Cooling and Overclocking i7-14700K
Cooling and Overclocking i7-14700K
Hello everyone, just updated from Core i5 to the latest Core i7 714700K. I'm not seeing the performance I expected. The CPU sometimes reaches 100°C even when idle, with an average temperature of 35°C. I tested it using Intel Exup and got a score of 10650, but after throttling, it's still okay. I have an Air Killer cooler, proper thermal paste, and the motherboard is ASUS B660 Prime Plus D4 with 64GB RAM. Please find the screenshots attached and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
https://ibb.co/TqXcGyB
IMG-20241112-162749-084 hosted at ImgBB
The air cooler has a 160W TDP rating. Your Core Temp screenshot indicates the CPU is operating at 221.7W. It’s unlikely you’ll achieve optimal performance with that cooler when using it.
Recent BIOS updates for boards with the B660 chipset support Intel Undervolt Protection. The standard voltage setting for K series CPUs on B series boards is typically higher. When UVP is active, resolving the issue becomes difficult. Some users with Asus B660 boards can enable a BIOS option to run the early 0x104 microcode, which is the final version still supporting undervolting. Adjusting this can lower temperatures significantly if you’re comfortable experimenting.
Even with undervolting, the cooler remains insufficient. You might consider setting the turbo power limits in BIOS back to default values, which will reduce performance but help prevent constant thermal throttling. Intel 14th Gen CPUs perform best when allowed by BIOS to run at maximum power and speed.
Hey, I changed the cooler to Corsairs ICE Elite Capelix 240mm. Even with the power limit increased, I'm still experiencing the same performance as before. This is really frustrating, any advice or solutions?
I just put in a brand new 240mm Corsair AIO and was surprised to see my score as the last budget air cooler, even after setting the contact frame and adjusting the power limit in BIOS. How come the 130W power limit shows 27000 in Cinebench R23 and 253W shows 26900? I’m pretty sure I installed it correctly, but I don’t know what’s happening. My CPU is an i7 14700k and the cooler is Corsair Elite Capelix 240mm.
Cinebench isn't a full evaluation. If your CPU wasn't throttling before the test, it shouldn't be now, so the results should match. Did you record the clock speeds during previous runs and after the upgrade? With more cooling demands, you can boost power and raise the clocks on P cores and E-cores. In Cinebench, E-cores usually dominate the score. If you aim for a better benchmark, increase P core speed by a few hundred MHz and lower E core speed slightly—typically 100-200Mhz is sufficient. Otherwise, the CPU will run a bit more efficiently when cooler. Keep boosting in boost mode.
I'm really upset because I bought this cooler to speed up my project rendering and improve CPU performance, but I ended up losing $140—way too much for my situation.
Gradually raising the power ceiling isn't enough. You must begin adjusting voltages and clock rates to achieve real progress. Lowering the voltage can also help reduce internal CPU temperatures. Check some Raptor Lake overclocking guides for more details. Expect only modest gains, around 10% at best. These processors are already heavily overclocked, which is why they consume so much power.