Intel "Coffee Lake" Builders Thread

[IndyColtsFan]

My personal opinion used to always be "go with the fastest ram you can afford". Whether faster meant highest frequency or lowest timings or a mixture of both, is up to the buyer. However, I have to say man....I was in a pinch and the only place I could go to get ram RIGHT NOW type of deal, was a micro center. They didn't have very many different types in stock, I mis read a post somewhere and ended up grabbing the trident z 3200mhz cl16 2x8gb set. At first I was a little disappointed, I was like damn I didn't buy samsung B die, it's to high of a cas latency, i'm irritated. But, I don't know what it is....the more and more I look into my case, which is on my desk. I absolutely LOVE the RGB ram. I'm not a big rgb guy either, but it looks so damn good in my case that I am actually happier that I went with trident z over anything else. Yes, there is faster ram, yes there is cheaper ram, but there aren't a whole lot of sticks of ram that look as sexy as these. My 2 cents is if you care about RGB AT ALL, grab the trident z sticks. If you don't think you will ever care if your ram is rgb, then grab the ripjaws you last posted. That's just my opinion though, I'm sure everyone else will say to go with the fastest ram possible and that rgb doesn't matter and I am crazy haha. But it looks sweet man....I'm staring at it as I right this, watching it change colors with my motherboard and video card and AIO cooler. It just fits perfectly!

I actually don’t mind RGB as long as it is tasteful, BUT this rig will sit on the floor in a corner and you’d never see the RAM, so that’s why I think I’ll go for the Ripjaws b-die. Now I’m debating 16 vs 32, though I think I’ll likely just go with 16 for now.

 

[fastamdman]

I actually don’t mind RGB as long as it is tasteful, BUT this rig will sit on the floor in a corner and you’d never see the RAM, so that’s why I think I’ll go for the Ripjaws b-die. Now I’m debating 16 vs 32, though I think I’ll likely just go with 16 for now.

I agree. If you won't be seeing the case much, go with the ripjaws. Grab a 16gb set, wait for ram prices to come back down and then grab another 16gig set if you feel as if you need it

 

[psolord]

I can throw that onto my agenda tomorrow and let you know the result.

Thanks. Please do.

 

[DrMrLordX]

My personal opinion used to always be "go with the fastest ram you can afford".

Agreed. I think people would have found me crazy when I bought my RAM for a March 2017 system all the way back in Nov 2016, but the kit I bought went up $50 in the interim so I'm glad I got it then.

DDR4 prices are only going to keep rising. Good luck shoppers.

 

[Aikouka]

I don't know if this is a sign or something, but I've been having such awkward luck with hardware these days. So, I purchased two of EKWB's M.2 heatsinks as I noticed that my M.2 drives were getting a bit hot. For example, the Crucial drive that I have is rated up to 70C, and it was hitting 63C while installing games to the drive. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it started throttling itself at that point given it was already at 90%. The heatsinks do seem to work as I see about a 10C reduction even with the stickers left on. Albeit, the design of the Crucial drive compared to the Samsung drive did mean that I had to use two heatpads in one spot to ensure it would make contact with the heatsink. Generally, you don't really want thick thermal pads, so I'm not terribly fond of that. Along those lines, I decided to try just tossing a 140mm fan inside of the case. It's just a Corsair AF140 that's sitting on top of the HDD cage, which is to the right of the bottom right of the motherboard, and that puts it pretty close to the M.2 drives. I saw even better thermals after giving the drives a bit better airflow, which I'm guessing won't surprise too many people.

What's making me focus on this a bit is that I finally played some games on that PC last night, and I had a strange problem that I haven't been able to pinpoint. (Note, this was prior to adding the fan, but after adding the heatsinks.) While playing Overwatch, the game would freeze for a few seconds at a time. It was pretty rare, and I only recall it happening at the beginning of a match. Thinking about it now, I'm wondering if the Crucial M.2 SSD is the culprit? That drive is where I store my games, and given that it occurs at the beginning (in the spawn room or right outside of the spawn room), I'm wondering if the game freezes because it's having trouble loading its assets from the SSD.

