The issue might be related to insufficient voltage supply for the i5 6600k during overclocking.
The issue might be related to insufficient voltage supply for the i5 6600k during overclocking.
My intel i5 6600k requires 1.430 volt for a steady 4.6ghz overclock, but most others achieve 4.6ghz at about 1.360 volt and even drop to 4.7ghz below 1.400 volt. What might be the issue? For a stable 4.5ghz you need 1.370 volt. I’d like to push my CPU to 4.7ghz or higher, but I’m hesitant to go above 1.4 volt for regular use. Would it be safe to run it at roughly 1.450 volt for at least four years? I mainly use it for gaming and streaming while recording. Here are some screenshots of my BIOS OC settings.
What power supply unit do you have? It might be an issue with your PSU (depending on its quality) or it could just be a simple coincidence. Overclocking really depends on the chip lottery and how well your chip is categorized. Highly categorized chips need less voltage and can overclock more than those with lower categorization. Since you have a solid motherboard, the main hardware concern might still be your PSU. If your PSU is good quality, you might need to accept that your chip has lower categorization and will require higher voltage to reach speeds like 4.6 or 4.7Ghz.
What power supply unit do you have? It might be an issue with your PSU (depending on its quality) or it could just be a simple coincidence. Overclocking really depends on the chip lottery and how well your chip is categorized. Highly categorized chips need less voltage and can overclock more than those with lower categorization. Since you have a solid motherboard, the main hardware concern might still be your PSU. If your PSU is good quality, you might need to accept that your chip has lower categorization and will require higher voltage to reach 4.6 or 4.7Ghz.
My PSU is an Evga Supernova 850W 80 Plus Gold. I'm confident it's a solid unit, so maybe I should have missed the lottery. =( Does this mean that applying 1.450 - 1.50 volts to reach 4.6/7 GHz will be safe for regular use? Or could I raise it from 4.5 to 4.6 without changing the voltage?
What type of cooling are you using? If you have a custom water loop, you should be fine with higher voltages, but for air cooling, it's better to stay under 1.375v. It seems like you might have been lucky!
Welcome to the silicon lottery!
Reaching a certain stage in overclocking means facing a significant rise in voltage for only a minor boost in clock speed. This is the overclocking barrier, and you've reached it.
It's not the voltage itself that harms components, but the heat that isn't controlled. In theory, if you manage the temperature effectively, you can adjust voltage to your preference. Of course, this isn't how it actually functions.
do you have the most recent BIOS installed? it could help, but it might not. it seems like you might have a faulty chip, though its speed isn't bad either. raising the vcore to 100mhz might not be necessary depending on what you're using it for. pick a ballapark vcore or a temperature setting that works for you and stick with it if you're unsure about pushing too high.