I Just Don't Get It

[Malgarroth]

Okay, so I've recently built this system and gone ahead and gotten my money's worth from that fancy "K" at the end of my i5's model number (6600k) by overclocking it to a nice stable 4.6GHz with a voltage of 1.4v.

 

Here's what the temps look like:

 

 

Oh, did I mention that this was half an hour into a stress test?

 

Here's what I don't get: My AIO cooler cost £45. It's a Corsair H45; a 120mm radiator with an added second fan for push/pull.

Sure, the pump whines a bit but overall the system is cooler and quieter than my old AMD rig that this system replaced.

 

I've run so many stress tests on this thing, used several different programs to check temps and the absolute MAXIMUM I've ever seen is 61°C.

 

From what I've read online this performance beats out some of the most expensive CPU coolers around.

 

I don't understand.

 

Is it the noise? Is a quieter cooler really worth that much money?

[Gravemind]

2 minutes ago, Malgarroth said:

Is it the noise? Is a quieter cooler really worth that much money?

To some prissy princesses, yes.

It can't make more noise than a farting ant or a lot of people immediately give it 1/5 stars and send it back.

 

I say just deal with the noise.

[pwn_intended]

Skylake is pretty power efficient. Especially the i5. Those are some good temps, but nothing that I would consider crazy. Great clock speeds though.

And no, the noise factor is only worth it if it matters to you. I wear headphones whenever I'm on my pc so I don't care that it sounds like an AC unit.

[Malgarroth]

1 minute ago, Gravemind said:

I say just deal with the noise.

I plan to.

 

Would I like a sexy Kraken in my new S340 Elite? Yeah, but I'm not gonna spend ~£120 on something that may not cool as effectively. It's not exactly an unbearable sound and any sound coming from my speakers or headphones immediately drown it out.

[Kobathor]

2 minutes ago, Malgarroth said:

I plan to.

 

Would I like a sexy Kraken in my new S340 Elite? Yeah, but I'm not gonna spend ~£120 on something that may not cool as effectively. It's not exactly an unbearable sound and any sound coming from my speakers or headphones immediately drown it out.

A Kraken X61/62 would cool much more effectively than an H45, while being quieter, and looking better. But you gotta ask yourself if it's worth it, cause nobody else can decide what you spend your money on.

[Malgarroth]

2 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

Skylake is pretty power efficient. Especially the i5. Those are some good temps, but nothing that I would consider crazy. Great clock speeds though.

And no, the noise factor is only worth it if it matters to you. I wear headphones whenever I'm on my pc so I don't care that it sounds like an AC unit.

Yeah I got lucky with the silicon I think. I can get to 4.7GHz and keep it stable but I really don't feel comfortable with the voltage required, even though temps are fine.

[Gravemind]

1 minute ago, Malgarroth said:

I plan to.

 

Would I like a sexy Kraken in my new S340 Elite? Yeah, but I'm not gonna spend ~£120 on something that may not cool as effectively. It's not exactly an unbearable sound and any sound coming from my speakers or headphones immediately drown it out.

Exactly.

Once you start playing music or anything really, you don't even hear it anymore. Let alone if you wear headphones like most people.

[Malgarroth]

Just now, Kobathor said:

A Kraken would cool much more effectively than an H45, while being quieter, and looking better. But you gotta ask yourself if it's worth it, cause nobody else can decide what you spend your money on.

Hey, if it cools more effectively I'm really kinda tempted to get one. I think they're gorgeous and the RGB thing would go really nicely with the whole pale green effect I'm going for.

[paddy-stone]

Those are some very good temps there... are you in an air conditioned building by any chance?  the ambient temp is going to be a big factor obviously.

I would be tempted to save those settings in a  profile and carry on tweaking, 62C is not even touching the surface, it's when it gets to around 75-85 that is my stopping point, and even then it's only because I factor in seasonal temp changes as I am not in an air conditioned building... plus don't forget these temps are when stress testing, not real world temps, real world temps would not hit the hoghs that stressing does... usually.

I only have a 120mm seidon AIO on mine ATM and agree that the sound isn't bad at all, just a whirring sound really on mine, not loud either.

[Malgarroth]

2 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Those are some very good temps there... are you in an air conditioned building by any chance?  the ambient temp is going to be a big factor obviously.

I would be tempted to save those settings in a  profile and carry on tweaking, 62C is not even touching the surface, it's when it gets to around 75-85 that is my stopping point, and even then it's only because I factor in seasonal temp changes as I am not in an air conditioned building... plus don't forget these temps are when stress testing, not real world temps, real world temps would not hit the hoghs that stressing does... usually.

I only have a 120mm seidon AIO on mine ATM and agree that the sound isn't bad at all, just a whirring sound really on mine, not loud either.

No I'm not, it's the middle of a British winter so ALL the heating is on ALL of the time. Idle temps are 27°C - 30°C.

 

Really? Try to go higher with the OC? See, I've read that you don't wanna push the voltage past 1.45v on a Skylake chip.

[paddy-stone]

1 minute ago, Malgarroth said:

No I'm not, it's the middle of a British winter so ALL the heating is on ALL of the time. Idle temps are 27°C - 30°C.

 

Really? Try to go higher with the OC? See, I've read that you don't wanna push the voltage past 1.45v on a Skylake chip.

Also British

 

Well, if you save a profile there really isn't much risk. But yeah don't go over safe voltage levels if you're concerned, but it's not a hard and fast rule, everyone has differing opinions on what the voltage should be... but don't forget that after dialling in new settings for multiplier for instance, you then try to drop some of the voltage back again until it's unstable, then add a little again until stable. This way you should get the best OC and still not be putting too much voltage through your chip.

I am only putting 1.24 on Vcore to get 4.7Ghz on my 6700k and it's rock solid... the thing for me though is that my temps get to peak around low 80s when stressing, so that's it for mine at the moment. I might have to get a better cooler at some point, but for now this is fine for my workload.

If you're happy with the OC then that's the main thing.

[Malgarroth]

5 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Also British

 

Well, if you save a profile there really isn't much risk. But yeah don't go over safe voltage levels if you're concerned, but it's not a hard and fast rule, everyone has differing opinions on what the voltage should be... but don't forget that after dialling in new settings for multiplier for instance, you then try to drop some of the voltage back again until it's unstable, then add a little again until stable. This way you should get the best OC and still not be putting too much voltage through your chip.

I am only putting 1.24 on Vcore to get 4.7Ghz on my 6700k and it's rock solid... the thing for me though is that my temps get to peak around low 80s when stressing, so that's it for mine at the moment. I might have to get a better cooler at some point, but for now this is fine for my workload.

If you're happy with the OC then that's the main thing.

For now I'm pretty happy with a 24% overclock. The system's for gaming so I'm not really doing anything that CPU intensive (Would've gotten the 6700K if that were the case). Thanks for the tips though, might see if I can get to 4.7GHz at a low enough voltage while stable in the future. But I can't see that extra 100MHz adding much except for bragging rights

[paddy-stone]

14 hours ago, Malgarroth said:

For now I'm pretty happy with a 24% overclock. The system's for gaming so I'm not really doing anything that CPU intensive (Would've gotten the 6700K if that were the case). Thanks for the tips though, might see if I can get to 4.7GHz at a low enough voltage while stable in the future. But I can't see that extra 100MHz adding much except for bragging rights

Yeah, it's a decent overclock, especially for those temps... 100Mhz won't make any noticeable difference, so you might as well leave it as it is. It's still worth saving these settings in a profile though, just in case you have to reset CMOS sometime, it'll save you having to enter all the settings again.