Haswell: what voltages are safe?

Guys, I would have thought that the new architecture would have lowered the safe voltage levels but it seems most people are still pushing the same voltages as Ivy and Sandy, so what is regarded as safe? What do you think will cause degradation? I noticed that vcore at all stock, only with ram set to 2400c9 XMP, raises vcore to 1.243v so this makes me think that maybe 1.30v isnt a big deal.

With adaptive voltages working so well, does that make higher voltages slightly more safe since the cpu will spend most of its life down clocked and down volted?

Any input would be great.

:up:

I doubt you're going to get any help. Everyone here's keeping their settings a guarded secret at the moment for that top overclocking spot. lol I've had to go to other forums to find out what works and what doesn't.

FWIW, I'm on 1.4 vcore so far running a stable 4.7 on water. Not delided. I haven't used adaptive volts though.

anything more than 1.7vcore is possible to kill the CPU, be it ln2 cooled or not.

for 4.7GHz i have 1.27 Vcore, 1.3V Vring, 1.8V VRIN.

up to 1.3 V on all lines (CPU, Cache, vccSA, AIO, DIO) should be fine. Don't push more than you need, is better to clock CPU up, then add volts, rather than set voltage and tune CPU to that voltage. ASUS guides say up to 1.3 or so, other guides I have (dunno if I can share) say similar things.


Seems slightly higher cache than cpu-V pays off for some.

over 1.5v n the CPU can kill it on air, Ln2 over 1.8v can kill it, over 2.8v VIN can also kill it. If you have an asus board all the voltages will be in volts, on all if not most other boards they will be in offsets for the system agent, IOA and IOD because that is how Intel defines them(and how it comes in the UEFi code) and you can go to +0.3v on air with them. In my OC guide i outline safe voltages. IDk how you can translate them to asus board if you are using one, but follow shamino's guide, or there are a bunch of guides, i think hardocp listed a asus guide on kylebennet's site too, maybe look there, or raja has one on the ROG forums and i think maybe here i didn't look. System agent can help, but id stay under 1.3v like dave said, it can help a lot with CPU staiblization and of course uncore clocks.

There are tricks with volts to get higher BCLk too, and somti mes it isn't what you think, like now I can do 198mhz BCLK on air with the OC where as before I could only do 189. But you don't need BCLK unless you are going for memory frequency WRs with single sided hynix MFR on LN2 lol.

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Originally Posted by sin0822

over 1.5v n the CPU can kill it on air, Ln2 over 1.8v can kill it, over 2.8v VIN can also kill it. If you have an asus board all the voltages will be in volts, on all if not most other boards they will be in offsets for the system agent, IOA and IOD because that is how Intel defines them(and how it comes in the UEFi code) and you can go to +0.3v on air with them. In my OC guide i outline safe voltages. IDk how you can translate them to asus board if you are using one, but follow shamino's guide, or there are a bunch of guides, i think hardocp listed a asus guide on kylebennet's site too, maybe look there, or raja has one on the ROG forums and i think maybe here i didn't look. System agent can help, but id stay under 1.3v like dave said, it can help a lot with CPU staiblization and of course uncore clocks.

There are tricks with volts to get higher BCLk too, and somti mes it isn't what you think, like now I can do 198mhz BCLK on air with the OC where as before I could only do 189. But you don't need BCLK unless you are going for memory frequency WRs with single sided hynix MFR on LN2 lol.

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There are quite a few offsets on the MSI board and coming from a socket 775/x38 system this has been a huge learning curve. Looking for any tip I can get. Seems like I'm trying to force the stable frequency with more core voltage whereas if I learned the other settings I can come down on the core voltage.

Anyone want to clue me in as to what 2T/2T is?

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5GHz@1.4V 2C/2T

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Originally Posted by Rob94hawk

Anyone want to clue me in as to what 2C/2T is?

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It refers to disabling cores/threads in BIOS... 2-cores/2-threads... Or 4-cores/4-threads.

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Originally Posted by Rob94hawk

I doubt you're going to get any help. Everyone here's keeping their settings a guarded secret at the moment for that top overclocking spot. lol I've had to go to other forums to find out what works and what doesn't.

FWIW, I'm on 1.4 vcore so far running a stable 4.7 on water. Not delided. I haven't used adaptive volts though.

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No guarded secret dude, you just need to test what voltages your cpu likes as they are all different. I spent a few hours, (yes hours) dialing in SA, IOA and IOD as these voltages are the most important.

Input voltage should be no more than 2.1-2.3 on air to keep it safe.

Why does v-in need to be so high? What does it help?

:)

it helps stabilize the CPU, and might require less vcore if you find the sweet spot. ring voltage helps too with stabilizing the CPU.

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Originally Posted by l0ud_sil3nc3

No guarded secret dude, you just need to test what voltages your cpu likes as they are all different. I spent a few hours, (yes hours) dialing in SA, IOA and IOD as these voltages are the most important.

