Hi guys, i'd like to share my own experience with overheating 4790k.
Ater mounting brand new Gigabyte z97x gaming 5 with 4790k i ran occt and realized that temps might be too high. It was like 85-88 °C.
It was the same with a longer crysis 3 session.
I've got Silentium aftermarket cooler and Arctic silver thermal paste.
I was pretty sure i applied paste properly, but tried to remount HSF with new paste.
I cleaned both cpu lid and HS plate but this time applied only tiny layer of paste.
What i've seen was pretty similar to this : (this is not my system, found on the net)
Although HS plate was perfectly flat, CPU LID wasn't... After i switched thermal paste to more "liquid", cheap one delivered with HSF,
I've got now max 76 °C with OOCT and other tests. I am not decided yet, if i am going to polish this CPU or try to change to another with my retailer.
Anyway try to make such a simple test if You have trouble with overheating cpu's. It migh be as well, that after exchange some of You that reported that it helped,
might just get more flat CPU from stock.
And here interesting article:
Prolimatech Megahalems and 12 Other Coolers for Intel Core i7 Overclocking. Page 16 - X-bit labs
Regards