i7 7700k ideal voltages on Gigabyte Designare Z270x board

[Zombie21]

For the past few years I have been trying to run an i7 7700k in my system, I have always found that both idle and load temperatures are fairly uncomfortable (in my opinion.) I currently have a Gigabyte Designare Z270X board with a 4.4GHZ i7 7700k being cooled by a Corsair h100i v2 cooler at idle temperatures will be around 57°C on the package (each core is often around 50°+) whereas the liquid in the cooler will be about 32°.
I have changed motherboards around three times, CPU once and the cooler about 5 times, So far these changes have made minimal to no impact on my temperatures (I originally had an ASUS TUF Z270 board) I clean the system every couple of months to ensure that I can try and keep my temperatures as low as possible in this situation (I have an NZXT h440 with only two drive bays installed to increase airflow) My motherboard refuses to update to it's latest version of F5d and I have attempted to reduce the core voltage as much as I can without causing too much instability.

If anyone can advise me on what to do with any of my problems that'd be really helpful.

Thanks

 

[Eximo]

That doesn't sound right. 57C at idle is quite high. Are you certain there are no processes using a little bit of the CPU? You don't mention load temperatures, as long as they stay under 80C or so it should be fine. The CPU is really fine up to 90C.

Common problems with Corsair AIO is a lack of mounting pressure. If you press down on the cooler during a load test and the temperatures drop then you have this issue. You can also confirm by taking both side panels off and looking at the backplate. If a gap appears between the backplate and motherboard when you press down on the CPU cooler you have found the issue. The solution is some small washers between the backplate and motherboard.

Alternatively, since you say you have changed everything but the cooler, buy a cheap air cooler and see if it does better. If it does, send your h100i back to Corsair. Something like a Cryorig H7, Deepcool Gammaxx 400, Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212, or whatever 120mm tower cooler is on sale.

 

[Zombie21]

That doesn't sound right. 57C at idle is quite high. Are you certain there are no processes using a little bit of the CPU? You don't mention load temperatures, as long as they stay under 80C or so it should be fine. The CPU is really fine up to 90C.

Common problems with Corsair AIO is a lack of mounting pressure. If you press down on the cooler during a load test and the temperatures drop then you have this issue. You can also confirm by taking both side panels off and looking at the backplate. If a gap appears between the backplate and motherboard when you press down on the CPU cooler you have found the issue. The solution is some small washers between the backplate and motherboard.

Alternatively, since you say you have changed everything but the cooler, buy a cheap air cooler and see if it does better. If it does, send your h100i back to Corsair. Something like a Cryorig H7, Deepcool Gammaxx 400, Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212, or whatever 120mm tower cooler is on sale.

aside from the few background processes windows likes to run, my average load is normally <10%
I have just remounted the Cooler and reapplied some thermal paste (and put the backplate the right way around) but the issue still stands. I'm not saying it is at 57°+ all of the time but it will spike to this (again <10% load) for at least 10 seconds

 

[mdd1963]

Only in Balanced mode/Power plan, idling at 800 MHz, is one going to see 32C idle temps...

If you are in manual multiplier territory locked at 4.x GHz, then you are likely to see idle temps of 50-55C, or, about what my 7700K hits running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility/cpu STRESS TEST...

CHeck your temps in auto/default/Balanced mode, but with MCE (MultCore Experience) enabled, which will ramp all cores to 4.5 GHz under a load....(core voltage indicated 1.273V or so during these loads) yet still allow mild temps when watching Youtube and reading Tom's Hardware

 

[Eximo]

Doesn't seem like there is a problem then. If the CPU is doing work, the cores will heat up. The key is how hot it gets under a full load. Radiators work on a temperature difference, if you aren't significantly warming the water it will have only adequate cooling capacity. Not to mention that the pump/fan are possibly controlled by the motherboard. So if you haven't fiddled with temperature curves you may not be running at full speed with a light load, that is a good thing for noise reduction.

 

[Zombie21]

Doesn't seem like there is a problem then. If the CPU is doing work, the cores will heat up. The key is how hot it gets under a full load. Radiators work on a temperature difference, if you aren't significantly warming the water it will have only adequate cooling capacity. Not to mention that the pump/fan are possibly controlled by the motherboard. So if you haven't fiddled with temperature curves you may not be running at full speed with a light load, that is a good thing for noise reduction.

I assume you have an i7 7700k in your system as well? what temps do you see at your clock speed?
the pump and fans are controlled by 'Corsair Link' where i have the pump set to performance and the fans fixed at 50% (if I put them higher there is an obnoxious rattle)

 

[mdd1963]

Is your multiplier control within BIOS in manual mode (44x, I presume, for 4.4 GHz?), along with core voltage?

Might get better results in auto/default, and merely running MCE enabled, which hits 4.5 GHz across 4 cores but only under a load worthy of it, a pretty reasonable compromise...

But, even so, mid 50's if locked at 4.4 GHz is likely about as good as it gets with a 7700K...short of delidding

 

[Zombie21]

Is your multiplier control within BIOS in manual mode (44x, I presume, for 4.4 GHz?), along with core voltage?

