Running Wolfdales at 1.5v safe or not?

[Owls]

With good cooling do you guys recommend running it at 1.5v if it's not a 24/7 machine?

I briefly touched 4.5GHz but I needed 1.52v to do it. I was able to prime95 it for an hour during my lunch break w/o issues at 58C.

 

[Idontcare]

I wouldn't touch 1.5V on a Conroe much less a Wolfdale, unless it was vaporphase cooled.

Now if someone gave me a chip and said "beat the crap out of it, kill it or not, I don't care" then I'd have no issue taking it to 1.5V and higher.

 

[error8]

If that is the real temperature you have, then it shouldn't be a big problem. But 1,52 V for a 45nm CPU is very high, is like pumping 1.7 V in a 65nm chip. The longevity of the Cpu will surely be affected, but how much exactly, nobody can tell you.

If you upgrade your cpu once at 6 months or so, that voltage shouldn't count.
I was just wondering, are you using water cooling, phase change cooling or what? Because on air it's impossible to have that temperature.

 

[Owls]

I just report what coretemp tells me. I'm using a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme with 2x 120mm tricool fans in a push/pull config.

Nvidia nTune tells me something much higher, on average about 5-6C higher. It is fairly cold in the computer room though.

 

[Extelleron]

Pushing 1.5V through a Wolfdale with air cooling will kill the chip - there's absolutely no doubt about that. It might not die outright, but it will continuously degrade and suddenly, you'll need more voltage than before to reach the same settings.

1.5V is not really ideal with 65nm CPUs, much less 45nm, especially with Intel's new 45nm process being more sensitive to voltage than before.

I recommend you back down the voltage immediately. Nothing over 1.4V... IMO I wouldn't go beyond ~1.35V.

 

[Owls]

ok will do. I'll drop down the voltage for now. Would it be okay still if phase change cooling was involved?

 

[PolymerTim]

Well, the lower temps help, but voltage alone can still kill a chip. I think aigo recently killed an e8400 (on purpose) at similar voltages to this. I never saw him officially state the results, but he was testing one to see how long it would last and then casually mentioned in another thread that he had to retire it due to performance degradation. But that's all from my very bad memory; hopefully he can tell us himself.

 

[Owls]

thanks guys. I think I will stick to 1.4v as my max.

 

[error8]

Actually, I never ever heard about somebody that killed a CPU with overclocking or overvolting. I heard about PSU exploding, video cards that caught fire, dead ram modules and dead chipsets, but a dead CPU is a rare thing.

I did some bad things with CPU's but they never did died on me. The thing is, that when you push a CPU voltage over its limit, it will start to give you instability signs, so it forces you to lower the voltage and to decrease the frequency. Of course, that if you keep pushing it and ignore the bsods and other errors probably it will die. But, I haven't found someone that stupid by now to do that.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: error8
Actually, I never ever heard about somebody that killed a CPU with overclocking or overvolting. I heard about PSU exploding, video cards that caught fire, dead ram modules and dead chipsets, but a dead CPU is a rare thing.

I did some bad things with CPU's but they never did died on my. The thing is, that when you push a CPU voltage over its limit, it will start to give you instability signs, so it forces you to lower the voltage and to decrease the frequency. Of course, that if you keep pushing it and ignore the bsods and other errors probably it will die. But, I haven't found someone that stupid by now to do that.

If you read the Xtremesystems forums, those guys really push CPUs to their limits... and you have reports of degraded or dead 45nm chips. Not so much with older CPUs... but the new 45nm Intels are apparently very sensitive to voltage.

 

[Idontcare]

Since most people who blow a CPU are doing it while overclocking...and there is such a moral wrath to be endured for suggestion you are RMA'ing a dead OC'ed chip on just about all forums...its no surprise really that you don't see thread after thread of posters extolling "zomg I so killed my chip at 1.8V vcore...zoh wells, RMA ftw!".

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
Well, the lower temps help, but voltage alone can still kill a chip. I think aigo recently killed an e8400 (on purpose) at similar voltages to this. I never saw him officially state the results, but he was testing one to see how long it would last and then casually mentioned in another thread that he had to retire it due to performance degradation. But that's all from my very bad memory; hopefully he can tell us himself.