Although, unfortunately, that's not the only weird problem that I saw, and this other one is even weirder! Essentially, I will minimize a window, and the window does minimize, but the GPU fails to refresh the screen. During the freezes last night, I wanted to check the Nvidia Control Panel to make sure my resolution and refresh rates were correct. I realized that I'd have to use my second monitor to access it, so I tried minimizing the windows, and was a bit weirded out when mIRC wouldn't go away. Well, it turns out that it had already been minimized, and if I right clicked, it acted like I was right clicking on the desktop. I was able to fix that weird graphical problem by restoring mIRC and minimizing it again. I also had an issue where I tried to use Chrome Remote Desktop today, and it refused to open until I closed Chrome and reopened it. It popped up some prompt about "Google Chrome is unresponsive", but the browser itself was working just fine.

I think I might be technologically cursed.... is that what happens when you get older?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Agreed. I think people would have found me crazy when I bought my RAM for a March 2017 system all the way back in Nov 2016, but the kit I bought went up $50 in the interim so I'm glad I got it then.

DDR4 prices are only going to keep rising. Good luck shoppers.

There were some decent deals on Newegg this weekend - decent being incredibly relative, of course. I think if RAM prices drop back to "normal" next year, I may go ahead and max all my systems to avoid the next inevitable cycle of gouging.

 

[Riot55]

Currently on a ASRock Fatality K6, 8700k with a Noctua D15, 16gb Corsair 3200 RAM, Meshify C case.

Granted I am a huge newb at overclocking, but I put mine at a 47 multiplier at 1.32 vcore. It is running at 4.7ghz, totally idle temperatures on desktop in the mid 30s, maybe around 40-42 if I have some browsers up and basic stuff running. When playing Destiny 2, if I turn ON Vsync temps were in the mid 50s low 60s. With Gsync off and in the 100+ FPS range, temperatures were in the highs 60s to mid 70s, occasionally maxing as high as the low 80s. It seems hot to me. My fans are also SUPER loud, running between 1200-2200 rpm. I also have a 3440x1440 Ultrawide monitor coming Thursday - will running at higher resolution decrease my CPU load and make my GPU work harder, thus reducing CPU temps?

When I tried Cinebench and Firestrike, my CPU shot up to the high 90s which really worried me (at least during the CPU tests, during most of the Firestrike tests it was in the 50s or 60s). I got like a 23,175 or something in Firestrike which seemed good, but temps seemed scary.

Also, I read that another user had issues with their RAM on an ASRock board. I'm pretty sure my sticks are in A2 and B2, but I too cannot enable XMP. When I tried to load Profile 1 I couldn't boot Windows. Pretty sure my RAM is currently reading at 2133Mhz. I'm a little frustrated with my build so far to be honest and a little worried since I'm not great at this stuff.

 

[dbrons]

I got my new system together this weekend for the most part but I noticed I don't have an hdmi input on my monitor which is odd because it's newer than my Sandy bridge which does have hdmi, along with dvi which is how its hooked up.

I ordered an hdmi to dvi cable from Amazon which will be here tomorrow though if I feel up to it after work I may hook up to my tv.

I had a couple issues getting this built partly because it's been 7 years since I've built a system. But the biggest issue is that the mounting holes for 140mm on the front of my Define r5 case dont line up with the holes in my Corsair radiator. I managed to get two screws at the bottom, and two in the middle, but the top holes were about 3/16" too low and I could not get the screws to grab. The fans mounted fine on the inside and the radiator is pretty solid but the is a 1/16" gap at the top . This, I'm sure will affect the static pressure but hopefully not much and I also hope it wont rattle. If I get around to it when my Vardar fans arrive I might drill out the upper holes in the case and use a washer but this would make installing a fan there difficult should I ever want to reconfigure.

Also, I removed the two drive cages to make way for the radiator and plan on mounting two 8tb drives in the optical bays but Frys didn't have the adapters and so again I ordered Amazon prime.
I also ordered a Y connector cable to provide an additional usb header. I need an extra due to PS, and radiator (both corsar link) and one to get my front panel usb 2.0 hooked up.

One other thing, I cant figure how to attach an intake fan in the bottom of this case anyone know? Do I need to run bolts up from the bottom?
thanks. I may start the system up tonight as the 960 pro is ready - get the BIOS updated, Windows installed etc. But probably wait till tomorrow when I can use the monitor.
Dave

 

[SangamonTaylor]

I got my new system together this weekend for the most part but I noticed I don't have an hdmi input on my monitor

You'll want to use Display Port instead of HDMI if you can, higher bandwidth for most modern GPU's and Monitors. For example, on my setup if I were to use HDMI I'd only be able to set my monitor to 60Hz refresh while on DP I can use the full 144Hz (or higher)

HDMI is more geared towards consumer electronics (televisions, home theater systems). DP is more geared towards computers.

