Help me with my 7700K overclock

[RedWagnum]

Completed my new build a few days ago. Specs:
Asus ROG Strix Z270 G Gaming
I7 7700k (delidded by Silcon Lottery)
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000
Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2
Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX (STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING)
Seasonic SSR-650PD Flagship Prime Series 650W Platinum
Raystorm Pro on the CPU, EK block on the video card, BI Nemesis GTX 360 radiator, D5 pump (PWM), Vardar F4 PWM fans

I've been overclocking for a long time. When I built my last system (3570K, P8 Z77-V LE Plus) I just set the multiplier to 42, set the XMP profile for the 1600MHz RAM and left everything else on Auto. Ran fine, good temps. When I built it I didn't have time to dig into the settings and the system was stable so I just left it at that.

What I'm finding is that now, 4 generations later, the BIOS has a LOT more options than the Z77 board had! After installing Windows 10 and whatever hardware drivers I needed I installed Aida64 and other utilities to check the system. Everything looked good so I ran the Aida stress test for about 12 hours with the system at stock settings. Everything looked good. Don't recall what the temps were but I remember there was only about 3°C variation in max core temps.

The BIOS has a "Load CPU 5G OC Profile" so I gave it a shot. It booted into Windows and I started the Aida stress test. Lasted about 6 minutes until I got the "boo-hoo" screen. Made some adjustments to my fan profiles and tried again, this time it lasted for about 11 minutes. Okay so the easy, auto 5GHz doesn't work. Big surprize there. Lets work our way up.

Set the AI Overclock Tuner to XMP, Multi-core Enhancement to Auto, CPU Core Ratio to Sync All Cores, multi to 4.7, LLC to and Vcore to Auto. After about 30 minutes of stress test max temps were in the low 80's and Vcore was running around 1.386, a bit high IMO.

Changed to LLC to 1 and that dropped the temps to the mid 70's and the Vcore to around 1.312. Looking a little better.

Right now I have turned Speed Step to Disabled, LLC to 2, bumped multi to 4.8 and Vcore is still set to Auto. Temps are around 81°C (it's in the garage, ambient is 29°C/85°F) and the GPU test is enabled adding more heat load to the system. Vcore is more manageable now at 1.264. Stress test has been running now for about 10 hours without a crash.

Where do I go from here? I'd like to try to get it running stable at 5GHz. Don't know if the chip will do it or not. Seems stable right now at 4.8 but I'd like to find what the limit is on the chip. Any suggestions?

 

[RedWagnum]

Pushed the multi to 4.9, LLC to 3, Vcore still at Auto. Ambient down to 78°F (cool front blew in this morning), max core temp at 78°C after 1.5 hours stress test w/o GPU stress test, Vcore showing to be 1.312. At idle the Vcore was at 1.368 which is a little concerning.

 

[guitarslingerchris]

I just delidded my 7700K last week and all I needed to do was set vcore to 1.35v and push the multi to 50 with my XMP profile set for 3000mhz. I'm seeing a max of 51c on a single core with AIDA64 stability test and overall CPU max of 46c. As soon as I jump to 5.3ghz at 1.49v I'm seeing temps in the 70s and 80s. I did actually have 5.0ghz stable at 1.3v but that was until I remembered to turn on my XMP profile and once the memory was actually running at speed the cpu required a bit more voltage to hold it. I'm surprised your temps are so high and I'm also on a custom water loop with the same cpu block, a 60mm 360 rad and a 34mm 240 rad and a D5 but really that shouldn't make any difference..

I'm running an Asus Maximus IX Hero board btw with 2x8gb 3000mhz Corsair LPX and SLI 980 Tis.

 

[Frito11]

7700k will take 1.4v no probs really its just as simple as setting sync all cores 50x multi and 1.35-1.4v if your running hot/unstable in AVX loads (see prime 95, realbench, etc) set an avx offset of -1 to -3 as nessisary to get it in line with super hot avx loads. as for LLC on asus boards.. try running 4 or 5 if your seeing vdroop at 3 which it sounds like you are, you want that vcore rock solid where you set it under load and at idle.

 

[capt_cope]

You might try tweaking your pump and fan speeds, those temps seem pretty high for a delided 7700k. I just got around to deliding my 7700k and I'm running 5.0ghz @ 1.36v. Running P95 (blend mode) I'm maxing out in the low 50's for load temp (d5 pump, evo supremacy on the cpu, ek block on a 1080, 1 xspc ax360 + 1 xspc ax240 with corsair sp120s running on the "standard" asus pwm curve).

