ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F + i7-8700K (New to Intel, need help setting up and OC)

[pnd]

First, looking through your BIOS setting, you have way too many things set manually, 95% of the time Intel will run fine with only the XMP(say yes to ASUS MCE), multiplier, and core voltage set accordingly. If it were me I would restore BIOS with F5 then set ONLY what I just suggested. Next, I still think you have some type of software problem which is causing those erroneous readings that Windows is reporting. I would remove any type of monitoring SW you have installed including CAM. You don't need it for the pump/fans to work, at least you shouldn't and only use HWMonitor to check temps/voltages. Personally I would wipe the SSD and start over but that's me.
Next you need to see if that 125° reading at TMPIN4 actually is real, if you have some compressed air in can for cleaning the PC that works or a fan will just not as quickly. Start with the heatsinks around the CPU and spray air(point a fan) on them then watch the temp if it goes down you have a VRM overheat issue and need a fan or more air through the PC. IF it doesn't change then it's likely not a real reading.

EDIT: Just had a thought, is that the same SSD that you were using on AMD and then just plugged it into your Intel Platform?

Sounds logical about all the manual controls. I did format and reinstall Windows when I changed from AMD setup yes. The huge temperature reading is only present when I have CAM installed it seems. It seems like a bug in their notification options. I turned off notifications and it's gone. The temperature graph gives me insurance that the temperature did not indeed exceed to insanely high limits. However my pump and fan on the Kraken does not seem to run ideally when I do not have CAM running. It seems like, under load, I do not hear anything spinning up in the cooling at all. When I have CAM running, it spins up a great deal though, and the temperatures are way lower than when it is not open. Any thoughts?

Next up I will try again with just multiplier and voltage again. I did not have much luck with it before though, but will give it another shot. So you mean leave LLC and all that alone?

I just had a thought too, I replaced the fans on my NZXT Kraken x62 with Aer fans for the LED lightning. I just googled it and it seems there is a difference between the original static pressure fans and the Aer high airflow fans. From what I gathered from people asking in various forums, it should not matter at all. What is your thoughts on this?

Also, I tried a setup I found on this link: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/928856-overclocking-with-adaptive-mode-8700k-asus-mobo/
I did it without setting XMP on yet, just to test how these setting work. It seems to actually work better than what I had before at least. I even did it without the negative 3 AVX offset that he suggests. Just ran RealBench with AVX for 10 minutes without a hiccup. What do you think?

He(SneerRolts) says to put:
AVX Instruction core ratio negative offset: 3
SVID Behaviour - Best Case
CPU Core Ratio - Sync All Cores
Core Ratio Limit - 49
SVID Support - Enabled
BCLK Aware Adaptive Voltage - Disabled
Adaptive voltage - Auto
Offset Voltage - 0.035
.External Digi+ Power Control:
LLC - Level 5
.Internal CPU Power Management:
Long/Short Duration Package Power Limit: 255
IA AC/DC Load Lines - 0.01
.Advanced> CPU Power Management Control
CPU C-States - Enabled

 

[EarthDog]

it spins up a great deal though, and the temperatures are way lower than when it is not open. Any thoughts?

Are the temperatures still under 90C when it doesn't ramp up? Can you control the pump through the header it is plugged into?

Just ran RealBench with AVX for 10 minutes without a hiccup. What do you think?

10 mins isn't enough to test for stability... If you are at the end, it should run for a few hours to make sure.

 

[pnd]

Are the temperatures still under 90C when it doesn't ramp up? Can you control the pump through the header it is plugged into?

10 mins isn't enough to test for stability... If you are at the end, it should run for a few hours to make sure.

Temperatures go higher when it does not ramp up. Basically when CAM is not open, the fans stay silent even at 100% load. I cannot control the pump through the header. It is not connected with pump and fan seperately I guess.

There is like a wide cable that goes into the pump that goes to a daisy chain for the fans. Then it also connects to USB 2 header on motherboard and SATA power.

I wouldn't bet my money on the 10 minutes either. But I just thought that till I am getting close to something that works, 10 minutes might be fine to get an indication?

 

[EarthDog]

Temperatures go higher when it does not ramp up.

Right. WHAT SPECIFICALLY is the temp and is it under the threshold mentioned earlier in the thread?

Yeah, I thought you were further along (like, done, LOL) at this point.

