A Question About My Overclock: Intel Core i7-7700K

DrumsXO · Oct 26, 2017

Hey, everyone.

I have my Intel Core i7-7700K overclocked to 4.8GHz from the stock 4.2GHz using the "OC Genie" built into my MSI Z270 SLI Plus motherboard.

The question is two-pronged.

1) Do I REALLY see a difference in gaming performance, or do I just THINK I do? I play a variety of games from Fallout 4 and Skyrim (both heavily modded) to Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Battlefield 4.

2) I've been getting mixed readings from Corsair Link and Core Temp; one will say I hit 82 Celsius and the other says 73 Celsius. If I am really hitting 82 Celsius; why?! I don't get why it'd be getting so hot! How do I fix this?

Here are the specs of my build.

Case: Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB Mid-Tower
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K OC'd to 4.8GHz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i V2 w/ fans at max (2,700 RPM)
GPU: EVGA GTX 1070 SC
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4 3,000MHz OC'd to 3,200MHz
PSU: EVGA 850W Bronze
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5, horizontal line method
Airflow Pattern: 3x 120mm front intake, 1x 120mm rear exhaust, 2x 120mm radiator fans top exhaust

I'm worried that I'm going to damage my CPU by having it OC'd, and not even actually seeing any actual performance boost. But, I've heard that open-world games like Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Wildlands really do see a boost when the CPU is OC'd. At the same time, I don't see why my CPU would be getting so warm... It's got plenty of cooling, right?

Grr. I don't know what to think here!

4Ryan6 · Oct 26, 2017

Using the auto overclocking features of any motherboard brand is taking the easy way out, most do it because they think it's a perfectly safe overclocking option, but to maintain that auto overclock sometimes the CPU voltage spikes to higher levels than you would ever set, if you were overclocking manually in the BIOS.

My 7700K is manually BIOS overclocked to 5.2ghz but I have better cooling than you do, but even with your cooling it can be overclocked to 5ghz, if you overclock it manually and take full control over the overclock settings.

My highest core stress temperature at 5.2ghz running Intel Burn Test is 74c, my highest gaming core temperature running Deus EX Mankind Divided is 53c, highest gaming running FarCry 4 and flying the Buzzer through the mountains 57c.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1621347/kaby-lake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 26, 2017

auto overclock is bad as it pushes way more voltage than needed as the manufacturers want to ensure that even worst CPU will be able to work without crashing. Most CPUs can reach those frequencies at much lower voltage. that results in unnecessarily high temps.
in addition, intel's 7th gen is known for thermal issues due to the TIM used under the IHS.
so you can do the following (any or all of them):
1. overclock your CPU manually. do not use voltage higher than 1.3v (even this is a bit too much).
2. delid your CPU.

as a side note, temp spikes are not important.

DrumsXO · Oct 26, 2017

4Ryan6 :

Well, the reason I took the easy way out is because I was told by a friend that MSI stands behind their OC Genie. Meaning, if it fries my CPU while using it to overclock, MSI handles the cost of your CPU.

I don't know the first thing about manually overclocking, honestly. That said, I find it hard to believe that manually overclocking it to 5.0 or even 5.2GHz will give me LOWER temps than what I have no at 4.8GHz. But, like I said, I don't know anything about manually overclocking, so it could very well be true.

DrumsXO · Oct 27, 2017

Here's an update, for anyone who cares.

Last night after I got home from work, I got to work manually overclocking my CPU instead of allowing the BIOS to do it automatically. Keeping my overclock at 4.8GHz, I was able to lower my voltage down quite a bit from what it was. The OC Genie had been pushing almost 1.4 volts into my CPU, which explains why the temperatures were so high.

After doing a lot of tinkering and testing, I was able to settle, stably, on 1.15 volts. At one point I managed to run Prime95 for over an hour at 1.135 volts, but when I started doing a reboot cycle to see if it would crash on boot, it did. The same happened at 1.14 and 1.145, but at 1.15 volts it ran Prime95 for over an hour and the max temp was 77 Celsius. 30 minutes of GTA V on Ultra and I only hit 55 Celsius, and 30 minutes of Ghost Recon: Wildlands on Ultra and I only reached 61 Celsius.

