Water cooling MOSFETs necessary to achieve 5 ghz OC on 8700K?

[Mortis Angelus]

I'm in the planning phase of making a water cooled system based around the 8700K. I very much would like to push it up to 5 or so ghz.

 

As it stands now, I am looking at  three motherboards: The cheaper Asus Maximus X Hero, the big brother Maximus X Code and the most expensive Maximus X Formula. The Formula gives you the benefit of having an included EK-waterblock for the MOSFETs. But at a huge price premium. Would I be able to do such an OC with the HERO? It feels a bit overkill to do water cooled MOSFETs on a non-Xx99-system.

[joshuawi99]

20 minutes ago, Mortis Angelus said:

I'm in the planning phase of making a water cooled system based around the 8700K. I very much would like to push it up to 5 or so ghz.

 

As it stands now, I am looking at  three motherboards: The cheaper Asus Maximus X Hero, the big brother Maximus X Code and the most expensive Maximus X Formula. The Formula gives you the benefit of having an included EK-waterblock for the MOSFETs. But at a huge price premium. Would I be able to do such an OC with the HERO? It feels a bit overkill to do water cooled MOSFETs on a non-Xx99-system.

Depends on ur mobo but i think that the Asus board u mentioned has a decent VRM Heatsink. My board for example hasnt got good heatsinks so i had to go full cover block.

[WereCat]

There is absolutely no reason to watercool the mosfets on any half-decent motherboard.

Even slight airflow is usually enough, just make sure you have enough airflow in that area and you are set.

[Mortis Angelus]

Just now, WereCat said:

There is absolutely no reason to watercool the mosfets on any half-decent motherboard.

Even slight airflow is usually enough, just make sure you have enough airflow in that area and you are set.

So I should be fine using just the cheaper Maximus X Hero then?

[JoostinOnline]

That's far more likely to fry your motherboard than to help anything.

[Mortis Angelus]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

That's far more likely to fry your motherboard than to help anything.

What is? 

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, Mortis Angelus said:

What is? 

Attempting to water cool your VRM.  Best case scenario, it does nothing.  Worst case, there is a leak and your system is fried.

[Froody129]

Some airflow is necessary but you don’t need to watercool. Like if you have fans above the CPU area of the board that should be fine. 

[WereCat]

8 minutes ago, Mortis Angelus said:

So I should be fine using just the cheaper Maximus X Hero then?

"cheaper" ... yes, its more than fine

[Mortis Angelus]

3 minutes ago, WereCat said:

"cheaper" ... yes, its more than fine

I didn't say it was cheap. I said it is cheaper than Code or Formula.

 

9 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Attempting to water cool your VRM.  Best case scenario, it does nothing.  Worst case, there is a leak and your system is fried.

Well, that is why, IF I watercooled the VRMs, I would buy the formula, because that has an included  waterblock from asus. I mean, the CPU block is equally close to the VRMs and can also leak.

 

6 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

Some airflow is necessary but you don’t need to watercool. Like if you have fans above the CPU area of the board that should be fine. 

Okay. Would place a 360 rad above the mobo + the 140 mm rear exhaust so there should thus be enough airflow there. I've just gotten the impression that VRMs get like REALLY hot when OCing, and that one main bottleneck for proper OCing is VRM-overheating.  But I guess I don't have to worry about that.

 

Thanks guys! All of you!

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, Mortis Angelus said:

I didn't say it was cheap. I said it is cheaper than Code or Formula.

 

Well, that is why, IF I watercooled the VRMs, I would buy the formula, because that has an included  waterblock from asus. I mean, the CPU block is equally close to the VRMs and can also leak.

 

Okay. Would place a 360 rad above the mobo + the 140 mm rear exhaust so there should thus be enough airflow there. I've just gotten the impression that VRMs get like REALLY hot when OCing, and that one main bottleneck for proper OCing is VRM-overheating.  But I guess I don't have to worry about that.

 

Thanks guys! All of you!

