i7 7700k oc and water cooling
i7 7700k oc and water cooling
I assembled a new PC and have several queries.
1. Asrock Z270 EXT 4 motherboard.
2. I7 7700K desoldered and cooled with a gelid Extreme 4, all components powered by Corsair H70i V2; achieved 5.1GHz at 1.344V temps, keeping 73°C max during AIDA64 stability tests.
3. 16GB Corsair Vengeance 2400 RAM in dual channel mode.
4. Seasonic Prime Gold 650W PSU.
5. EVGA GTX 1070 FTV GPU.
6. Corsair S3 O3 case.
Now I’m planning an upgrade to a Phantom Enthoo Pro M case and considering Xs-PC watercooling, my questions are:
- Should I install a 240 or 360mm radiator for better CPU and possibly GPU cooling in the future?
- If I use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut for the thermal paste, would that be preferable?
- Or should I keep the current setup and upgrade to an EVGA Hybrid cooler once it’s back in stock, planning a GPU upgrade later?
- Can I still overclock my CPU? It’s fine for most day-to-day use—playing VR with Oculus Rift at high settings for a few hours daily, some PC games when possible, mostly VR.
Thank you.
I can certainly help with your LLC questions, though I’d need to invest some time looking into the ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 LLC BIOS configurations.
I’m using an ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard and not fully sure how ASRock arranges their LLC settings within the BIOS.
Check out these resources—they’re helpful—and explore listings of 7700K overclocks to see what others are setting up with similar hardware.
To achieve such performance with a single radiator at 73c is quite remarkable.
In the Phanteks Enthoo Pro case I purchased last Christmas for my wife's machine, the available space above the motherboard is quite restricted. It can accommodate around 360 rads, but the thickness of the rad matters if you aim to fit everything inside. I recommend evaluating your options and planning whether you need fans on just one side or both sides of the radiator.
If you prefer running the 7700K at 5.1ghz, avoid adding a GPU in the same loop or be prepared to compromise on the 5.1ghz overclock.
Check out the review here: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/10/...ase_review
For more details, see the Corsair Carbide Series Air 740 Cube Case. If you want to see a used one, click my link in my profile.
Thank you for your message. I have already bought the enthoo pro m and it's now too late to change the case. I intend to install xs pc 360rad with bottom HD mounts and a 5.25 removed, along with removing the 5.25 as well, and then custom looping both the CPU and GPU. You mentioned not to do that, but I'm unsure why. Could you be more specific? Thank you.
He is explaining that including the GPU in your loop also increases thermal load. The GTX 1070 typically draws around 150-170 watts, which isn't a significant amount given the card's power, but it still adds to the overall heat. You need to consider this extra heat, or your CPU temperatures will be higher than expected. It would be wise to add at least another 240 watts to the cooling system if you want to keep temperatures similar.
I believed a 240rad would suffice for cooling, but during OC tests the CPU or GPU didn't operate at those frequencies and I wasn't running any intensive apps like encoding or similar high-end tasks. That's why I thought 240rad would be adequate. Another point came up, so I reduced the voltage slightly to lower heat output and set V core to 1.330 fixed mode (I'm not sure how to adjust offset voltages). When I ran AIDA64 stability at a 5.1GHz CPU, it worked well for about 25 minutes with temperatures around 73 to 75, and HWINFO showed V core as constant 1.328 before crashing. After that, if I set it to 1.335, the V core would occasionally jump to 1.44 and then reset back to 1.328 instantly. I'm committed to keeping V core at or below 1.330. If I adjust power limits for short or long durations or other settings, will that help achieve stable OC? I might think about upgrading to 360rad later, thank you.
I believed 240rad would be adequate for cooling, but when testing for OC the CPU or GPU didn't operate at those frequencies and I wasn't using any advanced applications like encoding. That's why I thought 240rad would suffice. Another point is that I reduced the voltage slightly to lower heat output and set the V core to a fixed mode of 1.330 (I'm not sure how to adjust offset voltages). When running AIDA64 stability at 5.1GHz on the CPU, it worked well for about 25 minutes with temperatures around 73 to 75°C, and Hwinfo64 showed the V core as 1.328 before crashing. After that, if I set it to 1.335, it would occasionally jump to 1.44 and then reset back to 1.328. I'm determined to keep the V core at or below 1.330. If I adjust the short and long power limits or other settings, will stable OC be possible? I might think about upgrading to 360rad later.
You could achieve even better voltage and temperature control by lowering it to 5.0GHz at 1.245V, using fixed voltage and tweaking the Load Line Calibration settings to find optimal operating voltages. 5.1GHz is fine only if stability is perfect; otherwise, it risks damaging your HDD data. Going to 5.0GHz should help keep temperatures below 70°C and extend CPU life.
It's crucial to remember that overclocking is limited by cooling capacity, and this is just a fact of CPU design. Whether you're using Intel or AMD, running the CPU hotter reduces its lifespan. Many people don't consider this, but I think you do.
I really want this to remain my final stable configuration for the next decade or so, since I only use it occasionally for gaming and mostly for VR. I’m focused on maximizing its lifespan, and I’ve kept the CPU at 5 cores and 1.280 threads, but it wasn’t stable—anything below 1.298 caused issues. So I chose 5.1 because it’s stable at 1.335 across speeds. I’m not sure how to handle LLC settings for the first time, and I want to know if long or short duration power limits matter much. There are other BIOS settings like VCIO that I should check too. I plan to research them and will enable speedshift since it says hardware manages sleep states instead of the OS. If I’m not running heavy apps, can my i7 CPU ever run at full capacity for extended periods? It might not be needed for everyday tasks.
I can certainly help with your LLC questions, though I’d need to invest some time looking into the ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 LLC BIOS configurations.
I’m using an ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard and not fully sure how ASRock arranges their LLC settings within the BIOS.
Check out these resources—they’re helpful—and explore listings of 7700K overclocks to see what others are setting up with similar hardware.