cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Overclocking The Core i7-6700K To 4.6GHz On The Maximus VIII Extreme

Chino
Level 15
53443


Before you go jumping into overclocking your CPU, there are two important factors that will determine if your CPU is capable of reaching 4.6GHz. First and foremost, the quality of your CPU will be the main factor in play here. Each CPU is unique and requires a different voltage for a certain frequency. So it is normal that some samples will overclock better than others. And some will achieve 4.6GHz while others can’t. It’s nothing to be sad about. It’s simply the silicon lottery. The second factor to take into consideration is your cooling solution. Heat will be your biggest enemy. Invest in a high end CPU cooler to get the best results as lower temperatures means more headroom to do your overclocking. If you want to push your CPU as far as it can go, then water-cooling is the way to go whether you choose to build your own custom setup or get a closed loop AIO like EKWB’s new EK-XLC Predator 360 used in this guide.


Installing the Intel Core i7-6700K
Place the CPU bottom side up and slide it into the CPU Installation Tool until it clicks into place.

53444


Release the CPU socket tension arm and lift the socket lid. Then carefully place the bracket into the socket.

53429


Lower the socket lid, hook it under screw and secure the tension arm. Then apply thermal paste to your CPU. While there are many techniques for applying thermal paste, the difference in degrees between each technique is so small it’s negligible. The rice sized dot in the middle technique is usually the easiest to perform.

53430


Proceed to install your CPU cooler. If you’re water-cooling your CPU, tighten the mounting screws with your hands in a crisscross pattern until the CPU block is firmly attached to the CPU. Take special care not to overtighten the screws as this may cause irreparable damage to the CPU block while also warping the motherboard. If your liquid cooler uses a custom backplate like the EKWB Predator 360, it is easier to install it outside your case.

53431



Preliminary Test
It is highly recommended to run a quick preliminary test to assess your system’s stability at stock and your CPU cooler’s ability to cool your CPU before embarking on your overclocking journey. You will need the following three programs for this guide.

Once you have installed the programs, proceed to open them. Make sure the Benchmark option is selected in ROG Realbench. Normally one run is sufficient to determine your system’s stability at stock. You can choose more runs just to be on the safe side.

53433


After completing the benchmark, you will get a pretty good idea of how well your CPU cooler performs. Remember that you should monitor your CPU’s temperatures at all times. Ideally you would want to keep your CPU’s temperatures below 80C during the entire overclocking process. If your cooling solution is unable to do so or your CPU simply requires too much voltage, you will have to settle for a lower overclock perhaps something in the range of 4.5GHz.

In this particular example, the EKWB Predator 360 manages to keep the stock i7-6700K’s temperatures around 56C in a room with an ambient temperature of 30C.

53432



Tweaking Time
Once inside the BIOS, press F5 to load the optimized defaults then navigate to the Extreme Tweaker tab. Locate the 1-Core Ratio Limit option and input a value of 46 for a 4.6GHz overclock.

53434


Scroll down to the CPU Core/Cache Voltage option and change it from Auto to Manual Mode.

53435


A new CPU Core Voltage Override option will appear. Type in a starting voltage of 1.35.

53436


Press the F10 key and a window will appear showing you a summary of all the options that were modified. If everything is exactly how you had configured it, press OK and your system will reboot.

53437


One of two scenarios can happen.

  • If your system fails to boot or load your OS, go back into the BIOS and raise the CPU core voltage using increments of 0.01V.
  • If you made it inside the OS, proceed to run ROG Realbench’s stress test.

Once inside your OS, it’s time to test your overclock’s stability. Open ROG Realbench, select the Stress Test option. Change the duration to 1 hour and select the amount of memory installed in your system using the dropdown boxes. Finally, press the Start button to get the show on the road.

  • If your system freezes or crashes during the stress test, return to the BIOS and raise the CPU core voltage using increments of 0.01V.
  • If your system is able to complete the stress test at 4.6GHz with 1.35V, begin to reduce the CPU core voltage by 0.01V until you find the lowest value to be stable.

There is no official word on a safe CPU core voltage. But it is widely accepted that you shouldn’t exceed 1.45V. If you’re the type of user who likes to play it safe, then keep it under 1.4V. The amount of time to invest in stress testing is subjective. Some users run stress tests for hours and other hardcore enthusiasts for days. If you’re not fond of cooking your CPU during prolonged periods of time, running the stress test for 1 hour should be good enough. In the end, the best stability test is real world usage after all. What’s the point in bragging about passing x amount of hours running y program just to have your system crash doing random stuff?

