[OCN Labs] Intel Coffee Lake System Build & Overclocking Guide By Jeffrey Edson

Even though I don't own an 8700K, I found this to be a great general purpose article. Well written, very informative. Thank you for this!

Just wondering but, any chance you could do (or have done) a similar article for a Ryzen build?

https://www.overclock.net/t/1638008/how-to-build-a-ryzen-3-gaming-pc-by-jeffrey-edson

Thanks! +1 rep!

NO, its just the highest limit the BIOS allows for this board(4095). The 4095 doesn't represent the time, it represents watts. In simplest terms, you have two power limits, power 1 normally represented as High and power level 2 as low. Really all this means is you have trip protection for your CPU and it ensures you don't overload your CPU. In my example, I wanted a higher limit which is "bad" but not harmful as long as you have efficient cooling. Like I said, this essentially allows better overclocking / performance out of your CPU. The idea is setting it much higher than the TDP so you never have to worry about downclocking on the CPU multiplier. Don't confuse this with Cstates, your CPU can still lower based on your power plan, its just saying here is the wattage I set for power 1 and power 2 backup and if we reach this point please downclock and lower power to save CPU. This has to do with phases as well, but that is an entire set of skills you learn from electrical engineering.

If you're worried about this your other option is just set it to AUTO and let the BIOS decide. Another way to look at this is that it's a ceiling, not that you will ever hit that wattage. It's just a point to protect the CPU, and the higher it is the better overclocking you can get because you won't have to worry about hitting any power limit walls.

If you're interested in seeing something written here on the site, don't be shy. I would be more than happy to work something out if our viewers/readers would like specific content. I'm open to ideas and I am the OCN social media manager as well.

Perfect. I think I've got a decent understanding. I appreciate it, as I was looking for a better understanding on how to do a little more fine tuning other than just multiplier and voltage. Depending on how it performs temperature wise with my cooler, I may dabble with these settings. Appreciate the thurough explinations, especially saying my music degree doesn nothing for me here. +1 rep.

I hope you are not offended, I just meant it’s not easy to always understand this kind of thing.

Not at all. I know the limitations of my knowledge and lack of expertise. Having spent 2 grand on this PC, I would like to get the most out of it, but want to do it safely(by being smart/knowledgeable). I don't want to just blindly set things I've seen in a youtube video, or read that someone has done it. Your explinations of what they do, and how they can impact performance/survivability is why I joined the site, as the idea of OC is very interesting to me. The more information I can absorb, the better prepared I will be.

Great work Jedson, really great read.

Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm really enjoying bringing more & more content to the OCN labs team, and it's always good to see when articles are helpful.