How important is VRM cooling?

[Jeff G]

On my new build, I was going to use my cpu waterblock from my last build. But I see EK makes a monoblock for the Gigabyte boards that cools VRM too.
Is it worth getting a monoblock vs just a cpu block? The plan is a mild overclock on a 6700k, haven't decided on a board yet.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Not worth it.
Only the FX line of AMD processors requires any sort of extra VRM cooling, and even that is negligible if you're not doing major league overclocking and have a decent board.

 

[Jeff G]

Not worth it.
Only the FX line of AMD processors requires any sort of extra VRM cooling, and even that is negligible if you're not doing major league overclocking and have a decent board.

Im looking at mid-range Z170 boards ($150-200 range) with a 6700k. The plan is 4.6ghz daily overclock. Most looked to have good heatsinks from the factory, but with no cpu fan I didn't know if the monoblock was recommended?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Nah, just a little airflow is fine.

 

[Jeff G]

Nah, just a little airflow is fine.

I have my 360 radiator with push/pull configuration on the front of the case for intake, and two 140mm fans on top and one 140mm on back for exhaust. That's pretty much it for case fan spots.

 

[wingman99]

I went 5 years with a overclocked sandybridge with vary little cooling for my VRM on A Gigabyte-Z68A-D3-B3.

 

[caddi daddi]

I've run some pretty extreme clocks on my 8 core fx and never used water on the vrms, on skylake and devils canyon, even at extreme clocks i would never even think about it, I think the vrm is in the cpu so that's all you need to cool.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I think the vrm is in the cpu so that's all you need to cool.

Wrong, the VRM is on the MB, here is the chip.
What you need to cool is the MOSFET's that is part of the (V)oltage (R)egulator (M)odule

 

[Jeff G]

In my case, is it worth getting a monoblock for them? Or is the airflow in the case combined with the stock heatsinks good enough?

 

[M@rk]

In my case, is it worth getting a monoblock for them? Or is the airflow in the case combined with the stock heatsinks good enough?

Should be enough, If its getting hot then jsut put a little fan ontop of the VRM and itll be fine.

 

[wingman99]

In my case, is it worth getting a monoblock for them? Or is the airflow in the case combined with the stock heatsinks good enough?

How high are you going to overclock? you should be fine with a clock of 4.6GHz 24/7 air cooling using the stock VRM heatsinks on a good board for 3 years.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Wrong, the VRM is on the MB, here is the chip.
What you need to cool is the MOSFET's that is part of the (V)oltage (R)egulator (M)odule

I recall seeing newer Intel CPU's having part of the VRM on die?

But yeah, all you will ever need is a fan blowing over the VRM's on the motherboard. a 60mm fan works as does a 120mm. Really any fan will do.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

I do actively cool the VRM's on my x99 board, but I push quite a lot of vCore and VCCIN into the chip (1.34v/2.15v respectively), and it is watercooled, so zero airflow on the VRM's. I cool the back of the socket as well: package has the same temp as the hootest core, while before cooling, it was 6/8c above (82c hottest core for 88/90c package).