13600KF - Voltage question. Halp! (Stock. Not OC related)

[martinwood333]

Hi there, I hope all is well.

I just recently upgraded to a 13600KF a few weeks ago and have a quick question regarding the voltages. I'm using an ASRock Z690 Steel Legend board. (BIOS updated for 13th gen CPU). I don't overclock.

TL;DR: 13600KF on stock clocks hit 1.5v on a few occasions. Has it been hurt?

Upon installation of the CPU, I noticed right away some insanely high load temps when gaming (80 degrees and into the 90's). Cooling was not the issue. I read that voltages could be the culprit so I monitored them. When gaming, the voltage was consistently in the 1.35-1.45 range, and actually hit 1.5v on a couple of occasions.

After resetting BIOS, ensuring correct PL1/2 power limits were set, and trying numerous things to no avail, a BIOS update to a more recent version (which quoted improved CPU microcode etc) thankfully fixed it. The voltages have dropped to their normal acceptable range, and temperatures have also dropped to where they should be (around 65 average under gaming load, high 30's when idle). I presume there were errors in the BIOS leading to it applying an OC voltage when it wasn't needed? This is my first ever K processor so this is all new to me.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and all seems well, its performing perfectly fine as far as I can tell, however I'm now questioning if I've degraded the CPU at all with those brief times where it hit 1.5V? Prior to fixing it with the BIOS update, there were a few occasions where the CPU hit 100 degrees during testing on CineBench and it thermal throttled aswell.

Should I have anything to worry about? Are there any means of testing it to see if something has been degraded? Am I overthinking it and worrying about nothing and need to take a chill pill?

Any help or advice is much appreciated

 

[Tetras]

Should I have anything to worry about? Are there any means of testing it to see if something has been degraded? Am I overthinking it and worrying about nothing and need to take a chill pill?

From my understanding of it, the damage caused by high voltage depends on temperature and load levels, in gaming it's rare that you're fully loaded, or at max temps, so the probability of damage would be lower. If everything is running fine right now, then I wouldn't worry about it. Intel do have a diagnostic tool that you could run and see if your CPU passes.

 

[martinwood333]

Thanks for your reply!

Ah I understand. So high voltage is more likely to cause damage where high load and temps are also present. I certainly didn't run heavy loads in that condition for very long, as the temperatures alone were quite concerning, before I had even looked at the voltages. (I even reseated the cooler initially thinking it was that).

Looking online it seems that other folks with my motherboard experienced the same thing, and was due to a specific BIOS version as suspected. Quite a mess up if you ask me.

A very good shout on the suggestion of using the Intel diagnostic tool. I've never used it before. I've run the Full test twice, and it has Passed both times (phew).
I kept an eye on the parameters throughout the tests, and all looks well. Core voltage never exceeded 1.24V (CPU-Z), temps never exceeded 70 degrees, long term power limit stayed true to 125W, and both P and E core clock speeds were continuously maxxed out throughout the load testing.
Looks like everything should be fine!

Thanks again for your support!

 

[Tetras]

Thanks again for your support!

No problem!

A very good shout on the suggestion of using the Intel diagnostic tool. I've never used it before. I've run the Full test twice, and it has Passed both times (phew).
I kept an eye on the parameters throughout the tests, and all looks well. Core voltage never exceeded 1.24V (CPU-Z), temps never exceeded 70 degrees, long term power limit stayed true to 125W, and both P and E core clock speeds were continuously maxxed out throughout the load testing.

Sounds like you're all good.

Looking online it seems that other folks with my motherboard experienced the same thing, and was due to a specific BIOS version as suspected. Quite a mess up if you ask me.

Unfortunately this is rather common (see: here ).

Ah I understand. So high voltage is more likely to cause damage where high load and temps are also present. I certainly didn't run heavy loads in that condition for very long, as the temperatures alone were quite concerning, before I had even looked at the voltages. (I even reseated the cooler initially thinking it was that).

If you have an hour to spare and want an explanation from someone who knows far more than me, have a watch:

Rambling about chip degradation

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buildzoidTeespring: https://teespring.com/stores/actually-hardcore-overclockingThe Twitch:https://www.twitch.tv/buildzoid...

www.youtube.com

 

[martinwood333]

Sounds like you're all good.

Excellent.

Unfortunately this is rather common (see: here

).

If you have an hour to spare and want an explanation from someone who knows far more than me, have a watch:

Ah! I had no idea it was that prevalent. I guess I'll need to tread more carefully in future!

Also an interesting vid. I'll be giving it a watch shortly!

Cheers!

 

[Straz]

Hi there, I hope all is well.

I just recently upgraded to a 13600KF a few weeks ago and have a quick question regarding the voltages. I'm using an ASRock Z690 Steel Legend board. (BIOS updated for 13th gen CPU). I don't overclock.

TL;DR: 13600KF on stock clocks hit 1.5v on a few occasions. Has it been hurt?

Upon installation of the CPU, I noticed right away some insanely high load temps when gaming (80 degrees and into the 90's). Cooling was not the issue. I read that voltages could be the culprit so I monitored them. When gaming, the voltage was consistently in the 1.35-1.45 range, and actually hit 1.5v on a couple of occasions.

After resetting BIOS, ensuring correct PL1/2 power limits were set, and trying numerous things to no avail, a BIOS update to a more recent version (which quoted improved CPU microcode etc) thankfully fixed it. The voltages have dropped to their normal acceptable range, and temperatures have also dropped to where they should be (around 65 average under gaming load, high 30's when idle). I presume there were errors in the BIOS leading to it applying an OC voltage when it wasn't needed? This is my first ever K processor so this is all new to me.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and all seems well, its performing perfectly fine as far as I can tell, however I'm now questioning if I've degraded the CPU at all with those brief times where it hit 1.5V? Prior to fixing it with the BIOS update, there were a few occasions where the CPU hit 100 degrees during testing on CineBench and it thermal throttled aswell.

Should I have anything to worry about? Are there any means of testing it to see if something has been degraded? Am I overthinking it and worrying about nothing and need to take a chill pill?

Any help or advice is much appreciated

I have the same chip, and also had insane voltage and temps at first. I had to do an offset though as I don't have a Z board. End result is the same.

 

[martinwood333]

I have the same chip, and also had insane voltage and temps at first. I had to do an offset though as I don't have a Z board. End result is the same.

Ah yeah, I had planned on going down the undervolting route had the BIOS update not worked. It seems undervolting is common to bring temperatures back in line.

I wondered if any other 13th gen cpu's had the same issue or if it was specific to the 13600, and I managed to find this post on the Intel help forum.

According to Intel, the maximum operating voltage of 13th Gen processors is 1.72v, and they also state running 1.5v under gaming loads is absolutely fine. Obviously not ideal given the increased temperatures, but not dangerous. It seems these 13th gen chips are more robust than initially thought.

 

[Straz]

Ah yeah, I had planned on going down the undervolting route had the BIOS update not worked. It seems undervolting is common to bring temperatures back in line.

I wondered if any other 13th gen cpu's had the same issue or if it was specific to the 13600, and I managed to find this post on the Intel help forum.

According to Intel, the maximum operating voltage of 13th Gen processors is 1.72v, and they also state running 1.5v under gaming loads is absolutely fine. Obviously not ideal given the increased temperatures, but not dangerous. It seems these 13th gen chips are more robust than initially thought.

Yeah, I did read somewhere that they are much for resilient to higher voltages and are essentially designed to run near the TJ Max. That wasn't something I was comfortable with however! Mine doesn't tend to go much above 70c now under load.