Overclocking 8700K using an air cooler assistance
Overclocking 8700K using an air cooler assistance
I wanted to increase the clock speed of my new PC.
Note: I haven’t removed any parts yet and plan to do so tomorrow or in the coming days.
I began with a base frequency of 4.8 GHz, achieving stability at 1.20 V with idle temperatures between 39-41°C and load between 67-72°C. These readings seem normal compared to my previous temperatures before overclocking. Then I tried 4.9 GHz at 1.23 V; the idle temps stayed similar at 40-41°C, but the load temperatures were unusual—about four of my cores averaged high 60s to low 70s, while one or two reached the high 80s, up to 90-92°C. I’m not sure if that’s acceptable and won’t attempt 5.0 GHz until I test stability.
My questions are:
1. What temperatures are others experiencing on their i7-8700K before overclocking from 4.8 to 5.0 GHz?
2. Why do the core temperatures vary so much? Is this typical for having some cores significantly hotter than others during load or stress testing? If not, is there a way to fix it? Perhaps I didn’t apply thermal paste correctly when installing my CPU cooler?
3. Why does CPU-Z display a different core voltage than what I set in the UEFI? For instance, the image shows 1.184 while I manually set it to 1.23?
Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
1. The device feels extremely hot, even with a large cooler capacity of 5.0GHz.
2. The Tim appears to be quite underwhelming and inconsistent in performance, varying more in some areas than others. Its behavior changes based on the workload and core usage.
3. A closer inspection reveals that the CPU voltage you configured differs from VID, yet they appear similar at first. I've used two versions of Cpu-Z—one default and one MSI—both showing vcore and VID respectively. Additionally, the CPU only consumes what it requires within the limits you define, plus any necessary offsets. For example, setting 1.23v requires a VID of 1.18v for stability, which matches the actual usage.
Various cores inside the same CPU respond differently to overclocking. That's why manufacturers provide higher clock speeds for the best core when using fewer cores, employing a "best core" strategy to ensure stable performance at those rates. It's important to cap the maximum clock speed per core, rather than forcing all cores to operate at the same rate.