CPU Vcore in bios is not the same as in HWiNFO

[cassini_huygens]

I'm currently trying to get a mild overclock on a i7-2700k with a ga-z77-d3h motherboard with Vcore at 1.350V in BIOS, but when I run Prime95 and check voltages with HWiNFO it peaks around 1.391V. Currently the speed is at 4.2GHz. Is this a bug in HWiNFO, or an intentional overvolt by Intel/gigabyte?

(LLC is on auto, and turbo boost is disabled).

Thanks!

 

[Dunlop0078]

Try LLC on one of the lower levels. With VDROOP your load voltage should actually be lower than what you set in the BIOS. I am not sure how accurate HWInfo is when it comes to sandy bridge CPU's. Maybe try CPU-Z and see if it shows the same thing.

 

[cassini_huygens]

CPU-Z says the voltage is at 1.284V while running Prime95 smallFTTs and HWiNFO says 1.391V. Does this mean I would need a higher level of LLC or is 25-50% sufficient?

 

[Dunlop0078]

1.284v makes more sense. You only need what you need, if it is stable as is then leave it alone or try to decrease voltage. If it is not, then increase LLC or VCORE voltage, increasing LLC will bring load vcore voltage closer to what you have set in the BIOS, too much and it may go over. I wouldn't go past 50% of max LLC personally.

 

[cassini_huygens]

I set LLC to medium and achieved 1.332V under load & 1.356V under idle using CPU-Z. However, now the CPU frequency seems to fluctuate between 1600MHz and 4200MHz.

Marked as solved because original question was answered.