 

[SangamonTaylor]

Also, I read that another user had issues with their RAM on an ASRock board. I'm pretty sure my sticks are in A2 and B2, but I too cannot enable XMP. When I tried to load Profile 1 I couldn't boot Windows. Pretty sure my RAM is currently reading at 2133Mhz. I'm a little frustrated with my build so far to be honest and a little worried since I'm not great at this stuff.

Did you check that the RAM you selected was on ASRock's QVL for the Fatality K6? It probably is, but since you indicated you were new to this, I figured I'd point it out. QVL = RAM Modules ASRock has approved/tested as being compatible with this specific motherboard. Other RAM may work, but if you are not an expert at overclocking it's always a good idea to make sure what you select for RAM is something the MB Manufacturer recommends.

 

[rondocap]

Hey guys, I just got my 8700k and Asus Z370 Hero X, with 3200mhz trident z rgb ram 16cl. Had a few questions to make sure things looked right:

I turned off Asus Multicore Enhancement, as that was giving me all sorts of issues before and high temps. Is there anything I need to turn off? XMP enabled.

The below is with Multicore enhancement off, XMP on 3200mhz.

1.) Chassis is limited to 120mm liquid cooler, so running an H60. (Also have an H70 I can use) Is that enough for the 8700k stock? Temps idle between 25C to 32C in a 72F room. CPUZ stress test brings it to 73C, Intel Extreme tuning utility benchmark around 75C, stress test up to around 77C , and gaming seeing around 50C-65C.

2.) Hwmonitor shows VID range from 1.141 to 1.474 stock. Is that too high? What should I be looking at? Ive read some people syncing all cores to 48 and putting voltage at 1.25? Or should I not touch it? Would prefer to keep as stock as possible for now.

3.) Keeping it stock for now until I learn the ins and outs of it, and later will overclock when I'm more comfortable. Should I learn to do it manually or is the Asus AI suite overclocking pretty good? (Not multicore enhancement, but their AI suite overclocking in the software)

 

[ozzy702]

Hey guys, I just got my 8700k and Asus Z370 Hero X, with 3200mhz trident z rgb ram 16cl. Had a few questions to make sure things looked right:

I turned off Asus Multicore Enhancement, as that was giving me all sorts of issues before and high temps. Is there anything I need to turn off? XMP enabled.

The below is with Multicore enhancement off, XMP on 3200mhz.

1.) Chassis is limited to 120mm liquid cooler, so running an H60. (Also have an H70 I can use) Is that enough for the 8700k stock? Temps idle between 25C to 32C in a 72F room. CPUZ stress test brings it to 73C, Intel Extreme tuning utility benchmark around 75C, stress test up to around 77C , and gaming seeing around 50C-65C.

2.) Hwmonitor shows VID range from 1.141 to 1.474 stock. Is that too high? What should I be looking at? Ive read some people syncing all cores to 48 and putting voltage at 1.25? Or should I not touch it? Would prefer to keep as stock as possible for now.

3.) Keeping it stock for now until I learn the ins and outs of it, and later will overclock when I'm more comfortable. Should I learn to do it manually or is the Asus AI suite overclocking pretty good? (Not multicore enhancement, but their AI suite overclocking in the software)

Temps in the 70's and even peaking in the low 80's are fine. 60's is preferable but it sounds like you have a small enclosure.

1.474v? Way high. Try using "offset" with +20 and then 4.6ghz or 4.7ghz to start. Test for stability there and bump vcore as needed. For reference, under heavy load (prime 95 29.3 Small FTS) with LLC2 on my Gaming K6 @ 4.7ghz I'm sitting at 1.26v.

I've always OC through the bios but I'm sure there is decent software out there these days.

 

[LTC8K6]

1.474 sounds too high.

 

[rondocap]

Is there a default intel stock setting? Like stock bios. Seems like Asus jazzed it up default. All I did was turn off Multicore Enhancement.

It's running fine now, but the voltages did seem high for the VID, so Id rather optimize it if I can.

When I had that on, I did get 6000+ single and 26000+ multicore on geekbench 4, and almost 1550 or so cinebench, which I thought was good - but seemed higher temps so I took off the Multicore Enhancement as ive read it is a bit wonky.

 

[Aikouka]

I got my new system together this weekend for the most part but I noticed I don't have an hdmi input on my monitor which is odd because it's newer than my Sandy bridge which does have hdmi, along with dvi which is how its hooked up.

