I7 4790K with a compatible motherboard
I7 4790K with a compatible motherboard
Voltage regulation unit. It's the component that supplies power to the CPU. Higher quality units tend to run cooler and provide steadier voltage output. The main way to improve this is by adding more power phases, though that isn't the only solution (Crosshair VIII Impact uses a 4-phase VCore, which is still better than many 8-phase designs with bigger VRMs). It's not extraordinary; I wouldn't risk exposing it to extreme conditions like liquid nitrogen. Still, it works well for a 5GHz 7700K board.
The details are in your previous post—please verify and let me know if it works for you.
Liquid nitrogen is employed to boost performance in extreme benchmark scores, not for regular use.
the h81m will use the i7-4790k either after updating the bios or by installing windows 10 with a non-k version chip first. I just installed the chip on my Asus h81m-c board this week. A suggestion was made to opt for the non-k version. I’m unsure why, since the k version offers about 13% better heat spreading and prevents overheating more effectively. It also runs at a base clock of 4. The non-k version clocks around 3.6, which means even without overclocking (you can still do it with an old bios download or windows 10’s limited boost up to 4.5 on this board, or up to 4.8 on z97 boards). I performed a stress test on the 4790k (non-overclocked) using one case fan and the standard i5 heatsink. It reached 100°C across three cores at 48% load. The chip remains safe for operation (though not ideal), as it won’t sustain more than 105°C. Windows 10 can throttle the processor if it hits that temperature, with a safe upper limit around 90°C. My case isn’t large enough to accommodate big air heat sinks, and I don’t want liquid cooling issues—especially since I have important files stored there. I’ve seen videos showing temperatures dropping by 9-12°C when using liquid metal inside the chip. There are tools available on eBay and Amazon, plus some stores that let you disassemble k chips for better heat dissipation. Right now I’m receiving a regular i7-4790 chip as a backup so my computer stays running while I work on modifying the non-k version.
H81M can run on the 4790k, provided it gets a BIOS update if needed. Windows 10 doesn’t affect whether the board works or not—it depends on the manufacturer’s decision to release microcode updates. Non-K models usually handle heat better. Lower TDP means less heat generation. That’s the main point. There’s no real improvement in heat spreading with Haswell or other Intel chips that include TIM between the die and the heatsink. Those designs are inconsistent. You saw 100C with an i5 stock cooler, which is fine. 4790Ks rarely stayed cool even with a tower cooler, let alone cheap Intel stock coolers. I often had to use water cooling for long-term stability and when pushing temperatures. Just because it can reach 100°C doesn’t mean it’s suitable. I’ve tested many Haswell chips and it wasn’t worth it unless you’re serious about overclocking.
There’s no particular need for this item. It would make more sense to purchase affordable current hardware instead.