53438


If all goes well, you should see a results window in ROG Realbench like the one below. This particular i7-6700K sample certainly isn’t one of the best out there. It requires 1.44V to achieve stability at 4.6GHz. Nevertheless, the EKWB Predator 360 performs very well and the temperatures are kept below 80C during the stress test.

53439



Putting On The Final Touches
Once you’re satisfied with your overclock, it’s time to return to the BIOS to make some final adjustments. Navigate to the CPU Core/Cache Voltage option again. Change it from Manual Mode to Adaptive Mode.

53440


This time you will see a few options appear on screen. The only option that will interest you will be Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage. You will input the voltage that your CPU requires for 4.6GHz. To give your overclock some margin for error, it is good practice to increase your borderline voltage a notch. In other words, if 1.35V is the minimum voltage required for stability, add 0.01V - 0.02V to it. Finally press F10 to save your changes.

53608
233,268 Views
146 REPLIES 146

FlanK3r
Level 13
ahhh, Im folowing this borning thread ,-)
Who knows me, knows me ;)....AMD 3000+, AMD x2 4600+ EE, AMD X4 955 BE C2,2x AMD X4 965 BE C3, AMD X4 970 BE C3, AMD x4 975 BE, AMD x4 980 BE, AMD X6 1090T BE, AMD x6 1100T BE, 2x AMD FX-8120, 2x AMD FX-8150, FX-6300, FX-8300, FX-8320E, FX-8320, FX-8350, FX-8370, FX-8370E, FX-9370, FX-9590, AMD A8-3850, AMD A8-3870K, A8-5600K, A10-5800K, A10-6800K, A10-7850K, A10-7870K, A 5150, Athlon x4 860K, Intel i7-5960X, i7-6700K, Intel i7-4770K, Intel i7-980x, Intel i7 2600k, Intel i7-3770K, i7-3930K.

Menthol
Level 14
Chino,
I cannot save or submit a Realbench score using a MVIII, I can log in when I open it but after a run, no dice it's greyed out

Menthol wrote:
Chino,
I cannot save or submit a Realbench score using a MVIII, I can log in when I open it but after a run, no dice it's greyed out


I have same Isseu

Chino
Level 15

I-Siamak-I
Level 7
Hi Chino, thank you for such nice guide but i have question, do you Disable Intel SpeedStep? Also do u disable C-State or leave it on auto or enable it?

Chino
Level 15
Personally I leave Intel Speedstep and all the C-States on enabled because I like my CPU to downlock when a heavy workload isn't present. 🙂

I'm confused about your last step, where you say:

To give your overclock some margin for error, it is good practice to increase your borderline voltage a notch. In other words, if 1.35V is the minimum voltage required for stability, add 0.01V - 0.02V to it. Finally press F10 to save your changes.


Where do you put in this 'borderline voltage'? In a step above that, you said "It requires 1.44V to achieve stability at 4.6GHz.". In your example, it should be something like 1.45v or 1.46v, right? But I don't see that in your screenshot anywhere.

Thanks. :confused:
Intel I9-10850k / Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero / G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 / Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate CPU Cooler 360MM
Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC / Corsair 850watt CMPSU-850TX / 2 x M.2 (1 TB / 2 TB) EVO Plus/ /2x SanDisk 250gb SSDs (Raid0 total 500gb) / WD 2TB 3D Blue SSD

Snacko wrote:
I'm confused about your last step, where you say:



Where do you put in this 'borderline voltage'? In a step above that, you said "It requires 1.44V to achieve stability at 4.6GHz.". In your example, it should be something like 1.45v or 1.46v, right? But I don't see that in your screenshot anywhere.

Thanks. :confused:


Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage (see above).
Intel i9 10850K@ 5.3GHz
ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E
Corsair H115i Pro XT
G.Skill TridentZ@ 3600MHz CL14 2x16GB
EVGA RTX 3090 Ti FWT3 Ultra
OS: WD Black SN850 1TB NVMe M.2
Storage: WD Blue SN550 2TB NVMe M.2
EVGA SuperNova 1200 P2
ASUS ROG Strix Helios GX601

Chino
Level 15
Snacko wrote:
I'm confused about your last step, where you say:
Where do you put in this 'borderline voltage'? In a step above that, you said "It requires 1.44V to achieve stability at 4.6GHz.". In your example, it should be something like 1.45v or 1.46v, right? But I don't see that in your screenshot anywhere.

Thanks. :confused:

It's up to the user to choose how much headroom he/she wants to leave whether it be an extra 0.01V, 0.02V, etc...