Overclocking Intel i7700k with Asus z270e or Upgrade?

[OohDreamWeaver]

Im just needing some help with the decision of either overclocking with more cooling or scratching it and upgrading. I built this around September of 2017 but have never messed with overclocking out of the fear of frying something. I've tinkered with it some with help from this forum but im still having temp issues with witcher 3 but mainly cyberpunk. Im running on high settings on 1080p and cpu usage is usually around 60-80% with temps 70-80c, this is just the game running with no other programs or webpages up. If I try to watch a video or a stream then usage goes 80-98% and temps stay around 80c a few times it hit 84c and once it hit 92c. The overclocking I've tried from reading here just makes the temps and usage increase quicker especially if I bump game settings to Ray tracing medium, as the specs say i should be able to run lol. All fans set at full power helps but still feel like im gonna fry something. I used artic mx-4 thermal compound but thought maybe I should reapply ? or maybe its just time for a new cpu and motherboard? I've looked at so many upgrade options the last week its making my head spin.

CPU - Intel i7700k
MOBO- Asus z270e
GPU- Nvidia rtx 2060
Mem - Crucial 16gb 2x8 elite cl
cpu cooler - coolmaster gemini m4
2 front intake case fans, 1 rear exhaust fan and 1 120mm exhaust fan on the top of the case
storage - samsung 500gb ssd and a new 1 tb samsung pci drive
monitor - lg 60-75hz 1080p

[KotOr368]

Hi.

If you want OC 7700k you need delid it or you will have bad time with temp. i dont know what you playin but in the end it depend how good you CPU silicon is so maybe you will gain some or small improvement
I'm not big fan of AMD but the number are there. If you look at benchmark 5600x can beat 9900k in some games. So i think if you can go and upgrade. But be aware AMD has currently some issue with their AGESA bios code some people have problems. But if you are lucky you can enjoy some sweet CPU.

[Nate152]

Hi OohDreamWeaver

I have the i7-7700k overclocked to 5.2GHz, I delidded it and used Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut between the die and IHS and used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut between the IHS and water block. This dropped temps 15c - 20c.

I'm not sure it's worth spending money on a delidding tool for an older cpu, you'll have to make that call.

Here is a video I recorded playing Far Cry 5 with cpu temps, this is with CPU Core/Cache voltage at 1.44v.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbCGYnaRWcU&t=301s

[OohDreamWeaver]

So I delidded, replaced thermal paste, added new cooler nh-d15 with 2 fans, upgraded intake fans from 120mm to 140mm, did a small overclock that I found on a forum here
1) Reset the bios to defaults (F5)
2) Set the AI Overclock Tuner to Manual
3) Set the CPU Core Ratio to Sync All Cores
4) Set the CPU Core Ratio Limit to 48
5) Set the CPU Core/Cache Voltage to 1.30v.
6) In DiGi+ set LLC to Level 6.
Running cyberpunk medium ray tracing settings and getting temps 55-60c

4.8ghz vcore 1.296-1.31v, think I should go for 5ghz ? Any recommendations ?

[Nate152]

Nice !

You now have one of if not the best cpu air coolers you can get. Did you use liquid metal between the die and IHS?

CPU temp looks good and says you can shoot for a higher overclock, Intel says temp up to 90c is fine but I personally don't like to run that hot. Up to 75c - 80c is about the max I'd feel comfortable with but this is just my personal preference.

I would try for 5.0GHz, it should be easily doable with a delidded cpu granted it's not a dud. I can do 5.0GHz with 1.2850v, maybe you can too?

Try raising the CPU Core Ratio Limit to 49 with no voltage increase and see how it goes. If it fails to boot, freezes or BSOD's then raise the voltage .01v until it is stable, it may take a few tries. Once stable, try for 5.0GHz if temp allows. Once you get 5.0GHz stable you can overclock the cpu cache.

If you'd like to see my delid process, start on page 9, 6th post down. - https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?92094-Maximus-IX-Code-A-little-insight-and-delidded-7700k/...

