tried overclocking my CPU (i7-6700K) but i guess i'm realising i really dont know what i'm doing.
i got it to 4.6Ghz and was running just fine in AIDA64/Firestrike and playing games (GTA V/Overwatch/Rocket League/Dark Souls 2) but the voltage was close to 1.45V and i've read that it's way too high. i don't want to burn out my CPU so turned it down to 4.5Ghz and the voltage dropped to 1.35V and of course was running just fine in AIDA64/Firestrike and playing games. However, I tried Prime95 Blend test and got an instant BSOD. now I'm at 4.4Ghz. i let Prime95 do up to 10 tests and no instability. temperature isn't an issue. during the prime95 test the cpu was sitting mostly about 65C and the max was 70C.
should i just settle with 4.4Ghz or can i push it a bit more while staying under 1.4V and 75C? when i'm adjusting the settings i'm doing it in the BIOS and changing the multiplier. voltage is set to auto. when i try manually setting it sometimes it turns red. also, my motherboard has a 1 click overclicking setting. when i enable that it sets it to 4.4Ghz so does that mean it's the best i can do?
Firstly, please stop, you really dont know what you are doing just yet.
The only right thing you said was that 1.45v is too much for a measly OC, 5Ghz territory there.
On average the 6700k will do 4.5Ghz 1.35v.
The first thing you need to do is control the Vcore, so stop usign AUTO vcore.
Set Vcore to Manual, and enter 1.35v.
I dont know what board you have, but youll want to play with the load Line Calibration level until the load Vcore is close to the Idle Vcore, for Asus that seems to be level 5.
Use CPUz to read the Vcore, and Prime95 blend to load the PC up to 100%.
Once you have that complete, start playing with the multiplier, start at 4.4Ghz, try Prime95 Blend.
Small FFT will probably cause the CPU to over heat.
I choose Blend, click custom, enter 256k for the minimum FFT length, and a 3/4 of my RAM in the memory field.
Dont overclock the memory whilst you do this, just set the memory to 2133Mhz.
Rune 10 minute test of Prime95 to get a feel for the Vcore/Temps/Stability, once you find a good balance, freeze the multiplier and start reducing the Vcore whilst running 1 hours Prime95 tests.
If you find the 1hour tests fail, then re think your Vcore/Multiplier balance. Maybe more vcore if temps are ok, or if not then reduce the multiplier and vcore.