7700k will take 1.4v no probs really its just as simple as setting sync all cores 50x multi and 1.35-1.4v if your running hot/unstable in AVX loads (see prime 95, realbench, etc) set an avx offset of -1 to -3 as nessisary to get it in line with super hot avx loads. as for LLC on asus boards.. try running 4 or 5 if your seeing vdroop at 3 which it sounds like you are, you want that vcore rock solid where you set it under load and at idle.

This is almost exactly how I got my OC - OC profile to XMP, MCE set to "auto", set the multi to 50, vcore to 1.4v, LLC to 5 and then slowly backed down the voltage until I found the lowest stable voltage.

 

[=Gunslinger=]

For 5GHz and only 3000MHz memory, the only thing you should have to touch is the CPU multi and CPU vcore, the rest of the voltages won't need to be changed.

Your temps are not good for a delidded CPU though, what thermal paste did you use?

For 5GHz you should be 1.25V to 1.35V depending upon how good or bad the CPU is.

 

[RedWagnum]

TG Kryonaut on the CPU. Don't remember on the GPU, probably AS5.

Thinking I have a flow restriction somewhere. When I started the build I installed the pump, rad, and res to run sysprep through the loop. The 200mm res is mounted horizontally at the top of the case, outlet in the front feeding the pump, inlet at the back. The res caps each have a hole on the end and two on the side. The inlet and outlet are both using a side outlet, top end hole goes to a fill port. Unused holes (obviously) plugged. The D5 is a PWM pump is mounted in the bottom of the case and I had it hooked up to a 12v molex so it was running full speed. After filling and bleeding I noted that the loop had great flow! Even though the inlet was at the side it was creating a vortex that ran almost to the other end of the res. I was thinking that I could probably run the pump at 25-50% and still have good flow. Then I added the GPU and CPU blocks. Flow rate fell off a cliff! At 100% I'm seeing pretty good turbulence in the air bubble at the top of the res but nothing like what I saw without the blocks. When I turn the pump down to 50-60% I only see a gentle rocking of the air bubble.

I think part pf the problem may be with the EK block on the GPU. The EK block has a very narrow attachment point for the fittings. I used EK fittings so they should not be a problem but I replaced the stock EK plugs with Monsoon plugs purely for aesthetic reasons. The Monsoon plugs look like they are about a millimeter longer (threaded part) so that might be restricting the flow somewhat. I also have a few spots where the tubing is not optimal, creating some "oval" areas which may be contributing to the flow restrictions.

My 4.9GHz test failed after a little over 3 hours with settings as shown in post #2. Idle temps were good at mid 30's (@800MHz) even though CPU-Z reported the Vcore was at 1.368. Max load temp was 80°C, Vcore at 1.312 at failure. So should I be setting the Vcore manually? How do I control the overshoot when at idle?

EDIT: I took some pictures if anyone would like to see them for clarity.

 

[Frito11]

if vcore is dropping over extended periods of time under load (not right away) then its possible your vrm is heating up and eventually throttling or something along those lines.

 

[RedWagnum]

if vcore is dropping over extended periods of time under load (not right away) then its possible your vrm is heating up and eventually throttling or something along those lines.

The VRMs do get quite hot! The voltage seems stable enough. With settings in Post #2 it would vary between 1.312 and 1.32x, mostly staying at 1.312, occasionally spiking up a step. Air flow is decent - 200mm fan in front running at about 600RPM and a 120mm in back running at about 2000RPM (actually quite quiet at that speed).

 

[Frito11]

i mean that isn't much of a drop in voltage but raising LLC would combat that. VRM really shouldn't get all that warm on Z270 boards in my experience but its possible asus cheaped out on that on that strix board i have only overclocked on ROG boards and they have always been very cool on the VRM.

 

[guitarslingerchris]

Those temps just seem crazy high, I don't see above 70c until I'm at 1.49 vcore running 5.3ghz and my loop is very similar to yours with the same cpu block. How confident are you in your waterblock mounting and/or the delid?

 

[RedWagnum]

Those temps just seem crazy high, I don't see above 70c until I'm at 1.49 vcore running 5.3ghz and my loop is very similar to yours with the same cpu block. How confident are you in your waterblock mounting and/or the delid?

Pretty confident. DeltaT between cores is only about 3°C so I am thinking that means a good relid. Due to not thinking when I initially installed the CPU block I had to remove it and rotate it 180°. Had a good mate and coverage. I'm really at a loss as to why temps are so high. I'm pretty sure I have some restrictions in the loop but even low flow should show better temps than this. Would the placement of the block make a difference? Right now the block is placed such that the fittings are parallel to the lock-down handle. With the Raystorm, wouldn't that put the water flow path parallel to the die?

