i7 4790k + Asus maximus VII ranger, cpu voltage

[OskarB]

Hello dear ROG members. I've noticed that my cpu voltage in bios is set to auto. In bios is says that the cpu voltage is 1.056, but whenever i start a program, such as cpu-z to check the vcore, it says 1.248. Isn't this a bit high voltage for stock settings on the i7 4790k? I've seen others who usually run 1.2 cpu voltage during overclock @ 4,5 ghz and was wondering why the auto setting in bios makes my cpu voltage so high. Should I set it to manual for about 1.175-1.2 or what do you guys think? So far i've tried using cpu voltage set to adapting and then the cpu voltage acts similar to the auto setting. Even though I set Addiotional turbo boost to 1.2 it stil exceeds to 1.248. At this point I want to set cpu voltage manually to 1.2 and by that, not receive higher temperatures than needed.

Also I have a simple question regarding temperatures during stress test. When I set vcore to 1.2 and perform a stress test on my i7 4790k, it stays around 60 C. I use a Noctua nh-u12p se2 to cool it. Is it acceptable?

[Nate152]

Hello OskarB

At stock settings your 4790k is getting overvolted some.


Try setting the cpu core voltage to manual and enter in 1.20v in the cpu core voltage override. If you pass the stress test try 1.19v and test again, if it passes try 1.18v and so on until it crashes then bring it back up .01v.

60c for stress testing temp is very good and says you have some room to overclock.

[OskarB]

Cheers for the reply Nate! Do you know why the auto setting is causing the overvolt? From what I've read on other posts of the same issue, there's some Intel setting in bios which automatically raises the volt during load while vcore is set to adaptive and auto. It still sounds weird to me why it would be so high. Also, is it safe to set vcore to manual? Will it cause damage to the cpu in a couple years? I'd really like to use the auto/adaptive v core setting to lower vcore during idle

[Nate152]

Manual is fine to use, I'm overclocked to 5.0GHz in manual mode. You can use manual until you get the lowest voltage for 4.4GHz then you can switch to adaptive mode. If switching to adaptive raises the vcore just let it in manual mode, it's perfectly fine.

all 4790k's get overvolted and I believe it's due to the fact that all cpu's are not created equal, some will need more voltage and some will need less for the same speed. So to ensure stability Asus sets the voltage a little higher than what is required for all cpu's, that's what I think is going on.

[OskarB]

Nate, u da real mvp. I think I will use manual mode further on to be able to play games during nice temps. The only difference right now is about 2-3 C high temps during idle but that's not what's important eh? Thanks you so much for helping me out though!

[Nate152]

You're welcome

2-3 degrees doesn't mean much at idle, it's the load temps you want to pay attention to.