Thread about Intel Skylake/Coffeelake voltage specifications.
Thread about Intel Skylake/Coffeelake voltage specifications.
Hi! i got a really.. really good deal on amazon. i Run a 8086k (delidded and with a h115i Pro 280 AiO) since january. on my old cheap z370 tuf pro gaming was a 5.1 Ghz OC at 1.376v stable but the VRMs were at a 100C under load. now i got a brand new "open box" ASRock Z390 Extreme4 on Amazon for 94€ (it costs around 160-180 normally.) with the 10+2 Phase design i can OC without any Vdroop. (from idle to Cinebench R20 with exactly 0mv vdroop) now is my question. which OC i should use with that board. 5.1 Ghz and 4.9 Ghz Cache at 1.376v Or 5.2 Ghz and 5 Ghz Cache at 1.408v both is absolutely stable in realistic enviroments (not like pushing 280 watts out of 6 cores in Prime95...) but Aida64 Stresstests, long term gaming etc. (no BSOD since the OC was applied 10 months ago.) i don't think that these 30mv would make a huge difference. (i don't need 1.376v for 5.1 but the problem is i can reach 1.344 or 1.376 and the cpu is only stable down to 1.36v which does drop to 1.344 and 5mv does 1.376v out of it.) the CPU Power draw increases by around 15W and the temperature by 5°C (from around 55 to 60°C in Games).
This setup increases peak-to-peak voltages while lowering the minimum voltage you can see on sensors, which can lead to instability. It also boosts heat generation due to higher average voltage. The problem intensifies under heavier loads (applications like Blender or Prime) compared to lighter ones (stress tests). The Dark board shows the smallest transients, offering better stability at lower voltages. Visual data here illustrates the effect. This test was performed on a Gene; the Apex model would perform better. Understanding that minimum voltage stability matters more than RMS is key—low RMS can cause sudden crashes. "Random instability" often stems from brief voltage drops, not just overall performance.
No overshoot would likely become apparent after three hours of resting and playing in HWinfo64. The VCore stays steady at Current/Minimum/Maximum/Average around 1.408v without fluctuating or exceeding limits in these monitoring tools. Switching to LLC 2 causes it to drop to 1.376v and the system crashes shortly afterward. I use a fixed voltage instead of adaptive settings.
It wasn't that bad at all—definitely not enough to damage or slow down the CPU significantly at 1.42v. My friend uses his 8600k at 1.48v with a fully loaded LLC, which actually pushes it up to 1.49 or 1.52v on a Z390 Gigabyte gaming X. The system stays stable, holding a 5.3GHz clock for two years. It runs nonstop, only restarts once a week, and he plays games for about 3-4 hours daily. The CPU has never shown any issues or crashes over the years.
It’s important to understand that the effect wouldn’t harm a CPU since they only operate for microseconds. However, if these fluctuations (transients) lead to repeated drops below the voltage needed for stability—especially at certain temperatures—the outcome could be instability or crashes. Under specific conditions, this might trigger random failures or even a crash if hyperthreading is active or if a watchdog timeout occurs with HT turned off. This explains why some users experience unexpected shutdowns after long sessions despite stable temperatures, only to fail at the sixth hour. The problem intensifies when running heavy loads, such as FFT calculations with AVX Prime95, especially if the loadline isn’t properly calibrated. Adjusting the RMS load and voltage can help maintain stability. Evidence from a Maximus XI Gene shows that higher loadlines demand more voltage than lower ones, highlighting the sensitivity to these issues.