Those temperatures are a massive improvement from what I was previously seeing, and everything seems to be stable thus far. Only time will tell, but I think I'm golden here at 1.15 volts.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 28, 2017

good job.
With such low voltage, I guess you can go 5Ghz beyond.
While torturing the CPU with prime95 in different modes validates close to 100% stability, it does not resembles the wast majority of every day loads. For example even 100% CPU usage gaming does not stress the CPU even close to prime95.
Things like cinabench and other benchmarks utilities are more suitable to test stability for daily usage of an overclocked computer.

DrumsXO · Oct 28, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

Well, maybe not. I was playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands tonight and had a blue screen, lol. That was at 1.150 volts. I bumped it up to 1.160 and it played fine the rest of the time, but I just dropped it to 1.155 and I'm gonna see what that does. It boots, but that doesn't mean it won't crash mid-game again, lol. We'll see.

I don't think I want to go over 4.8Ghz though. Even at 5.0GHz I don't think I'd actually notice much of a difference compared to 4.8GHz, and I'd just have to turn the voltage back up to get to 5.0GHz and above, which kinda defeats the purpose, since I'm trying to get my temps as low as I can.

What do you suggest I do for testing?

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 28, 2017

you are right, you won't notice the difference

it's just fun to see how far you can push the overclock.
there are a lot of things beyond core voltage that affect stability. There are settings on the more obvious sideTlike playing with cache multiplier and cache voltage or load line calibration or disabling unnecessary blocks like virtualization support or some power savings. While other things are far from obvious even for "experienced" overclockers like going to VCCIN or VRM switching frequency.
And you already on correct path with stability testing. you can briefly test with prime95, just keep in mind that due to extremely high power draw, it might be component that failing like the VRM on the MB. If something is terribly wrong, the system will crash or hang within a couple of minutes. In almost "stable" state, prime95 will print errors. Cinabench15 is a nice benchmark to test CPU. RealBench in benchmark mode is also nice.
Beside that is normal usage and if system crashes, paying attention to the error code provided by windows.

DrumsXO · Oct 28, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

I can definitely see why people seem to get so "addicted" to overclocking their system... It's been an oddly satisfying experience tinkering around and seeing exactly what I can get it to do.

In my case though, I'm looking for pure performance, honestly. Seeing as there won't be much difference between 4.8GHz and 5.0GHz aside from having to increase my voltage and thereby increasing my temperatures again, I'll most likely stay at 4.8GHz for the foreseeable future.

The reason I'm looking to find the lower limit on my CPU is so I can have the lowest temperatures possible, while still maintaining that 4.8GHz overclock. I'm still new to overclocking, so I don't know much about what programs are best for stress testing an overclock, the best methods to truly check for stability, etc. Really I know on that front is that if your voltage is too high or too low, you'll get a Blue Screen of Death, freezing and crashing, failure to boot, etc.

I've been playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands for about an hour now at 1.155 volts and it seems to be doing well, but only time will tell.

As far as the other options you have to tweak when overclocking, I'm not familiar with what to change, what the changes do, etc. The only things that I changed were the CPU Ratio to 48 to achieve 4.8GHz, disabled Intel Turbo Boost, changed the Ratio Mode (or whatever it's called) to Fixed Mode, and then adjusted the Core Voltage. Everything else I left alone.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 28, 2017

That's rational approach and it's completely fine.
the only thing is that I'm not completely sure from you description is the sentence about locked multiplier. it's kinda better if you keep the dynamic frequency. that way the CPU can clock down (less heat and electricity) under low load. if it becomes unstable, raise a bit LLC, but just a bit.

DrumsXO · Oct 28, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

Oh, so I should change that back?

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 28, 2017

yeah if it's the speedstep

DrumsXO · Oct 28, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

I'm not sure what everything is, so I'm attaching two screenshots that I took in my BIOS.

If you wouldn't mind, take a look and see if there is anything that I should change.

biglizard · Oct 28, 2017

DrumsXO :

SA and IO VOLTAGE are high, I wouldn't run these higher than 1.30/1.25 respectively.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 28, 2017

IMHO change the CPU Ratio mode to whatever not fixed. Fixed - locks the frequency. Dynamic (or whatever they call it) means CPU frequency scales down when idle or low load.
the AVX ratio is fun though. means that when you run AVX instructions (newer prime for example) the CPU will run at -4*base clock less. 400MHz less in your case.