I ordered an hdmi to dvi cable from Amazon which will be here tomorrow though if I feel up to it after work I may hook up to my tv

I'm assuming that you've likely bought some computer parts in the past, if that's the case, look for a DVI to HDMI adapter. They still come with some video cards, but were more common on video cards up until a year or two ago. You can hook the DVI to HDMI adapter up to the monitor's DVI port and then just run an HDMI cable from the video card to the adapter. I think most people used the adapters on the video card's side, but there's absolutely nothing stopping you from doing the reverse. In fact, I've done it before.

If I get around to it when my Vardar fans arrive I might drill out the upper holes in the case and use a washer but this would make installing a fan there difficult should I ever want to reconfigure

If you bought the R5 for its quiet nature, I'd heavily recommend against removing the top ModuVents as that will definitely increase the noise. One thing Fractal received some criticism on was that BeQuiet took a different approach in their removable venting by allowing the items to be installed at an offset, which still reduced fan noise while allowing air in. Fractal just has you remove the covers, which doesn't help at all. Personally, I'm a fan of the R5, but it definitely has huge problems in regard to vibration noise due to HDDs.

 

[DrMrLordX]

There were some decent deals on Newegg this weekend - decent being incredibly relative, of course. I think if RAM prices drop back to "normal" next year, I may go ahead and max all my systems to avoid the next inevitable cycle of gouging.

Sadly, the DRAM manufacturers have already signaled that their projected production increases will fall below projected demand. So DRAM prices will probably go up even more. Yay.

 

[ehume]

Currently on a ASRock Fatality K6, 8700k with a Noctua D15, 16gb Corsair 3200 RAM, Meshify C case.

Granted I am a huge newb at overclocking, but I put mine at a 47 multiplier at 1.32 vcore. It is running at 4.7ghz, totally idle temperatures on desktop in the mid 30s, maybe around 40-42 if I have some browsers up and basic stuff running. When playing Destiny 2, if I turn ON Vsync temps were in the mid 50s low 60s. With Gsync off and in the 100+ FPS range, temperatures were in the highs 60s to mid 70s, occasionally maxing as high as the low 80s. It seems hot to me. My fans are also SUPER loud, running between 1200-2200 rpm. I also have a 3440x1440 Ultrawide monitor coming Thursday - will running at higher resolution decrease my CPU load and make my GPU work harder, thus reducing CPU temps?

When I tried Cinebench and Firestrike, my CPU shot up to the high 90s which really worried me (at least during the CPU tests, during most of the Firestrike tests it was in the 50s or 60s). I got like a 23,175 or something in Firestrike which seemed good, but temps seemed scary.

Also, I read that another user had issues with their RAM on an ASRock board. I'm pretty sure my sticks are in A2 and B2, but I too cannot enable XMP. When I tried to load Profile 1 I couldn't boot Windows. Pretty sure my RAM is currently reading at 2133Mhz. I'm a little frustrated with my build so far to be honest and a little worried since I'm not great at this stuff.

Let's forget your CPU for a moment. When you OC, how are your VRM's?

 

[Riot55]

Did you check that the RAM you selected was on ASRock's QVL for the Fatality K6? It probably is, but since you indicated you were new to this, I figured I'd point it out. QVL = RAM Modules ASRock has approved/tested as being compatible with this specific motherboard. Other RAM may work, but if you are not an expert at overclocking it's always a good idea to make sure what you select for RAM is something the MB Manufacturer recommends.

Yes, it's on their QVL. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143UM4TC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Let's forget your CPU for a moment. When you OC, how are your VRM's?

I wish I was experienced enough to know exactly what you mean and how to check this lol. I know VRM = Voltage Regulator Module, but how I don't know how to check this. I'm looking around on my HWInfo sensor page but I don't know where it would be and I even downloaded AIDA64 trial and am looking all over including the Sensors tab but not seeing anything labeled VRM. Also, I just tried the CPU-Z "Stress Test" and after like 20 seconds my cores were all at 99c at 4.7ghz 1.31 vcore. This seems insane. Or do I just not worry about stress tests since it's not a normal situation and keep an eye on game temps?

Edit: just played 30 mins of Destiny 2, temps jumped between 65-82 mostly. There was a brief 2 second spike where all the cores went up to like 95 for some reason but then all came back down. No clue. Is this a safe range? Anything past 80 makes me feel uneasy. If I try to back down my vcore from 1.31 will that help temps? To like 1.28 or something?

