# Is it possible to reach 5.0 GHz OC?



## -xDesertEaglex- (Jun 11, 2014)

I remember a few CPU generations back, with the i7's 3800 and i7 47's00 where you could get close and sometimes over 5.0 Ghz with water cooling, even sometimes with just air cooling, but now its rare to get something like this; The reason why I want to achieve this is because of MS Flight Simulator X (FSX) and other flight sims such as DCS Flamming Cliffs, uses a lot of CPU (as you all might know already) so any speeds above 4.5 makes better performance specially when there are several add-ons for scenery and aircraft, reason why is my goal to get as much closer and if possible go above 5.0. For shooters I'm gamer with BF3, BF4, and Arma III, So I am thinking about these options, but if you have any other choices you think may be better please share, this is my list:

Option A:
- Asus Rampage IV Black Edition
- Intel Core i7-4820K Ivy Bridge-E 3.7GHz, or
- Intel Core i7-4930K Ive Bridge-E 3.4GHz,
- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB SDRAM DDR3 2133, or
- Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB SDRAM DD3 2133
- SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 295X2 8GB x2 Quadfire for 3X32" 2560x1440 BenQ Monitor in Eyefinity mode.

Option B, same Ram and GPU but CPU:
- Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA
- LGA 1150 Mobo you recommend? My choice is ASUS SABERTOOTH Z87

I will be using my own water cooling loop, Rad 360x40 on CPU, I might go with 480 mm rad but we will see. Besides gaming I'm going to be doing video editing with Sony Vegas, the idea is to upload more videos to my YT channel, the gaming rig I have now barely will do FSX at low-mid settings, and BF4 at mid settings, I am open to most choices my goal is performance basically, thanks in advance!


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Here's the setup I would be looking at:

CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMD16GX3M2A1600C9 - Newegg.com

ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

Intel Core i7-4820K Ivy Bridge-E 3.7GHz (Turbo 3.9GHz) LGA 2011 130W Desktop Processor BX80633i74820K - Newegg.com

EVGA 03G-P4-2883-KR GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

SeaSonic SS-750KM3 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

NCIXUS.com - Buy NH-D15 - Noctua NH-D15 Dual Tower Heatpipe Cooler w/ 2x NF-A15 140mm PWM Fans LGA115X/2011 AM2/3+ FM1/2+ - Noctua - Great price and fast delivery

You *need* to fully understand how overclocking works and all of the ins and outs of a BIOS. That system I just posted could run nearly any game and any software you throw at it. You could get pretty close to 5GHz, if you know the correct settings.

Water cooling is not recommended since it has a high chance of leaks and one small leak will ruin your entire system. You get the same performance and cooling from an air cooler, no need for water cooling.


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## -xDesertEaglex- (Jun 11, 2014)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*

Thanks for the welcome Masterchiefxx17, very well appreciated.

I agree with some of your components, but please allow me to say, some of them felt short on what I will be doing next, considering I am moving to a larger monitor platform and this requires at least 6 GB of Video Ram, having 2 780 Ti in SLI, or even 3 for that matter, will not be sufficient, as we know vram does not add up or stuck up, I can maybe consider the new titan Black with 6 GB in SLI, but not the 780 Ti.

As motherboard, it's not a bad option but the one I am thinking is better, specially in terms of overclocking, also in other features trying to do SLI/Crossfire and Raid configurations, I might even go with the Asus P9X79-E WS, I know this is a workstation/server type of mobo, but honestly I don't care, is a great in overclocking and SLI/Crossfire better than the rest, in fact is the only mobo that has 4x16, all PCI-E will do 16x with SLI/Crossfire configurations.

My point here (and please don't get me wrong), is that my goal is definitely different than yours, your build is great, but I want to accomplish something different and not very common; I want to be able to reach as much close possible to the 5.0 ghz mark, I know this is possible because I've seen it, it just not publicly posted in a tons of videos on YT, so is not that popular however I have seen it in other forums, either with air or water cooling system.

I have seen the 4820K above the 5.0 mark, this is very possible, but I can only assume that this can be the same with newer i7 like the 4930K and the 4960X, I have the experience sufficient to do the overclocking, I just think that Intel has not set us up with the proper CPU so we can do this like when it was more reachable 1 or 2 years a go.

Thanks for your response, I am looking to be more involved with this website; Allow me to say that Tom's hardware forums, are a little bit of a joke this days; I have had no luck at all with their help, is like their are trying to keep up with the score and points or whatever, and you get some ridiculous answer for a legit concern, you have to pound the keyboard to try to find some good answers there; at least that has been my experience with them, am not trying to talk negative towards them, just my previous experiences.

keep it up! Feel free to share your thoughts about my points here, thanks in advance one more time!


