MSI Z590 Unify + i7-10700F : 2 x 8pin CPU power cable necessary?

[Ariortega]

Hello friends,

I'm about to build a new rig. Mainboard will be like mentioned above a MSI Z590 Unify. The cpu that's going to be used is an i7-10700F, which I will set to all cores 4.5GHz fixed while trying to undervolt.

My question: do I really need to connect 2 cpu power cables in order for the cpu to run stable or would 1 (8pin) suffice in my case?

[Julien, cut it out.]

How much do you pay for the setup?

Are you eyeing at an MCE overclock? Toying with the power limits will net you better overclocking.

Nontheless, Zen 3 or Intel 12th Gen should be way more appealing in terms of computation power vs. cost.

1x8 pin is enough. You can also check the DC output table on the PSU.

[DevaVictrix]

Page 40 of your manual says “important - make sure all your power connectors are connected securely…” pretty obvious really. If In doubt, pull one out and see what happens.

[Ariortega]

Originally posted by Bananarama:

How much do you pay for the setup?

Are you eyeing at an MCE overclock? Toying with the power limits will net you better overclocking.

The i7-10700F can not be overclocked. All core boost is 4.6GHz, I will actually go 100MHz down to 4.5GHz and simultaneously undervolt, which means to go down with the core voltage as much as possible while my system still being able to run stable of course.

[MancSoulja]

One 8pin CPU power cable provides 150W, the TDP of the 10700f is 65W. You could run two 10700fs with a single 8pin and have headroom for a little overclocking.

[MancSoulja]

Originally posted by Ariortega:

Originally posted by Bananarama:

How much do you pay for the setup?

Are you eyeing at an MCE overclock? Toying with the power limits will net you better overclocking.

The i7-10700F can not be overclocked. All core boost is 4.6GHz, I will actually go 100MHz down to 4.5GHz and simultaneously undervolt, which means to go down with the core voltage as much as possible while my system still being able to run stable of course.

All CPUs can be overclocked, regardless of what Intel tell you.

[Julien, cut it out.]

Originally posted by MancSoulja:

One 8pin CPU power cable provides 150W, the TDP of the 10700f is 65W. You could run two 10700fs with a single 8pin and have headroom for a little overclocking.

This is so so wrong. Do some reasearch about TDP and Power Limits.

How much power or currency is delivered by the 8-pin connector (12V) depends on the PSU ( Max. current, amount of rails, how much current the GPU sips ).

Originally posted by Ariortega:

The i7-10700F can not be overclocked. All core boost is 4.6GHz, I will actually go 100MHz down to 4.5GHz and simultaneously undervolt, which means to go down with the core voltage as much as possible while my system still being able to run stable of course.

How are you going to underclock if the multiplier is locked?

[Ariortega]

Originally posted by Bananarama:

How are you going to underclock if the multiplier is locked?

I will do this in the BIOS. As far as I know, underclocking a locked cpu is no problem at all (a Z board given of course). You just set all cores to a fixed clock speed and put in manually 4.5.

It's the overclocking of locked cpus, that's a little more complicated or not that easy.

Oh, and regarding the TDP of the i7-10700F : the 65w only apply for 2.9GHz, isn't that right? As soon as that speed is exceeded (like in my case 4.5GHz) the TDP will also be higher (likely over 100w). Am I right with this ? (Don't know for sure, I'm not an expert on such topics)

[Viking2121]

For a 10700K you can get away with a healthy overclock with just one of the 8 pins, the other 8 pin could help, but I doubt it'll do much if anything, its really only there for some extreme overclocking on a 11900k for example.


You'll be fine with just a single 8 pin on that CPU, its peak is 205 watts, the connector can handle 235 watt continuous and upwards of 350watt peak. You could run a 5ghz all core and still be fine.

The 150 watts EPS rating is a vary old standard and really don't apply to modern hardware.

[Julien, cut it out.]

Originally posted by Ariortega:

I will do this in the BIOS. As far as I know, underclocking a locked cpu is no problem at all (a Z board given of course). You just set all cores to a fixed clock speed and put in manually 4.5.

What option(s) are you going to use in the UEFI (BIOS) to set an all-core clock of 4.5GHz?

[_I_]

some z boards can fake a non k cpu as a k variant, and overclock anyway

[Ariortega]

Originally posted by Bananarama:

Originally posted by Ariortega:

I will do this in the BIOS. As far as I know, underclocking a locked cpu is no problem at all (a Z board given of course). You just set all cores to a fixed clock speed and put in manually 4.5.

What option(s) are you going to use in the UEFI (BIOS) to set an all-core clock of 4.5GHz?

CPU Ratio Apply Mode : All Core

CPU Ratio : 45

CPU Ratio Mode : Fixed

EIST : Disabled

Intel Turbo Boost : Disabled

[Julien, cut it out.]

Unfortunately, the settings you posted attempt an overclock by the multiplier (CPU Ratio) and the multiplier is fixed at 29x.

The CPU can increase its clock frequency up to 4.6 GHz all-Core clock within the constraints of the Intel Turbo Boost[www.intel.de]. Only a change to the Base Clock value can alter such frequencies.

I'd actually like to help and consult you in your hardware choice.

I only see two reasons to choose a Z chipset with a locked CPU:
1) Z chipset offers a feature not available on B chipset
2) One knows about the power limitation constrains (PL1 and PL2) of the locked CPUs on non-Z chipsets

There is a great article on Anandtech about the i7-10700 on a Z-Chipset[www.anandtech.com].

For the i7-10700(F), PL1 is set at 65W, PL2 is set at 224W. The Z chipset can ignore these imposed values and allows the i7-10700 to perform similiarly to a non-overclocked i7-10700K.

But the actual benefit of an unlocked PL value is for gaming rather meager. Games do not consume insane amounts of CPU Power. Additionaly, depending on your setup, you could be anyways GPU-limited.

Do you pay retail price for the hardware?
You can get better performing hardware for the same or lower price.

[Ariortega]

Thanks for all that information mate, I really appreciate it. I already bought the MSI Z590 Unify since that mainboard fullfilles all my needs in both, optical and technical. specs. Only need to buy a cpu that serves my needs and purpose (mainly gaming, video editing / compression).

The latest generation of Intel (Z690) is for me a) too expensive and b) the DDR5 modules are not that fast (high CL) and also really expensive at the moment.

So I decided to stick with the last generation (Z590), which means for me I can take my 32GB DDR4 with me.

Why the i7-10700F? I don't have a need for the 11th Intel cpu generation and the i9-10900 series are a little bit too expensive and I doubt my current cooling (custom watercooling 240mm radiator) would suffice for a 10 core cpu. Also I'm not going for high overclocking / setting new records, that's why I'm aiming for the i7-10700f.

[🦜Cloud Boy🦜]

Intel's TDP rating is TOTALLY meaningless. It applies for the processor's base frequency only, which the processor never runs at.
The TURBO will automatically trigger whenever the processor is in use. When the frequency goes up, the power consumption goes up with it. A processor of 65w TDP can pull upto 200w.

After 40 years of business, seems like NOW intel is starting to understand this issue and addressed in their 12th Gen lineup. I can see Now they have mentioned the TURBO TDP in their Specs Sheet as well.

[🦜Cloud Boy🦜]

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/134594/intel-core-i712700k-processor-25m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html