Stock heatsink with Aftermarket Fan

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

Title says it all. I have an AMD A10-7870K CPU, would it be possible to remove the fan without removing the heatsink? And using the stock heatsink but replacing the stock fan with an aftermarket fan?

And also, what would be the best software to monitor CPU temps? And safest voltage for OC'ing?

SkyNetRising · Mar 6, 2018

This cooler? It has 70mm PWM fan. You should be able to unclip the fan and remove it.

ShadyHamster · Mar 6, 2018

It's been awhile since i've used one, but isn't the fan on them coolers 60mm?
The fan is just held in my clips, you should be able to use a small flat head screw driver to get the fan out.
Use AMD Overdrive to monitor the Thermal Margins instead of relying on 3rd party temp monitoring programs.
Pretty sure around 1.4v is the max save voltage, i doubt you could push that far on the stock cooler though.

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@SkyNet
Would replacing it with a 120mm fan work? And is it okay with stock heatsink?

@ShadyHamster
Is 1.4 the maximum safe volt? I've seen other threads saying 1.6 is max, and I still can't "understand" why the Vcore when idling reach 1.4+ (on cpu-z) Regarding the fan and heatsink, is it okay of I replace them with 120mm?

SkyNetRising · Mar 6, 2018

fajanelat :

I'm not sure, how you're gonna put 120mm fan there. 80mm fan probably would be doable.

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@SkyNet

Oh, forget that. Btw what's the max Vcore and safe temp for this 7870K in terms of OCing?

ShadyHamster · Mar 6, 2018

1.6v is not a safe voltage for a 24/7 OC, for benchmark runs it would be fine.
With the stock cooler you aren't going to get that far anyway.

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@ShadyHamster
24/7 OC is having OC all the time even when playing for such short hours, right? (Sorry noob question)

ShadyHamster · Mar 6, 2018

It's the OC you would set for daily use regardless of how much or little you use the PC.

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@ShadyHamster
How about 1.5-1.55v for 24/7 OC? Max temps I had were 55C

ShadyHamster · Mar 6, 2018

I've seen some people run 1.5v on the older FX8350 CPUs, I'm not sure about the later iterations like your CPU but i assume it would be the same.
I personally wouldn't go over 1.5v.

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@ShadyHamster
Okay, thanks for the responses. I will leave the BIOS Settings regarding vcore, it was set on Auto (1.5v)

ShadyHamster · Mar 6, 2018

1.5v seems really high for an stock/auto voltage.
Is that what it's setting when you set an overclock or is that at stock clocks also?

fajanelat · Mar 6, 2018

@ShadyHamster
Before overclocking, I checked the stock values. 1.5v was the stock value, should I lower it manually or leave it at automatic setting?

ShadyHamster · Mar 7, 2018

If you are going to overclock you may as well leave it set at 1.5v and see how far you can push it at that voltage.
If you aren't going to overclock you should be able to lower the voltage by quite a bit.

Back when i owned an FX8320, running at stock clocks i could undervolt all the way down to something like 1.05v, i ran my CPU at 4.5ghz at around 1.35v i think.
Every CPU will be different though, you will have to find what works and doesn't work for your own CPU.

fajanelat · Mar 7, 2018

ShadyHamster :

Should I try undervolting and increasing RAM Speed?

ShadyHamster · Mar 7, 2018

There's no reason not to try undervolting, unless you are already running a high OC.
Ram OC'ing really won't help all that much, as long as you are already running 1600Mhz+ i would focus more on the CPU and GPU overclock, unless you gaming on the iGPU then yes a Ram OC will help.

fajanelat · Mar 7, 2018

ShadyHamster :

I'm currently OCed from 3.9Ghz to 4.5Ghz w/ my cpu. My RAM is stock at 1333Mhz. I haven't tried manually changing the VCore yet, but I'll try undervolting for 1-2.5 volts lesser than 1.5. Hope it won't fry my pc components. Oh and by the way, does the Gigabyte BIOS run your pc at full load? I have 50-60C in BIOS but only 30-35C when idling using SpeedFan, CoreTemp and AMD Overdrive

ShadyHamster · Mar 7, 2018

With a 4.5ghz OC try for around 1.35v maybe.
While in the bios the CPU will run hotter, there are no power saving features active unlike in windows.
As for the Ram, try 1600mhz, you may have to increase the voltage/loosen some timings.

fajanelat · Mar 7, 2018

ShadyHamster :

Thanks for the advice and response. I'll get back later to ask if something comes up

fajanelat · Mar 7, 2018

Now I do guess max is 4.5Ghz, tried 4.6Ghz but PC won't start. Boot 'till logo then kb, mouse and monitor has no displays. Returned at 4.5Ghz

ShadyHamster · Mar 7, 2018

4.5Ghz might be as far as you can go before needing a much higher voltage increase.
Now is a good time to see how far it can be undervolted if it can't be pushed any further.

fajanelat · Mar 7, 2018

ShadyHamster :

Tried, can't undervolt even a small difference. My pc goes to boot the logo then stays awake but monitor, keyboard and mouse are dead

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