this pic from your vid I put 2 boxes


It looked like you selected the top box, what happens when you select the second box?


Edit
Then further in is seems like you are trying what I am saying. I will have to research some more

 

[Dude]

I searched around but have found nothing. Are you running the latest BIOS?

 

[Vistangel]

I searched around but have found nothing. Are you running the latest BIOS?

No, it's the original BIOS which the mobo came with.

Maybe I found out why I can't overclock my i7, this is interesting:
Intel Prevents Overclocking of non-K Haswell Processors, and Strips Virtualization and TSX Features From K Parts | PC Perspective

Seems like intel totally locked non-K haswell so people can't even earn that +400-500mhz? I noticed you have Ivy Bridge i5 (never mind that's a k i5) and the video that I linked shows an Ivy Bridge processor. The few other sites which talk about this, always show an Ivy Bridge processor.
And I've talked on Youtube with someone who has haswell i7 4770 and can't overclock with an MSI/Gigabyte Mobo too - I think it's an MSI but I'm not sure now. He should choose from a list of preset multipliers up to 45x or 46x or so but he could only set the 39x max multiplier so it didn't work for him with haswell.

I don't get why intel did this with the non-k i7: it should have got the 4.0ghz base clock (and turbo 4.4ghz) because you can't overclock it, and people will overclock devils canyon anyway so it would reach higher clock speed than the stock non-k i7. Especially since devils canyon has trouble going over 4.8ghz as far as I know so at least overclockers would have bigger room for overclock from a lower base clock.
If I could OC my i7 freely, I'd definetely set 1 core to 4.6-4.7ghz because of the old or poorly written programs which still use 1 or 2 threads like some music encoders.

 

[GeneO]

Yes, if you wanted to overclock you should have bought a K processor which has unlocked multiplier. Non-K processors are not intended for overclocking. Intel never promised anyone any overclocking capabilities except on the K processors.

Even if you did have a K version the likelihood you could hit 4.6 - 4.7 is not that good. You might get there with a turbo overclock for 1 or 2 cores, but that is also unlikely IMO.

 

[Vistangel]

Yes, if you wanted to overclock you should have bought a K processor which has unlocked multiplier. Non-K processors are not intended for overclocking. Intel never promised anyone any overclocking capabilities except on the K processors.

Even if you did have a K version the likelihood you could hit 4.6 - 4.7 is not that good. You might get there with a turbo overclock for 1 or 2 cores, but that is also unlikely IMO.

Virtualization had priority over overclocking. And yes I want only 1 core to go to as high as 4.8ghz or around that because of slow 1-threaded programs which would benefit from it greatly. I would be good with 4 cores even at 4.2-4.0ghz.
I was just curious if after like 3-4 years when this processor is outdated how far can I overclock this non-k chip - knowing Intel wouldn't give newer processors more than 5-15% speed improvement low-overclock would be ideal with the same voltage. But it's not that important.