My new Tower !

My new Tower and I am loving it !

I originally order a top of the range Dell XPS 8930, but after checking out this PCS, decided to cancel the Dell and order bellow.

My main requirement is editing & processing large RAW files in Lightroom and Photoshop, but I also like to play a few games when I have time.

Tried the EZ automatic over clocking function and achieved 5GHZ. Turned it down for general work, but nice to know I have the power when desired !

My monitor is the BENQ 2700PT, which is a 2K 27" screen designed for photographers.

As I am new to the build my own PC world, I am interested in your thoughts regarding my build and any changes I should consider for the future.

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]


Thanks !

Good to hear all's well. Make sure to check the voltage given by the EZ overclock software / BIOS function. It has been known to overestimate. And with a Cooler Master Lite CPU cooler you don't want any more heat thank strictly necessary.

Thanks for that !

Quick questions, what would be considered a safe voltage in your opinion?

There are appear to be lots of voltage numbers in the BIOS, which one should I focus on?

On my Corcair Lik screen, its saying the VCPU is @ 1.33V

Regarding CPU temp, at what point should I consider it dangerous?

I take it from your comment that I may have under configured the AIO CPU cooler. At least |I have a good idea what the week link is if my CPU temperatures become an issue.

Than ks again !

I think that voltage might be alright. I'm not at all familiar with voltages post-haswell/DC, and thought 1.3 was relatively high, but a quick google around seems to suggest that's alright. If it's actually stable at that voltage it might be a decent sample too.

As for temps, it depends on the load on the CPU. 80 degrees under 100% load is alright. 80 degrees load on idle is not so good.

I'd suggest running something like Prime95 to check temps and stability of the OC

As suggested I have been stress testing the CPU for about 1 hour now and apart from 1 error at the start (worker stopped) its looking good

The max temperature i have seen was 88, but only for a few seconds. Most of the time it spears to be at high 60 to low 80`s. From what I have read, that sounds OK as this chip tends to run hot. I believe over 95 is when its in real danger !

Thanks

On idle its normally in the 30`s

Those temps sound fine, but you shouldn't get any errors; if you do the OC is unstable, or there's a hardware issue.

OK, understand

I have changed the BIOS profile from Extreme (5.0) to Fast (4.8) and doing another stress test. No errors and temps are high 50`s - low 70`s

If it was a hardware issue, i would think that I would also be getting errors at the lower setting.

When I have time I think i will watch a few overclocking videos and try to achieve a stable 5GHZ . In the meantime, 4 .8 is OK

Thanks again

Overclocking can be easiest done gradually, working your way up in frequency, and then more voltage when that's needed, more frequency, more voltage, etc.

I'm no pro overclocker but my guess would have been that your CPU at 5GHz wanted a little more voltage.

To make sure the OC is stable, extended testing is best. So, not just whether it gave any errors after a few minutes, but if it ran Prime95 with no issues for 12, even 24 hours. Obviously you won't test for 12 hours for each iteration.

5GHz on all cores will not be achievable / worth achieving on every 8700k, so see how you go. And of course, be aware of the warranty implications (you overclock and your HDD dies, that's fine - you OC and the CPU dies, that's not so fine).

Many thanks for your guidance , much appreciated.

After trying a number of profiles over many hours, I have decided to leave the 5.0 for now and enjoy my stable 4.8.

The PC is so much faster than my old HP Tower and my workflow with Lightroom / Photoshop now feels fantastic.

With my BENQ 2700 PT (2K & 60HZ) monitor the system is also working well for games such as Black Opps 4, so no complaints.

Although it would have been nice to have achieved a stable 5.0, it its more about the desire to have it working at its very best, opposed to needing the extra speed.

Anyway, its about time I get back to focusing on work !

Thanks again

Good news, now have stable 5.0 on all cores!

Although I will most probably run with the 4.8 profile most of the time, its good to know that I can utilize the faster speed when required.

Been through a bit of a learning curve over the last 2 weeks and enjoyed the journey

All the best

Good to hear Learning a little overclocking is always fun!