Overclocked to 5.1 Ghz (CPUZ confirmed) but only show up as 5.06 Ghz in Task Manager?

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thtran6

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Oct 2, 2018
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Hello everyone,

I'm still new to overclocking but kinda have some practice and experiment with it over the last few weeks.
So I got my i7 8700k overclocked to 5.1 ghz at about 1.368 vcore on a MSI z370 A-Pro motherboard. The temp at idle is solid 36C across all cores. I have not run any stress/stability test with this clock yet, but I have played several games that put the cpu to about 40% load and the temp was on average around 55C-59C, rarely spiking up to 62. Is this acceptable?

My second concern is: I used CPUZ to confirm my cpu frequency, which shows up to be strictly 5,100 Mhz across all cores. Sometimes there is a + or - 1 to 2 Mhz but that's about it.
However, when I opened Task Manager and looked at the CPU Performance tab, the frequency only shows 5.06 Ghz with absolutely no fluctuation. Does this mean I got bottle neck somewhere in my setup?

( I have also turned off speed step, adaptive voltage, c-state, and chosen High Performance power plan to make sure the clock stays at 5.1 Ghz the entire time. I got a gtx1080 and a 650w psu so I don't think power supply was a problem, as the frequency did show up clearly in CPUZ as 5100 Mhz)

Thanks ahead for all of your help!
 
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Don't listen to task manager, task Manager is by far the WORST application to measure clock speeds. I've seen it report 3.xghz on my 4690K at 4.5ghz before. When all other applications say it's at 4.5ghz (HWINFO, CPU-Z, and HWMonitor are absolutely trustworthy apps for measuring clock speeds)

Honestly I can't say if those temps are good or bad. You NEED to do a stress test to get accurate thermal results. Just make sure your running below 80C.
 
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I got a Corsair H60 AIO 120mm cooler.
I just don't understand why there is a discrepancy between what CPUZ shows and what Task Manager shows regarding my clock speed.

I have not get to try 5.2 Ghz (not even sure I can) yet to see if the same problem persists, but what I DO know is: When I reduce the overclock to 5.0 Ghz or anything lower, then the readings in CPUZ and Task Manager match each other.
 
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Oh wow, yeah that H60 is NOT good enough at all even for stock operation. Period. Either undervolt and underclock your CPU to 4.3-4.5ghz or get WAY better cooler.

EDIT: My bad, I thought you had a 9900K. Just go back to stock and you'll be ok, just don't do any overclocking.
 
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Thank you for all of your answers. I feel reassured now that I know not to count too much on the Task Manager reading.
That said, Yes I would definitely get a better cooler.
But in the mean time, would it still be okay to leave it at 5.0 Ghz with temp around 50C for gaming? (I usually spend like 4 hours on this pc and shut it down after that, so nothing like 24/7 usage)
 
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I'm not sure if i'm supposed to create a new thread for this, but now that we're talking about upgrading to new cooler, I have some questions about it.
So my rig was pre-built from a case that looks very much like this: (not sure if it's the exact same case, but it looks 95% like this one, with the Cyber Power mark in the front panel too)
https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/AMD-Ryzen-3-Configurator

When I got the computer, the case has the following configuration:
120mm liquid cooler mounted on the case's back panel (upper part, since lower part is occupied by gpu and pcie slots).
The front panel has a stock fan in the lower part and nothing in the upper part. All this is covered by solid layer metal skin outside with on vents.
The top panel has a stock fan (with vents) on one half of the metal skin and the other half has no vents and no fan at all.

So I'm not sure if this particular case would support 240mm or 280mm liquid cooler?
If it does, where would be the best place to mount it then?
 
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So if I place a kraken x62 280mm cooler in the front panel, then would it be best to have 2 x 120mm case fan exhausting air out of TOP panel (I guess I could drill holes through the metal skin to create vents), and 1x120mm case fan exhausting air out the BACK panel? Where would be the intake fan then?

 
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Oh I see. So with this future setup, my 280mm cooler will have the radiator facing inwards (towards the cpu) as opposed to outward (towards the front metal skin). This way hot air will go towards the back and be exhausted out by the 2 fans on top and 1 fan on the back right?

Btw, is the Kraken x62 a good choice for 240mm/280mm cooler? Would there be any better (performance to price ratio) that I should consider over the kraken?
 
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Thanks for your answer man!
BTW, I have never ordered a liquid cooler before since my rig was prebuilt. I know I will have a lot of researching to do before installing the new 280mm cooler.
So my question is: when buying say a Kraken x62 cooler, does that mean they will ship just the radiator to me and I then have to find and order the cooler fans separately? OR would everything (fans + rad) comes with it?

If it is the latter case, I would still be able to un-mount the included fans from the rad and customize with my own fans right? (i.e. combine Kraken radiator and thermaltake riing fans)
 
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Thanks for the insight there!
One last question. I am curious about how mounting the 280mm on the front of the case (or let's just say any intake case fan) would be able to in-take air? How does that work, because the whole front part of the case is sealed with metal skin and no vents, I don't see how ambient cool air could be sucked in.
 
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Ah that's a good point. There's no ventilation anywhere?
 
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https://www.anandtech.com/show/9431/the-nzxt-s340-case-review/2 There are holes on the top and bottom of the front face. It does make airflow not as good and it could help sound but the rest of the case is open so it isn't quieter than normal cases. It's just for looks mostly.

Put the rad in the front like the picture shows and move the stock case fans to the top and rear, also just like how the picture shows. It's simple and really the best solution. You won't have an airflow issue.
 
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The one in the link I sent earlier has absolutely no vents. I'm quite surprised they mounted a 280mm on there.

However, I just got home and looked at my case. I DO see vents on the left side of the front panel.
See here: https://imgur.com/GukKCBm
And on the top panel, there is vents on only half of it: https://imgur.com/EkpZDKZ

Suppose I could drill holes on the top panel to make more vents, which setup would be better to achieve lower temperature?

(1) put 240mm cooler on top panel for exhaust out (top panel couldn't fit 280), 1x120mm on back for exhaust out, and 2x120mm on front for intake

(2) put 280mm cooler on front panel for intake, 2x120mm on top panel for exhaust out, 1x120mm on back for exhaust out
 
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