Check if the temperature and voltage of your i7 7700k are within normal ranges.
Check if the temperature and voltage of your i7 7700k are within normal ranges.
Hazlazm, if you just need a reliable system for playing your games without all the overclocking concerns, then skip most of what others say here. Open your BIOS, set the defaults to "optimized" (probably F6?), and that should suffice. I looked at my 7700K settings and the stock vCore is only 1.180v, working fine with turbo boost. You're probably too focused on temperature—modern CPUs handle it well as long as you keep the load under 90°C or even 95°C. Many people say they cap at 75 or 80, but most of them are overclockers who care a lot about temps. I’ve had mine delidded and it stays at 70°C max during an Intel Burn Test at full settings for three hours. For your use case, just keep it below 90°C most of the time. Save yourself the stress.
Lake75:
If you're looking for a reliable setup without the stress of overclocking, just skip the usual advice here. Open your BIOS, set the defaults to "optimized" (maybe F6?), and you should be good. I verified my 7700K settings and the stock vCore is only 1.180v, working fine with turbo boost. Many worry too much about temps—most are just overclockers chasing 75 or 80°C. I’ve had mine delidded and it stays at a max of 70°C during a full Intel Burn Test. For your use case, as long as you keep the temperature under 90°C most of the time, it’s fine. Just don’t stress about it.
Makentox:
Completely in agreement with you about not wasting effort.
Just one thing I have a question for you—have you disabled your CPU to test the stock performance?
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Actually, no... I'm currently running at 5GHz with a 1.370 vCore. My processor is likely just average and can't go higher. You could try stock mode to check.
Thanks for your reply.
I plan to re-apply the thermal paste again. I used roughly twice the amount shown in the picture. I misunderstood the Cooler Manual.
Is "careful not tightening too much" meant to warn about damaging the motherboard? Or are there other reasons to avoid over-tightening?
Regarding XMP settings, I haven’t changed anything in the BIOS beyond what I mentioned earlier. Unless it’s enabled by default, then no—just stick with the settings I talked about.
The chassis fans are 140mm in size. I’ve been considering relocating one fan to the front, adding two intakes at the front and one exhaust at the back, maybe even using a Y-splitter for four fans.
That’s correct—don’t tighten things too much to avoid damaging your motherboard.
As for temperatures, SgtScream is right; the cooler seems a bit undersized. It gives about 8°C less cooling during heavy use compared to the EVO212. Adding twice the TIM on the CPU could boost cooling by another 2°C, bringing the total up to 10°C.
I also think you’re not expelling heat efficiently enough from your case, which raises the ambient temperature around the CPU and cooler.
So, in short—accept the temps you see while playing BF1, as they stay under safe limits (>85°C). Or try reapplying TIM to lower them slightly and consider adding an extra intake fan to see if it helps. If you don’t plan to overclock, these adjustments should be sufficient.
If you ever decide to overclock, I’d recommend starting with a stress test (like OCCT-Small) for 30 minutes to check your temps. You’ll likely find that a better cooler is needed for real overclocking. Testing shows the EVO212 offers about 8°C more cooling under load than the Noctua U9B SE2, while the Noctua NH-D14 could provide roughly 15°C more than the U9B.
Lake75 :
Makentox :
I totally agree with you about not wasting time.
Just one thing I’d like to ask: have you disabled your CPU to test it on stock speeds?
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Actually, I’m already running at 5GHz with a 1.370 vCore. My processor is probably just average, and I can’t go faster. You could try stock settings to see how it performs.
Oh well, nice to see the first experienced person in this thread.
This was my first stress test of the CPU using Intel Burn Test, and I succeeded. It increased from 30 Idle to 45-55, then quickly rose to 70-89 across all cores within a few seconds, followed by a drop back to 45-55 and then rising again in a cycle. Occasionally, one core reached 91 and stayed there for about 2-3 seconds before returning to normal. This happened when Turbo Boost was enabled. With Turbo Boost ON, the standard voltage is 1.35, while with Turbo Boost OFF, the BIOS sets it to 1.265. I plan to test with Turbo Boost OFF. Also, BF1 consumes a lot of CPU power, using around 90-100%. Lake95 achieved 1.180 with Turbo Boost on, whereas I got 1.265 without it. It seems I’m getting higher core speeds.
It’s odd that the 212 Evo performs better. If true, it means I’m getting a worse cooler for less money. Essentially, I spent more for lower performance.
I’m also planning to purchase an y-splitter so I can have two intake fans and two exhaust fans at once. Until then, I’ll stick with the current setup, as ordering should take about 7-10 days.
I intend to try Arma 3, which is very CPU-intensive, and check the temperatures. For your reference, I’m using MSI Afterburner to monitor them during gameplay.