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*



-xDesertEaglex- said:


> Thanks for the welcome Masterchiefxx17, very well appreciated.
> 
> I agree with some of your components, but please allow me to say, some of them felt short on what I will be doing next...
> 
> As motherboard, it's not a bad option but the one I am thinking is better, specially in terms of overclocking, also in other features trying to do SLI/Crossfire and Raid configurations, I might even go with the Asus P9X79-E WS, I know this is a workstation/server type of mobo, but honestly I don't care, is a great in overclocking and SLI/Crossfire better than the rest, in fact is the only mobo that has 4x16, all PCI-E will do 16x with SLI/Crossfire configurations.


The Asus Sabretooth Z87 you originally selected was designed for stability, much like work station boards are, it is an added bonus that it is a capable board for gaming and over clocking also.
Intel's latest Gen of CPU's are reportedly over the 5GHz mark already and if you can wait, they will be the way to go.
Search for i7 4790K


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*



-xDesertEaglex- said:


> - SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 295X2 8GB x2 Quadfire for 3X32" 2560x1440 BenQ Monitor in Eyefinity mode.
> 
> I will be using my own water cooling loop, Rad 360x40 on CPU, I might go with 480 mm rad but we will see. Besides gaming I'm going to be doing video editing


You will need a case with sufficient points to mount all the radiators if you have two R9 295X2's as they are water cooled only and have a 120mm radiator attached to each card.
Saying that, they are cheaper than the price of the Nvidia Titan Black, but more than two R9 290's


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*

you can reach 5GHz but you ont with that speed of RAM, you will need a slower make with tighter timings.

Reaching 5GHz isn't just about the settings and the cooling you have it is also about how good your CPU is. Not all CPUs are equal. When a batch of CPUs come of the die you could find the first one and 5th one are crap whilst the 12th one is very good.

A person with the exact same setup with the exact same CPU can get very different results.

MY last core 2 duo which was an E8400 3GHz clocked to 4GHz very easily which was excellent at the time. Most people with the same chip could not get past 3.7GHz.

My current i2500k is running at 4.5GHz but I was running it at 4.8 but I didn't like the temps during the winter when the heating was on in the house.

The ivebridge-E CPU's are very good clockers depending on the setup. The asus board you have listed is good as are the ones Panther and Chief have mentioned.

The build that Chief has listed is also what I would choose especially if I was going to overclock to as high as you can.

If you go for that high speed RAM you will most likely have to use an XMP profile when setting the speed and use more voltage than you should to clock the cpu and keep it stable.


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## T_Rex (Oct 21, 2012)

*Re: Is it possible to reach 5.0 OC?*



-xDesertEaglex- said:


> I remember a few CPU generations back, with the i7's 3800 and i7 47's00 where you could get close and sometimes over 5.0 Ghz with water cooling, even sometimes with just air cooling, but now its rare to get something like this; The reason why I want to achieve this is because of MS Flight Simulator X (FSX) and other flight sims such as DCS Flamming Cliffs, uses a lot of CPU (as you all might know already) so any speeds above 4.5 makes better performance specially when there are several add-ons for scenery and aircraft, reason why is my goal to get as much closer and if possible go above 5.0. For shooters I'm gamer with BF3, BF4, and Arma III, So I am thinking about these options, but if you have any other choices you think may be better please share, this is my list:
> 
> Option A:
> - Asus Rampage IV Black Edition
> ...


 
Your goal is performance, or a 5.0 OC? There is a very drastic difference between the two.


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## Vadigor (Apr 19, 2009)

Am I missing something or is this really a thread about a 5GHZ OC for an eight year old game? I get the SLI for a triple-monitor setup but does _any_ game need that kind of clock speed, even after mods?

Pre-post edit: is this perhaps required for upping the game speed while on autopilot?

Post-post edit: Huh. Interesting. Screams bad engine to me, but still. :wink:


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Vadigor said:


> Am I missing something or is this really a thread about a 5GHZ OC for an eight year old game? I get the SLI for a triple-monitor setup but does _any_ game need that kind of clock speed, even after mods?
> 
> Pre-post edit: is this perhaps required for upping the game speed while on autopilot?
> 
> Post-post edit: Huh. Interesting. Screams bad engine to me, but still. :wink:


no it doesn't require it, no game requires it but it could help if only a little.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Correct, all games have minimum requirements for a CPU, but most are memory and graphics dependent so increasing those will yield better results.


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## -xDesertEaglex- (Jun 11, 2014)

Hhmm interesting thoughts, however, let me just clarify what is going here and the reasons behind all this. May or may not be important or relevant to any of you, I just feel that it is very relevant and important for me and the same for other Sim Flyers.