I'm probably going to pull part of the loop apart this afternoon to replace the plugs in the GPU block and replace a piece of tubing that is a little too short and thus slightly compressed at the bends. Maybe that will help.

 

[RedWagnum]

Okay, pulled the loop apart, replaced a tube and the plugs on the GPU block. After doing a bit of research it looks like the proper way to orient the Raystorm is with the fittings perpendicular to the socket lock-down arm so I pulled that and rotated it 90°. This is what the wb mating looked like:



Looks fair, maybe a little too much Kyronaut but not excessively so. I'm a little concerned about the thin spot in the middle. Looks like either the IHS or the block is bowed a bit? Cleaned everything up and re-applied paste trying to get it a little thinner this time. I think I tightened the hold down screws a bit more this time also. Plugged in the power to the pump and fired it up. Looks and sounds like the flow rate is much better. Don't know if it was the restricted tubing or the plugs on the GPU block or both but there is a definite improvement. I'm leak testing now then tomorrow I'll see what temps look like again.

 

[RedWagnum]

Well I've been testing all day trying to get my OC up to 5GHz but it looks like this processor just won't do it. With the voltage set to 1.395V and LLC at 7 the longest I could get it to run Aida was about 12 minutes. Max core temp was ~82°C with ambient at 87°F/30°C. So I backed it down to 4.9GHz and I've been reducing the voltage to see how low I can go and keep it stable. Current test is at 4.9GHz, Vcore set to 1.310V, LLC at Auto. Ambient now is down to 71°F/21°C so core temps are a lot cooler at 73°C after an hour of Aida, Vcore showing a solid 1.312V. Going to keep working the Vcore down until it becomes unstable then crank it back up 0.01V.

As far as temps go, should I be watching the core temps or the CPU (package) temp? The max CPU temp during the current run is only 59°C. If I look at the average core temps they are around 62°C so should I really be concerned about the max core temp spiking to 73°C?

Time to knock Vcore down another 0.01V.

 

[Frito11]

watch core temps, sounds like you just have a dud 7700k to me, last one i had was like that even with delid and a full custom loop it couldn't do 5 ghz at 1.4v, i mean it could but most any stress test would crash it. i had to bring it down to 4.9 -2 avx offset for daily use. i was able to run lighter loads like 3d benches on it still at 5.15 ghz but that took a solid 1.52v

 

[RedWagnum]

Finally moved my system in the house and put it to work. Did lots of tweaking but was never able to get anything really stable above 4.8GHz. While 4.8 is stable long term, temps are still higher than I would like reaching into the upper 70's to low 80's. I have pretty much settled on 4.7 GHz at 1.296V Vcore as my daily. With ambient at 75°F my idle temps are in the low to mid 30's C and my load (RealBench) temps run up to the mid 70's C. I guess Frito11 was right - looks like I got a dud chip. That seems to be my luck with PC parts. I rarely get bad parts but I also rarely get great parts, usually just somewhere in the middle. Such is life...

 

[Nebulous]

So you purchased a delidded chip from SL. Was it supposed to be a guaranteed 5.0Ghz chip?

 

[RedWagnum]

So you purchased a delidded chip from SL. Was it supposed to be a guaranteed 5.0Ghz chip?

Negative. Bought a retail chip from Amazon and sent it to SL for de-lidding. Not entirely sure they did a good job with the re-lid since my temps are so high under load. Unfortunately, I sent the chip to SL as soon as I got it from Amazon. Didn't even open the box so no baseline testing was done. That was probably a mistake. One of several I guess.

 

[Nebulous]

Negative. Bought a retail chip from Amazon and sent it to SL for de-lidding. Not entirely sure they did a good job with the re-lid since my temps are so high under load. Unfortunately, I sent the chip to SL as soon as I got it from Amazon. Didn't even open the box so no baseline testing was done. That was probably a mistake. One of several I guess.

