4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

[rclark]

Hey,

I am going backwards, I bought the i5 4690k with my current build in specs and am "now" just reading about how the 4690k turbo boost works . I was having a discussion with parsec on another post in regards to temps and wanted to check my temps at stock speed to see how they do using prime 95 ( blend test ). They were @ ( 40,42,39,41-C ), the thing that caught my eye was using Core Temp I saw that my 4690k was only hitting 3.7 ghz on turbo. So, that is when my reading about this starts--ha !! My simple understanding is that the 4690k on turbo boost only boost the respective cores up to 3.7( core 1 ),3.8( core 2 ),3.9 ( core 3 ), 3.9 ( core 4 ). I guess that is why Core Temp just showed 3.7 as max clock speed during Prime 95 ( it reads the lowest core )
My question is, under optimized settings in bios, there are different options for max turbo boost,one being 4.0. Will this take the min core to 4.0 or is this for the max core ( in other words will it affect the cores like this )- 3.8,3.9,4.0,4.0 ( thus reading only 3.8 with Core Temp). Wow these processors are a little different.

Thanks for any feedback !

---EDIT--------
Sorry, I found the answer for my specific setup---- Multi-Core enhancement in bios was disabled, if you enable this, all 4 cores will run at 3.9.

[parsec]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Multi-Core enhancement will "fix" your core speeds, but you are not quite correct about how the stock core speeds work.

Actually, Intel's Turbo 2.0 operation or rules has been in use since the first Sandy Bridge processors, and an i5-2550K would be analogous to your i5-4690K.

If you were to click "per Core" for the "CPU Ratio" option in OC Tweaker, without changing the multipliers (stock values) or enabling Multi-Core enhancement, for your CPU you would see something like this (I might be off by one on one of the ratio values):

1 Core Ratio Limit: 39
2 Core Ratio Limit: 38
3 Core Ratio Limit: 37
4 Core Ratio Limit: 37

Notice what each line states, X Core Ratio Limit, which displays the standard rules or way Turbo 2.0 works. X denotes how many cores are being boosted by Turbo. That is:

If 1 Core is being Turbo boosted, then the core ratio will go up to 39, for 3.9GHz on one core.

If 2 Cores are being Turbo boosted, then the core ratio will go up to 38, for 3.8GHz on two cores.

If 3 Cores are being Turbo boosted, then the core ratio will go up to 37, for 3.7GHz on three cores.

If 4 Cores are being Turbo boosted, then the core ratio will go up to 37, for 3.7GHz on four cores.

When stress testing, with all four cores at 100% and all four cores Turbo boosted, the four core Turbo Limit is... 37 or 3.7GHz.

Multi-Core enhancement changes the limit on all cores to the 1 Core Ratio Limit. You can also set each core limit to the same value. Both methods break the Turbo 2.0 rules, and with another setting or two changed (by default in the BIOS), we can OC as high as our processors will allow.

[rclark]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Amazing !!! Thank-you parsec !!!, this really makes sense. I was reading on this stuff early this morning before work and should have read more carefully. I now see what you were talking about the temps for the processor, just enabling all cores to max turbo of 3.9 have raised the temps a little more when checking with Prime 95 , I believe I was hitting around 48c and 50C on some of the cores ( can't remember and forgot to run the core temp log, but they were already jumping up a bit from the lower 40's )
I think I may in about a week try a mild overclock ( just 4.0 would be fine ) ( it's really just a number most likely vs the performance I would achieve from such a small overclock ) but it would be nice to finally have a build that runs around the 4 gb level. I know you are busy but if you have any advice as to what to definitely change and not change in bios I would appreciate it immensely. Honestly was just thinking of selecting the 4.0 turbo boost in the " optimize bios setting " ( I have read that sometimes voltages go a bit higher than they need doing this and I reckon this may generate a bit more heat, so not really sure--I did update to 1.90 bios, and that went well "again"--hooray !!
Thanks again for such great clarification on this stuff---
take care---rc

[parsec]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Glad you appreciate it.

I wouldn't worry about just doing a mild OC with your processor, that's what they are meant for, over clocking.