 

[pnd]

Right. WHAT SPECIFICALLY is the temp and is it under the threshold mentioned earlier in the thread?

Yeah, I thought you were further along (like, done, LOL) at this point.

It BSOD'ed at 100 degrees last I tried. It did run for a while with the temperature around 95-96 though. But with CAM open it's more like 85 degrees, and the fans rev up big time, which is absolutely fine by me.

Well yeah, I would hope I was done. I feel really damn stupid when working on these things.

 

[EarthDog]

So you need that CAM software enabled to control things.. ick.

Don't feel stupid... its learning.

 

[pnd]

So you need that CAM software enabled to control things.. ick.

Don't feel stupid... its learning.

Yeah I am not a big fan of required software. That’s why I like BenQ Zowie mice etc. as there is no software. Also I absolutely hated all the software for my old Gigabyte motherboard, and the aorus engine for my GPU. The software is sooo poor, it is insane.

But yeah, I just seem to keep being unable to gain an overview of where I am, and what I should do. So I just feel like I spent so many hours getting next to nowhere, despite all your help.

If you do get the time, and feel like trying out your Z370-F, I would really appreciate what kind of overclock settings you get working.

 

[EarthDog]

It may feel that way, but seems like you are set to me, no? The goal of overclocking is to use the lowest voltage stable for a given clockspeed. If you are there, you are there. If not, you can get there with further testing (lower voltage a notch, test quickly... does it pass? Lower again and quick test. If fails, raise and test and test longer each time until you can pass for a few hours).

As fas as the Z370-F, looks like it is next up for review. I will likely get to overclocking it later next week.

 

[pnd]

It may feel that way, but seems like you are set to me, no? The goal of overclocking is to use the lowest voltage stable for a given clockspeed. If you are there, you are there. If not, you can get there with further testing (lower voltage a notch, test quickly... does it pass? Lower again and quick test. If fails, raise and test and test longer each time until you can pass for a few hours).

As fas as the Z370-F, looks like it is next up for review. I will likely get to overclocking it later next week.

Yeah I will work on that the coming days. I think I have chosen the worst possible time to do this though. We are breaking heat records here with like 35 degrees outside. And here in Scandinavia we are not used to that, so we don’t have ACs or anything, so basically my whole house is about 30 degrees. So yeah, could be better conditions

It is funny too right, I am a mechanical engineer with specialty in thermodynamics, but this is just a bit out of my field. So I guess that is why I feel stupid messing with this ;-)

Looking forward to your review and overclocking!

- - - Updated - - -

Just got a reply from NZXT:
The crazy CAM readings are due to some issues we're experiencing with our latest version of CAM. We're working non stop to fix them at the moment. Here you can find a daily update about the hotfixes we're implementing: blog.nzxt.com/cam-changelog/

 

[EarthDog]

Well, that makes even more sense about your temps when you are working with a 30C ambient/room temp... wow. Your temps will go down 1:1 with the ambient so there is that. Truthfully this is the BEST time doing it as you are completing it in the worst scenario. If this was done in the winter at say 22C ambient, that 8C difference could mean instability and/or thermal throttling.

Ha, CAM.... ok, hopefully they fix it for you.

 

[pnd]

Maybe you can help me try to conclude what I learned so far.

So I can run 1.35v on vcore, at around 4.9 GHz and keep temperatures at around 90 during RealBench stress test, depending on AVX offset. This despite having an ambient temperature of 30, and not the ideal fans on my radiator for the job. Can I then conclude that I do not have a thermal issue?

Whenever I get near a good result and try to stress it out, I just get random reboots or BSODs. I only seen the unstable post in RealBench a few times, where it stops stressing.

Also if it was a thermal issue, the CPU would "just" throttle down instead right?

Not really sure what I really learned here about my machine. I am trying to conclude whether or not I won or lost the silicon lottery, and what frequency I should actually aim to get. Also whether or not I should pay to have someone delid the CPU.

 

[pnd]

What is the usual reason for Clock Watchdog Timeout BSOD? I stress tested a ****load with RealBench and no problems. But I keep crashing when gaming PUBG right now. I did nothing but set core ratio to 48 and set the core voltage accordingly and then the XMP on. Playing without GFX overclock. So annoying

 

[EarthDog]

You can either...

1. Raise voltage if you have the thermal headroom
2. Lower cpu multiplier 1

...and see if it stops.