Not sure if you are also going to water cool the GPU and which case do you have but I would actualy use the rear as an intake and put a filter on it. Exhaust everything from top over the radiator. You will get cool air directly for the VRM and the radiator.

[Froody129]

1 minute ago, Mortis Angelus said:

I didn't say it was cheap. I said it is cheaper than Code or Formula.

 

Well, that is why, IF I watercooled the VRMs, I would buy the formula, because that has an included  waterblock from asus. I mean, the CPU block is equally close to the VRMs and can also leak.

 

Okay. Would place a 360 rad above the mobo + the 140 mm rear exhaust so there should thus be enough airflow there. I've just gotten the impression that VRMs get like REALLY hot when OCing, and that one main bottleneck for proper OCing is VRM-overheating.  But I guess I don't have to worry about that.

 

Thanks guys! All of you!

If you have a non crap heatsink on it (I believe the board you’re looking at is good, but I can’t confirm) then you’re fine.

 

Since you’re going with a custom loop already maybe you can strap heatsinks and fans to your VRMs. Not necessary at all but neither is a custom loop   

[Mortis Angelus]

1 minute ago, WereCat said:

Not sure if you are also going to water cool the GPU and which case do you have but I would actualy use the rear as an intake and put a filter on it. Exhaust everything from top over the radiator. You will get cool air directly for the VRM and the radiator.

early-stage plans for overcompensating coolingsystem (want to run it silently):

- top 360 rad

- front 280 or 360 rad (not sure yet)

- one loop for 8700K + 1080Ti (pretty sure it will only be one GPU, since SLI is not a thing anymore)

 

Never thought of having rear fan as intake. Sounds like a plan, though.

 

1 minute ago, Froody129 said:

If you have a non crap heatsink on it (I believe the board you’re looking at is good, but I can’t confirm) then you’re fine.

 

Since you’re going with a custom loop already maybe you can strap heatsinks and fans to your VRMs. Not necessary at all but neither is a custom loop   

I believe that when you enter the close to 300 dollar price range for mobos, in the Asus Lineup, you get pretty amazingballs heatsinks for your VRMs.

Maximus X Hero

 

Maximus X Code

 

 

Code has quite alot beefier heatsinks, though....

[WereCat]

5 minutes ago, Mortis Angelus said:

early-stage plans for overcompensating coolingsystem (want to run it silently):

- top 360 rad

- front 280 or 360 rad (not sure yet)

- one loop for 8700K + 1080Ti (pretty sure it will only be one GPU, since SLI is not a thing anymore)

 

Never thought of having rear fan as intake. Sounds like a plan, though.

 

I believe that when you enter the close to 300 dollar price range for mobos, in the Asus Lineup, you get pretty amazingballs heatsinks for your VRMs.

Maximus X Hero

 

Maximus X Code

 

 

Code has quite alot beefier heatsinks, though....

Do you also want to OC as high as possible or do you just expect above average OC and try to keep it quiet?

Because if you want to push the MHz then the ASUS Apex board should be definitely considered... if you dont mind that it has only 2x RAM slot and is missing some other features as well since it is so focused on OC.

[Mortis Angelus]

30 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Do you also want to OC as high as possible or do you just expect above average OC and try to keep it quiet?

Because if you want to push the MHz then the ASUS Apex board should be definitely considered... if you dont mind that it has only 2x RAM slot and is missing some other features as well since it is so focused on OC.

Naah, not AS high as possible, but achieve 5 ghz and call it a day. And then keep it as silent as possible.

[Mick Naughty]

They make quality boards, for this reason exactly. Should be good either way. No reason not to watercool something though. 

