The I7 8700K partially reset its overclock settings.
The I7 8700K partially reset its overclock settings.
Hello, just starting out here. A few months ago my computer stopped working and after a long restart it partially restored the overclock from 5GHz to around 4.3GHz. It was functioning normally before (which seems confusing given the crash), but the speed stayed the same afterward. I haven’t spent much time fixing it since then, except now I’m thinking it might be worth checking because it shouldn’t happen. I’m not very familiar with BIOS settings—I probably just followed a tutorial when I first overclocked in 2018—and prefer not to unless I have clear instructions. Any advice on why this is happening or how to get it back to 5GHz would be super helpful!
It's surprising how much of a difference an OC makes, even with my 8700k running on custom loop water. It boosts to 5 when it needs to, and I'm getting 1-2% gains when I push it. Probably not worth it unless you're running heavy core loads all the time. It's possible the motherboard has worn out so much that a 5.0 is no longer feasible. You could try lowering it to 4.8, but that won't matter much unless you're doing long sessions.
This discussion seems aimed at understanding possible warning signs after an overclock attempt. It questions whether the changes indicate system degradation and if any corrective actions are feasible. I've observed similar shifts before, though it might just be a placebo effect, but I was confident in noticing something. I’d like to revert the change for reassurance while also checking if there’s an underlying issue.
You'll rarely notice anything above 4.3ghz in real-world use. A noticeable boost comes from moving from the standard 4.3ghz all-core setup to at least 4.7ghz, but further increases offer little extra benefit and aren't worth the effort. If you're unfamiliar with the BIOS settings, it's likely you've been running the system under excessive voltage or heat for a while, which can cause component wear. If your current configuration is functioning, consider leaving it alone or investigate the voltage requirements for 4.7ghz all-core performance. Otherwise, wait until the 13th generation and upgrade. The 8700k remains functional but is showing signs of aging.
I previously owned an 8700k with delidded settings and a 4.7Ghz clock speed—close to its maximum. Pushing it higher would only accelerate wear. When the price dropped, I bought another one and gave my friend the 8700k, which runs at 60C at stock speed. He prefers OC, but his new card is a 3090, so the system feels more constrained. Because he now has my old delidded unit, it handles heat better and stays cooler. His previous undelidded 8700k often hit 100C and throttled significantly; that’s no longer an issue. My advice? Delid it and let it run at stock speed—it’ll improve performance noticeably, stay cooler, and avoid the crashes and hangs.
Many folks have shared my thoughts—I think I’ll skip the effort to push it back up to 5GHz and might aim for around 4.7GHz, though nothing seems to be an issue. I don’t check temperatures often, but it’s never felt too hot (I can’t remember it ever hitting the 60s). It’s watercooled, which was what inspired me to change it originally since I thought the cooler could handle the upgrade. I’m not very familiar with CPU specs, so I’m unsure about delidding, but it hasn’t been running at high temps lately, so physically it shouldn’t need any changes right now. Since it’s been a while since I first changed it, I don’t remember the original voltage setting—probably around 1.4V max (around 1.1–1.3V), and it’s staying in that range according to HWmonitor. It seems likely someone else updated the firmware, which automatically reset it after a few crashes because the game was prone to blue screens.
or xmp... you could get a blue screen by deleting the IHC, removing the metal top, and swapping in liquid metal while lowering the temperature around 20 degrees. It got really hot when I ran it at 5Ghz, which actually made a difference. There are many possible reasons for the blue screen—possibly old drivers. I’ve updated them to unstable RAID 0 on my NVMe drives. Games would crash when the SLI setup wasn’t working properly with two 2080ti graphics cards, but usually they just froze and closed. If there’s an issue, keeping it stock helps it run longer. It seems to be working better now.