i7 6700k Vcore settings on Maximus VIII Hero

[RolGil]

Hi there,
so my second post, about cpu temp and voltage. Again sorry for my english...
Unfortunately it seems I've got a ''bad'' i7 6700k chip: VID is very high. With everything set on Auto in the BIOS the core voltage reported in BIOS screen is 1.328 V. Actually when I enter the OS and read the voltages with the last version of HWInfo (64 bit), cores VIDs are all around 1.4 V (maximum reached is 1.42) under load (OCCT stress test - linnpack). The same with the last ROG version of CPUZ. All of this at stock, no OC except the standard turbo boost @4.2 GHz. Ok, bad luck but I can live with it since it seems that voltages are anyway in the intel specification range, from what I can understand it is reported in the Intel datasheet (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/desktop-6th-gen-core-family-datasheet-vol-1.h... pag.114). It seems that this cpu can handle up to 1.52 V.
Problem are the temperatures: playing Witcher 3 on ultra (hairworks off) means that the cpu reach 80° C on some core...
I've tryed to manually adjust the Vcore in the BIOS: with a 1.28 V system is totally stable (even 30 min of OCCT stress test with full 100% load on all cores went ok). So it seems that the cpu can manage without problems lower voltages. And the temperatures drop to max 67° C under full load 😄
Now the main topic: I can't manage to set this maximum voltage using the adaptive mode, and this seems to be normal since adaptive is not meant to work for undervolting (at least that is what I understood reading some guides and threads). On the other side, offset mode does not work properly since it lowers even the idle voltage at a point that the system is competely unstable if I want the load to be 1.28 - 1.3.
Question is: apart from power consuming issues, can I stick with manual even if this means that that 1.28 V will be constant even in idle (already tested, even if the VID from the cpu drops to 0.8 V and the frequency drops too the Vcore sits on 1.28 V)? Or can it damage the cpu since in idle it is receiving more voltage than needed?
Thanks for your help!
P.S. already called for a possible cpu RMA. No: since the stock voltages are in the specified factory range and the cpu is working properly I cannot replace it 😞

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hi RolGil 🙂

Bad luck with the CPU...hate it when a brother overclocker gets a bad chip.

Have you tried flashing latest BIOS for your board to see if that helps at all?

I understand voltage is high on stress testsbut your normal day to day and idle voltage...how does that work out? Maybe if normal use is not using many volts then manual eould be worse....if cpu is regularly getting lots of volts then 1.28 manual might be better

[Chino]

RolGil wrote:
Hi there,
so my second post, about cpu temp and voltage. Again sorry for my english...
Unfortunately it seems I've got a ''bad'' i7 6700k chip: VID is very high. With everything set on Auto in the BIOS the core voltage reported in BIOS screen is 1.328 V. Actually when I enter the OS and read the voltages with the last version of HWInfo (64 bit), cores VIDs are all around 1.4 V (maximum reached is 1.42) under load (OCCT stress test - linnpack). The same with the last ROG version of CPUZ. All of this at stock, no OC except the standard turbo boost @4.2 GHz. Ok, bad luck but I can live with it since it seems that voltages are anyway in the intel specification range, from what I can understand it is reported in the Intel datasheet (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/desktop-6th-gen-core-family-datasheet-vol-1.h... pag.114). It seems that this cpu can handle up to 1.52 V.
Problem are the temperatures: playing Witcher 3 on ultra (hairworks off) means that the cpu reach 80° C on some core...
I've tryed to manually adjust the Vcore in the BIOS: with a 1.28 V system is totally stable (even 30 min of OCCT stress test with full 100% load on all cores went ok). So it seems that the cpu can manage without problems lower voltages. And the temperatures drop to max 67° C under full load 😄
Now the main topic: I can't manage to set this maximum voltage using the adaptive mode, and this seems to be normal since adaptive is not meant to work for undervolting (at least that is what I understood reading some guides and threads). On the other side, offset mode does not work properly since it lowers even the idle voltage at a point that the system is competely unstable if I want the load to be 1.28 - 1.3.
Question is: apart from power consuming issues, can I stick with manual even if this means that that 1.28 V will be constant even in idle (already tested, even if the VID from the cpu drops to 0.8 V and the frequency drops too the Vcore sits on 1.28 V)? Or can it damage the cpu since in idle it is receiving more voltage than needed?
Thanks for your help!
P.S. already called for a possible cpu RMA. No: since the stock voltages are in the specified factory range and the cpu is working properly I cannot replace it 😞

If you're stable at 1.28V, just stick with it to keep temperatures down.

[RolGil]

Thanks for your reply 🙂
Just did some testing Arne, with antivirus scanning while some surfing and video watching, play chess etc. I got 0.78 V on idle and 1.408 V (with random spikes to 1.424 V). Average is somewhere around 1.1 V. I got the same values while making some physics simulations with mathematical software. The BIOS was already flashed to the latest 1001 version, at the very beginning of the building before even installing the OS (USB flash on MB). In all these situations max temp reached 72° C. If you think cpu can last with such parameters I would leave everything on auto, maybe adding an inlet fan to the case (at the moment just the cpu fan and the top exhaust one), even considering that with a family and a job, gaming is just a couple of hours in the week end :-). Elsewhere I will follow Chino suggestion and set manually the voltage...

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Well to be honest I would probably run it on auto with the hope that it died and Intel were forced to replace it that way....

But if you want to avoid the hassle and keep it sweet then maybe set up a gaming profile saved in BIOS with 1.28v and run it at that....will probably run fine until just after the guarantee runs out if you know what I mean :rolleyes:

[RolGil]

😉
I'll go with the gaming profile then!

[Chino]

The new 1102 BIOS that fixes the Adaptive voltage for the Maximus VIII Hero is available.

[RolGil]

Thank you Chino, installed yesterday. Everything seems fine even if adaptive still can't solve the undervolting. Finally I've gone with offset mode, a slight 0.05 V, thus my max Vcore under heavy load is 1.37 V (cannot go down further since system becomes unstable due to the too low idle voltage). Anyway positive thing is that I've added a couple of fans (1 inlet 1 exhaust) and can thus keep the cores temperature below 70° C under stress, good enough for my feeling.

[M11C]

Hmm, I'd just return the chip?

you could do per core multiplier...

stock cooler?

maybe try higher offset with lower turbo boost voltage.

or see if you're stable with a higher BLCK (same end speed ofc...)

you could test if you're able to get it stable with i bit higher VTT and VCCSA, and lower Vcore.

try different settings of LLC, without changing other things. my 4820K is not stable, no matter what, over 4.5GHZ, with LLC under ultra.

anyway, I haven't had a chance to play with a Z170 PC, but just my thoughts...
but yeah, i wouldn't want that chip in my system even if it was free 😕