great im hitting no higher than about 65 70 on max cpu load (due to external liquid cooling and noctria high performance fans) My ram is at the stock 1.5 volts it needs to get to 2.8ghz and im running my gpu at stock it comes with (its alredy pre overclocked unlocked etc by saphire so im not needing to do anything with that either)

 

What does the cooling method has to do with the W consumption? As far as i would know, the W consuption remains the same no matter how much cold or hot is your CPU.
Or did you meant about that your liquid cooling is not powered by the "mobo" itself as the air cooling would do? Or do you mean about temperature degrees? I'm really confused here.

 

yea degrees i meant sorry

 

Those are really high temps for desktop CPU, if I were you, I'd consider going down with either clock or voltage otherwise you're shortening its lifespan (desktop CPUs are rated 70°C max if I remember well), mine runs 42°C at full load and Noctua fan at 12.5% speed.

But I get it, people are different, it wouldn't be right to force somebody to use one's ways. If you like your desktop, then that's what matters

Actually it's thermal dissipation that matters. The individual temperatures only show how effective is the cooling system, and exactly as you said doesn't reflect on the actual consumption. However seeing joem using liquid cooling and fans and still getting 65°C, his CPU outputs a lot of heat.

 

80 degrees is the max temp until unstable 70 is fine overclocking. on some days it hits way lower than that mainly hits around 65 60 degrees

 

its all good i did stress test my pc useing various cpu testers intel burn test prime 95 etc for 24 houres and not a single issue at all

 

I know
but I found the 3GHz is the sweet spot for performace vs. watt ratio.
As with most i-generation CPUs, the efficiency decreases dramatically with higher clocks, e.g. 5GHz overclock might give out 160W in heat but only provide 16000 PassMarks, but 3GHz underclock gives out only 20W in heat and still has 9000 PassMarks

In future I'd like to get 12V PSU (this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271265136158) with efficacy of 97% to be able to run whole desktop from 12V DC input. The figures I'm getting now are great enough *yes*

With this solution, I could also say goodbye to AC hum and PSU interference which it turn result with better audio performace

 

.

 

oh yea also forgot to mention i am running a 1000w gold certified corsair power supply aswell

 

my system is a power hog for a good reason lol, but I applaud Andrew for keeping it green