i7 6700k overclocking

[clifford64]

I have an i7 6700k cpu in an asrock z170 k6 motherboard. I have achieved a stable overclock of 4.5ghz at 1.265 volts. The issue with this is the volts are fixed so it is always at that even when my computer is idle and I leave it idle for long periods of time each day and just turn it off at night before I go to bed. The motherboard came with overclocking presets, but they leave the voltage on auto and just changes multiplier so it is generally something like 4.6ghz and the cpu automatically adjusts the voltage which is always too high at like 1.4v or something. I have tried the offset feature but can't seem to get it stable and have acceptable voltage, plus it only lowers it to like 1.1v on idle.
1. Is having a fixed 1.265 volts bad for cpu in long term. I would like this cpu to last about 5-7 years.
2. Is there a different method of overclocking that I should try?

 

[thor220]

Usually running your CPU at a higher voltage than stock for long periods of time isn't good for it. In your case, you are not overvolting that much so I would expect this wouldn't be an issue for you.

You can try increasing the Turbo voltage. This usually results in a few more Ghz before the system becomes unstable again.

 

[clifford64]

Usually running your CPU at a higher voltage than stock for long periods of time isn't good for it. In your case, you are not overvolting that much so I would expect this wouldn't be an issue for you.

You can try increasing the Turbo voltage. This usually results in a few more Ghz before the system becomes unstable again.

I don't have the ability to increase turbo voltage. At least there isnt an obvious setting for that.

 

[thor220]

What voltage settings can you control?

 

[clifford64]

What voltage settings can you control?

Vcore which is cpu and that is either fixed or offset or auto.
PCH 1.0 voltage
VCCIO
VCC PLL
VCCSA
Those are the ones I can change within Windows so there might be more unimportant ones in the bios

 

[thor220]

Wow, no turbo. Voltages like VCC PLL and PCH are really only for extreme overclocks and won't help you here.

What frequency do you have your RAM at? Often times high ram frequencies can limit a CPU overclock.

 

[clifford64]

Wow, no turbo. Voltages like VCC PLL and PCH are really only for extreme overclocks and won't help you here.

What frequency do you have your RAM at? Often times high ram frequencies can limit a CPU overclock.

Ram frequency is stock at 2133mhz

 

[thor220]

Can you try turning that down to like 1600 and see if that allows you to achieve a higher overclock?

 

[clifford64]

Can you try turning that down to like 1600 and see if that allows you to achieve a higher overclock?

I don't care about the higher overclock part. I'm just asking is a constant 1.265v going to be OK, or should I take it off and suffer through 4.0 because I've seen spikes up into the 1.3v with it on auto, but it goes to like .8v on idle which it wouldn't with a fixed voltage. Or is there a different way to overclock it, possibly through software or something? I know Intel has an overclocking utility.

 

[clifford64]

I guess what I am asking is there a way to overclock so that it won't go past a certain voltage at a certain frequency so that it will still lower the voltage on idle?

 

[thor220]

Offset voltage is what you want. 1.1v is not high at all. In fact, stock voltage can be anywhere from 1.3 to 1.4v

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/6

 

[clifford64]

So when playing a game and it takes hits into 1.4 and a little higher, that's safe and normal?

 

[thor220]

So when playing a game and it takes hits into 1.4 and a little higher, that's safe and normal?

This is with your voltage set to 1.265 in the bios as stated in your original post?

 

[clifford64]

So when playing a game and it takes hits into 1.4 and a little higher, that's safe and normal?

This is with your voltage set to 1.265 in the bios as stated in your original post?

No, this is with the cpu at completely stock settings. Is there a way to use offset mode and tell the cpu to not go over 1.265v or something like that so it will lower the voltage on idle? On offset mode, even at idle it only lowers it to 1.216v

 

[thor220]

Going from 1.265 to 1.4 on load on stock is way too much of a variance. Something is definitely wrong with either the CPU, motherboard, or power supply.

Do you have an extra power supply you can test with the system?

 

[clifford64]

CPU voltage on stock ranges from .8v-1.4v at 4.2ghz but that is turbo.

 

[clifford64]

I seem to have found something that somewhat helps, I set the vcore to offset and had it at a stable voltage that worked before and then I enabled the C states to conserve more power, I have a feeling this will probably cause some instability because I am getting drops in Vcore all the way down to .056v. But the Vcore is dropping below 1.2v so thats better than what it is before, I will have to do some testing and then I will come back here and post full results

 

[thor220]

Those voltage ranges are still way too large. My CPU only goes from 1.15v to 1.25v and it's overclocked too.

 

[clifford64]

After testing, I have stable overclock at 4.5ghz and it has steady voltages about 1.260 under gaming loads with a couple spikes up to 1.280 and 1.296. And then idles down to below .8v during idle

 

[thor220]

After testing, I have stable overclock at 4.5ghz and it has steady voltages about 1.260 under gaming loads with a couple spikes up to 1.280 and 1.296. And then idles down to below .8v during idle

That sounds pretty good. I wonder why fixed voltage was causing so many issues.

 

[clifford64]

Fixed voltage wasn't causing any issues, it was just I know its not good for the CPU to be running at 1.265v all the time even at idle because I leave my computer on for long periods of time and at idle so I was trying to find a way to lower the voltages on idle and still keep an overclock and this did it for me

 

[thor220]

Fixed voltage wasn't causing any issues, it was just I know its not good for the CPU to be running at 1.265v all the time even at idle because I leave my computer on for long periods of time and at idle so I was trying to find a way to lower the voltages on idle and still keep an overclock and this did it for me

That's kinda roundabout, isn't it? It caused voltages to remain high and thus turning it off fixed that. So in essence, Fixed voltage was the cause of the problem.

 

[clifford64]

Yeah I guess. I'm guessing it's more of how the motherboard works. After going through this, I'd recommend an MSI or asus higher end board instead of one of these because this was a pretty big pain.

 

[thor220]

Yeah I guess. I'm guessing it's more of how the motherboard works. After going through this, I'd recommend an MSI or asus higher end board instead of one of these because this was a pretty big pain.

It's strange too, I was under the impression that all ASRock motherboards had Turbo voltage. The last 3 I had did and they were only extreme4.

 

[clifford64]

Well I think the mistake I made was going with the Fatal1ty gaming board instead of going with one of the extreme boards. The extreme boards are focused more towards overclocking while the Fatal1ty boards are for gaming, but you'd think they'd allow the same overclocking features in the bios because that's generally what gamera do.