Question Intel's Warranty Policy & Temperatures

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Dear Tomshardware community,

I'm aware that according to Intel's policy, overclocking a CPU even if it's unlocked will void the CPU's warranty. But what about under volting? Usually, motherboards are giving by default way too high voltages for a CPU to run at stock settings and maybe occasionally, higher temps? So would undervolting a CPU mean an warranty void as well?

In addition, is bad silicon a reason to RMA a CPU?

Unfortunately, so far I haven't see my CPU ( INTEL I7-8700K PAIRED WITH ROG MAXIMUS X HERO BY ASUS) reaching 4.7 GHz w/ turbo boost at that one core. Plus, ASUS was giving really high voltages to my CPU (1.3V-1.4V) at stock settings same as on XMP Profile with "NO" selection to ASUS' advice for the MCE etc. In addition, if I tried to run my 8700K with XMP Profile enabled and "NO" to ASUS suggestion and put my CPU under stress through PRIME95 or AIDA64, the CPU would downclock itself to frequencies below 3.7GHz (3.4GHz, 3.5GHz etc) after about 40-80 seconds of the stress test. On stock settings the CPU won't run higher than 4.4GHz (highest) and 4.3GHz under a stress test.

So, I was forced to setup a custom profile through my BIOS and I set an all core 47 multiplier along with 1.26 Vcore, 1.1V VSA and 1.1V VCCO. So according to CPU-Z, under stress test my VCore is 1.264V and the CPU is rock solid but if I were to put it under stress (AIDA64, Prime95 - Small FTT), I would see the temperature climbing as high as 80-88C (depending the core). That would be fine if I had a not that great cooling solution. But in my case, I'm using CORSAIR H115i PRO (280mm Radiator) on a Push/Pull configuration placed inside NZXT H700, so that's where I realize (if i'm not mistaken) that I lost the silicon lottery and probably that's fine. I tried 1.25V and lower but the OC isn't stable at all. With derbauer's recommended CUSTOM values for Prime95, I get about 60C and a spike or two up to 72C on one or two cores. Last but not least, I'm aware that the chip itself is a bit hot, but still, if I were to put 1.35V to my CPU, wouldn't I see temps over 100C?

So any ideas/thoughts? Is my CPU working properly? Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
TheTiesThatBind

 

[Barty1884]

Officially, Intel's stance is:

WHAT THIS LIMITED WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER:
any Product which has been modified or operated outside of Intel’s publicly available specifications, including where clock frequencies or voltages have been altered, or where the original identification markings have been removed, altered or obliterated. Intel assumes no responsibility that the Product, including if used with altered clock frequencies or voltages, will be fit for any particular purpose and will not cause any damage or injury.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005862/processors.html

However, the CPU would have to be definitively damaged as a result of an overclock/undervolt etc in order to have warranty refused.

The 4.7GHz is only for single-core workloads. If you load up Prime95 or anything of that nature, it's not stressing a single core.
You should, at stock operations, see clocks in the 4.3GHz range across all cores.
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3077-explaining-coffee-lake-turbo-8700k-8600k

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Well I ran Intel diagnostics tool and max freq was 4.2GHz, shouldn’t there the turbo boost max clock should have appeared?

Also one more question, I recently noticed 4-10C higher temperatures under stress test for my CPU. The only change I did to my system was replacing a kit of 3000MHz CL15 RAM to 3200C14, would that result to higher temps?

I never changed VSA voltage nor VCCO as I set them manually at 1.1 since day 1