Does it happen in other games or just pubg?

 

[wingman99]

Alright. I tried with 2.56. The benchmarking part of that version gives me Files modified or corrupted, no matter how I try to unzip the files. Seems like I am not the only one though. But stress testing works.

I reverted to everything completely stock in BIOS and ran everything. In P95 Small FTTs, I get weird warnings that my temperatures are thousands of degrees. This ONLY happens in P95 Small FTTs. I feel that test might be a little unnecessary, as it pushes everything so much further than all my games and benchmark softwares and everything?

Can you please check that everything looks ok for stock? Just to try and figure out why I can't really push this system.

With the stock default BIOS settings everything in your screenshots is normal voltage and temperatures with ralealbench and prime95. Your settings above with the extra settings for increase power limits and max current limits is fine. However, like Johan45 said when you set XMP and it asks if you want to overclock and you click ok, it sets all of them for you on ASUS. I did not tell you that as not to confuse your thinking and research on the net that you have done. The settings you had are good for deliding for the extra (Vcore X AMP= watts) needed wen overclocking higher with lower temperatures to the limit.

Did you download RealBench V2.56 from ASUS? Like I mentioned before you don't have to use prime95 FMA3 it's up to you. I use prime95 with AVX disabled like I mentioned previous in this tread. Most folk seem to always get to a point where they want the higher overclock. However, don't want to test prime95 with FMA3=AVX, that is why I mentioned it early in the thread to save some of your time. Also prime95 v26.6 is a old version before there was AVX so it will test without AVX and updates. I disable AVX in Prim95 like I explained how to previously in this thread.

Testing with prime95 FMA3=AVX and AVX offset the (Vcore X Amps=Watts) = temperature is still to high compared to default settings do to the Vcore at ~1.3v instead of default stock 1.2v with prime95.

 

[Brando]

1.35v for 4900mhz seems insane to me. if nobody has said this yet, i would take out the battery on the mobo for a while and put it back in to start from scratch. then change nothing whatsoever except core speed and voltage (manual/constant voltage, not adaptive or offset). i don't know if i got really lucky or what but 4900mhz takes 1.25v for me. just try to rule everything else out. if there's a way to run your cooler without special software i would do that too. maybe plug pump and fans directly to power for a little while? then always make sure to verify actual speeds and voltage with cpuz or hwmonitor. if that doesn't work then maybe you really are really unlucky. i think i read a rumor somewhere that 8700k bought after a certain point all suck because they started binning for the 8086k but i have no clue if there's any truth to it.

 

[wingman99]

I don't suggest voltages for coffee lake they run a wide range when overclocking all the time. Since the release of coffee lake I see many posts complaining they can't overclock the same from what they have seen in a post. Here is a 5.0GHz overclock at 1.428v LINK: https://www.overclock.net/forum/27003369-post3254.html

Siliconlottery for i7 8700k 4.9GHz guaranteed stable when using the settings below LINK: https://siliconlottery.com/collections/coffeelake/products/8700k49g?variant=224976502796
CPU Multiplier: 49
BCLK: 100.0
CPU Vcore: 1.385V
AVX Offset: 2

 

[pnd]

Hi everyone,

Been messing around, trying to make it run at a good stable overclocking, however I am not really there yet still

Since I was here last, I worked with NZXT to figure out if my Kraken x62 might be defective. They agreed to RMA it, but I will need to send it and be without my PC for weeks to get it done. I think the issue is with the backplate though. I found out that I am bottoming out all the nuts when tightening the cooler to the CPU. So seems like the design is maybe just very close to work within the tolerances of my setup.

However I reseated the CPU and tightened it down as well as I could with a few tweaks, and it seems to be sitting alright now.

I then had the CPU delidded. And I do see some lower numbers now for temperature.

I used der8auers guide to overclocking, but I get a ****load of BSODs at 5GHz 1.35v still. I tried going all the way up to 1.42v, but still getting BSODs. I’ve been running 4.9GHz at 1.37v for a while now with -3 AVX. It seems to be stable.

Did I just lose the silicon lottery or am I doing something wrong? Or could it be something like my RAM or PSU?

 

[wingman99]

From what I read you are doing every thing correctly. Memory runs full speed all the time you would have a problem at stock processor clock speed. PSU is rare to cause overclocking trouble, what PSU do you have? looks like you just lost the silicon lottery.