Question Highest safe 24/7 Voltage for i7-6700K?

[dyils]

Hi guys,

I've just ordered everything I need for a delidding of my old 6700K. I am running it at 4.5 GHz at the moment and I've done 4.6 GHz in the past with ~1.4 vCore (don't remember exact).

Without considering temperatures, what's the highest I can safely push this and run 24/7 for 1-2 years (The CPU is already 3 years old)?
From looking at what experts are saying, I am thinking something like 1.43V should be fine for 24/7?

Someone who seems to be quite knowledgeable says he would be comfortable running an 8700K at that voltage 24/7 and as far as I know newer CPUs are a bit more sensitive to voltage than the 6700K (not 100% sure about this) so surely it should be fine? Maybe even 1.45V?

Thanks

 

[vMax]

Having had a 6700K and overclocking it for a fair few years before upgrade, I would stick to 1.4v...yes some have gone to 1.45v but that is for me way too much and at the limits especially for long term use.

On the 8700K which I have at 4.9GHz at 1.278v all the time I know I am well within specs. I have hit 5GHz but that required 1.35v which even though fine was too much for me and the heat generated was also too much. 4.9Ghz at 1.278v is great for temps and the difference is minimal between 4.9 and 5GHz...

At 1.45v I think you are taking a very high risk for 24/7 use...

 

[CompuTronix]

dyils,

As vMax has pointed out, 1.43 edges into risky regions of Core voltage as well as the degradation curve for 14 nanometer processors.

Each microarchitecture has a “maximum recommended vcore”. The values below are based on the consensus among well informed, highly experienced and reputable system builders, reviewers and overclockers. Vcore is always a controversial topic, where some enthusiasts and overclockers claim these values are too conservative, while others claim they're too excessive.

However, with respect to the hard-earned personal property of others, the majority of users agree these values are well founded, centered and appropriate. Here's the values for each microarchitecture from 14 to 65 nanometers since 2006:

We know that over time, excessive voltage and heat damages electronics, so when using manual Vcore settings in BIOS, excessive Core voltage and Core temperature can result in accelerated "Electromigration" - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Electromigration.

This causes the transistor junctions and circuit paths within the processor's layers of nano-components to undergo premature erosion and degradation, which will eventually result in blue-screen crashes that become increasingly frequent over time. Although stability may be temporarily restored by further increasing Vcore, this only accelerates degradation. The alternative is to decrease overclock and Vcore, which can restore stability and slow the rate of degradation.

Each microarchitecture has a "degradation curve". As a rule, CPU's are more susceptible to electromigration and degradation with each "Die-shrink". However, the exception is Intel's 14 nanometer microarchitecture, where advances in FinFET transistor technology have improved voltage tolerance. For example, it’s important to point out that 22 nanometer 3rd and 4th generation processors will not tolerate the higher Core voltages of other microarchitectures.

Here's how the degradation curve on 22 nanometer 3rd and 4th generation differs from 14 nanometer 5th through 9th generation:

Degradation curves are relative to the term “Vt (Voltage threshold) Shift” which is expressed in millivolts (mv). Users can not monitor Vt Shift. This value basically represents the potential for permanent loss of normal transistor performance over time, which adversely affects stability.

With respect to overclocking, excessively high Core voltage drives excessively high power consumption (watts) resulting in higher Core temperatures during heavy workloads, all of which contribute to Vt Shift. Core voltages that impose high Vt Shift values are not recommended.

Remember to keep overclocking in perspective. For example, the difference between 4.5 GHz and 4.6 Ghz is less than 2.3%, which has no noticeable impact on overall system performance. It simply isn’t worth pushing your processor beyond recommended Core voltage and Core temperature limits just to squeeze out another 100 MHz.

CT

 

[Nonkii]

👆👆👆👆
That my friend, is what I like to call a scientific explanation

 

[Karadjgne]

Nahh, explanation is another word for point of view or opinion. What CompuTronix spouts is called 'The Truth'.

Honestly, I'd take a trip over to Asus ROG forums and take a peek at any and all overclocks using the 6700k. Those boys over there don't play around, they seriously get into squeezing every last erg out of a cpu. At the lowest possible voltages. OC theory is all the same, bios all the same, cpus all the same, mobo's all the same, only the names change. OC on an Asus mobo is exactly the same on Giga or MSI or ASR mobo's, just different names. A small tweak to ring voltages, bump in amperage limits, VID voltage differences, slight change to LLC, even minor things like dropping PLL to 1.7 instead of 1.8 can all have impacts on vcore and stability and temps. Even changing ram speeds, ram voltages, system agent voltages can have an affect. There's a LOT more that goes into getting higher clocks than just bumping the turbo limits and multiplier and corresponding bumps to vcore.

At 4.6GHz my i7-3770K is sitting quietly at 1.216v, at 4.9GHz it was at 1.308v and 5.0GHz at 1.320v, so sat 24/7 stable at 4.9GHz for 6 straight years, because I liked the temps better.

For 4.6GHz, you shouldn't be hitting 1.4v at all, there's tweaks and other settings that you need to look into.

 

[Nonkii]

Nahh, explanation is another word for point of view or opinion. What CompuTronix spouts is called 'The Truth'.

Honestly, I'd take a trip over to Asus ROG forums and take a peek at any and all overclocks using the 6700k. Those boys over there don't play around, they seriously get into squeezing every last erg out of a cpu. At the lowest possible voltages. OC theory is all the same, bios all the same, cpus all the same, mobo's all the same, only the names change. OC on an Asus mobo is exactly the same on Giga or MSI or ASR mobo's, just different names. A small tweak to ring voltages, bump in amperage limits, VID voltage differences, slight change to LLC, even minor things like dropping PLL to 1.7 instead of 1.8 can all have impacts on vcore and stability and temps. Even changing ram speeds, ram voltages, system agent voltages can have an affect. There's a LOT more that goes into getting higher clocks than just bumping the turbo limits and multiplier and corresponding bumps to vcore.

At 4.6GHz my i7-3770K is sitting quietly at 1.216v, at 4.9GHz it was at 1.308v and 5.0GHz at 1.320v, so sat 24/7 stable at 4.9GHz for 6 straight years, because I liked the temps better.

For 4.6GHz, you shouldn't be hitting 1.4v at all, there's tweaks and other settings that you need to look into.

Hey. Is there a link to their forum. I have not found one and probably it was it but didnt look official.

 

[Karadjgne]

https://rog.asus.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?127-ROG-Discussion

If there's anything whatsoever about how, what, why, where and when about OC on a 6700k, it's there, but probably in several actual places, you'll need to dig about some. I got several tweaks to my OC, it's more of learning exactly what settings do and where they apply than actual numbers. So if you find a post listing a complete bios, don't just copy it because your cpu is different, but take into consideration what was set and why and what were the results. Then apply that to your bios, you may need to Google name changes between brands. Definitely read up on LLC, ring voltages, vid.