Is my Corsair H100i v2 a bottleneck?

[Incognito Clown]

Hey all!

 

I am using a i9 9900k, with MCE enabled in the bios, so it runs at 4.7GHz all-core all day. I've manually set the VCore to 1.280 in the bios, as it was pulling 1.392 volt (according to hwinfo) when it was set to auto. This made the cpu get really hot extremely fast, and 1.280V with a medium load line setting seems to be just as stable (no BSODs, no WHEAs). According to hwinfo my CPU is using about 1.230V when under load. (same results with "auto" load line and 1.310 VCore in BIOS)

 

When playing games that use about 50% of the cpu, my CPU (package) averages around 60-75 degrees Celcius.

Running Cinebench R20 for like 1 run, will get the CPU package to reach 99 degrees (which seems to be the max value reported by hwinfo) and starts thermal throtteling. The liquid in my AOI will eventually reach 50 degrees Celcius after a minute or 10.

 

I am worried these temps are a little high for an undervolted i9 (with MCE enabled) with a Corsair AIO (240mm). Are these temps expected with this AIO? Would temps improve with another AIO or air cooler?

 

Set up: Front-mounted radiator, pull. (case has 3 exhaust fans).

Case: NZXT H440 case. Having the case front off (eliminating the case being a bottleneck here) doesn't decrease temps.

Cooler: Corsair H100i V2, with 2x Noctua NF-12 Industrial 2000rpm (running at 1000 rpm till 40 degrees, then 1500 rpm). Pump is set to performance mode (3000rpm). Using Kryonaut thermal grizzly.

Room temp: 22-24 degrees

[eeeee1]

in ICUE is the aio set to extreme?

[Incognito Clown]

3 minutes ago, eeeee1 said:

in ICUE is the aio set to extreme?

Pump speed is set to extreme (3000rpm instead of 2000rpm) and the fan speed is a custom profile, as I am using Noctua Industrial NF-12 fans instead of the default Corsair fans.

[Incognito Clown]

Since the cores kind of immediately hit 90+ degrees when starting the benchmark in Cinebench R20, I am not really expecting fans to be the issue here, but maybe that the block thats on the cpu doesnt transfer the heat away from the cpu fast enough? The AIO is almost 4 years old now, but I have used it for an i5 first, so dont really have any performance stats of it when it was new that I could compare it to.

[eeeee1]

try to sand the surface of the cpu. (isnt this called lapping?)

[Honda CRV]

2 minutes ago, eeeee1 said:

try to sand the surface of the cpu. (isnt this called lapping?)

Lapping wouldn't do a hell of a lot in this case. It's not like a lot of the older chips where you could spin them around like a top and they'd go for eons.

 

Since the OP said their liquid temp hits 50 in 10 or so minutes, this is just a case of the cooler being inadequate for the job. Usually if your water temp goes much above 40-45 it's not a bad idea to consider stepping it up a notch, and if it's getting into the 50's you are seriously overpowering it.

[Incognito Clown]

7 minutes ago, eeeee1 said:

try to sand the surface of the cpu. (isnt this called lapping?)

I have heard of that, but I am not sure if I'm comfortable doing that. Just curious if this performance is expected with this cpu+aio with these voltage/frequency settings.

[Incognito Clown]

2 minutes ago, Honda CRV said:

Lapping wouldn't do a hell of a lot in this case. It's not like a lot of the older chips where you could spin them around like a top and they'd go for eons.

 

Since the OP said their liquid temp hits 50 in 10 or so minutes, this is just a case of the cooler being inadequate for the job. Usually if your water temp goes much above 40-45 it's not a bad idea to consider stepping it up a notch, and if it's getting into the 50's you are seriously overpowering it.

So what youre saying is that maybe I need a bigger radiator. Which I'd be fine with, but I dont see why that would help for like the first 10 seconds of a benchmark where the cores already hit the 90s. At that point the water hasnt even started to warm up basically.

[Honda CRV]

7 minutes ago, Incognito Clown said:

So what youre saying is that maybe I need a bigger radiator. Which I'd be fine with, but I dont see why that would help for like the first 10 seconds of a benchmark where the cores already hit the 90s. At that point the water hasnt even started to warm up basically.

That part is just the Intel charm. You're shitting out a ton of heat in a fairly small area on their higher-end mainstream parts. Only real way to avoid that is overcooling like hell and/or really perfect a manual OC with a lower voltage.

[Incognito Clown]

5 minutes ago, Honda CRV said:

That part is just the Intel charm. You're shitting out a ton of heat in a fairly small area on their higher-end mainstream parts. Only real way to avoid that is overcooling like hell or really perfect a manual OC with a lower voltage.

Ah okay so these spikes in temps are expected, and there is not much I can do about it in terms of cooling. Other than to change the voltage, or start lapping the die and such. Already using Kryonaut thermal paste, so the paste should be fine I guess. Redid the thermal paste as well at some point. Made sure the AIO's CPU block is firmly mounted to the MOBO...

 

Was worried that maybe my AIO was getting too old and maybe the fins that are on the coldplate were getting dirty or whatever

[Mateyyy]

Are you running the latest BIOS on your motherboard?

The 9900K is supposed to run at 4.7GHz on all cores stock, not when enabling MCE.

[Incognito Clown]

1 minute ago, Mateyyy said:

Are you running the latest BIOS on your motherboard?

The 9900K is supposed to run at 4.7GHz on all cores stock, not when enabling MCE.

That are my motherboards stock settings indeed, not intel spec/stock. But yes this is turned on by default on my motherboard. So motherboard "stock" settings will have my CPU run between 4.7GHz and 5.0GHz all the time. I believe this was called MCE but could be mixing up terms here.

 

I am not running the latest BIOS. I am running BIOS version F3 (which it shipped with). Newest version is F10b.

[Mateyyy]

Just now, Incognito Clown said:

That are my motherboards stock settings indeed, not intel spec/stock. But yes this is turned on by default on my motherboard. So motherboard "stock" settings will have my CPU run between 4.7GHz and 5.0GHz all the time. I believe this was called MCE but could be mixing up terms here.

 

I am not running the latest BIOS. I am running BIOS version F3 (which it shipped with). Newest version is F10b.

By default, the all-core boost on the 9900K is 4.7GHz. 5.0GHz the boost for just 1-2 cores.

 

Update your BIOS, disable MCE and try again.

[Incognito Clown]

On 9/20/2020 at 11:47 PM, Mateyyy said:

By default, the all-core boost on the 9900K is 4.7GHz. 5.0GHz the boost for just 1-2 cores.

 

Update your BIOS, disable MCE and try again.

Updated my bios, no change.

 

Googled for a little bit and found that others are getting way better temps with their Corsair H100i v2's. 1.35V and getting 71 degrees during prime95.

Some other dude is reporting 70 degrees for gaming, 85 degrees intel burn test.

https://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190710