Yes, I recall hearing the same thing. He had it somewhere between 1.5v and 1.6v if I recall -- don't remember exactly what it was. Only lasted a few months it would seem. And knowing him, it's unlikely heat would have been the culprit.

 

[aussiestilgar]

I think the Intel spec sheet has the max voltage at 1.3625v or so.

 

[Owls]

I think I may have fried this sucker. Currently doing a reformat/reinstall of windows and file copy is going slooooooow. Not sure what's going on

Luckily I have my Q6600 to fall back on. 65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Owls
65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

For what its worth, try ramping up the voltage you'd need to hit 4.5GHz with your 65nm chip and I think you'll find it suffers similiar fate.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: Owls
65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

For what its worth, try ramping up the voltage you'd need to hit 4.5GHz with your 65nm chip and I think you'll find it suffers similiar fate.

uh yeah I'll get right on that. What's your problem?

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Owls

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: Owls
65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

For what its worth, try ramping up the voltage you'd need to hit 4.5GHz with your 65nm chip and I think you'll find it suffers similiar fate.

uh yeah I'll get right on that. What's your problem?

Get sarcasm quick do ya?

 

[Owls]

Your sense of humor is terrible. Sorry.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Owls
65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

He is taking a 3.0ghz stock clock to 4.5ghz (50% OC). It isnt the chips fault that it needs unsafe voltage to do 50%.

I would say that 45nm Wolfdales are far better overclockers, but people get greedy. This chip being able to go to 4.0ghz at safe voltages and temps is amazing for the average user. However, people go over to XS and see everyone with 4.5, 4.8, and think they should also.

Personally, if you plan on keeping this chip 18 months or longer, I would not be going over 1.45V. There are plenty of degredation stories out there.

 

[Owls]

well I just took out the cpu and I noticed something wrong right off the bat. The cpu was not making 100% contact with the heatsink (using a thermalright ultra 120 extreme). It was so bad I'd say it made about 60% contact with the heatsink. Neither the CPU or HS is lapped. When I press the cpu against the HS I can feel a wobble from it not being totally flat.

This actually kind of sucks. Either way I'm not going to RMA it since this was probably my fault anyway.

 

[AmberClad]

Somehow, I really doubt you have a valid warranty at this point anyway . Actually, I doubt many people here do.

Just some of the things that will result in a voided warranty:
- missing/defaced serial numbers on the heatspreader
- running the CPU out of spec (this means you)
- using a HSF other than the one supplied with the CPU? I'm not 100% sure about this one, but it stands to reason that this would void the warranty because many aftermarket HSFs greatly exceed the maximum weight for the LGA775 spec.

Course, only the first one is easy to prove.

 

[Owls]

Like I said before, I'm not going to RMA it. I also doub't that using an aftermarket HS affects warranty.

edit: okay, I don't think what I'm experiencing has anything to do with my chip. I have my Q6600 in and installation is slow as crap. I guess something is wrong with my board

I reset the CMOS and all is well. Both chips are doing fine and are currently napping.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
I wouldn't touch 1.5V on a Conroe much less a Wolfdale, unless it was vaporphase cooled.

Now if someone gave me a chip and said "beat the crap out of it, kill it or not, I don't care" then I'd have no issue taking it to 1.5V and higher.

Addressing you directly, or just saying that it didn't matter if you fried the chip?

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Owls
65nm chips are definitely more resilient to overclocking than 45nm.

He is taking a 3.0ghz stock clock to 4.5ghz (50% OC). It isnt the chips fault that it needs unsafe voltage to do 50%.

I would say that 45nm Wolfdales are far better overclockers, but people get greedy. This chip being able to go to 4.0ghz at safe voltages and temps is amazing for the average user. However, people go over to XS and see everyone with 4.5, 4.8, and think they should also.

Personally, if you plan on keeping this chip 18 months or longer, I would not be going over 1.45V. There are plenty of degredation stories out there.

Wait....the Q6600 does 3.6 pretty easily, which is a 50% overclock. I don't believe you need unsafe voltages to do that, but I could be wrong.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

Originally posted by: Idontcare
I wouldn't touch 1.5V on a Conroe much less a Wolfdale, unless it was vaporphase cooled.

Now if someone gave me a chip and said "beat the crap out of it, kill it or not, I don't care" then I'd have no issue taking it to 1.5V and higher.

Addressing you directly, or just saying that it didn't matter if you fried the chip?