Find ways to lower peak temperatures while keeping performance intact.
Find ways to lower peak temperatures while keeping performance intact.
Hello, I recently acquired a 11700k and an MSI Z590 board. Since the CPU reaches 5GHz under light loads, it seems 4.6GHz is optimal for gaming at 1080p rather than 4K. Given the price difference compared to a newer board, I purchased this one when I could install a better water cooler. I've experimented with keeping the CPU at 4.6GHz, lowering the PL1 from 125 to 125 and PL2 from 285 to 250 with a 220A and 125Watt PL1 during small FFTs. It stabilized around 70s and maintained 3.2-3.4GHz when Turbo Boost was off, C-states adjusted, and Speed Shift enabled. My setup includes an Intel i7-11700K, 3.4/4.6/5.0GHz, a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU air cooler (120mm, 1500rpm, 265WTDP), an MSI Z590 Pro WiFi, Nvidia RTX3060 Ti 8GB, 1920x1080 at 100Hz, 32GB DDR4 at 3200MHz, and a 512GB Samsung NVMe SSD. Thermal take 80+ Gold. I’m aiming for consistent 4.6GHz now, as my games prioritize core count over clock speed. Stock BIOS notes mention image instability due to nerve issues, but I’m trying to stabilize things. Would this configuration work for you?
I noticed that lowering my single core boost improved stability at lower voltages while keeping my all-core speeds intact. My processor now only reaches 4.9GHz instead of the usual 5GHz, which lets me drop the voltage by roughly 0.2GHz—considerable. In today’s games, single core speed has little impact; you’re typically using at least half your cores simultaneously.
I plan to hold off pushing the CPU until core 3 is cooler. Core 3 appears to be the hottest, and I’ve completed three remounts thinking the dye might be the problem. So far it’s working. I’m keeping PL1 and PL2 as they are—125 PL1 and 250 PL2. At 220AI Watts it stayed around the mid-70s, with small FFT showing 4.1 to 4.6 GHz and a drop to 3.6. Small FFT hits the CPU hard, and gaming rarely drops below 4.55 GHz since I play RUST, which is a demanding CPU game. It seems more cores matter than speed, and my friend has a 6-core setup at 5.1 GHz giving better FPS at 4.6 GHz and 8 cores. I’ll try 125 PL1, 250 PL2, and 230AI for better stability. I’ll check back in a few hours with the results.
Update your i7 11700k performance reaches 90°C under full load at 250 watts and 4.8GHz. AVX was turned off; 4.7 seems better as it uses only 230 watts and consistently hits the mid-80s during load, while reaching 90°C under full capacity without AVX. Idle temps are around 30°C. Consider setting PL1 and PL2 to manual at 250 watts instead of auto. Your cooler supports up to 265 watts, with dual 120mm fans at 1700rpm and additional 120mm fans at 1300rpm. At 4.7 to 4.8GHz gaming at 1080p, 4.7 offers more stability. Lower temps help prevent stutters, though frame drops might occur; since you prefer slower-paced games, the smoothness is beneficial.