It's not possible to push my i7 8700K further.
It's not possible to push my i7 8700K further.
I tried to push my i7 8700K overclocking for nearly a year on this system. My idle CPU temperature is currently around 37°C according to AIDA64, and the same in MSI Afterburner. XMP is active for my 3000mhz RAM.
Initially, I attempted a 4.9GHz setting with a voltage of 1.30V. But during a stress test in AIDA64, several cores hit 90°C. To avoid damage, I reduced the voltage to 1.29V. Still, stress testing at 1.29V caused issues; IntelBurnTestV2 stopped after 9.52 seconds with a message about a bug.
I then switched back to 1.3V and increased the cooler’s fan settings to maximum. After another test in AIDA64 at 1.3GHz, the system crashed after about 10 minutes. I suspected the low voltage was too restrictive for that frequency.
To try fixing it, I reinstated 1.3V and pushed the cooler fans to their highest levels. However, a subsequent AIDA64 test at 1.3V @ 4.9GHz ended with a blue screen after 10 minutes. The temperatures were consistently high—around the low 70s according to AIDA, but the package and CPU temps stayed in the high 80s to low 90s.
I’m stuck, feeling uncertain about what to do next. This situation makes me feel frustrated and lost. Personally, it affects my confidence and sense of achievement. I often think I’m being influenced by forces beyond my control.
Anyway, I’m unsure how to proceed. The CPU struggles to reach 4.9GHz even at stock speed, and I really want to hit that target. It’s frustrating.
I tried 1.31v @ 4.9GHz and could run stress tests with AIDA64 for a longer time. In fact, it didn’t crash at all during my ~30 minute test. My temperatures were around mid-70s, but my package temp was in the 90s. It did throttle slightly.
Is this safe to consider a stable clock? I really don’t want to go up to 1.32v... the temps will likely be worse.
I prefer aida64 for temporary checks, yet often switch to another for long-term stability. Will it operate cinebench smoothly without issues and survive several hours on prime95 without errors? These tests, particularly prime, should give a more accurate stability assessment.
Perform prime testing for temperature checks and then conduct 8 hours of realbench. This ensures you're confident about stability.