Question i7-7700K overclocking

[puffmusic]

I've had a 7700K for quite a while now, or about 1.5 years.

I've done some overclocking tests since I recently got a Corsair H100i v2 liquid cooler. I got mine to 4.8GHz at around 1.3 volts. I know it's not great, but it's the best stable voltage I could get.
Side note: it's not delidded and on 4.8GHz @ 1.3V I get around 88°c stable on cinebench with quiet mode on (100% CPU usage)

My question mainly lies in should I have a static or adaptive voltage? Electricity costs are really cheap here so that's not a problem. I'm fairly new to overclocking but have done some basic stuff before. I've seen people say that static is better for testing stability on an overclock. I've tried going to 4.9GHz 3 times now at stock voltage and it crashed instantly (yes I'm retarded). I haven't tried giving it more voltage to get over 4.8GHz but I got a stable 4.8GHz at ca. 1.3V.

Right now on idle (sorta) while I'm writing this post it's running 50°c on quiet mode. It occasionally fluctuates to 70°c randomly and it's something I'm concerned about (on idle). When I benchmarked my marks on Intel XTU I got a peak of 99°c so I didn't get to TJUNCTION.

I still don't know if I wanna delid because I really don't trust myself. I've heard people say it's easy but I can xxxx mess up the easiest things really bad.

My second question (sorta) is what stuff do I need and where to get it, what do you recommend. What are the mains do's and don'ts if I decide to delid and try for 5GHz-5.2GHz?

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[Roland Of Gilead]

50c at idle is way high. Your OC is unstable. Either dial back the OC, or the voltage.

Your temps should be around 30-35 idle, 45-65 gaming, 65-80c stress testing (this is just a loose guide). Ideally keeping temps below 80c at your chosen OC settings is good advice to follow.

Static voltage allows you to test for stability, and max heat for a given voltage. Having the voltage on auto or adaptive means the system could go very high on vcore to achieve high clockspeeds. This will increase temps.

 

[puffmusic]

Thanks for the temp and voltage advice, one thing: you're not really taking into consideration that I'm running a 7700K that's not been delidded.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Why do you want to delid the CPU, or why are you even considering it? It's not 'that' easy and should be done ONLY with a great deal of knowledge of what you are doing, and what you are trying to achieve. if you are only trying to achieve some benchmark metric, I wouldn't bother. At stock the 7700k is a great gaming CPU. With a moderate OC it's still a great gaming CPU. Deliding might get you a few hundred mhz extra, but with better cooling, and an inate understanding of what you want, deliding is pointless. It won't get you some kind of insane performance leap, because you delided.

IMO, you are much better off getting a stable, consistent, repeatable OC, that will give you a decent performance boost.

Here's a great guide for OC'ing. Read it. I think you will see some reference to deliding and it's effectiveness. I would be more concerned with getting your current OC stable, temps below 80c, and with as low voltage as possible. Getting it right is key. At those temps, you will mostly likely experience random shutdowns, CPU thermal throtttling etc.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/cpu-overclocking-guide-and-tutorial-for-beginners.3347428/

You're saying it's stable at 4.8 1.3. Your temps are too high if they are close to tjunction. Try Prime95 small ffts. This will test only the CPU and cache, and will indicate any instability for a given voltage. If any worker threads fail at your current settings, you know it's not stable. Which i suspect it isn't at such high temps.

Also, 5.2 for 7700k is unlikely. Even deliding. You will need to look possibly at a better mobo with better and more power phases. It's possible you might need a new PSU as well to accommodate the extra power draw. There is a lot to consider.

 

[puffmusic]

Why do you want to delid the CPU, or why are you even considering it? It's not 'that' easy and should be done ONLY with a great deal of knowledge of what you are doing, and what you are trying to achieve. if you are only trying to achieve some benchmark metric, I wouldn't bother. At stock the 7700k is a great gaming CPU. With a moderate OC it's still a great gaming CPU. Deliding might get you a few hundred mhz extra, but with better cooling, and an inate understanding of what you want, deliding is pointless. It won't get you some kind of insane performance leap, because you delided.

IMO, you are much better off getting a stable, consistent, repeatable OC, that will give you a decent performance boost.

Here's a great guide for OC'ing. Read it. I think you will see some reference to deliding and it's effectiveness. I would be more concerned with getting your current OC stable, temps below 80c, and with as low voltage as possible. Getting it right is key. At those temps, you will mostly likely experience random shutdowns, CPU thermal throtttling etc.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/cpu-overclocking-guide-and-tutorial-for-beginners.3347428/

You're saying it's stable at 4.8 1.3. Your temps are too high if they are close to tjunction. Try Prime95 small ffts. This will test only the CPU and cache, and will indicate any instability for a given voltage. If any worker threads fail at your current settings, you know it's not stable. Which i suspect it isn't at such high temps.

Also, 5.2 for 7700k is unlikely. Even deliding. You will need to look possibly at a better mobo with better and more power phases. It's possible you might need a new PSU as well to accommodate the extra power draw. There is a lot to consider.

Temps are fine under 90°c. And under max load they don't even reach that. I know that my motherboard is good, I'm running a Gigabyte mobo with a Z270X socket. The weirdest thing, after all, is that after putting the clock speed back to normal the CPU is still on 50°c idle. I don't know why though.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Are you sure the Corsair is seated properly? Maybe try re-seating once more, and re-apply thermal paste. Your temps are high, and if on stock they are still the same, that points to the cooler. It might be a fraction out on one corner and not completely flush, or maybe the paste hasn't taken yet.

 

[puffmusic]

It's installed properly, I hope because it's not my responsibility because I didn't install it. It's why I didn't want to install it. If I get extremely unlucky and it leaks, It's me that has to pay. So I hope that whoever installed it did it properly.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

So you're only assuming it's installed correctly, as you didn't install it? I would definitely consider what keith12 has mentioned and verify correct installation. Its a very quick and easy thing to do. It will not leak if installed correctly or not as it's a sealed unit, and a leak would be a defect. There is a chance like mentioned that it's not properly torqued down and not making good contact. Again an easy check and fix. Grab some thermal paste and give it a go, you may see very good results. If you're not comfortable with cooler installation, I would not even consider delidding.

 

[CompuTronix]

puffmusic,

In addition to reading the Overclocking tutorial that kieth12 linked for you, please read our Sticky: Intel Temperature Guide - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

CT 😎