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#1231
I think another motherboard is in my future. It's very hard to overclock this one manually. easy if you use there auto overclock. But, it requires too much Vcore, I think. just playing around today. maybe I can get the vcore down some more and keep temps lower. I'm thinking about the Asus P8Z68 Deluxe GEN 3. Any thoughts?
It's definitely in the Top 5 of pastes which is why I've always used it, but I've had the same results across several chips and two different Noctuas (NH-U12P and the NH-D14). I've always had one core that's ~10c cooler than the others and have a higher than average load temp than others using the same, or even less voltages
I do tend to overclock when the ambient temps are pretty high (28c-31c/82F-86F), but this cooler should still be performing better.
IC Diamond is another paste worth looking at.
It was well intentioned mate, so it's all good :)
essenbe looks good with vcore at 1.296 if temps are okay. My understanding is i5 do run cooler than many Intel chips. I have seen some go above 1.4 vcore but who knows how long that will last. What is the listed max volts for a i5 chip?
It's been a solid board for me as well.
You could always grab the PRO version to save few dollars unless you really want the USB 3.0 adapter. Otherwise there's no difference between the Pro and Deluxe version.
(I would have gone Pro if it was in stock at the time I bought my Deluxe. Although I do like the 'deluxe' name )
Alternatively, the new Z77 chipset boards are being released in time for Ivy Bridge around April. From my quick reading the only major differences are more PCI-E 3.0 lanes and 'native' USB 3.0
But then Gen 3 boards will take Ivy chips, the NEC USB 3.0 controller on the Asus has been great for me and unless you're planning on SLI/CF the gen 3 already has PCI-E 3.0 which is more than enough for a single GPU.
1.52v Max - but that's LN2/suicide run territory.
1.38v-1.425v for 24/7 air cooling.
From what I've read the difference under stress is still only a few degrees between the other top pastes, but that's still pretty impressive considering what it's already up against.