Input voltage should be no more than 2.1-2.3 on air to keep it safe.

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Appreciate the tip! By increasing the VCCIN a bit to 1.8 I was able to lower the voltage to 1.38 from 1.4 for 4.7 ghz. (ring 4.4ghz/1.15v) Unfortunately the BSOD showed up 7 hours later (only lasted 4 last time) just by watching a youtube vid. But rock solid stable through gaming. Go figure :shrug:

No need to touch SA, IOA and IOD since my memory's XMP is 1600 @ 9-9-9-24 2T.

If I actually knew what I was doing I probably could've hit 5 ghz last month lol

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Originally Posted by Rob94hawk

Appreciate the tip! By increasing the VCCIN a bit to 1.8 I was able to lower the voltage to 1.38 from 1.4 for 4.7 ghz. (ring 4.4ghz/1.15v) Unfortunately the BSOD showed up 7 hours later (only lasted 4 last time) just by watching a youtube vid. But rock solid stable through gaming. Go figure :shrug:

No need to touch SA, IOA and IOD since my memory's XMP is 1600 @ 9-9-9-24 2T.

If I actually knew what I was doing I probably could've hit 5 ghz last month lol

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uit seems that this easy crashing by watching youtube videos is pretty common with Z87, it might be related to GPU incompatibilities or cache frequency or DPC.

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Originally Posted by sin0822

uit seems that this easy crashing by watching youtube videos is pretty common with Z87, it might be related to GPU incompatibilities or cache frequency or DPC.

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Np with m6e. Running 24/7. I suspect it because of io a/d. Running them on offet auto with c-states require higher voltages as to fully manual without c-states.

btw want to ask. is it ok to run cache/vring voltage higher than vcore?? to get 1:1.

XS= xtreme safety? :p

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Originally Posted by cstkl1

btw want to ask. is it ok to run cache/vring voltage higher than vcore?? to get 1:1.

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why not? i dont find any relation between the 2 volts, they are individual domains.

oh ok. cause noticed on ure gamer profile its the same and all the guides were asking it to run vcore and cache voltage the same.

neat.

gotta love all the misinformation out there. So which is it? who's right? who's wrong? says who? half the people say do not exceed your vcore voltage with your cache (vring) voltage - yet here you guys are telling them its ok. Internet is a breadth of knowledge but a double edged sword in that regard.

anvhow vccin helps stabilize the cpu because that IS is the voltage supplied to the voltage regulator. It needs to be higher than ALL other voltages, for obvious reasons.

soa/ioa/iod aren't the most important voltages, however they do help with higher memory clocks due to stabilizing the IMC (memory controller) which can get pretty wonky at higher clocks.

I will agree with 2.3 being adequate for anything apart from XOC perhaps. If you aren't getting the oc you want and your VCCIN is to this point, don't exceed it, your problem is elsewhere. As for voltages, up until a point - with these chips especially, temperature will be your enemy to a much greater degree than voltage. If your temps are in check 1.5 is perfectly safe. (course if your temps are In check at this point, you aren't on air =P)

As for Vring, keeping them lower than your vcore at the high end is a good idea. Many have killed their chips w/ too high of a ring bus voltage. I wouldn't exceed 1.4 especially on air. Many say 1.3 but we have a lot of conservatives out there. Your uncore will crap out before your core OC will and it would end up taking you too much voltage to keep them 1/1. Best ive managed is a balance im happy with at 48/46 with intelburntest on maximum getting me up to about 73 degrees. If I go for 47 uncore the required voltage to be stable is too high for me (1.5) vring. On the core side, 4.9 is possible stable but that just widens the gap and the tradeoff for an extra 100 MHz is another full tenth of a volt and another 10c. (1.525 from 1.425) Initially I wanted 5.0 and felt I had the cooling to do it, this chip just isn't the one. 4.8 is the area where it starts to scale out of control.

I do have another 4770k that im debating opening up and trying out, although the minute I open it - im tossing 250-300 bucks away for a potential 200mhz lol. Sounds fun but my brain is telling me sell it =P

my cpu scaling
4.6 GHz: 1.15V Vcore, 1.05 Vring, 1.8V VRIN
4.7 GHz: 1.2V
4.8GHz: 1.25V
4.9GHz: 1.3V, 1.1V, 1.9V
5.0GHz: 1.35V, 1.1V, 1.9V
5.2GHz: 1.45V, 1.2V, 2.2V

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Originally Posted by gravimag

my cpu scaling
4.6 GHz: 1.15V Vcore, 1.05 Vring, 1.8V VRIN
4.7 GHz: 1.2V
4.8GHz: 1.25V
4.9GHz: 1.3V, 1.1V, 1.9V
5.0GHz: 1.35V, 1.1V, 1.9V
5.2GHz: 1.45V, 1.2V, 2.2V

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gonna pull your card on that. ss or it didn't happen.