Default VRM switching frequency for i7-6700K and Z170?

[BonzaiDuck]

Probably coming a year late to the Skylake club (I say this all the time now . . )

My personal discovery with a Silicon Lottery "binned" chip verified to run at 4.8 and 1.424V ("or less!"): I'm not so sure -- and haven't much been sure since Sandy Bridge -- that the variability in these chips is so huge. Similar to IDontCare's experiments and graphs on earlier gen chips, other white papers I've read offer similar graphs showing that Skylake mostly runs at certain speeds with certain voltages.

Even so, with a working 24/7 speed of 4.6 and stability at 4.7 (around 1.39 to 1.40V), I want to take advantage of my motherboard's "industrial strength" and twist up the VRM Switching Frequency.

But I don't know what the default should be. Anybody care to offer an answer to that one?

 

[The Stilt]

Which motherboard?
Not all motherboards support adjusting the VRM fSW, as the feature is controller dependant.
Only some uPI and IR digital controllers support adjusting it. On most controllers the fSW is chosen during the design and is set using a resistor.

Usually the motherboard VRMs operate at 250 - 400kHz fSW. ASUS higher-end motherboards default either to 300 or to 350kHz.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Which motherboard?
Not all motherboards support adjusting the VRM fSW, as the feature is controller dependant.
Only some uPI and IR digital controllers support adjusting it. On most controllers the fSW is chosen during the design and is set using a resistor.

Usually the motherboard VRMs operate at 250 - 400kHz fSW. ASUS higher-end motherboards default either to 300 or to 350kHz.

Sabertooth Z170 S. Shouldn't be any different than the Saber Z170 Mark 1. They're both a notch below top-tier. Top-tier offers 16-phase power, and the Sabers are 12-phase.

I guess the reason I asked was that a higher frequency offers better performance, but taxes the VRMs a bit. I've got excellent cooling and monitoring for the VRM temperature. But I need to know what's a good "starting point." So -- if it were 300, I'd bump it up to 350 or 400. If 350, the same increments. I'd simply like to avoid setting it too low initially, with a troubleshooting detour. I'm guessing I could probably just bump it up to 400 and see what happens.

 

[The Stilt]

The default on Z170 Mk. 1 is 300kHz.
You can increase it up to 600kHz, but don't expect any miracles.
It rarely makes any difference to your 24/7 speeds.