I use HWinfo for monitoring clock speeds, voltages and temps.

Click the pic to make it bigger, then again to make it clearer, blue is cpu, red is ram.

[OohDreamWeaver]

When I delidded I replaced old paste with the noctua n1? That came with the cpu cooler. Running cyberpunk medium ray tracing and highest temp after 2 hours of play was 72 and that's with watching a stream on the other monitor. I'll post hwinfo after your adjustments. I also used user benchmark which showed everything was pretty solid but the ram was somehow real bad? But I thought I had a good ram so not sure of a setting for that. I can't figure out how to post the screenshots from user benchmark but can't?

[Nate152]

If you used thermal paste between the die and IHS, this won't give as good of results as liquid metal. However, 72c is a good temp.

I see you have 16GB Crucial Elite, is it running at its rated specs? The frequency is shown at the top of the AI Tweaker page in the bios, the timings are in Dram Timing Control.

To post a screenshot on the forum:

1) Hit the PrtSc key
2) Open paint and click "Paste"
3) At the top click Crop, hold down the left mouse button and outline the whole user benchmark, then click crop again.
4) Click the purple floppy disc at the top and name the file "User Benchmark" and save, I save them in my pictures. You should see it in your pictures.
5) In the forum reply box click the square that says "Insert Image"
6) Click "From Computer" then click "Choose File"
7) Click Pictures and click on User Benchmark then click Open at the bottom.
😎 Click Upload File(s)

[OohDreamWeaver]

So im able to bump the CPU Core Ratio Limit to 49 and 1.3v and its stable, other than the iffy ram which in bios it says 2400mhz 1.2v but should be 2666mhz 1.2v. but if i enable xmp mode then it says 2666mhz in the bios. I tried changing from 49 to 50 at 1.3v and blue screened after windows icon, I increased volts to 1.31 1.32 and 1.33 with same bluescreen. Wasn't quite sure how much to increase it so figured good time to update here. But at 49 and 1.3 everything in hwinfo is running prime. cpu is basically at 88-100% usage at all times while running cyberpunk medium ray tracing @1080p with a stream or youtube video on the other monitor.

[OohDreamWeaver]

Last night I increased the CPU Core Ratio Limit to 50 again and the voltage by 0.1 until I got to 1.4 but im still getting the blue screen after the windows icon loads. I was leery to go any higher than 1.4v until I hear something from yall on here.

[OohDreamWeaver]

Nate152 wrote:
If you used thermal paste between the die and IHS, this won't give as good of results as liquid metal. However, 72c is a good temp.

I see you have 16GB Crucial Elite, is it running at its rated specs? The frequency is shown at the top of the AI Tweaker page in the bios, the timings are in Dram Timing Control.

To post a screenshot on the forum:

1) Hit the PrtSc key
2) Open paint and click "Paste"
3) At the top click Crop, hold down the left mouse button and outline the whole user benchmark, then click crop again.
4) Click the purple floppy disc at the top and name the file "User Benchmark" and save, I save them in my pictures. You should see it in your pictures.
5) In the forum reply box click the square that says "Insert Image"
6) Click "From Computer" then click "Choose File"
7) Click Pictures and click on User Benchmark then click Open at the bottom.
😎 Click Upload File(s)

Wasn't able to quite figure out the multiple screenshots and placing them into paint

I was able to bump the CPU Core Ratio Limit to 49 and 1.3v and its stable, other than the iffy ram which in bios it says 2400mhz 1.2v but should be 2666mhz 1.2v. but if I enable xmp mode then it says 2666mhz in the bios. I tried changing from 49 to 50 at 1.3v and blue screened after windows icon, I increased volts to 1.31 1.32 and 1.33 and up to 1.4 with the same bluescreen. Wasn't quite sure how much to increase it so figured good time to update here. But at 49 and 1.3 everything in hwinfo is running prime. cpu is basically at 88-100% usage at all times while running cyberpunk medium ray tracing @1080p with a stream or youtube video on the other monitor. Highest max temp I hit was 72c