Increasing RAM speed requires additional power.
Increasing RAM speed requires additional power.
It's understandable feeling that way. The concern comes from seeing the numbers, but after considering the situation, it makes sense. High temperatures and voltage spikes are manageable here since I'm confident in my cooling setup. I don't get overly worried about short bursts of heat or power, especially if the system handles it well. So yes, pushing to the limit feels safe based on my experience and the specs.
I completely grasp your perspective. Although I recognize that anything below Tj Max represents mostly theoretical inefficiency—haha—I prefer maintaining temperatures under the 80s range. Right now, my CPU stays between 72 and 75°C during intense gaming sessions with a 4.7GHz all-core clock and a -0.95mV offset for undervolt. Sometimes it drops to 4.4 or 4.5GHz during heavy loads, which is acceptable. I've tried 5GHz overclocks and they provide a slight boost in low frequencies, but I don't believe the gains justify the instability. With my 4x8GB RAM setup, that's all I need. My 8700K is performing well enough and should last another 1-2 years.
It seems to work well with an undervoltage. In the next couple of years, increase the clock speed to 5.3 and voltage to 1.4. I'm sure it will face issues soon, but right now it's holding up since it hasn't reached the unstable range (~85°C). If you keep it below 1.3V, you should be okay up to around 105°C. The imc shouldn’t raise temperatures much, so don’t worry much about that. Just run your RAM faster—it’s the main way to manage heat without blowing up power bills. Unless you add a tech cooler and aim for subzero temps, it should work.
It seems you're considering an upgrade with a -0.095mV adjustment. The CPU still hits the 1.4V VCORE peaks. I've experimented with manual VCORE undervolting, but it often causes instability and crashes. This new setting has been reliable since installation, reducing peak temperatures by about 5-8°C, which is quite satisfying.
there is a RAM prediction sheet. It functions as intended. If XMP provides stable scaling, then (xmp ns / desired ns) × xmp voltage equals the required voltage to run 3600cl16 at 1.35v XMP with 3700cl16 (16/1800×1000)/(16/1850×1000)×1.35 = 8.88/8.64×1.35 ≈ 1.386v). This calculation shows you won’t need as much voltage once headroom is considered.