Bumping VCore... How to know when to call it quits?

Hey guys...

Something thats always confused me a bit.

Lets use a 2600K for example.

It's been said that the absolute MAX VCore to use under air or water for even just binning the chip or getting a CPU-Z Validation is 1.550V

Is there a particular reason NOT to go higher (obviously for short periods of time and low load, such as a CPU-Z Validation), especially when temps are perfectly fine?

I'm just confused because I thought the reason to limit VCore was temp...

Reason I ask...

I just got this new chip from Joe (EarthDog), and it'll do 55X multi for just long enough to validate, then it BSOD's with a either code 101 or 124. (Both of which indicate a need for more VCore)

Same BSOD error if you attempt to go to 56X Multi...

I'd like to see if the chip has anything more in it, and temps at 1.550 are well within spec at 22-25C with only CPU-Z and the AI Suite II running.

Let me know what you guys think...

Typically, the "max" voltages you will hear about have to deal with things like 24/7 systems under water or air. I usually run with the rule that I stop raising voltage when I stop seeing results. IMO, as long as your temperatures are not such that you're killing the chip, and you want to raise the voltage, go ahead.

Temperature is not always an indicator... You could still fry a chip with too much voltage even if it was subzero.

I'd stop when increases in voltage and multipler produce diminshing/negligble returns or no jump at all... After all if 1.55V gets you to say 4.7GHz but 1.4V will run 4.6GHz how much have you really gained with that 2% bump in CPU clock for the 11% increase in vcore?

These are just made up numbers btw before someone jumps all over me about it lol... for example only

When more voltage doesn't help, stop.

Bobnova said:

When more voltage doesn't help, stop.

Click to expand...

This is the answer is needed.



That makes good sense to me.

EDIT: The bump to 1.600V did not get me the 56X multi... So I guess I'm just gonna call it quits at 55x.

I do wonder why the chip is less capable in my hands than it was in Joes... He actually got it to run SuperPi @ 55x @ 1.55V

I can squeek out a validation before it BSOD's, but thats it.

No voltage can help with Sandy Bridge multipliers - once they hit that wall you have the max multi of your chip + whatever bclk it will muster. 1.5 is all you need to test max multi. When the accursed blinking cursor appears after POST, you've passed the max multi.

OK... So with that knowledge...

To get the 55X to be more "usable"... Such as for a SuperPi run (Assuming proper cooling)... I'd need to add VCore accordingly correct?

Another note... I've never gotten this "Blinking Cursor" I've heard about... All I get is a hang at error code 71 on the MoBo LED Diagnostic.

Vcore yes. A bit o' cold would probably help keep your chip alive.

Sounds like they're ahead of the curve with the MIVE-z's UEFI and can detect pre-POST whether the multi is good or not.

Yeah... I'm hoping to get a SS unit one of these days soon, and I'll give this chip a good thrashing at that point.

I was just hoping to maybe see what it'd do under "slightly unreasonable" voltage.

I'll just be content with the knowledge that it's a 55x chip and leave it alone till I can get some better cooling on it.

As for the UEFI on the MIVE-Z... Oddly enough, that code comes back as "PCH DXE SMM initialization is started"... Whatever THAT means! LOL

More volts will make a multi more usable most of the time.
More cold and the same volts does wonders though.

Bobnova said:

More volts will make a multi more usable most of the time.
More cold and the same volts does wonders though.

Click to expand...

Yeah... I was just looking back through my PM's with Earthdog...

He was using SS when he ran SuperPi at 55x...

So that explains why I'm not able to do it on air.

I didn't realize that the cold itself would help stability... My thought was that cold just allowed you to run more voltage, which allowed more stability.

Learn something new everyday!

Cold gives SB a rock.
Most SB chips on cold will run vantage CPU test and/or wp1024 within 1% of their CPUz max.

Sweet...

That gives me something to look forward to then when I finally pick up an SS.

I don't want to go full on DICE or LN2 with this setup as it is my daily rig for now, but putting an SS to it wouldn't scare me too much I don't think.

Dice/ ln2 on your daily rig is half the fun. I've always done that

King107s said:

Temperature is not always an indicator... You could still fry a chip with too much voltage even if it was subzero.

I'd stop when increases in voltage and multipler produce diminshing/negligble returns or no jump at all... After all if 1.55V gets you to say 4.7GHz but 1.4V will run 4.6GHz how much have you really gained with that 2% bump in CPU clock for the 11% increase in vcore?

These are just made up numbers btw before someone jumps all over me about it lol... for example only

Click to expand...

If we didn't basically kill chips for that extra percent, what kind of benching team would we be?

I was just addressing his question... which was when to stop.

It all depends on what the goal is really, for 24/7 use or for benching.
For benching, you go till adding more vcore gains 0.001%, for 24/7 it's a better idea to stop rather sooner like King said.

Chip lifespan with a 24/7 OC done to benching standards is likely to be short!

hokiealumnus said:

When the accursed blinking cursor appears after POST, you've passed the max multi.

Click to expand...

I've run into the blinking cursor a few times myself, on socket 939 hardware. Never have taken it as a good sign.

As for myself, if I'm running an AMD socket 939 chip rated to say 1.4V, the max I'll usually go is 1.55V on air cooling or stock cooling (assuming temps are fairly reasonable). That's for two reasons, 1. that's the max my board will go (within reason of course(next step up is 1.65V, and I'm not going that high on ambient air cooling)), 2. at that point it's usually running too hot under load for my tastes anyway, and for not much gain.

Miss my 754 rig though, that chip would do a 300MHz overclock (+17%) at just .025V over stock (stock is 1.40, so running at 1.425V), assuming I remember that right.

More to the point, I usually stop when a. it's running hotter than I'd like, b. increasing the voltage doesn't help to stabilize it, and c. an increase in voltage doesn't gain much in the way of speed. If at least two of those conditions are met I back off the overclock (and the voltage required for stability).

I, myself, prefer more of a 24/7 stable overclock (while hopefully not raising temps too much), so I try not to go over stock voltage by too much if I can get away with a speed boost without having to.

I don't think we are looking for 24/7 here. Give it just enough to get your next val before it bursts into flames ;-) I keep pushing till either temps get the best of me or I get no more gains. I push my E6300 to 1.53 to get 3920 on AIR. Adding more volts was getting me nowhere. I had it as high as 1.75 but it would just not finish loading windows. Would get to the log-in then BSD.