 

[fastamdman]

Yes, it's on their QVL. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143UM4TC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1



I wish I was experienced enough to know exactly what you mean and how to check this lol. I know VRM = Voltage Regulator Module, but how I don't know how to check this. I'm looking around on my HWInfo sensor page but I don't know where it would be and I even downloaded AIDA64 trial and am looking all over including the Sensors tab but not seeing anything labeled VRM. Also, I just tried the CPU-Z "Stress Test" and after like 20 seconds my cores were all at 99c at 4.7ghz 1.31 vcore. This seems insane. Or do I just not worry about stress tests since it's not a normal situation and keep an eye on game temps?

Edit: just played 30 mins of Destiny 2, temps jumped between 65-82 mostly. There was a brief 2 second spike where all the cores went up to like 95 for some reason but then all came back down. No clue. Is this a safe range? Anything past 80 makes me feel uneasy. If I try to back down my vcore from 1.31 will that help temps? To like 1.28 or something?

The lower your vcore is the lower your temps will be. Make sure your fans are running at 100% as well on your heatsink, as that will help reduce temps drastically. You will want to find the lowest stable voltage for your overclock. 1.3 vcore isn't bad, but 99c temps is really high. You shouldn't be hitting temps that high. I would remount the heatsink or reapply thermal paste and make sure you have an even spread. Use cpu-z to check your voltage when you stress test. A lot of boards have different features that can make the actual voltage go sky high aka 1.4+ which sounds like it could be happening here given those temps.

 

[Riot55]

The lower your vcore is the lower your temps will be. Make sure your fans are running at 100% as well on your heatsink, as that will help reduce temps drastically. You will want to find the lowest stable voltage for your overclock. 1.3 vcore isn't bad, but 99c temps is really high. You shouldn't be hitting temps that high. I would remount the heatsink or reapply thermal paste and make sure you have an even spread. Use cpu-z to check your voltage when you stress test. A lot of boards have different features that can make the actual voltage go sky high aka 1.4+ which sounds like it could be happening here given those temps.

https://imgur.com/a/ZbaNC

Here's a screenshot from the last little while including that play session. The 99 was definitely a weird spike, but I generally saw averages in the high 70s as I was playing. The voltage seems to stay pretty consistent I think. Does it matter what fan ports on the mobo I plugged them all into? I don't think I really paid much attention. Only reason I ask is like the CPU Optional fan I think I plugged one of my front case fans into because I put my two CPU fans on the Noctua together and put them into one of the fan ports. I think I may have to take off my Noctua and re-paste. Never done that before, hopefully it's easy. I just leave the CPU in place and use some rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter, right? Also, does it matter that the Noctua metal fin part is upside down? Like I read the name upside down looking at it, but I'm pretty sure when I clipped the fans into place they're going the right direction and pulling the air through from the front case fans to the back.

 

[psolord]

I just did some preliminary runs with Ashes of the Singularity Escalation, on the new 8600k.

Here are the results in contrast to my old 2500k.

Spoiler: 2500k@4.8Ghz+1070

Spoiler: 8600k stock (+multicore enh)+1070

Ok,ok, the 2500k is on a little older version (the system is dismantled for now-I will retest both systems with the new 2.60 soon), but the difference is telling for stock vs OC, no? xD

 

[fastamdman]

https://imgur.com/a/ZbaNC

Here's a screenshot from the last little while including that play session. The 99 was definitely a weird spike, but I generally saw averages in the high 70s as I was playing. The voltage seems to stay pretty consistent I think. Does it matter what fan ports on the mobo I plugged them all into? I don't think I really paid much attention. Only reason I ask is like the CPU Optional fan I think I plugged one of my front case fans into because I put my two CPU fans on the Noctua together and put them into one of the fan ports. I think I may have to take off my Noctua and re-paste. Never done that before, hopefully it's easy. I just leave the CPU in place and use some rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter, right? Also, does it matter that the Noctua metal fin part is upside down? Like I read the name upside down looking at it, but I'm pretty sure when I clipped the fans into place they're going the right direction and pulling the air through from the front case fans to the back.

