Discussing high temperatures during overclocking of an i7 7700k to 5ghz at 1.29V
Discussing high temperatures during overclocking of an i7 7700k to 5ghz at 1.29V
Hello, this is my initial effort at overclocking even though I've had my 7700k for just over a year. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
When attempting to reach 5ghz, I initially set the vcore to 1.35V but experienced significant heat when using Prime95 (version 26.6) and RealBench (version 2.43). Idle temperatures would hover around 42-46°C, while stress tests would quickly raise the temperature to the high 90s, with two cores reaching about 101°C at the end of the tests.
I slowly lowered the vcore voltage by 0.005 until I reached 1.29V, which is my current setting. For each adjustment, I performed one RealBench run and 10 minutes of Prime95 (with small FFTs). At 1.29V idle, temperatures range from 38-41°C. During stress tests, they remain in the high 90s, peaking at 98°C. I haven’t seen any errors during these runs, though I recognize these aren’t long durations.
My concern is whether these temperatures are normal for my configuration. Should I continue reducing the vcore voltage (feeling it’s low compared to what I see online) to try and lower the heat, or should I consider other options like replacing the cooler or upgrading?
System details:
CPU: I7 7700K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z270-HD3
PSU: Antec HCG-520M
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4 3200MHz
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1080
Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 (+4 case fans)
Overclocking can sometimes cause issues, so don't push the I7 700k to 5ghz unless your temperatures stay within normal ranges. If they exceed 95 or 100, it's best to stop.
Delidding would certainly be beneficial. However, keep in mind these are stress test results and may not fully represent real-world performance. Have you attempted regular tasks or gaming? You might notice temperatures stabilize and become manageable when your CPU isn’t overworked. An aio could help or not, since you already possess one of the top air coolers on the market. The voltage appears adequate, suggesting temperature limits are likely the issue. I’d still play games to check post-session temps and adjust accordingly.
If temperatures remain high, consider delidding and re-testing. Then evaluate upgrading to a cooler that fits better.
So outside of stress testing conditions look fine—generally 40-45 degrees for everyday use (like Twitch or YouTube) and 65-73 degrees while gaming. The temperature reaches a peak of 80. This was observed over a five-hour session playing a very CPU-intensive game. I intend to follow exactly what you mentioned. Delid and reset, then possibly upgrade my cooler if necessary. Thanks for the guidance, it's really helpful.
The temperatures are within an acceptable range. Although you'll likely notice some improvements with a deli, it might not be worth the risk since you're already at 5ghz. However, you could potentially boost it further to 5.1-5.2 after the deli.