P870TM1-G /w Prema BIOS OC question

Hello, been running with my beast for near 2 years now, even the awesome @Prema made some custom BIOS with meltdown mitigations OFF for me. I got stuffed 8700k in mine, problem is I dont like how my cpu temps are, even with adaptive undervolt of -170 on 4.7ghz (all cores). I have to drop the clocks to 4.3 to have decent temps. Can anybody recommend me a better way to OC it(static voltage oc?), so I can achieve good temps on 4.7 on all cores. Atm on games like shadow of tomb raider i get 80-85C, heavy stress tests are like 95-100C. I don't have much exp with desktop cpus, but on my MSI with mobile cpu adaptive undervolt always worked fine. Point me in some direction where I can learn how to do it properly.

 

Is it delidded?

 

It is. No liquid metal between sink/ihs though.

 

Was it relidded with sealant or left bare? Is there much difference between the core temps?

 

Can't say, because I never removed the heatsink since I bought it, but I assume it was relidded. Also I removed the foil that was on the bottom plate for better ventilation. Temp seems to be almost equal across all cores. Heard people have better performance/temp results with static voltage, but requires a lot of testing until you find what is stable.

Saw few threads here on the forum for some chinese modified heatsink that you can use water cooling, people achieving nice clocks and temps with it, but can't find it anywhere to purchase it.

 

You should be able to maintain 4.7ghz though really.

 

Probably time for a repaste.

 

Also cleaning out the vents if you have not. Compressed air while holding the fans still (or take them out as they are separate)

 

I have thoroughly cleaned the fans/heatsink using isopropyl alchohol and toothbrush. My idle temps are well great considering its a laptop (CPU around 39-42C/GPU's 36-39C) i'm using also a (Cooler Master NotePal XL and a USB FAN to push even more cool air under the cooling stand). I think its a time for repaste, been thinking about doing it, but the fact that i would need thermal pads for GPU VRMs always disgusted me. Well, ordered kryonaut and k5 pro. Also noticed that SLI with this laptop is almost impossible for newer games that go more than 60% GPU usage (even with afterburner curve of 0.9v) they reach 90c pretty fast and start throttling. Anyways I'm gonna do the repaste soon, meanwhile i'm up for suggestions what else could be done to get decent temps without gimping the whole thing.

 

Thermal pads are ideal really, they allow for a much better fit for core contact

 

I thought k5 pro thermal paste for VRMs is way better than any thermal pads since the thermal conductivity is supposed to be way superior???

 

The heatsinks do fine with pads, you should be more worried about getting the fitment flat. Over the larger gaps (0.5mm upwards) pads will be superior.

 

No, it's like 5-7w/mk. However, where 5pro shines is that it can result in a much better heatsink fitment when you take into consideration that some heatsinks are not exactly perfect.
For instance, I recently changed thermalpads on my 1080 with a vapor chamber where some of the original thinner 0.5mm pads did not have any contact. And by using 1mm pads there suddenly was bad contact with the gpu die.

 

The fit on each machine will be slightly different but that last 0.5mm adjustment is worth about 12c.

 

Also spongy soft pads provide more tolerance than some of the denser high performance pads. I think the best option will vary based on laptop model and how warped and bent your heatsink is.

IIRC, I purchased Fujipoly 17wmk pads in 0.5, 1.0, 1.5. 2.0mm. The 0.5mm difference makes a massive difference in thermal performance. The VRAM on my Dell XPS 9550 Skylake required 3 different sizes for 3 chips because the heatsink is not so consistent.

As @jc_denton notes, thick dense pads may force heatsink up; for some laptops that may ruin contact between heatsink and GPU. It takes very little pressure to do this and GPU temps can skyrocket. You can visualise this fitment but really need to benchmark the GPU to make sure there are no temp suprises.

Unless you are willing to buy a lot of thermal pads to mix and match, maybe a small variety of fluffy low performance thermal pads will be decent enough. YMMV. For new laptops, a few resellers will repaste and repad properly at attractive prices.

 

Even then the lower performance pads will do just fine so long as they are not utter garbage.