Any tips for overclocking my Intel Core i7 8700K processor?

Mathew from the USA wants to get our opinion and some tips on overclocking his Intel Core i7 8700K CPU.

Question by Mathew from United States | Answered by in CPUs, Chipsets & SoCs on

I have been thinking about overclocking my CPU, but I've never done it and don't know if it's worth it.

My current system is a z390 gaming plus, 8700K, 32GB RAM, and ASUS ROG Strix 2070. I currently use it for gaming and streaming, but would like to move into music and video production in the future. I want to get the most out of this chip before considering an upgrade.

Thoughts?

Hi Mathew,

Sure! I will do my best to help. I run a similar system myself and can certainly tell you that overclocking can do wonders for the Intel Core i7 8700K and how snappy your system feels. I know you are relatively new to the overclocking but a real benefit in the long run, if you are going to push your CPU would be a de-lid of your 8700K. That said, if you are uncomfortable with it yourself, you could look for someone locally that's done it previously and has the tools and thermal grizzly to complete it.

Any tips for overclocking my Intel Core i7 8700K processor? 1

If you would rather try overclocking without modifying your CPU, I would start by recommending you do an audit of your cooling system. The cooler we can keep your 8700K, the better clocks and stability we will achieve. You can then do some reading; we have our own overclocking guide here on TweakTown for Coffee Lake processors.

As you start your overclocking journey, save profiles in your BIOS as you begin to find stable points for your 8700K. With its base clock of 3.7GHz, I would make profiles at 4GHz, 4.2GHz, and 4.4GHz. Once your top profile is stable, recycle the bottom profile adding in 4.6GHz, 4.8GHz, etc. With my current setup, which is identical to yours apart from the motherboard, I run 5GHz 24/7 on 1.37v with air cooling, albeit with a delidded chip.

For stability testing, you can run anything you like, but I would focus on workloads that you use in your everyday life. Perhaps 3DMark and Cinebench R20 for your game load and something like Real Bench from ASUS for the encoding bench. Of course, there are always staples like Prime95, IBT, and AIDA64.

That said, watch your temperatures when running any of these stress tests. Software like RealTemp or CoreTemp will aid you here, and a good maximum temperature for the 8700K is around 90c. If you reach this point, you will likely want to look at the voltage you are pushing and better cooling.

Good luck on your overclocking adventure!

Last updated: Nov 3, 2020 at 07:09 pm CST

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