DrumsXO · Oct 29, 2017

biglizard :

I actually didn't touch those values. They were either set that way by default, or are leftover somehow from when I had the OC Genie enabled.

DrumsXO · Oct 29, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

Okay, I will change the CPU Ratio Mode to the other option, which is Dynamic Mode. I assume that will probably yield much lower temperatures when idling or under very low loads?

The AVX Ratio I set that way because that's what the OC Genie had it set to when I had it enabled. Should I adjust that?

What do you think about the SA and IO Voltages? I didn't manually set those, so they're either set that way by default, or they're leftover that way from when I had the OC Genie enabled. Someone else said to lower them; what do you think? You haven't steered me wrong yet, and seem to know your stuff.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 29, 2017

you are correct about lower temps.

the AVX instructions are really "hot" and they are not that common in real life. so it's OK to leave them at lower clock.

you can try to lower other CPU voltages like SA and IO. just don't make to many changes at once. that way you will know what to fix if system become unstable. I also recommend to read about those other voltages to understand what they do. SA for example is the memory controller voltage. the value for the SA voltage is usually higher than core voltage. by how much, depends on many things including MB, RAM and the overclock (CPU and RAM) settings.

biglizard · Oct 29, 2017

DrumsXO :

This guide may help, it what I used.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1621347/kaby-lake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics

"Safe Voltages (Always TENTATIVE):
Vcore: 1.45v/1.37v
VCCIO: 1.25v/1.2v
System Agent (SA): 1.3v/1.25v
Vdimm: 1.4v/1.35v

The first value shows voltages a pretty ballsy person can use. The voltage after the forward slash shows voltages for regular users who don't want to live on the edge. Refer to the disclaimer spoiler."

4Ryan6 · Oct 29, 2017

DrumsXO :

It's great you've taken your first step into manual overclocking each step you take going forward you will learn more and more as you establish your base foundation to build your overclocking knowledge upon. Congratulations! Ry

DrumsXO · Oct 29, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

So, I switched the CPU Ratio to Dynamic Mode last night, and almost immediately switched it back... Looking at both Core Temp and CPU-Z, I could see the CPU jumping back and forth like a monkey from a tree from 4.8 to 4.4GHz... Just, back and forth; back and forth; back and forth. And that was at ~10% load.

Do you have any values that you recommend for SA and IO Voltages? I don't know if I wanna go toying around with them, honestly... Which is weird, because I was totally okay with tinkering with the CPU Core Voltage.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 29, 2017

the jumpy thing is completely fine. mine jumping in any values from 800MHz to 4.5GHz. that's is the expected behavior. and it can happen hundreds times per second.

as for the voltages, i have not enough hands on experience with sky lake and don't even have one at home. so it really depends on how high your RAM is clocked and how much the memory controller needs to handle it at given CPU clocks/temps. the values in BIOS are usually have colors representing the safe, a bit more than that but still safe, and extreme. may be more or less grades depending on manufacturer.
I'm perfectly happy with +0.3v offset over the core. that's about what you have, but your CPU is 3 gen newer and might be good with much less.
just try to change the offset to lower values.

DrumsXO · Oct 29, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

Well, my worry with the frequency jumping around like that is that it will continue to do it while I'm gaming, hindering my performance...

So, play with offset instead of the values themselves? I went to manually change the value of the SA Voltage last night to the 1.3 that someone else suggested in here, and the value was highlighted in red... So the 1.3 something that it's automatically running at appears to be too high, since 1.30 was highlighted in red...

The info section for the SA voltage said the default is I think 1.050 and for IO Voltage it said the default is 0.950 or something like that. Those seem really, really low though, so I left them alone.

n0ns3ns3 · Oct 29, 2017

no, it will not jump under load.
just run some benchmark and watch the frequency.
as for the voltages, on ASUS boards (and i don't use anything else due to many reasons) those voltages (SA and IO) are defined as offset.
you can use values between 1 and 1.3v. IO requires less than SA

DrumsXO · Oct 29, 2017

n0ns3ns3 :

Will those values test the same way as the Core Voltage? Meaning if it's too low of a value, the system won't boot, will freeze or crash, etc?

A Question About My Overclock: Intel Core i7-7700K

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