10700K thermals available
10700K thermals available
I recently replaced most of my PC, not just the GPU. In short, I upgraded from an i7-3770k to a i7-10700k. I switched my case to a fractal design (the exact model name is forgotten). Initially, I bought an ML240L Cooler Master which turned out to be terrible. Right out of the box, it only showed Intel Turbo Boost benchmarks and stress tests often reaching 100°C, with thermal throttling. Compared to my old 3770k with a H100i 240mm AIO, which kept me below 60°C thanks to fewer cores and lower TDP, the change was significant. I promptly replaced the ML240L with an H100i (installed at top and exhaust) and removed the cooling case. Now, with an undervolt of 1.275V core voltage and power limits set at 125W and 175W, I’m getting around 67-73°C. However, after a few minutes of stress testing, my core clocks drop to about 4GHz (likely due to power throttling, as indicated by hwinfo and low PL1/PL2 values). For gaming, I see temperatures between 45-68°C depending on the game, and around 60-73°C when streaming. I’m curious if this is just because the chip gets hot, or if there’s another factor at play. I even tried thermal grizzly Kryon, but spreading the paste was tricky—maybe I didn’t apply it well. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Welcome to the discussions! Be aware you're upgrading from a quad-core processor to an octa-core one, which means increased heat output and faster clock rates. An H100i wouldn't be my top pick for cooling this chip; a premium air cooler like the Dark Rock Pro 4 or NH-D15 would be better. Those temps are acceptable during heavy use, so I shouldn't be overly concerned. Do you have any idea if the CPU activates under full-core boost (usually something like MCE-Multi Core Enhancement, or similar terms from different manufacturers)? Edited October 11, 2021 by CommanderAlex – note about core count.
I'm using speedstep and speedshift enabled, but all MOBO settings are turned off on my ASUS H570 plus. It's a budget MMO with no overclocking support. The ASUS enhancement feature is off, and my chipset doesn't support MCE at the moment. I notice different clock speeds across cores sometimes, but it's not extreme—just when playing games or running benchmarks, all cores stay around 4.7GHz.
This board isn't ideal for performance tuning. While you can access the chip's boost features, they might not last long due to potential overheating of the VRMs. This can cause the CPU to slow down to manage power usage.
atleast you actually used the good silicon of your k cpu for undervolt Seems abit low Run a higher freq like 4.8, usually requires around 1.25v, if your cpu isnt hot enough then you are prob gonna lose abit of performance aka you have too much unused headroom on the cpu clocks Id say 80-90 is acceptable
Your temps are low which is a good sign. Using a higher frequency helps boost performance, and with an Intel Turbo Boost of 4.7GHz you can maintain full cores at that speed while gaming. Undervolting below 1.275V is possible but depends on your system's stability and cooling.
You're wondering if the CPU temperature readings are normal and whether a better air cooler would help. You mentioned seeing fluctuations around 10°C in the thermal data, possibly due to sensor behavior. It seems like you're curious about how others handle similar temperatures with the 10700K chip.
Thanks for your support—it really means a lot. I’ll check back later tonight or tomorrow. Also, it might be my undervoltage after all.
Okay, So I ran Prime-95 for around 5-10mins. I know this is not a thorough test but I'm not concerned about stability necessarily since I already tested that. After around the 1-3min mark, I noticed my core ratios went from x47 to x40 and didnt move for the rest of the test. I checked hwinfo64 and this is what I saw. Keep in mind CPU max temp was around 69-70C and no thermal throttling that I see. I believe the reason im dropping clock speeds is because of the PL1/PL2 and time window tau I set in addition to my undervolt? But thats why im posting this screencap of IA limit and Ring Limit.