Is 1.376 volts too much for 4.6 on a 2600k?

Short answer is "No."

The long answer is "No, because ..."

Intel's max recommended voltage for the SB CPU's is 1.52 volts. I realize that the Intel engineers know more about their chips that I do, but considering that the max recommended voltage for a 45 nm CPU is 1.425 volts, 1.52 volts seems high for a 32 nm CPU.

It has been my experience with Intel quad cores that with any conventional cooling system, a quad will bump into the thermal limits before it reaches the voltage limits. Your core voltages are good. Although I think your load temps are a little high, they are also OK.

You may have a point. I am very new to this and have just started learning how to do it. Or maybe I have a cooling issue? Maybe this H50 just isn't cooling my cpu like it should?

I went back to default settings in the bios and at idle using real temp I am showing low 30's and at full load running prime small fft, i get high 40's low 50's.

That's running at 1.176 volts with a 34 multiplier. I kind of understand that the more voltage the more heat, but I think there maybe some settings that I am not sure about.

I saw the link you provided with mrface's cpu-z validation, and i get how my first post sounded. How can he have lower volts, lower temps and a much higher ratio.

I have read so many OC guides and suggestions that I am not sure what to do. I get that the higher the ratio the more voltage, but I get alot more heat.

Any suggestions?

The generated heat is in direct relation to the overclocking method you choose to use, there are various ways to overclock the Sandy Bridge CPUs, some using all Intels features, some partially using Intels features, and some using basically none of Intels features.

The latter method, the overclock guide I wrote is a maximum heat generating method, which in the beginning was very frustrating attempting to keep it cool enough to run all 4 cores without throttling, below is my cooling solution.

I'm not suggesting you take that route, but just so you can see what I tried that didn't work, and some of those that didn't make the grade are better coolers than the H50, like the Rasa 240 loop and the Thermalright 120 extreme with 2 2000rpm fans in push/pull.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/267412-29-sandy-bridge-water-cooling-project

The bottom line is simply a No-Brainer, the cooler you can keep it, the further you can overclock it, no matter what overclock method you choose.

As far as cooling goes, I wonder if my decision to use only 1500rpm fans versus the 2000 rpm fans that came with it was a bad idea? I swapped the fans out because it would be quieter and the 1500rpm fans I chose had a higher cfm.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I chose to use these. Bad idea? Not pumping enough air?

Probably was a bad idea.

The 2000rpm fans were matched to the radiators needs.

The problem is that all CPU's are a little different. A CPU chip with a relatively low VID (Voltage Identification Digital) voltage tends to be a better overclocker. The VID voltage is basically the "supply" voltage for that chip. It is the voltage that the CPU chip programs the power regulator on the motherboard to deliver. The actual supply voltage will vary in accordance with the changing load.

Two CPU's built from adjacent dies on the silicon wafer can have different VID values, and therefore different overclocking capabilities.

Best answer selected by bryan240g.