[pr0xZen]

There are plenty of alternative options for improving VRM cooling besides the blocks included with the Fomula. Anything from ensuring decent airflow to the stock heatsink, to custom / adjustable 3rd party VRM water blocks. All of which will get the job done, well, at a far lower price tag than the price gap between Hero and Formula. It all depends on your preferences, wants and needs. If the Hero covers these except for VRM cooling, I would suggest going with that, and start with airflow - that will assist in cooling other nearby components aswell. Procure (unless you already have (access to)) a thermocouple or other suitable measuring equipment, and observe actual VRM temperature during your overclocking adventures. Unless the temperatures actually turn out to go worryingly high, there would be no need to progress the cooling ladder further. The several hundred dollar gap between Hero and Formula would in this case be much better spent elsewhere. Don't know about Suomi prices, but here in Norway the price difference between Hero and Formula isn't far from the gap between a 1070 and a 1080ti. There is always the "because I can" / "because I want to" element - but thats a whole different matter, and really not subject to the same criteria.

[andrewmp6]

I would be more worried about deliding your cpu over getting a monoblock.

[Mortis Angelus]

1 hour ago, andrewmp6 said:

I would be more worried about deliding your cpu over getting a monoblock.

Who has said anything about delidding? I aint touchin' that shit!

[andrewmp6]

To get that speed you want,You might want to look in to delid it or else it could themro throttle before hitting 5ghz.If you don't want to do it you can send the cpu to https://siliconlottery.com/

They will do it for 45 dollars.Or you can buy a cpu from them already delided and binned to 5ghz or higher

[Mortis Angelus]

On 3/5/2018 at 4:19 PM, pr0xZen said:

There are plenty of alternative options for improving VRM cooling besides the blocks included with the Fomula. Anything from ensuring decent airflow to the stock heatsink, to custom / adjustable 3rd party VRM water blocks. All of which will get the job done, well, at a far lower price tag than the price gap between Hero and Formula. It all depends on your preferences, wants and needs. If the Hero covers these except for VRM cooling, I would suggest going with that, and start with airflow - that will assist in cooling other nearby components aswell. Procure (unless you already have (access to)) a thermocouple or other suitable measuring equipment, and observe actual VRM temperature during your overclocking adventures. Unless the temperatures actually turn out to go worryingly high, there would be no need to progress the cooling ladder further. The several hundred dollar gap between Hero and Formula would in this case be much better spent elsewhere. Don't know about Suomi prices, but here in Norway the price difference between Hero and Formula isn't far from the gap between a 1070 and a 1080ti. There is always the "because I can" / "because I want to" element - but thats a whole different matter, and really not subject to the same criteria.

So what happened in the end was that I bought a second-hand system which is almost as I want it; 8700K, Aorus1080 Ti Extreme, Fractal R6 (all which I wanted) and all for a very good price.

 

The "problem" is that the mobo that came with the PC is the ASUS TUF Z370 Plus Gaming. Now I know for certain (source 1, source 2), that this mobo can pull off OC at 5 ghz and beyond, but will the VRMs be fine here in the long run, considering the TUF-boards (for some reason) seem to be lacking proper heatsinks. What do you guys think? Should I worry, or just go for it? Or should I buy a new motherboard; I.e. should I invest in a Maximus Hero (or similarily classed mobos)?

 

Sorry for the "idiot" questions, but when it comes to the electrical components such as VRMs I still know way too little to understand and see the eventual pitfalls.

[JR88]

You just need a fan on them. It's not the mosfets it's the chips running hot and needs delidded, you could probably pick up 3-5 degrees delid relid with any decent tim. 

I'm suspecting about what that kind of results would be.

[Toysrme]

You don't need anything. Most of them will run 5.2ghz within Intel's voltage spec.

[Mortis Angelus]

7 hours ago, Toysrme said:

You don't need anything. Most of them will run 5.2ghz within Intel's voltage spec.

Not sure if you saw my very last post, but I now have a TUF z370 Plus Gaming, which only has 6 VRMs and no heatsinks on them. Do you still think it is okay to OC up to 5 ghz? I mean, I know the board can do it, but in the long run

[Toysrme]

I do. Asus has used the same VRM design (4,2,1) across most of it's line for awhile now. It's not a lot of current through the VRM's in the long run until people start breaching 1.7v which is normally what Coffee/Kaby require to be in the >5.6ghz range in the longer term, and at that point it's relatively easy to keep the VRM's cool long-term (they only need minor airflow) VS keeping a CPU cooler without extreme cooling.