i7 6700K high stock core voltage?

[riskyfrisky]

Hello!

I'll get straight to the point - what is the recommended stock core voltage for an i7 6700K? I've been using CPU-Z to check voltage under load and I've noticed spikes of 1.440v, which I find scary.

I've been looking online and some people say that's too high, is it? I'm not overclocking at all I just want to make sure this chip lasts as long as possible.

I've been into the BIOS for my motherboard (Asus Z170 E, latest BIOS) and turned on 'EPU Power Saving' and changed 'CPU Core/Cache Voltage' from 'Auto' to 'Adaptive' but games started crashing. Is there any way to bring voltage down if it is too high?

If anyone can help that'd be great, cheers.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Are your temperatures / performance ok?

It's not really going to overvolt at 1.44 and if you're not overclocking at all leaving everything at stock won't be an issue in my experience

Thanks for the quick reply!

Performance is good, I haven't checked CPU temps but the cooler is a Hyper 212 with a Corsair SP120 fan on it - it's pretty quiet during gaming and I've had no heat issues so far.

I would prefer to leave voltages at stock levels it's just whether those stock voltages are too high - I'm just concerned it may shorten the life of the CPU.

 

[riskyfrisky]

1.44V for stock is pretty high. That's what I set for 4.8GHz or so..
You can try lowering the voltage manually to 1.35V.

Manually set to 1.35v, though it took me about 15 minutes to work out how to set the ruddy thing! I'll be a bit happier if I can keep it there just hope it's stable.

 

[riskyfrisky]

It's tricky to decide whether to leave it full auto or whether to find a happy minimum and leave it there...

Asus board on auto, mines the same. It's high but pretty rare and won't do it much harm, set it manually if you wish though

I wouldn't turn on power saving personally.

Have you got the exact same motherboard?

 

[riskyfrisky]

Pretty sure volts should be 1.25 or less for stock. Set them manually in bios, see where lowest stable vcore is

What makes you think that is the maximum at stock?

What I've done is I've set it back to auto and I'll monitor temps and voltages tonight to see how high they go during gaming.

If 1.25v is where it should be then what is the middle ground here? i.e. what is better; leaving it at stock voltages so that it draws less when idling, or set it to a manual 1.25v so that it doesn't go over this under load?

It seems like I'm obsessing over this but I just want to make sure that I choose whatever increases the longevity of the chip. I'm not sure I want to run it at a set voltage when it's just idling.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Just had an hour's game session and highest recorded temp from HWMonitor was 79 degrees, which is actually a lot higher than I thought it would be, even with air cooling. Highest voltage recorded was 1.406v, that's with auto voltage settings. I was playing Just Cause 3 and had one crash but then it is JC3 lol.

If temps become an issue I may look to lower the core voltage or LLC until I find a sweet spot, 79 degrees is a bit rich for my blood.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Your board is playing silly buggers if it's on auto. Is it flashed with the latest BIOS?

Only option is to play with offsets or manually fix the voltage.

Spiking to 1.44v under load is not ideal!

Yep latest BIOS 3301 from February.

I'm going to set it manually to around 1.2v and see what happens. It's a bit weird this motherboard though, I was after an ASRock board but it wasn't in stock when I came to order so I went for the Asus. I had to put the latest BIOS on because the case fans would sometimes not work on the older BIOS, but it's been ok since updating.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Set 1.26v manually in the BIOS we'll see whether that's enough.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Yeah under gaming I noticed in CPU Z that the voltage was staying around about 1.4v (can't remember the exact figure) so it's a hell of a lot better assuming I don't have to crank it back up.

 

[riskyfrisky]

Temps so far haven't gone over 69 degrees so that's 10 less though I've only played American Truck Sim lol!

 

[riskyfrisky]

I've played a solid 2 hours of Just Cause 3 and temps maxed out at 71 degrees. What concerning me is that HWmonitor is saying maximum voltage to the CPU was 1.420v - how is this happening when I set it manually to 1.26v? Are the readings wrong?

 

[riskyfrisky]

I did mention the LLC (load-Line Calibration) earlier, and turning it down (if it remains stable). That can be one cause for the Vcore shooting beyond what you've set, so worth playing with.

Sorry for ignoring your post!

It's becoming a bit of a chore now - one of the reasons I don't overclock is because I'm not interested in playing around with settings, yet that's exactly what I'm having to do here. I'd leave it as is but I just think 1.4v+ is way too high.