bomerr

AIOs are better than Noctua.

was thinking this too. most likely the ray tracing is still better with nvidia.

Get B-Die 3600CL16 or 3200CL14 for X99. Very fast and stable.

Those voltages are fine for both BWE and HWE. 1.36V is kinda high but if your cooling is under 90-95C then that's fine. I would start at 1.25-1.3v and find max stable OC, then decide if you want to increase voltage.

you need better ram. get crucial 3600mhz ram.

10850k, 9900k, 10600k min. but 7700k is a decent CPU so I would wait till rocket lake launches ~q1 2021.

value used: gtx 1080 ti performance new: rtx 3080

I would buy this kit. https://www.microcenter.com/product/618848/crucial-ballistix-gaming-32gb-(2-x-16gb)-ddr4-3200-pc4-25600-cl16-dual-channel-desktop-memory-kit-bl2k16g32c16u4b--black and sell your current kit on ebay or locally.

buy the tuff 3080.

Set all voltages to manual. (VCCIN 1.95v, Vcore 1.275, Vcache 1.15, SA 1.05, VCCIO CPU and PCH 1.05, PCH CORE 1.05, PCH I/O 1.5) Set load-line calibration (vdroop) to Level 3. Don't exceed the following voltages. https://www.overclock.net/threads/struggle-with-overclocking-the-6950x.1745860/page-2#post-28423892 CPU to 40 Cache to 35 Download Prime95 and HWINFO64 Use prime 95 to stress test (20min) and watch your CPU temps. If you're stable, increase cpu frequency until unstable. Then increase cache/uncore until unstable. If your CPU cores are under 85-90C, you can increase core voltage. Most people can get 4.0-4.5Ghz core & at least 3.5 Ghz uncore/cache. For ram, I recommend getting 3200 or 3600mhz crucial ddr4. You will want to manually set the clockspeed to 3200 as that's the fastest X99 will handle. 4x8GB is best because that's single rank quad channel. An overclocked 5960x is about as powerful as a Ryzen 2700X-3700X depending on the task but with more power consumption. One more thing, 6950x are going for about 300 USD on ebay and aliexpress. If you install one into your ASUS board, the mobo will apply a 4ghz overclock. Add a 3200mhz ram kit and you're pretty close to maxed out. So if you don't want to deal with the hassle of overclocking and stress testing, it might make sense to just upgrade cpu and ram. (make sure you still set voltages to manual as these motherboards are known to overvolt and kill the cpu)

crucial ddr4 is good, especially for ryzen. I would recommend getting the 3600 kit over the 3200. google "rev e ryzen" https://github.com/integralfx/MemTestHelper/blob/master/DDR4 OC Guide.md

sell it and wait for rocket lake i sold the 8700k because it wasnt that much better than my 5820k a few years ago.

ROG Strix This is a review of the Maximus but the VRM looks the same as the Strix.

prime95, max fan settings. enough that i could overclock higher. noctua was severly limiting me. I'm pushing the h100i to the max too. I need a better cooling solution. Point is that air cooling is fine if you're in the right climate and/or cpu below 150W but water-cooling is definitely better, even AIO.