i5 6600k featuring high voltage and ASRock Auto OC technology.
i5 6600k featuring high voltage and ASRock Auto OC technology.
Hello, I recently assembled a PC equipped with an i5 6600k processor. With adequate air cooling to maintain low temperatures, I considered overclocking slightly. After researching, I found that the BIOS option for ASRock called "Load Optimized OC Setting" is completely safe. I chose to set it to the lowest level, 4.2GHz. During a short test in Prime95, the temperature rose to around 52°C, and the CPU reported 4.2GHz. The core voltage increased from 1.328V to 1.344V. I checked some screenshots from the same program and saw similar readings. Is this normal? Should I consider raising the overclock further? Thanks for your help.
Core voltage for skylake is usually fine for continuous operation up to about 1.4v vcore. As noted, auto oc tends to apply higher voltages than required. Motherboard presets focus on stability more than optimal settings, meaning not every chip will benefit from that much vcore at that speed, and some may become unstable below that level. Adjusting manually usually yields the best outcomes using just enough voltage to maintain stability. At 4.2 volts, it's likely closer to 1.25v or 1.3v instead of 1.35v.
It's a bit too high for 4.2Ghz but still within a safe range. A voltage below 1.35 seems perfect, especially considering your cooling setup.
You're wondering if the current OC could cause your processor to fail, especially given the fluctuating performance values you mentioned. It's understandable to feel concerned, but based on what you've shared, there doesn't seem to be a strong reason for it to break. The changes you're seeing are likely normal and not indicative of a hardware issue.
Core voltage for skylake is usually fine for continuous operation up to about 1.4v vcore. As noted, auto oc tends to apply higher voltages than required. Motherboard presets focus on stability more than optimal settings, meaning not every chip will benefit from that much vcore at that speed, and some may become unstable below that level. Adjusting manually usually yields the best outcomes using just enough voltage to maintain stability. At 4.2 volts, it's likely closer to 1.25v or 1.3v instead of 1.35v.