Quick question: are recommended voltages in BIOS/EFI or CPU-Z?

ng93 · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:32

As in title, TIA.

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:16

Recommended ?

CPU-Z is quite accurate with my motherboard, my multimeter reading of the CPU Core voltage with my motherboard is within 0.002 accuracy.

ng93 · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:39

Aye in overclocking guides they always have a recommended max voltage, which currently is what my voltage is set to in the BIOS. But CPU-Z is just over 0.1v under this (I guess that's vDrop?) so was wondering whether it would be safe to set my BIOS voltage to 0.1v over the max recommended. Thanks

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:56

ng93 said:
Aye in overclocking guides they always have a recommended max voltage, which currently is what my voltage is set to in the BIOS. But CPU-Z is just over 0.1v under this (I guess that's vDrop?) so was wondering whether it would be safe to set my BIOS voltage to 0.1v over the max recommended. Thanks

You using Manual Voltage? what CPU, if you can run your CPU on lower volts and stable all the better.

ng93 · 16 Nov 2011 at 16:05

Nelly said:
You using Manual Voltage? what CPU, if you can run your CPU on lower volts and stable all the better.

Manual voltage, 2500K on P67a-gd53, 1.35v in BIOS, 1.336v in CPUZ, 1.17v VCCIO, 1.185v VCCSA, 1.9v PLL. Just trying to squeeze some extra mhz out of it (gets to ~10mins in Prime 95 at 4.6Ghz, then crashes), but don't want to damage anything, this processor needs to last 18 months and I don't really wan't to be buying a new one.

On a side note my fan controller just broke so dropped down to 4.4Ghz at 1.3v for now to keep temps down as i've disconnected a couple of fans which are way to loud without a controller.

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 16:24

ng93 said:
Manual voltage, 2500K on P67a-gd53, 1.35v in BIOS, 1.336v in CPUZ, 1.17v VCCIO, 1.185v VCCSA, 1.9v PLL. Just trying to squeeze some extra mhz out of it (gets to ~10mins in Prime 95 at 4.6Ghz, then crashes), but don't want to damage anything, this processor needs to last 18 months and I don't really wan't to be buying a new one.

On a side note my fan controller just broke so dropped down to 4.4Ghz at 1.3v for now to keep temps down as i've disconnected a couple of fans which are way to loud without a controller.

I've got no experiance of using offset voltage with any motherboard as I've been with AMD for a few years and my board doesnt have the BIOS feature, but you could also read up on that and try using it.

Then you would run idle around 0.9v using around 1.34v load if you can set it right and it's stable.

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 16:29

Avtually forget what I said, I've just noticed your using a MSI P67 that doesnt have offset like mine.

What does it run at Auto Voltage at 4.5GHz?

ng93 · 16 Nov 2011 at 16:34

My motherboard apparently doesn't support offset voltage. But anyway i thought that that wasnt really a problem as AFAIK having a high idle voltage won't damage anything? Just wanting to increase the voltage so that CPUZ is max recommended but BIOS is > max recommended if its safe? TIA

Edit: just seen your last post, haven't tried auto voltage, didn't want to try that and for it to put dangerous volts through the chip, or would it stick to safe?

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:19

ng93 said:
My motherboard apparently doesn't support offset voltage. But anyway i thought that that wasnt really a problem as AFAIK having a high idle voltage won't damage anything? Just wanting to increase the voltage so that CPUZ is max recommended but BIOS is > max recommended if its safe? TIA

Edit: just seen your last post, haven't tried auto voltage, didn't want to try that and for it to put dangerous volts through the chip, or would it stick to safe?

Have a look here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN

***OVERCLOCKING GUIDELINES***

- Do not exceed 1.425v core voltage, doing so could limit lifespan of the CPU
- Aim to keep temperatures below 70c underload if at all possible
- Do not overclock with BCLK, again doing so could limit lifespan of the CPU
- Recommended memory voltage is 1.50v, so make sure to run your memory at 1.50v, higher than 1.60v could limit lifespan of the CPU
- These recommendations come from OcUK and Intel, your warranty is un-affected but we highly recommend you adhere to the above to make sure your CPU lifespan is un-affected
- All Sandybridge CPU's worldwide should be run at the above or lower voltages, no higher!

ng93 · 16 Nov 2011 at 17:46

Oh i've been hearing 1.35 as the max for 24/7, but then again they were old posts/threads, is this higher voltage a new thing? TIA

Nelly · 16 Nov 2011 at 18:20

ng93 said:
Oh i've been hearing 1.35 as the max for 24/7, but then again they were old posts/threads, is this higher voltage a new thing? TIA

I'm not sure but if you look in other forums like overclock.net and even on the MSI forums people are saying 1.4v is fine, at the end of the day best to find your best clock at lowest volts.