First by definition: Technically speaking FSX is not a game, is a Simulator, some of you probably won't even care if this can make any difference or not, but there is definitely a big difference in either of these. There is a lot more than just eye candy graphics, the calculations, climate, wind control, coordinates, routes, scenery, traffic, and so many other elements in consideration that the CPU has to take into account and all these in real time as well for online gaming.

Second, FSX came out when there were NOT Multi CPU cores in every processor or CPU, back then the Intel Pentium were just a single core/thread CPU and this required a very intense calculations to make all these elements to work plus, the same developers admitted that they actually developed a Simulator very hard to put on any CPU platform.

A few months later, or maybe 1 year later, comes out the 1st Dual Core CPU and then the Quad Core CPUs, so developers decided to release two important updates to FSX to help them with multi thread CPUs, and this made it easier for the Sim, however still the engine of the Simulator was extremely poor over the new Dual and Quad Cores. It was not until 2 or 3 years a go, We as FSX community were starting to see some great advantages with the new Core i7 3800 and 4800, now we can combined almost every single detailed element in the simulation and finally make it worth it to use and fly all around the world.

And Third, as a Simulator, FSX does not depend on GPU for the most part, is CPU based, if you don't have a very good CPU, it won't matter if you have the best GPU for the best games, your performance and FPS is very poor, this is because of the engine of the Simulator.

The Sim community is extremely huge, from FS9 to FSX and X-Plane 10, specially on-line flights, this is a world that will never end, it doesn't matter how new the techonology gets, this is a very specific passionate people and we are going nowhere. I hope this give you an idea of the reason behind this purpose with my next built, so far I think I have a very close idea of what I want to do, either way feel free to leave your thoughts if you can!


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Then wouldn't your money be better spent on a workstation with Xeon processor and quaddro card for calculations?


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Panther063 said:


> Then wouldn't your money be better spent on a workstation with Xeon processor and quaddro card for calculations?


+1


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## Vadigor (Apr 19, 2009)

I see I misspoke, instead of saying "need" I should have mentioned if there are games that can _use_ that kind of processing power. As you stated and from what I found online though, it seems like with sufficiently advanced mods these kinds of simulation engines can indeed run into a CPU bottleneck.

As for quadro cards, I wonder if one of those would be enough to run the likes of BF4 on three monitors?


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Vadigor said:


> As for quadro cards, I wonder if one of those would be enough to run the likes of BF4 on three monitors?


Depends on if you are willing to pay thousands for one card just to play a game.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Vadigor said:


> I see I misspoke, instead of saying "need" I should have mentioned if there are games that can _use_ that kind of processing power. As you stated and from what I found online though, it seems like with sufficiently advanced mods these kinds of simulation engines can indeed run into a CPU bottleneck.
> 
> As for quadro cards, I wonder if one of those would be enough to run the likes of BF4 on three monitors?


There are no games that need that sort of speed but if you want I can help you overclock if you want to do it.

I always overclock whether it's needed or not.


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## -xDesertEaglex- (Jun 11, 2014)

The Sim is not the type of applications for the Xeon processors, it may run, I don't know if can actually perform well, so far I have not found 1 single simmer that uses Xeon, I have friends in the most popular ones, and so far nobody that I can remember or that I know of have done it that way.

The real deal is when you are able to use the addons and the scenery mods and still get great quality modeling, textures, rendering and videos plus great performance, that's the reason I need a very strong CPU. 

Here is a link of an overclockers club, they have OCed the 3820 and the 4820K, the results are quite good, they have pass the 5.0 mark, I wonder if you guys can tell from this picture what can you get from it, it shows their setups but not entirely, but maybe it can give us an idea.

CPU-Z Validator 4.0, let me know what you think please.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

I still believe GPU accelerated computing would be the best method of achieving what you want. You need a reasonably fast CPU with large cache and a GPU capable of offsetting the computational load. GPU's process the data more efficiently, so A decent high end Physx + Cuda capable card or Tesla if your wallet can afford it for its parallel computing power.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

-xDesertEaglex- said:


> Here is a link of an overclockers club, they have OCed the 4820K, the results are quite good, they have pass the 5.0 mark, I wonder if you guys can tell from this picture what can you get from it, it shows their setups but not entirely, but maybe it can give us an idea.
> 
> let me know what you think please.


Using the X79 motherboard certainly helped in that overclock.
They tend to be more performance based and use triple channel memory.
It seemed a relatively basic overclock only increasing the multiplier and voltage, achieving over 5.0 should be easy, keeping it stable may not be.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

also to add he must have had a very good chip too. Just because that guy got 5GHz doesn't mean anyone else will. All you can do is try.


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