Voltage on i5 4690k

jonny_goddard

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Oct 15, 2015
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4,520
I've had this chip for almost 12 months, running 47x multiplier and 100.1 blk frequency, so 4704.7 MHz, rock solid stability but at 1.400v. I am using a good sized noctua air cooler, which in my real world use keeps it at ~65 Celsius maximum under load and stress tests like aida64. Prime 95 can go from 75 degrees right up to the thermal limit and throttling but nothing else does so that doesn't concern me. Also my ambient temps are probably below 20 degrees...I don't have a thermometer....

I am starting to worry about degradation as I want to use this chip for many years to come and I have 2 questions really. 1 is it directly high voltage that causes CPU degradation or the heat produced as a result of high voltage? if it's the latter than I should be fine with my temps. 2. What is the absolute highest "safe" voltage for the i5 4690k? Because I am only now dialing in the lowest stable voltage for my current oc (i just left it at 1.4v), but I would like to see what this puppy can do, provided I can keep it cool, when I crank up the voltage.

Kind of a long one and I appreciate any comments, thank you!
 


Hmm interesting, do you happen to have a source for them saying this out of interest? Im stressing it now with prime95, looks like 1.390 is stable, trying 1.380. 1.300 is not possible with my current clock and I really don't want to drop it because I will start to loose FPS in games as it runs at 100% a lot of the time as it is.

Thanks.
 

I don't no, I believe it was an intel representative on a forum but I can't remember where. What resolution are you running at? While gaming your CPU shouldn't be hitting 100% very often, mine certainly doesn't. Dropping it to even 4.5Ghz wouldn't lose you any noticeable performance. Is the risk of degrading your chip worth 1 or 2 fps?
 


1080p. It very much depends on the game. I've been playing a lot of the witcher 3 and on maximum settings the CPU load is 100% around half the time, the other half the GPU load is almost 100% (980ti), and some time with everything in-between. It usualy sits around 60fps, sometimes down to 50 (although I dont monitor it all the time, i prefer to just play the game!) People say that the 980ti is wasted on 1080p but honestly with a number of big AAA games, turn up the settings and they become real hard to run.

However I may drop it to 4.5-4.6 to lower the voltage and do some benchmarks and figure out the best compromise.