Might get better results in auto/default, and merely running MCE enabled, which hits 4.5 GHz across 4 cores but only under a load worthy of it, a pretty reasonable compromise...

But, even so, mid 50's if locked at 4.4 GHz is likely about as good as it gets with a 7700K...short of delidding

Honestly The Gigabyte board I've got has a pretty poor BIOS, a lot of the settings are difficult for me to understand as a novice, not to mention the inability to update it.

 

[Zombie21]

Is your multiplier control within BIOS in manual mode (44x, I presume, for 4.4 GHz?), along with core voltage?

Might get better results in auto/default, and merely running MCE enabled, which hits 4.5 GHz across 4 cores but only under a load worthy of it, a pretty reasonable compromise...

But, even so, mid 50's if locked at 4.4 GHz is likely about as good as it gets with a 7700K...short of delidding

I'm definitely not going to attempt to delid my CPU as I don't have a spare £300 for a new CPU.

I'm not entirely sure if running MCE and having everything set to auto is such a great idea since most (if not all) motherboards throw more voltage at a CPU than is actually needed which just results in higher temperatures.

I have been debating reinstalling my OS since I have encountered a few different BSODs with this system and am completely unable to use Internet Explorer.

 

[Eximo]

MCE is fine as long as you have the temperature overhead, basically just an all core overclock. Voltage wise, anything up to 1.35 is likely fine.

I run mine at 1.416 volts to reach 5Ghz, but I have a full custom loop and have delidded, so direct comparisons are difficult with a stock CPU and AIO.

Given the number of part swaps you have done, I think we can rule out the hardware itself, so it might be down to the fiddling you are doing in the BIOS. You mention you can't get the BIOS to update, how are you going about it? From Windows, EZ Flash, or the BIOS Flashback option? Stick the new BIOS file on a thumb drive and give that a go directly in the BIOS. If that doesn't work and your system supports CPU-less flashing, try that way. Sometimes that can work in place of the utilties.

If you are still having stability issues, remove everything from the system but the CPU, memory, and the CPU cooler. Eliminate all the expansion cards unplug the front panel connectors, everything. See if the CPU is stable on its own with the Intel graphics. After that expand your search to the power being delivered. Power supply first, then the circuit you have plugged into. Dirty power can cause instability.

As for keeping the temperatures down. Anything under 80C is perfectly fine. So if you have to increase voltage to get stability, so be it. Just the luck of the draw.

 

[Zombie21]

MCE is fine as long as you have the temperature overhead, basically just an all core overclock. Voltage wise, anything up to 1.35 is likely fine.

I run mine at 1.416 volts to reach 5Ghz, but I have a full custom loop and have delidded, so direct comparisons are difficult with a stock CPU and AIO.

Given the number of part swaps you have done, I think we can rule out the hardware itself, so it might be down to the fiddling you are doing in the BIOS. You mention you can't get the BIOS to update, how are you going about it? From Windows, EZ Flash, or the BIOS Flashback option? Stick the new BIOS file on a thumb drive and give that a go directly in the BIOS. If that doesn't work and your system supports CPU-less flashing, try that way. Sometimes that can work in place of the utilties.

If you are still having stability issues, remove everything from the system but the CPU, memory, and the CPU cooler. Eliminate all the expansion cards unplug the front panel connectors, everything. See if the CPU is stable on its own with the Intel graphics. After that expand your search to the power being delivered. Power supply first, then the circuit you have plugged into. Dirty power can cause instability.

As for keeping the temperatures down. Anything under 80C is perfectly fine. So if you have to increase voltage to get stability, so be it. Just the luck of the draw.

As a side note I am using 4 Sticks of DDR4 RAM:
2 8GB sticks of Corsair Vengeance RGB (3200MHz)
2 8GB sticks of Corsair Vengeance LPX (2400MHz)
As far as I can tell from the BIOS all 4 sticks are set to 2400MHz

I have tried a few different USB flash drives which I've plugged into the motherboard in an attempt to update the BIOS however every attempt I make results in 'BIOS Update Failed' so far I have tried updating the BIOS from within windows and Q-Flashing in the BIOS neither have worked.

 

[Eximo]

You can try memtest x86 to see if the memory is causing a problem.

Remove the mismatched memory and try again. Mixing memory could easily explain your instability. Try increasing the memory voltage slightly, sometimes that is what it takes to run a lot of sticks, and those RGB sticks are going to consume a little extra power.

CPU-Z should let you review the JEDEC memory timings stored in each memory stick. See how close they are to being correct at what the motherboard defaulted to. If they are way off, try manually setting the timings to some sort of compromise, or try overclocking it as much as possible (Maybe 2666 is doable for the slower memory, but the key is to get the timings somewhere both sticks like to be)

 

[Zombie21]

Mem test x86 revealed no issues with the RAM I currently have installed, I’m pretty sure the voltage is set to auto.
I’m not sure if the RAM is really the issue heat since it wouldn’t affect heat too much.