i5 4690k high temps during OC with proper cooling

[t.imbimbo.ts]

Hello all, thanks for taking the time to read this.

I have been working to find a stable OC for my i5 4690k @3.8ghz. At idle, it sits between 30-40c. While pushing the speed up to 4.0ghz with stock voltage, my CPU was reaching temps of up to 83c on all 4 cores within the first two minutes of Prime95 stress testing.

As far as cooling is concerned, I have a Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi, with comes with a front intake fan for the heatsink, three Corsair LL120s in the top and rear of my chassis, and two intake fans in the front. (If I have been researching correctly this should be more than adequate for a small and safe adventure in overclocking. The Quad lumi fan is hitting just about it's max rpm with these stress tests. To add, My gtx1080 OC has never exceeded 69c under heavy load. Ambient temp is around 21c.

My troubleshooting:
-Slightly loosened the heat sink....no temp change. Tightened it again....same.
-Replaced stock cryorig fan with one LL120......noooo dice
-Purchased another Cryorig PWM fan and placed it in the rear of the heat sink to pull some heat out, and force it though my rear fan........temp got knocked down only 2 to 3 degrees.
-Carefully re-installed the H7 Quad Lumi while being very conscious of correct thermal paste-application (pea-sized amount in center of CPU). I thought this step would do it because the paste got smeared around a bit when trying to sit the heat sink into the screw-holes during the initial installation.......of course this didn't make any change at all.

I can work my way around the hardware but I'm not as comfortable with the MSI BIOS, so maybe there is some type of solution there? I haven't changed anything in the BIOS however other than the CPU multiplier.

I see people getting 4.4ghz with safe temps out of this CPU with less cooling effort. Furthermore, consumer reviews show that most people who rock the H7 Quad Lumi are getting idle temps under 30c.

Once again i appreciate the time and any future responses or suggestions.
For the sake of my sanity and my bank account I hope am missing something patently obvious here.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What version of Prime95 are you testing with and what test are you running?


Prime95 v26.6 is THE primarily accepted way to do the majority of baseline stability and thermal limit testing running the Small FFT option.

Prime95 version 26.6: http://windows-downloads-center.blogspot.com/2011/04/prime95-266.html


Further, you can find extensive information regarding the Intel CPU architectures and specifications at the following link which is a somewhat definitive guide on that subject. The information below is taken directly from conversations with Computronix who is also the author of the Intel temperature guide, found here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

For AMD systems, specifically Zen/Ryzen, this should offer similar albeit not nearly as detailed information on that architecture.

http://www.overclockers.com/amd-ryzen-overclocking-guide/

This is probably about the most referred to overclocking guide around, and it's principles can be applied to a variety of generations and platforms.

http://www.overclock.net/t/91/ultimate-overclocking-guide

This pretty well sums things up and is equally relevant whether working with an Intel or an AMD system.

I can think of several reasons why x264 encoding or AVX / AVX2 / FMA3 apps won't work as a unilateral metric for thermal testing.

(1) A steady-state workload gives steady-state temperatures; encoding does not.

(2) Simplicity in methodology; most users would find encoding apps unfamiliar and cumbersome to accomplish a simple task.

(3) Most users such as gamers never run any apps which use AVX or FMA, so adaptive or manual voltage aside, it makes no sense to downgrade your overclock to accommodate those loads and temps unless you KNOW you will be making significant use of AVX/FMA/AVX2.

(4) Standardization; Prime95 has been around since 1996; many users are familiar with it. It is TRIED and TRUE.

For the minority of users who routinely run AVX/FMA apps, then P95 v28.5 or later can be useful tweaking BIOS for thermal and stability testing. For others, it is not recommended.


regardless of architecture Prime95 v26.6 works equally well across ALL platforms. Steady-state is the key. How can anyone extrapolate accurate Core temperatures from workloads that fluctuate like a bad day on the Stock Market?

I'm aware of 5 utilities with steady-state workloads. In order of load level they are:

(1) Prime95 v26.6 - Small FFT's (Important. NOT Blend or Large FFT)
(2) HeavyLoad - Stress CPU
(3) FurMark - CPU Burner
(4) Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool - CPU Load
(5) AIDA64 - Tools - System Stability Test - Stress CPU

AIDA64's Stress CPU fails to load any overclocked / overvolted CPU to get anywhere TDP, and is therefore useless, except for giving naive users a sense of false security because their temps are so low.

HeavyLoad is the closest alternative. Temps and watts are within 3% of Small FFT's.

-Computronix

 

[t.imbimbo.ts]

I was using Prime95 v29.3 with the small FFT option

I downloaded v26.6 and was able to get an OC of 4.5ghz without going above 73c for about 5 minutes, a world of difference. I'm going to continue testing tomorrow but this seems to be THE solution that puts to bed the idea of any faulty hardware. I should have took the old temp measurements with a grain of salt because my CPU hits 95% usage in-game and the temp never goes above 65c. I also had my voltage put up to 2.0, which i'm not sure is necessary or not.

Thanks for the knowledge!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Oh NO, that is WAY high voltage. Your CPU voltage probably shouldn't be much more than 1.35v, maybe 1.4 if you have a pretty poor piece of silicone. I've seen a lot people, myself included, hit 4.6 at less than 1.35v. In some cases, much lower.

Honestly, I think I'd start over and work my way up incrementally, which is how all overclocking should be done. First increase multi until testing is unstable, then increase voltage until both stable and thermally compliant. I'd say probably steps of about 200-300mhz and testing during each step. 15 minutes of Small FFT for thermal compliance and basic, very baseline stability. Once you get to your target frequency, 4.5Ghz, then test for 15-24hrs.

 

[t.imbimbo.ts]

I was mistaken, I have my voltage set at 1.2 XD

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, that's a lot more like it. That's on point actually.