Whichever way the sticker on the fan is facing, is the direction the air is blowing. So if you have the sticker facing the back of the case, it will blow air towards the back of the case. If the sticker on the fan is pointing towards the front of the case, it will blow air towards the front of the case. That's the way I remember it. Stickers = fan direction As far as your temps go, open up something like prime95, linx, intel burn test and run a stress test. Make sure your temps are reasonable in those programs before just jumping into gaming. I have a feeling you need to re-apply thermal paste, or re-mount your cooler, since you spiked to 100c really quickly in something. As far as remounting it, it's simple. Take off the heatsink, wipe off the thermal paste with a coffee filter, paper towel, q tips, whatever you want. Then apply a grain of rice size amount to the center of the cpu while its in the socket still. Then put the heatsink back onto the cpu, make sure its tightened down all the way. There should be a decent amount of pressure between the heatsink and the processor.

It doesn't matter what fans you have plugged in where, but depending on the fans, they could be controlled by settings in the bios. You want to make sure your cpu fans are running at 100% fan speed. I would go into your bios and play with some fan settings to see if you can get them to run a little faster, aka higher rpm. This should help lower temps but may increase how loud they are. Just find a profile that is right for you Feel free to take a picture of the inside of your case as well and I can help guide you / tell you where the fans are blowing etc if you are not sure.

 

[fastamdman]

@psolord Looking good man, looking good! That is a decent jump in performance for sure

 

[formulav8]

Agreed. I think people would have found me crazy when I bought my RAM for a March 2017 system all the way back in Nov 2016, but the kit I bought went up $50 in the interim so I'm glad I got it then.

DDR4 prices are only going to keep rising.

Ha, I did similar for my Ryzen 1600 setup before it was really even announced as a product/priced. I bought 3000 speed rated 16 GB of ram for $87 shipped in Feb before I bought anything else. The same kit is now almost double what I paid for it in Feb. Some wacky ram stuff going on.

And prices are not projected to go down anytime soon, probably even higher with all new phones using mainly DDR4.

 

[Riot55]

Whichever way the sticker on the fan is facing, is the direction the air is blowing. So if you have the sticker facing the back of the case, it will blow air towards the back of the case. If the sticker on the fan is pointing towards the front of the case, it will blow air towards the front of the case. That's the way I remember it. Stickers = fan direction As far as your temps go, open up something like prime95, linx, intel burn test and run a stress test. Make sure your temps are reasonable in those programs before just jumping into gaming. I have a feeling you need to re-apply thermal paste, or re-mount your cooler, since you spiked to 100c really quickly in something. As far as remounting it, it's simple. Take off the heatsink, wipe off the thermal paste with a coffee filter, paper towel, q tips, whatever you want. Then apply a grain of rice size amount to the center of the cpu while its in the socket still. Then put the heatsink back onto the cpu, make sure its tightened down all the way. There should be a decent amount of pressure between the heatsink and the processor.

It doesn't matter what fans you have plugged in where, but depending on the fans, they could be controlled by settings in the bios. You want to make sure your cpu fans are running at 100% fan speed. I would go into your bios and play with some fan settings to see if you can get them to run a little faster, aka higher rpm. This should help lower temps but may increase how loud they are. Just find a profile that is right for you Feel free to take a picture of the inside of your case as well and I can help guide you / tell you where the fans are blowing etc if you are not sure.

I put all fans to performance in BIOS, and it's already super loud as it is. I recorded a little video, and keep in mind this is the lowest volume (it ramps up the RPM twice at different temps beyond this). I also took some pictures. I don't THINK I have the fans in the wrong direction... it seems like it's pulling air from the front the way the fins are, but I notice the two front fans have the text on the opposite side... but the fans and the directional arrows seem to be pointing the right way. I also can't tell if it's my imagination or not that the Noctua heatsink is sagging down a tiny bit, like maybe one side isn't screwed down as much? That might explain some spikes but again, might be my imagination. I didn't REALLY capture it in the video but sitting here on desktop downloading a game on steam and typing this, temps around 40 and every couple seconds a single core will jump up to 60 or so and then back down.

For reference, I have the two Fractal 120mm fans that came with the case at the rear exhaust and I moved the front one down a tiny bit to fit the extra Noctua 140mm fan for the top of front of the case. I also have the two 140mm fans that came with the Noctua DH15 on the heatsink itself. I don't have anything on the top because I heard that was counterproductive. I really appreciate any and all help. Next step is making sure that these fans are installed right and I guess taking out the Noctua and cleaning off/reapplying thermal paste and making sure it's tight I guess.... the cooler is always my scariest part so maybe I was too gentle though I felt like I tightened it down mostly. When do I know I need to stop? lol

https://imgur.com/a/dJSjl

https://youtu.be/PJlBGLCEM0I