i7-6700K 4.4Ghz overclock exceeds manual set voltage in BIOS

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Luyuan20

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May 9, 2016
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Hey guys,

I'm new to overclocking so this is why I've only pushed a rather conservative overclock of 4.4Ghz on an i7-6700K on an Asus VIII Hero MB. I've got a few questions that hopefully someone can answer. The default voltage set by the bios for my CPU out of the box was 1.248v and the core ratio was set to 'sync all cores', which I think was a factory OC by the MB as I think Intel states somewhere that the 6700k only hits 4.2Ghz on 1 core. Stability was tested using AIDA64, Realbench. I use adaptive voltage with [-] offset after I finish stress testing each time.

I have tried to extend system longevity since I need this computer to last me through 4 years of engineering (Solidworks, AutoCAD, etc) so I tried the settings below. Runs stable without issue, however some software I run is very single threaded and I ran into instances which maxed only 1 core.

  • vcore: 1.100v
    core clock: 4ghz
    core ratio: auto
    CPU max temp (Realbench+AIDA): 65C

I tried to OC to 4.4Ghz, but for some reason the CPU always exceeds what I set in the BIOS by a bit. Even if I set the voltage to manual and to 1.18v, HWmonitor reports that the the CPU does exceed this and hits 1.200v which worries me a bit. This is my first custom PC and I'm not sure exactly what is safe and what isn't. All I know is don't pass 1.45v, but I assume anything past that is a 'probably frys your cpu in minutes' type of thing so I've avoided that.

  • vcore: 1.180v
    core clock: 4.4ghz
    core ratio: sync all cores
    CPU max temp (Realbench+AIDA): 73C

1) Should I be running at stock with an undervolt to 1.100v for system longevity? I'd like my system to last 7 years with proper cleaning etc. And is this a realistic expectation?

2) Does running at 1.180v and 4.4Ghz significantly reduce CPU lifespan along with the temperature increase?

3) Once I do find a stable OC, which voltage mode should I be using? Adaptive, manual, offset, etc

4) Am I missing any settings I should adjust to achieve a stable and long lasting OC? I haven't touched anything except the core ratio, EPU set to off, and CPU voltage.

5) Does doing an OC without increasing voltage solve the issue with chip degradation?

System specs:
i7-6700K
Asus Maximus VIII Hero MB
Cooler Master Evo 212 w/ Noctua NF-F12
16GB 2800mhz Gskill trident Z ram
EVGA Supernova 750-P2 PSU
MSI GTX 1060 Gaming 6GB GPU
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Mid ATX

Thanks for your help
 
Solution
scuzzycard
It's fair to assume that the Intel default settings are safe. In your case, that 4.0-4.2GHz@1.248V. Since voltage is a much bigger contributor to electromigration than clock speed, it's fair to say that 4.4GHz@1.180V is also safe - perhaps "safer" still.

Skylake is still new, but based on the stock voltages that people have reported, and the study published by Intel, voltages of up to 1.40V are very safe with this generation.

Browsing various internet forums reveals that a significant number of Haswell users have experienced chip degradation and/or failure after roughly a year at voltages of 1.40-1.45V. A study by Intel showed that Skylake can tolerate 0.1V more than Haswell. It also showed that for every 0.1V of increased...
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scuzzycard

scuzzycard

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It's fair to assume that the Intel default settings are safe. In your case, that 4.0-4.2GHz@1.248V. Since voltage is a much bigger contributor to electromigration than clock speed, it's fair to say that 4.4GHz@1.180V is also safe - perhaps "safer" still.

Skylake is still new, but based on the stock voltages that people have reported, and the study published by Intel, voltages of up to 1.40V are very safe with this generation.

Browsing various internet forums reveals that a significant number of Haswell users have experienced chip degradation and/or failure after roughly a year at voltages of 1.40-1.45V. A study by Intel showed that Skylake can tolerate 0.1V more than Haswell. It also showed that for every 0.1V of increased voltage, CPU life decreases by a factor 10. If we are to believe the anecdotal accounts on internet forums, and if we are to believe the results of Intel's study, then we can conclude that Haswell has a life expectancy of about 10 years at 1.30-1.35V, while Skylake shares a similar life expectancy at 1.40-1.45V.

Since, again, Skylake is a new architecture, this is all the evidence we have to go on when making recommendations. In my opinion, you would be safe as long as you keep the voltage at or below 1.4V. Again, no one outside of Intel knows for sure. It could well be that even higher voltages are safe - we just don't know for sure.
 
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Luyuan20

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May 9, 2016
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Thanks so much for the information. It's very appreciated. Just out of curiosity, could you post the link to Intel's study as well? I'm sure it's an interesting read. I feel much better about my OC now. The next step was to RMA the motherboard since I put a - offset in voltage so the increase made no sense to me at all.

 
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scuzzycard

scuzzycard

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Here are some major excerpts from the study. It also shows how the 14nn node has much less current leakage than the 22nm. That probably explains at least in part how Skylake is able to be more efficient than Haswell, even though it runs at slightly higher voltages.
 
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