Ahh, otay. I was under the impression you got it binned from SL. I would have to agree with the others here about it being a dud. Sometimes those are rare and far inbetween, but looks like one fell through the cracks and that's the one you got. Not sure if you want spend money on another chip, but my advice would be to just ride that one until prices start dropping on the rest of the 7700K out while the 8700K starts to flood the market, then you can snag another one on da cheap.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but might as well make lemonade from lemons

 

[Speedeu4ia]

I'm on air , 71deg f room temp. So far 7700k 4.8ghz at around 1.28v(vcore on Aida jumps around) is all I can do. Aida 64 gets 1 core to 77c max and others less

The thing that gets me is pretty much all programs show different vcore and temps

 

[RedWagnum]

Ahh, otay. I was under the impression you got it binned from SL. I would have to agree with the others here about it being a dud. Sometimes those are rare and far inbetween, but looks like one fell through the cracks and that's the one you got. Not sure if you want spend money on another chip, but my advice would be to just ride that one until prices start dropping on the rest of the 7700K out while the 8700K starts to flood the market, then you can snag another one on da cheap.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but might as well make lemonade from lemons

Yeah, that was probably another mistake. I probably should have waited until this week to buy and bought a z370 and an 8700K. Cost would have been pretty close to what I spent, would have gotten two more cores, and in all likelihood a chip that would do closer to 5 GHz judging from reports I've read. Didn't do that because I don't like being an early adopter/early tester. The z270 and 7700K while still relatively new has been fleshed out pretty well over the last year or so. Oh well. The system is stable so far though I am still in the early stages of reloading all my software and getting used to Win 10. Next week I should be pretty well done loading and I can try testing games and stuff like Handbrake.

I'm on air , 71deg f room temp. So far 7700k 4.8ghz at around 1.28v(vcore on Aida jumps around) is all I can do. Aida 64 gets 1 core to 77c max and others less

The thing that gets me is pretty much all programs show different vcore and temps

What motherboard are you on? How high does Vcore get when idle and how low when loaded? Might need to adjust LLC a bit to get Vcore more stable. For me CPU-Z has been matching Aida as far as Vcore goes. CoreTemp has been matching Aida (within +/- 1°C) on the core temps. CoreTemp seems to be a bit wonky showing VID though - sometimes it shows, most of the time it's blank. If you are running in the mid 70's at 4.8 on air I'd say that was pretty good. I'm running near that temp at 4.7 on water.

 

[Speedeu4ia]

What motherboard are you on? How high does Vcore get when idle and how low when loaded? Might need to adjust LLC a bit to get Vcore more stable. For me CPU-Z has been matching Aida as far as Vcore goes. CoreTemp has been matching Aida (within +/- 1°C) on the core temps. CoreTemp seems to be a bit wonky showing VID though - sometimes it shows, most of the time it's blank. If you are running in the mid 70's at 4.8 on air I'd say that was pretty good. I'm running near that temp at 4.7 on water.

Gigabyte z270 gaming 5 itx board.

I ended up turning my avx offset off as I couldnt get it above 4.8 and temps are ok. So I took some screen shots, but the VCORE varies from 1.272v to 1.308v loaded in aida64(strange).I'm using speedstep/eist ect.. so I have to leave my voltage on "normal" which is way too high(like 1.34v). I'm currently running with a -.065v offset and My LLC is set to normal, if I change the LLC to something higher them my VCORE shoots up again to 1.32-1.34v)

I used windows High power mode to lock the cpu at 4,8ghz(100%) for these idle screen shots, normally I let it go down to 1.7ghz(40%) at idle

My temps can be from 49c to 78c on the same core within 1 second, its crazy. The "CPU" temp in aida64 seems the most consistent and only jumps between 68-72C

 

[RedWagnum]

My temps can be from 49c to 78c on the same core within 1 second, its crazy. The "CPU" temp in aida64 seems the most consistent and only jumps between 68-72C

This is normal. The Core temps are the "instantaneous" temperature within each core and varies as different instructions are executed. The CPU temp is the average temperature at a single point on the die. Think of it as kind of like a V8 engine. The core temps would be roughly equivalent to having a temp probe in each cylinder and the CPU temp would be like having a temp probe in the middle of the engine block. The cylinder temps would be high and spiky because they are closer to the heat source but the block temp would be lower and slower to react due to the larger thermal mass between it and the heat sources.

 

[Speedeu4ia]

This is normal. The Core temps are the "instantaneous" temperature within each core and varies as different instructions are executed. The CPU temp is the average temperature at a single point on the die. Think of it as kind of like a V8 engine. The core temps would be roughly equivalent to having a temp probe in each cylinder and the CPU temp would be like having a temp probe in the middle of the engine block. The cylinder temps would be high and spiky because they are closer to the heat source but the block temp would be lower and slower to react due to the larger thermal mass between it and the heat sources.

That sounds good but my 3570k wouldn't jump 30degrees on each core. It would stay within 5-10