Help Lowering Max CPU Temp

[rdubs628]

Hi all,

So I've just built a new system using a Hyper 212, Gigabyte Sniper 3 motherboard, and Core i7 3770k. I've overclocked it to 4.5 GHz by just upping the turbo multiplier to 45. I have VCore set to "Normal" (not sure what that means for Gigabyte but it allows me to change Dynamic VCore). However, I actually ended up gaining stability with the dynamic part set to 0. My max temp for 1 core only is 91 C (average is around ~85) which feels a little high. How should I go about lowering this? Should I change "Normal" to a specific voltage? Oh and I did reset the CPU cooler right before this test so the temps may lower some over time.

Here is a screenshot:

Also is it best to overclock Turbo multiplier and not Core multiplier? I want it to scale and not use as much power when I'm not gaming.

Edit: Screenshot isn't working...here is the link

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/screenshot1gi.png/

 

[steddora]

I'd say that's a bit warm if you ask me. I prefer staying at or below 70C but that's my preference...

But you need to learn about the dynamic voltage those chips have. After you understand it, you must remember... Frequency increases result in low to medium temperature gains while voltage increases result in medium to high temperature gains. So the trick is getting the clock you want with the lowest voltage you can be stable at. This reduces the temperature the most.

Personally I disable Turbo totally as I have no use for it in real world performance on my machine. I simply kept EIST (Speed Step) enabled with a voltage offset so during idle times my processor will clock back to 1600mhz at 0.9v. When it's at full load it will reach about 1.3V at 4.4Ghz. So, it's a power saving thing, even though it's not a giant gain; it does help.

As for your chip I'd stay away from 1.3v seeing as how you're hitting 90 at 1.25v. Find a fixed voltage like 1.225 and see where that gets you in frequency. Then work with the offset to match the processors need by adjusting it to reach that voltage at max usage. Just remember, more voltage is going to lessen the life of the processor and provide more heat for your cooler to have to deal with.

 

[rdubs628]

Thanks for the response!

It's late so I'll get to it tomorrow, but I will try what you suggested. The only issue is that if I manually set VCore I am unable to adjust dynamic voltage with my mobo's BIOS. I'll research dynamic voltage tomorrow but is it a good idea to use it? If so how will I do that as "Normal" apparently means 1.25 V under load for my mobo?

 

[steddora]

Dynamic is just changing. The Sandy Bridge processor along with the Ivy Bridge like you have at "stock" voltage don't have a single set voltage like older generations did. The processor has something called a VID which determines the amount of voltage required by the processor at certain loads. Now this VID isn't always right, i.e. my 2600k. At stock settings at 3.4Ghz my processor would range from 0.8v to over 1.35v just running IntelBurnTest. This resulted in a toasty chip for sure when maxing out the cores with IBT. Now, after adjustments to the offset/frequency and fine tuning with the other settings, I range like I said from 0.9 to 1.3v and have a nice cool processor that chews through everything I throw at it.

I can't tell you exactly the processor for your chip and motherboard as they are both different. But I'm sure you have some headroom somewhere; even if you can't manage 4.5Ghz or so. Just remember, you want the lowest voltage possible that allows you to be stable at the frequency you're wanting. When using an offset/dynamic voltage; it takes a little more time testing and tweaking to perfect it.