Stock Cooling

[Deleted]

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to overclock, by a decent amount, an i5-2500k on the stock cooler, and not kill your CPU?

I've seen a lot of sites saying you can clock the i5-2500k up to like 4ghz on stock, but that sounds scary to me.....has anyone tried it?

Cheers

[Tikaru]

If you spent that much for a new CPU+MoBo, why not shell out the extra $100 for a Corsair liquid cooler?

[Sedative]

4HGz on a stock cooler has been done. Hopefully if you're overclocking you have the tools at your disposal to monitor your temperatures and to run stress tests as well. Overclocking is an exercise in trial and error. Your "risk" is minimal if you are properly monitoring your system and have an idea on what you're doing.

If you're new to it, I suggest taking a look at overclock.net or somewhere similar where you can get more precise insight.

[Deleted]

I'm using stock cooling on my i5-2500k, and it gets hot, maybe 70 degrees on Load. Wouldn't like to risk OC on it tbh.

[Sedative]

If you spent that much for a new CPU+MoBo, why not shell out the extra $100 for a Corsair liquid cooler?

Because its overkill for a slight OC for your standard user. And that quasi water cooler is terrible compared to a high end air cooler such as the Noctua, or even something from Coolermaster priced half as much.

[Matsujinn]

I wouldn't go much above 3.7Ghz on stock cooling, though it is definitely possible.

[Deleted]

I OC'd mine to 3.8ghz on stock cooling. The temps went from 35-40 degrees up to 75-80 degrees.

This was just to test if it could easily be done. Once i ran it like that for a day or so i went back down to 2.8ghz. It eats everything i throw at it alive at that so no point going any higher.

[Nellah]

Mine did 4.4GHz on stock cooling, but was mildly unstable due to high heat. Ran at 4GHz for 24/7 use until I picked up a new case with side fans and a new CPU cooler.

[llDemonll]

If you spent that much for a new CPU+MoBo, why not shell out the extra $100 for a Corsair liquid cooler?

Because you can get a CPU Cooler COOLER MASTER 212 $29.99

[Deleted]

Ohh I intend to get an aftermarket cooler soon, but I couldn't afford it at the moment and my new toys arrived this morning, so I wanted to see if it COULD be done =)

And yes, I know what to do to keep the temps under check...I just wanted an idea of what was possible

[Asera]

I OC'd mine to 3.8ghz on stock cooling. The temps went from 35-40 degrees up to 75-80 degrees.

This was just to test if it could easily be done. Once i ran it like that for a day or so i went back down to 2.8ghz. It eats everything i throw at it alive at that so no point going any higher.

2.8? That must be an i5 760 you're using, which would heat up far more than a 2500K.

Honestly I'd get rid of the stock cooler even when not overclocking. They tend to get loud and clog up with dust. Plus, coolers that blow towards the motherboard are so 2002.

[Nellah]

2.8? That must be an i5 760 you're using, which would heat up far more than a 2500K.

Honestly I'd get rid of the stock cooler even when not overclocking. They tend to get loud and clog up with dust. Plus, coolers that blow towards the motherboard are so 2002.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by my heat sink (GeminII S). It's $10 more than the 212, and the 212 beats it in cooling tests by 4-5 degrees, but it keeps my mainboard components frosty and most importantly fit in my case with two low-rpm side fans installed, giving me superior cooling overall IMO.

Good heat sinks that blow toward the motherboard may be hard to find, but they're not dead (and I needed one for my build anyway.)

[Deleted]

Before I got some decent cooling, I tried OCing my i5 750 2.6 to 3.2, well, it ran, but it hit TJmax (99 degrees) as soon as some heavy CPU job started (i.e. 25man raid) and the core actually decreased the speed to abysmal levels to stop overheating - I wouldn't really recommend it.

A stable OC was 2.6 -> 2.8, which ran at 75 degrees, I wouldn't dare pushing it way higher to prolong CPUs life.
With a cheap coolermaster I can now run 3.8 with 0.5V increase and running at 65 degrees, could probably push way higher, but it's more than enough for what I do

[Sedative]

Before I got some decent cooling, I tried OCing my i5 750 2.6 to 3.2, well, it ran, but it hit TJmax (99 degrees) as soon as some heavy CPU job started (i.e. 25man raid) and the core actually decreased the speed to abysmal levels to stop overheating - I wouldn't really recommend it.

World of difference between a 2500k and a i5 750.

[BicycleMafioso]

With a cheap coolermaster I can now run 3.8 with 0.5V increase and running at 65 degrees

I run mine on 4,00 GHz with a .02v increase. (1.21xx v, haven't validated yet)
I doubt you run yours on 1.7xxx vCore, though.. Rather 1.25v

[nwo]

Sure, many people might have reported OCing to 4GHz on stock, but it highly varies on 2 things. First, your room temperature... If your room gets hot in the summer (higher than 80*F or 25*C in the summer) I highly doubt you will be able to maintain safe temps at full load. Second, your case airflow, if you have crappy airflow, your hot air has nowhere to go so you might be able to do a quick 10 minute stress test but what about gaming or video encoding for a couple of hours?

Anyways, if you want to safely overclock, go spend $20-30 on a Hyper 212+ which should get you up to 4.5GHz while maintaining safe temps.

[Tikaru]

Because you can get a CPU Cooler COOLER MASTER 212 $29.99

Still, I stand by my statement of about getting an aftermarket cooler. Just seems silly to spend that much money on the newest CPU and MoBo and not spend a little more to prolong the life of your purchase...

[nwo]

Still, I stand by my statement of about getting an aftermarket cooler. Just seems silly to spend that much money on the newest CPU and MoBo and not spend a little more to prolong the life of your purchase...

An i5 2500k is not an enthusiast CPU, it only costs ~$200... Buying an aftermarket cooler that costs half as much as the CPU just so you can possibly attempt to squeeze out an additional 400-500MHz does not justify the additional cost.

[Sedative]

An i5 2500k is not an enthusiast CPU, it only costs ~$200... Buying an aftermarket cooler that costs half as much as the CPU just so you can possibly attempt to squeeze out an additional 400-500MHz does not justify the additional cost.

Putting aside peoples opinion of who the target audience is of the chip...

lolwut?

400-500mhz OC? The chip is stock 3.3 and the built in OC-For-Dummys that comes on these boards will give you 4.2GHz out of the box 99% of the time...

Lots of people are in the 4.8GHz range when they manually OC it themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lobbying for that fake "water" cooled thing up there, but with a good aftermarket air cooler, this is what you can expect.

[BicycleMafioso]

An i5 2500k is not an enthusiast CPU, it only costs ~$200... Buying an aftermarket cooler that costs half as much as the CPU just so you can possibly attempt to squeeze out an additional 400-500MHz does not justify the additional cost.

I do agree with this, but to play devil's advocate, it does give the chance to prolong the life of the cpu, and if you buy the right one, it can survive through 2-3 builds, at least, based on how/when manufacturers drop support