Asus RealBench 6700K OC Results?

[Steve_N__Mavron]

Skylake seems to be a very forgiving processor. Today I wondered if my 6700K could do 4.5Ghz at "less than 1.3V" so here are two example stress test runs of Asus RealBench at 1.28V and 1.29V, especially being air cooled with my Thermalright Silver Arrow ITX cooler and Asus Z170i Pro Gaming motherboard.

I think the score results will fluctuate with marginally higher or lower results running at the same settings. Admittedly I didn't do any long duration testing yet. Just getting a feel for what might be promising to use. So I'm not sure what to make of it, compared to keeping things set to stable 4.4Ghz at 1.28V.

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Mon Apr 4 2016 20:05:11
(4.5Ghz @ 1.28V 90.55W 73c Max Load)
Image Editing: 197331 Time: 25.784
Encoding: 179560 Time: 53.397
OpenCL: 100032K Samples/sec: 2626
Heavy Multitasking: 184685 Time: 52.955
System Score: 145395
----------------------------
Mon Apr 4 2016 20:31:06
(4.5Ghz @ 1.29V 92.01W 74c Max Load)
Image Editing: 197331 Time: 25.784
Encoding: 182014 Time: 52.677
OpenCL: 100032K Samples/sec: 2630
Heavy Multitasking: 183002 Time: 53.442
System Score: 145588
----------------------------

[Chino]

Looking good so far.

[Steve_N__Mavron]

I'll try 4.5Ghz @ 1.28V again tonight. I usually just run RealBench and CineBench once as a survival test after a settings change before proceeding. How many cycles would be good to test general stability and reliability? If it fails after further testing with voltages below 1.3V then I'll fall back to 4.4Ghz.

I just start doing normal stuff like GIMP image editing and playing games like Quake Live to see if it crashes LOL. I plan on playing the new Doom shooter when it comes out in May.

Also, I tend to enable XMP before entering the core multiplier and manual core voltage so all are done at the same time. Then after testing I boot back into BIOS and set it to adaptive voltage, same value. Any advantage to doing one or the other (XMP/Core) separately or in what order, verses at the same time?

[Chino]

It's up to you on how long to run stress tests. Some users do hours and others do days. 😛

[Steve_N__Mavron]

Chino wrote:
It's up to you on how long to run stress tests. Some users do hours and others do days. 😛

Yeah I just want to make sure the max temps stay under control and stable at low enough voltage not to shorten CPU lifetime.

[Steve_N__Mavron]

I re-tested my 6700K overclock settings for a target of 4.5Ghz at minimum stable voltage with low CPU thermals and best benchmark performance. I measured temperature changes with CPUID HWMonitor.

Not sure what to do. - How do you evaluate overclock benchmark scores to choose what to go with? I like 4.5ghz @ 1.28V because the temps are in a solid good range compared to anything above it. But I'm looking for a good candidate from the results below to do more in-depth stress testing with to verify 24/7 use stability. I know the temps keep trending down a degree or so with lower voltages but score results seem to be stagnating somewhat. The ambient room temperature is 73 fahrenheit.
I'm surprised 4.5Ghz is being so accommodating for me. It didn't crash during a test until at 1.23V. With a 4.6Ghz OC it crashed when trying less than 1.32V for example. Maybe that has to do with the ASUS Digi+ VRM power control being automatically on at 4.5Ghz and below and turning itself off at 4.6Ghz and above. Here's a recap of my RealBench and CineBench scores for 4.5Ghz overclocks between 1.30V down to 1.24V so far. Just one pass each boot trying to gauge the relative performance trending between them. I have the Intel i7-6700K on the ASUS Z170i Pro Gaming motherboard and air-cooled using the nice Thermalright Silver Arrow ITX.

Tue Apr 5 2016 18:26:58
4.5Ghz @ 1.30V 92.81W 74c Max Load
Image Editing: 197010 Time: 25.826
Encoding: 178348 Time: 53.76
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2628
Heavy Multitasking: 180719 Time: 54.117
System Score: 144020
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 968cb]

Tue Apr 5 2016 19:51:31
4.5Ghz @ 1.29V 92.62W 73c Max Load
Image Editing: 197807 Time: 25.722
Encoding: 178883 Time: 53.599
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2628
Heavy Multitasking: 184375 Time: 53.044
System Score: 145267
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 985cb]

Tue Apr 5 2016 20:19:42
4.5Ghz @ 1.28V 90.93W 73c Max Load
Image Editing: 197094 Time: 25.815
Encoding: 182499 Time: 52.537
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2622
Heavy Multitasking: 183438 Time: 53.315
System Score: 145759
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 989cb]

Tue Apr 5 2016 20:50:44
4.5Ghz @ 1.27V 89.68W 71c Max Load
Image Editing: 196850 Time: 25.847
Encoding: 181529 Time: 52.818
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2626
Heavy Multitasking: 184090 Time: 53.126
System Score: 145618
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 986cb]

Wed Apr 6 2016 19:31:38
4.5Ghz @ 1.26V 89.10W 71c Max Load
Image Editing: 198781 Time: 25.596
Encoding: 180195 Time: 53.209
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2626
Heavy Multitasking: 183479 Time: 53.303
System Score: 145615
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 993cb]

Wed Apr 6 2016 19:58:04
4.5Ghz @ 1.25V 87.84W 70c Max Load
Image Editing: 197692 Time: 25.737
Encoding: 178208 Time: 53.802
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2630
Heavy Multitasking: 184337 Time: 53.055
System Score: 145060
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 993cb]

Wed Apr 6 2016 22:28:09
4.5Ghz @ 1.24V 87.05W 69c Max Load
Image Editing: 197815 Time: 25.721
Encoding: 178414 Time: 53.74
OpenCL: 100032 KSamples/sec: 2632
Heavy Multitasking: 184149 Time: 53.109
System Score: 145096
----------------------------
[CineBench CPU 993cb]

Note: Testing @ 1.23V crashed Windows 10 (bluescreen) during the RealBench encoding benchmark test.

[Chino]

Your results are within the margin of error so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Concentrate on finding the voltage you need for stability. 😛