Running all the cores at the same speed when you are not beyond stock clock speed is not a big deal about stressing the CPU. Two things to remember about that:

One is Intel bases the core speeds and Turbo time limits when using the stock Intel CPU cooler. As we know, that is worthless for over clocking. Any decent CPU cooler, like yours, has far more potential than the stock cooler.

The other thing is Intel lumps all their processors together when it comes to the way Turbo works. Which means we have CPUs used in laptops and other mobile PCs dragging desktop users down with the same rules that need to be applied only to mobile processors. We also know what kind of cooling laptops, etc, have, barely any.

If you feel comfortable trying 40 on all cores the first time you try it, just do it. But I'd say you could go for 42 on all cores, which is still mild for a DC processor. The main and really only things you need to do is:

Increase the CPU voltage. If you use Auto now, you can still do that and your temperatures should be Ok, but you no doubt could reduce the voltage from the default Auto value.

Increase CPU Input voltage. CPU voltage and CPU Input voltage should be increased together, since CPU voltage depends on the CPU input voltage. Intel states CPU input voltage should be between 0.40V - 0.60V above the maximum CPU voltage. So if you were using a CPU voltage of 1.200V, CPU Input voltage should be 1.60V - 1.80V.

Many Haswell over clockers would say that my suggestion for CPU Input voltage is to low, the 1.60V in particular. I don't agree, at least for mild over clocks. If you get BSODs with a lower CPU Input Voltage, then raise it by 0.5V.

Leave the cache speed/multiplier alone, at stock (3.5GHz/35) since CPU benchmarks show over clocking the cache speed does not increase performance much if at all.

You could try using one of the built in OC profiles just to see what the OC Tweaker settings are, to give you an idea what to do on your own. The built in settings are always to liberal with voltages, since they want them to work with all processors, and some don't OC very well. You should not see that with yours, but who knows what the settings are until you see them.

Another thing, when you apply a built in OC, they also usually set the CPU fan speed setting to Full On or High Performance in HW Monitor. So if you suddenly hear your CPU fan blasting away, that is why. You can reset the CPU fan speed to whatever you normally use, and adjust it if necessary.

[rclark]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Again --many thanks parsec ! This is perfect and I will give this a try maybe even before a week-- ( left finger and right eye nervously twitching --ha !!! )
As always you have not only given good recommendations but also really explained well how this stuff works -- I surely appreciate that !!!!
Take care--rc

[rclark]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Hey parsec,
I just for the heck of it tried the optimized setting for turbo boost 4.2 ( yeah right --a week before trying --. After reboot I looked at the voltages of CPU input ( +1.776 ) and vcore ( +1.008 ). I thought of maybe doing the manual overclock and change the CPU input voltage to possibly +1.608, however after running Prime 95 I may just leave things alone. In running 30 min's of test on "Blend"-- temps were (max--63,66,63,62 ), if I ran custom using "run FFT in place and set min and max limits to 1344 ( in a tutorial this is what they suggest for the 4690k ) temps after 30 mins were ( max- 52,55,52,49 ). I am pretty comfortable with this and plus it was easy ( left finger and right eye non-twitchy- ha !! ) Hmmm-maybe they tweaked things even more in the 1.9 bios. What do you think ?
Thanks--rc

[parsec]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

If your Vcore was only 1.008V, that is great, plus your temperatures are really good. What did you use to monitor temperatures and voltage, they almost seem to good.

The 1.90 BIOS with its "Update ME and Microcode" might improve things a bit, but what you are getting now seems great. Usually, once you go above ~4.2GHz is when things start to get hotter and the Vcore needed goes up, so just keep an eye on that.

I can't predict how the 1.90 BIOS will be, it may do nothing but the only way to know is to try it.

[rclark]

Re: 4690k -- asrock fatal1ty killer mb

Hey parsec,
I am using Core Temp for checking temps and voltage. I noticed in the first Prime95 "Blend" test a lot more power ( watts ) being drawn than the custom settings ( and of course that is where the temps were the highest. I have been using 1.90 bios for a few days, maybe they have improved some of the voltage bios settings in this bios update for the turbo mode. Well, sounds like I may just keep things where they are for now. I really like this board, I guess with my last motherboard and the problems I had this may balance things out a bit.
Anyway, thanks again for such great help and support ( I am a very happy camper !! )----rc