AMD Athlon x4 880k - Temperature & Voltage Inquiry

[onnii]

AMD Athlon x4 880k 4,0Ghz
Nvidia Geforce GTX 750ti 2GB
8GB RAM
MSI A68HM

Background Info

So I got my self a new CPU (AMD Athlon x4 880k) and I thought about overclocking it.

Before overclocking, I obviously wanted to know how far I can push this CPU before running into irreversible issues.

I downloaded CPU-Z to see some details and it shows that at the moment my "stock" voltage (CPU VID) is wiggling between 1.08v and 1.425v and the core speed is changing from 3892 to 3991 every few seconds. Is such a wide voltage variance normal?

Voltage Inquiry

My only reference points (and sources of anxiety) are other forum posts where people discuss OC'ing their x860 or similar to 4,2MHz - 4,4MHz with a +-1,425v voltage, so to me 1.425v seems a bit suspiciously high for a stock clock. Of course AMD does not provide any info on their own website on the default voltage, not that i've found any at least..

After reading about other OC's I panicked because of my seemingly high voltage and tried to lower it in AMD Overdrive. I lowered it, but if I go below 1.375v my computer crashes.

Is my stock voltage normal?

Temperature Inquiry

Also, AMD of course does not provide any info on as to how hot this cpu can go without getting toasted. In AMD Overdrive my thermal margin is around 60c idle while the CPUID HWMonitor tells me that the CPU package temperature is around 55c idle, leaving me a bit confused as to how hot my CPU is actually running... Also BIOS informs me that my cpu is +-40c during the time my computer is in BIOS.. I've read that this CPU can sustain +75c or even +90c safely, maybe one of you guys has the answer... Is BIOS usually the go-to source of temperature info, and could a 60c thermal margin mean that my cpu is around +30c (assuming that the limit is +90c)?

How much heat can this CPU handle? Where can I find the most reliable info?

Bottom Line

I know this post is a bit complicated but this forum looks like the kind of place where these kinds of issues can be solved! I just dont want to destroy my PC and want to make sure that everything is running safely, so if you have any info or experience with this CPU (or any similar CPU) please share me your settings and stuff.

Thanks

 

[Obakasama]

No experience with overclocking; I'll leave that for others to address. (There is an overclocking board here as well which may attract more attention of those inclined to do so.)

With respect to the temperature it seems you already know what you're doing there with AMD Overdrive. Other temperature monitors don't read AMD CPUs correctly; though having used many, they all read about 1 deg C within each other and about 60 deg C seems 'normal' in this respect.

What's important is the CPU doesn't overheat and AMD Overdrive can help you monitor it safely. Ideally, thermal margin should be above 20 deg C on a full load, I trust this to still be the case for overclocking.