Core i7 4790K OC at 4600 MHz 1.3 Volts
The Next Chapter - Overclocking
Now we up the ante and boost 1.3 Volts into the processor. Understand that 1.3V and higher voltages are the levels where Haswell processors get into serious problems due to the their heat-spreader versus TIM design applied solution from Intel. We now set the Core i7 4790K @ 4600 MHz and apply 1.30 volts on the CPU while loading it with 100% stress for wPrime to run on all available CPU threads three times.
Core i7 4790K OC at 4600 MHz 1.3 Volts - IDLE
Below, you can see the IDLE results with the Core i7 clocked at 4790K @ 4600 GHz with 1.30 volts on the CPU. Again, the results are the IDLE temperatures thus you are in your desktop doing pretty much nothing.
Core i7 3770K OC at 4600 MHz 1.3 Volts LOAD
Now we'll be testing the temperatures under fully threaded stress. If we set the overclock at 4600 MHz and configure CPU Voltage at 1.3V, these are the results.
The temps normally rise above and beyond 90 Degrees C for a lot of heatpipe based coolers, which is a definitive no-no. As you can see, we have dangerous temperatures for most coolers.
LCS class coolers do better here, the Predator 240 with it's small 240mm design has absolutely no problem keeping up. The reality is that very few coolers and kits can actually manage a Core i7 4970K @ 1.3+ Volts / 4600+ MHz temperature wise well enough and it is TOTALLY silent.
Extended Tweaking
Since this 240 mm solution harbors a lot of extra cooling capacity I extended overclocking to higher voltages as well.
The above numbers are just for reference only e.g. how does a 4790K behave with increased voltages at a 4600 MHz clock frequency. We can run the unit towards 1.45 Volts on the processor (which is an awful lot!). At this stage the system still boots and can finish two wPrime stress runs. Typically at 1.35~1.40 Volts and a good enough processor, you are in the 5 GHz range (if your CPU is capable). Overall these are impressive numbers for a 240 mm LCS kit.
After 1.35 Volts the fans will start to spin faster though, 41 DBa is a normal airflow level. At 1.45 Volts in the CPU the processor starts to overheat and here things will become more noisy.
