I'm having trouble with system overheating, XMP, and Resizable BAR.
I'm having trouble with system overheating, XMP, and Resizable BAR.
So initially, I had no clear understanding of what I was working with.
My setup includes:
CyberPower PC
MSI Z590-A Pro (MS-7D09)
11th Gen i7-11700KF @ 3.60GHz
32GB RAM Patriot 3200 C16 Series
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
Windows 10
Mostly, I use the computer for tasks such as 3D animation and high-end gaming, so speed is essential (as long as it’s safe). I keep my startup applications minimal. Cooling systems appear to be functioning correctly, maintaining around 35°C when idle and reaching 45°C during light usage.
I discovered some recommendations suggesting XMP and Resizable BAR should be activated. I did that, but while encoding a video the CPU throttled due to high temperatures. So I turned them off. I’m unsure if overheating existed before or after disabling them.
I installed MSI’s Dragon Center (Dragon-Center.jpg), which offers three user scenarios—Extreme, Balanced, and Silent—and a fourth customizable option called Creator Genie (Creator-Genie.jpg) with CPU, XMP1, and XMP2 settings. XMP2 was hidden, so I enabled CPU and XMP1. After restarting and re-encoding, the system again overheated shortly.
I attempted the “Extreme” profile, same result. The “Balanced” setting kept the CPU under 40°C but extended encoding time from 3 hours to 16 hours.
I require assistance to resolve these issues. I’m completely uncertain about overclocking procedures, but I definitely want optimal performance without overheating.
Please find the HWiNFO64 screenshots here:
https://imgur.com/a/87EnYr1
View: https://imgur.com/a/87EnYr1
Your support would be extremely valuable. I assure you I’ll avoid changing settings without proper guidance moving forward.
Thank you in advance.
If you have two fans on a 360 radiator, that's the best starting point. And if the case is particularly tight (it seems to be), swapping it out is a fairly cheap option in the long run, though it means moving all the parts around. If I were you, I'd choose something like the Fractal Design Torrent or Meshify and pair it with a high-quality, affordable air cooler from Thermalright. You'll end up doing better overall.
What's your usual room temperature?
Also, is the system overheating or just reaching its maximum temperature? Because one unit isn't working well, and the other is functioning as expected, giving you near full performance. As long as it operates correctly, don’t worry—temperature doesn’t matter much...
I have some points to think about, and I also have a rocket lake rig with an MSI Z590 board.
1st: What cooling system are you using on this rig?
2nd: I’d remove the MSI Dragon center (also known as 'bloatware') since it’s not necessary for an effective overclock. Also, clean up the registry windows afterward.
3rd: It’s much better to overclock from within the BIOS and test stability in Windows. Also, is the BIOS on this board current?
If you can provide that info, everyone here would be better equipped to assist you.
It mentions I own a DeepCool Castle 360EX ARGB 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooling System with Copper Cold Plate [+40] (6 x Standard 120MM Fans). There are two fans at the front, three above, and one at the back. Everything seems to be functioning properly according to what I know, and it’s still working well. I can sense the liquid flowing through the tubes, feel the fan spinning on the CPU, and it’s currently around 45°C-50°C when idle—probably because of the "Extreme" setting. When idle with the "Balanced" preset, it drops to about 35°C. The system is also labeled as "Ultimate OC (Ultimate Overclock 30% or more)."
The case image shows the entire top as a mesh similar to the one at the bottom front. It’s interesting that the CPU fan appears to be listed at 0 RPM in the monitor photo and also in the BIOS, even though the percentage changes based on your settings.
I removed Dragon using Revo Cleaner to clear any registry issues. The BIOS is current, and I found a manual for it on the MSI website: https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe...00BIOS.pdf, but I’m not sure what most of it means.
Thanks again.
I'm sorry. You're wondering if I should provide an image of the case and describe the fan setup, or if you're questioning my inclusion of them in my answer.
Ok, thanks.
From your saying with the fans setup in the case & for your radiator is sounds fine but there is something wrong with the idle temps on that chip. What kind of ambients do you have? cause' 45-50C is too much for a rocket lake at idle. Speculating here, but perhaps the mount of the water block is not air tight & either too much or tool little TIM is used. You'll have to check that & compare with vids from YT of something.
The CPU fan speed in bios & the app is irrelevant unless one is of course using air cooling of course. For water cooling, I don't know I'm an air cooling man.
MSI with Z590 series (not sure about the others) have "CPU Cooler Tuning" so you'll have to pick the profile there that is applicable for H20 cooling
There's a bunch of many options for OC in these Z590 bios for rocket lake cpu range, so I don't want to get too complicated because there is over 50 different options for fine tuning here & gets very technical. But in saying that, can you find in CPU options menu something called "MCR" that's an acronym for multi core enhancement. If you can turn that on, the the motherboard will add a mild OC to all cores off the bat. That's probably the easiest way to OC without getting too fiddly. The Ring bus ratio can also be raised a little, 40 is default. but depending on chip quality, you can raise this up to 42 or 43, some chips can do up to 45 without issue so you'll have to experiment here.
What kind of PSU do have on this rig, this is very important because once Rocket lake cpu starts OC it demands some serious power & hence this is where the thermal challenges automatically come in. 14nm fabrication has it's drawbacks unfortunately.
One more thing, gear 1 & 2 for the RAM can have an effect on memory performance, once over 3200MHz it will automatically kick in to gear 2 by default which effectively half the memory controller speed. Manually set it to gear one & test at 3466MHz (loosen cas latency if necessary, depends on your kit) If you lucky with your chip you might be able to even get 3600MHz whilst in gear 1! but test & check first.
Anyway, I don't want to go overboard atm , so hope some of these tips will help.
Sorry, I didn't find the link to the case. It seems the situation is quite closed off at the front, which isn't surprising given how restricted the airflow is by all that plastic. Even the small cover in front won't let much air through since your radiator already behaves like an exhaust. I would try switching the rear fan direction to see if it affects the temperatures.
Oh, okay.
I tried switching the fans around, but it didn't make much difference.
I'm pretty sure this just has to do with whatever I inadvertently did to it. I'm trying to figure out how to
un
do it, because the Dragon Center presets (which I've since uninstalled) apparently just screwed things up even more. The "Extreme" preset had it overheating with any stress, and the "Balanced" preset had it under 40°C when stressed, but 80% slower. I'm trying to find the 'middle ground' of whatever happened to it, and just get it back to being able to be stressed without immediately overheating.
If you have two fans on a 360 radiator, that’s the best starting point. And if the enclosure is particularly tight (which seems to be the case), swapping it out is a fairly cheap option in the long run—though it means moving all the parts around. If I were facing the same situation, I’d opt for something like the Fractal Design Torrent or Meshify paired with a high-quality, budget-friendly Thermalright air cooler. You’ll end up doing better overall.
What’s your typical room temperature?
Also, is the system overheating or just reaching its maximum temperature? Because one unit isn’t working well and the other is functioning as expected, giving you near full performance. If it continues to operate smoothly, there’s no need to worry. But if it starts failing or behaving strangely, that’s when you should be concerned. Still, improving airflow and cooling will almost always boost performance, so upgrading the case could be a smart move regardless.