Overclocking CPU Guide: Step by step with 9900k and EVGA Z390 Dark
IF YOUR CPU OVERCLOCK IS NOT STAYING CONSTANT IN WINDOWS, YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR WINDOWS POWER PLAN TO "HIGH PERFORMANCE". Software Used: Thermal/Stability testing under maximum load - Prime 95 Quick CPU stability testing - Cinebench R20 Long CPU stability testing - Realbench stress test (1 hour) Long CPU stability testing - Folding @ Home (all night test) Step by step video of every part of my overclocking process for the 9900k on the EVGA z390 Dark motherboard. If you do not plan to overclock your ram at all, you can set VSA and VCCSIO to like 1.1 to reduce voltage into the CPU... I opted to set them at 1.2 because I am going to overclock my ram. Your results may very based upon heat generation and luck in the silicon lottery. My CPU isn't that great as I have to overvolt significantly to attain 5.3 ghz stable. Here are the values I consider "safe" to run as far as voltages for daily use... Vcore: up to 1.35v as long as you can keep temperatures under control. VSA (system agent): up to 1.35, but less is better, I generally end up around 1.2-1.25 for a stable OC of the CPU and ram. VCCIO: up to 1.35, but less is better... I generally end up around 1.2 for a stable OC of the CPU and ram. I leave the rest of the voltages on Auto. If you want you can lock in other voltages at close to their stock values, but I usually just leave them on auto. Finally, you may corrupt the BIOS when doing overclocking and causing crashes, so be sure you have a dual bios system or the ability to flash the bios without being able to POST as that may be required (it has happened once to me with the Z390 Dark... fortunately this board has the ability to re-flash the bios without even having a CPU in place). EDIT: After long term testing (running benchmarks for an hours+) I found I either had to increase my voltage to 1.32 to handle the 5.2ghz overclock with 2 AVX offset, or I could drop voltage to 1.28 and run at 5.1ghz with 0 AVX offset. I opted to run at 5.2 as I use few applications that run heavy AVX, so i'm ok with the 1.32 voltage.
IF YOUR CPU OVERCLOCK IS NOT STAYING CONSTANT IN WINDOWS, YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR WINDOWS POWER PLAN TO "HIGH PERFORMANCE". Software Used: Thermal/Stability testing under maximum load - Prime 95 Quick CPU stability testing - Cinebench R20 Long CPU stability testing - Realbench stress test (1 hour) Long CPU stability testing - Folding @ Home (all night test) Step by step video of every part of my overclocking process for the 9900k on the EVGA z390 Dark motherboard. If you do not plan to overclock your ram at all, you can set VSA and VCCSIO to like 1.1 to reduce voltage into the CPU... I opted to set them at 1.2 because I am going to overclock my ram. Your results may very based upon heat generation and luck in the silicon lottery. My CPU isn't that great as I have to overvolt significantly to attain 5.3 ghz stable. Here are the values I consider "safe" to run as far as voltages for daily use... Vcore: up to 1.35v as long as you can keep temperatures under control. VSA (system agent): up to 1.35, but less is better, I generally end up around 1.2-1.25 for a stable OC of the CPU and ram. VCCIO: up to 1.35, but less is better... I generally end up around 1.2 for a stable OC of the CPU and ram. I leave the rest of the voltages on Auto. If you want you can lock in other voltages at close to their stock values, but I usually just leave them on auto. Finally, you may corrupt the BIOS when doing overclocking and causing crashes, so be sure you have a dual bios system or the ability to flash the bios without being able to POST as that may be required (it has happened once to me with the Z390 Dark... fortunately this board has the ability to re-flash the bios without even having a CPU in place). EDIT: After long term testing (running benchmarks for an hours+) I found I either had to increase my voltage to 1.32 to handle the 5.2ghz overclock with 2 AVX offset, or I could drop voltage to 1.28 and run at 5.1ghz with 0 AVX offset. I opted to run at 5.2 as I use few applications that run heavy AVX, so i'm ok with the 1.32 voltage.