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Prime95 practically melts my VRM. Should I just use a different test?

Prime95 small FFTs gets my VRM to 103C. I'm not even overclocking...! Prim95 even causes my motherboard to throttle because the VRM gets so hot at stock settings. Any other workload barely touches the VRM temps though. I want to get into overclocking, but I know prime95 is the de-facto standard for testing overclocks. Can I safely get away with other stability tests like blender renders, code compiles, and cinebench? Or, should I just accept that my motherboard cannot overclock because it has an inadequate VRM cooling solution?

In case it helps, my CPU is an i7 6700k. My motherboard is: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170N-Gaming-5-rev-11#ov

 

I also want to note that my CPU cooling is more than adequate. It's an EVGA CLC 360 with 3 static pressure noctua fans. At stock settings my CPU doesn't even break 40C under Prime95 small FFTs.

 

Thanks!

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2 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

Or, should I just accept that my motherboard cannot overclock because it has an inadequate VRM cooling solution?

That.

 

Or point a fan at the VRM, should fix the VRM throttling at least. 

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Do you have any fans near the vrm that would be moving air over the board? That might help with temps.

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Just now, GoldenLag said:

That.

 

Or point a fan at the VRM, should fix the VRM throttling at least. 

Basically this, you need to get some decent airflow over that VRM heatsink to give it a fighting chance!

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4 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

Any other workload barely touches the VRM temps though

So, there is no problem? Prime95 isnt a workload, your not getting any work done running it.

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2 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

Prime95 gets my VRM to 103C. I'm not even overclocking...! Prim95 even causes my motherboard to throttle because the VRM gets so hot at stock settings. Any other workload barely touches the VRM temps though. I want to get into overclocking, but I know prime95 is the de-facto standard for testing overclocks. Can I safely get away with other stability tests like blender renders, code compiles, and cinebench? Or, should I just accept that my motherboard cannot overclock because it has an inadequate VRM cooling solution?

In case it helps, my CPU is an i7 6700k. My motherboard is: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170N-Gaming-5-rev-11#ov

 

Thanks!

I wouldn't run prime95, its just a huge power virus... I would use aida64 or asus realbench. P95 is just so unrealistic.... But also, what mobo do you have? IS the VRM up to it?

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I've attached a picture of my current setup.

 

11 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

That.

 

Or point a fan at the VRM, should fix the VRM throttling at least. 

10 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Do you have any fans near the vrm that would be moving air over the board? That might help with temps.

Would turning around the rear exhaust fan help? I could also put some fans in those top slots pointing down, if that would help.

 

9 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I wouldn't run prime95, its just a huge power virus... I would use aida64 or asus realbench. P95 is just so unrealistic.... But also, what mobo do you have? IS the VRM up to it?

My motherboard is listed in the original post.

 

9 minutes ago, Bartholomew said:

So, there is no problem? Prime95 isnt a workload, your not getting any work done running it.

The most any realistic worklad I've thrown at it gets the VRM up to 80C

 

 

ProShot_20200712_103809.jpg

ProShot_20200712_103756.jpg

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8 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

If you can get me some close-up photos of the FET's used on your board here. I need to be able to read the text on the FETs:

 

Inked20160422145103_big_LI.jpg.aed873b47a24c697e86c884d564e592d.jpg

 

Then I can find a datasheet and figure out why your board isn't Ocing the way you expect. 

 

If I would have to guess just by the board design (keep in mind i'm not buildZoid here) to me, your board looks to me a 3+2 phase VRM design with 3 phases for the CPU, one for the iGPU, and 1 to 2 (not sure on this one) phases for the memory. I can see why you're having problems now, especially if those are only 50A power stages. 

 

Otherwise as others have said, put a fan on the VRMs. It will help a lot more than you think. My guess is you're using a watercooler so of course the VRM is getting no airflow.

I hope these are clear enough!

ProShot_20200712_105330.jpg

ProShot_20200712_105228.jpg

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3 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

So if i'm making a judgement off the FET's present on the memory controller and assuming they are the same ones for CPU_vcore (they might not be), your board is using Vishay 60A DRmos power MOSFETs, at least that's the best guess I can make.

 

https://www.mouser.com/Semiconductors/Discrete-Semiconductors/Transistors/MOSFET/Datasheets/_/N-ax1sf?keyword=RA12

 

That means your CPU can only draw about 180 watts before something starts to go kaboom (motherboard VRMs tend to be built to theoretically put out 350-500w on really good boards because they usually run passively). That being said, according to the datasheet those FETs are rated up to 150C. MOSFETs have an inheritnly different construction than a CPU ASIC that allows them to run at much higher temperatures saftely. Now I would personally never run my boards FETs at 150C, but you could do it

 

If you want to stop this problem, I would suggest buying a tiny 40mm fan and ghetto modding it to your CPUs VRM (just take a fan and stick it over the heatsink closest to the CPU). That should allow you more overclocking headroom, and I bet your mobos VRM will cool down a ton. This will unfortunently make your computer louder, but it's the only way outside of gluing a giant-ass custom heatsink I can think of to do this, or buying a better board.

 

 

 

Thanks for the advice! How would you orient the fan? Just straight down? Also how would you attach it? Do you think zip ties would work or would they melt?

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2 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

I would just point the fan stright down on the upper heatsink that just says "gigabyte". Zip ties would work, but so would something like silicon glue (which is normally used for electronics). you can use almost anything you want except maybe hot glue.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Silicone-Waterproof-2-7-Ounce-908570/dp/B0002BBX3U/ref=asc_df_B0002BBX3U/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167125555111&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7541684011923551594&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016897&hvtargid=pla-314973164092&psc=1

Alright, thanks! I'll give that a try. Unfortunately I'm out of fan headers, but I have a fan header splitter so the same header that controls the rear case fan will also control the VRM fan. I hope that will be alright.

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I don't think there's any one form of stability test software that fully verifies the stability of an overclock. It really comes down to the intended workload. Different applications interact with the CPU in different ways and while 3 stress tests may prove the system stable then planned workload could still crash after a period of time.

 

If Prime95 makes things hotter than you're comfortable with using 2 or 3 other forms of tests are fine because when it comes down to it you could still crash. The programs you actually plan to run will determine your final O.C. but these stress test applications get you pretty close so I don't see a reason why you have to use Prime95.

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On 7/12/2020 at 11:12 AM, CircleTech said:

I would just point the fan stright down on the upper heatsink that just says "gigabyte". Zip ties would work, but so would something like silicon glue (which is normally used for electronics). you can use almost anything you want except maybe hot glue.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Silicone-Waterproof-2-7-Ounce-908570/dp/B0002BBX3U/ref=asc_df_B0002BBX3U/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167125555111&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7541684011923551594&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016897&hvtargid=pla-314973164092&psc=1

I got a tiny fan and pointed it straight down on the heatsink. It's a night and day difference! My VRMs don't heat up at all. I had to double check that p95 was even running! Thanks for your help!

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