With the passage of time game and applications are becoming more intensive for CPUs to handle. Even our time’s favourite Core i5 4670K processor struggles with the latest game titles of 2021. Modern games are more dependant on CPU threads and old CPU like 4670K aren’t able to handle stable frame rates in this case. And if you don’t want to throw away your old fellow out of your PC case, then at least you can do is overclock your 4670K CPU to play games at 1440p settings.
The Intel Core i5 4670K is a really old gaming processor that was released back in June 2013. It’s a CPU with 4 cores and no hyperthreading capability. Right out of the box, it has a boost clock of up to 3.8 GHz.
The 4670K being a K-series CPU can be safely overclocked to 4.2 GHz without any problem. And you really don’t need to buy expensive liquid coolers to do that. An under $50 CPU air cooler can do this job way better in this case.
Easy Steps to Overclock i5 4670K CPU
Here are the steps you can follow
Step 1: Install the Latest Bios
One of the good things about Intel Haswell processors is that you can overclock them for maximum performance. But before doing that you will need to install the latest BIOS for your motherboard. After the installation you should head to BIOS and need to:
- Clear CMOS
- Set CPU Multiplier to 44
- Set CPU vCore Voltage at 1.25V
- Set VCCIN voltage at 1.9V
- Adjust ram speed at 1333MHz along with memory voltage to 1.5V
- Afterwards, boot and stress test your CPU with IETU (Intel Extreme Tuning Utility)
Step 2: Stability Testing
It is one of the best ways to ensure that everything is working fine so far. You could run Cinebench or XTU benchmark tests to monitor the stability of your CPU. If you are able to pass more than 3 tests, then your CPU is stable. However, these tests require you to set your Vcore mode to manual.
Step 3: Stress Testing
Whenever it comes to overclock your i5 4670K CPU, we recommend you run the stress test for at least 8 hours. Here are the things that you can keep in mind:
- If your system crashed, increase the voltage. If your system gets stable, then it’s time to decrease voltage again.
- If you intend to overclock your 4670K CPU to 4.4 GHz, you should not exceed the voltage of more than 1.32V.
- You should set the voltage anywhere between 1.2V and 1.32V.
- We definitely do not recommend you to set your voltage at 1.5V to gain more clock speed. By doing so, you will end up losing your processor.
- Make sure the CPU temperature does not exceed more than 85 to 90 Degrees. You can use reliable CPU temperature monitor software in this case. If you find any instability in your system then it’s time to drop down the ring ratio to 3000 MHz.
Some recommended voltage settings to consider
0.1 to 1.3V: If you are more concerned about the heat issues, then we recommend you to set the voltage up to 1.3V. At this voltage, you can use any low budget air cooler to take care fo the rising temperatures.
1.3 to 1.44V: Yes, this is still a safe zone without risking your CPU. However, at this level, you will need a good quality CPU cooler to maintain low temperatures.
Over 1.45V: Again, we do not recommend you push the limits of your 4670K CPU over this point. You will witness massive amount of heat, and to handle that, you will need an expensive liquid cooler.
Here are some stable results
- 4.7GHz @ 1.41V
- 4600MHz ring bus @ 1.41V
- VCCIN 2.0V
CPU Ring Bus Stability Criteria
So basically we follow the 1:1 ratio formula. Finding the ring bus stability for a CPU is a time consuming process as not all CPUs follow this rule when it comes to overclocking.
- First thing is to set your ring bus to 44 (in this case we want to achieve a clock speed of 4.4GHz)
- Set VCCIN at 1.9V
- And now the CPU ring voltage can be set according to the CPU voltage that you find stable (for example at 4.4 GHz a CPU may be stable at 1.28V)
- So we can set our CPU ring voltage to 1.28V
Everthing Set Up to Overclock
Now as you have set up all the parameters, it’s time to boot and stress test your CPU. If you see instability, it’s time to lower VCCIN voltage to get stable results. It’s wise to start from lower options like 1.75V to 178V.
If still you don’t find stability, you can increase the VCCIN voltage by 0.001 increments until you get the desired results.
Best ring bus voltage settings we’ve found so far
- 4.4GHz @ 1.23V CPU
- 4400MHz @ 1.22V Cpu Ring Bus
- VCCIN 1.9V
Verdict
Finally, this is how you can overclock your i5 4670K processor without any issues. Just keep in mind that it is all about finding the right CPU frequency to overclock. Lower frequencies use less voltage and help in keeping the temperature at an optimal level. We recommend you start from a lower VCCIN and ring bus voltage to get stable overclocking results.
