OK, forum is back.Bogdan and Benorg, I really suggest you refrain from giving wrong advices. I can only guess from your statements that you are quite new to overclocking.If you are not, apologies, but then you are really have little idea about it.---Overclocking is dangerous. Full stop.---It has been, it is and it will be.No matter the cooling, no matter how you turn it around, no matter the volts.It's your and your only risk.So, before you go ahead and start giving advices like "go 1.4V and 48x" you should start thinking about first testing his VID to see how is his CPU doing thermally.It's vital for any overclocking, basically to minimize the risk of burning and damaging your chip, to go slow and from down up.Yes, you said you overclocked yours and that of your friend, that doesn't mean that other CPU is going to behave the same.You wanna take up the responsibility for that advice of yours?I hope we got that out of the way. Now gonna see what I'm gonna reply in detail to the OPs post...

Intel says the MAX voltage for Sandybridge is 1.52 volts.Why in the world would a multi-billion dollar company throw out that number for no reason? Those engineers have tested the chips plenty more than us on the forums. I really feel that as long as you are below the 1.5V mark, and your temps are fine, there is nothing wrong with putting voltage that high.I will take some of your advice and push the voltage lower, but going around telling people with H100's to not go above 1.375 volts is just nonsense.

Thats crap. The H100 has nothing to do with it. 24/7 oc with that high vcore will degrade your chip. It HAS happened with these SB chips; it is not heat that will kill these chips its voltage. It may work for awhile then you will have to add more voltage in the future once the chip degrades once yoget BSODs.I'm with Dazz etc; keep it below 1.4; 1.38 is even better.

Thats crap. The H100 has nothing to do with it. 24/7 oc with that high vcore will degrade your chip. It HAS happened with these SB chips; it is not heat that will kill these chips its voltage. It may work for awhile then you will have to add more voltage in the future once the chip degrades once yoget BSODs.I'm with Dazz etc; keep it below 1.4; 1.38 is even better.

I am running @ 1.385 on the Vcore rock solid stable too.I am going to drop the voltage further until I hit instability.I take back what I said. My apologies for being an idiot.

Bruce:AI Tweaker Page:AI Overclock Tuner: XMPBCLK 100Advanced Page:CPU ConfigurationOFF: IVT, Speedstep, Turbo Mode; ON: C1E, C3, C6CPU Ratio manually set to 40x (from here you can go further)Back on AI Tweaker Page:CPU Voltage: Leave default offset with + and Auto voltageGo into windows and check your vcore with CPUID.Mark that voltage.Go back into BIOS, set that V and start upping the multi up to 42-44, depending what it's gonna hold.Usually that vcore is going to give you some working space.And be sure to keep an eye on your voltages while torturetesting with prime95 or Linx (my favourite).You could also read this really well documented overclocking, much better than I have patience writing here. It's an "old" P67 overclocking, but the same rules apply to your board, just a little different BIOS:http://www.overclock...formance-reviewChime in if you have any questions.

Before I saw Word Not Allowed's reply I found the voltage settings and changed to 1.4v and set multiplier to 48. Just got another black screen and re-boot going to OC Tuner. Will go back and try Word Not Allowed's recommendations now.

If it keeps going back to OC Tuner, please reset your BIOS completely first before doing anything. You shouldn't use OC Tuner at all.And if you really feel lucky and don't care much about the keeping quality on the chip, go for 1.5. I know I did. Even went up to 1.55 to test. But I do know my risks and have some experience behind it (oh yeah, my first OCing was done back on the 486 CPUs, lol).But do know that it could be the end of your chip.

And why exactly is that bad? I went straight to 1.488 and even went higher to 1.5 for testing purposes....I've had this new computer for a month now and nothing's wrong with it. I see no reason why you shouldn't go that high since the limit is 1.52.

Degradation and risk. Safe limit is not 1.52. Please stop giving wrong advice. There is no known safe limit, otherwise would everyone be much much cleverer.If you went that, good for you! And wow, really, a whole month? Let's talk again in couple of months, possibly a year, how much more Vcore you need after degradation. Good luck.

Thanks everyone.Word Not Allowed --Looking forward to your suggested step by step instructions, if that's what you were implying. I really don't have a clue how to do this.FSX does pretty good at 4.2, but from what I've read here it isn't really enough.Bruce

Thanks everyone.Word Not Allowed --Looking forward to your suggested step by step instructions, if that's what you were implying. I really don't have a clue how to do this.FSX does pretty good at 4.2, but from what I've read here it isn't really enough.Bruce

I mean really, the SB chips at default are blazingly fast for FSX. But, when running intense aircraft and sceneries, overclocking is needed.

Degradation and risk. Safe limit is not 1.52. Please stop giving wrong advice. There is no known safe limit, otherwise would everyone be much much cleverer.If you went that, good for you! And wow, really, a whole month? Let's talk again in couple of months, possibly a year, how much more Vcore you need after degradation. Good luck.

Well thanks a lot actually. I've also previously owned an AMD Phenom II X4 overclokced at 3.4/3.5/3.6Ghz and I ran it at 1.45v for 3 years without a hitch. There is a known safe limit according to Intel and that is any voltage below 1.52v. It's been proven throughout many other forums and many other threads. I'm sure any chip will eventually deteriorate and degrade just like anything that can manipulate electrical current but it will do it at a very,very slow pace just like any other semiconductor. I never gave anyone any advice in this thread. I'm not even at 1.5v. I'm just saying that it is still safe to go above 1.36. I mean come on that's ridiculous. Again, I'm stable at 5.2Ghz at 1.48v.

Thanks everyone.Word Not Allowed --Looking forward to your suggested step by step instructions, if that's what you were implying. I really don't have a clue how to do this.FSX does pretty good at 4.2, but from what I've read here it isn't really enough.Bruce

It's quite a jump from 4.2 to 4.8 or even 5.0 if you can make it. But, 4.8 -> 5.0 doesn't really pay off, only if your chip can easily do it.I did some instructions in the previous post, see if you can begin something with that.I hardly have time to type everything step by step, besides, it's quite hard since I don't have your computer here to do it myself.I suggest you try, and write a followup.

Well thanks a lot actually. I've also previously owned an AMD Phenom II X4 overclokced at 3.4/3.5/3.6Ghz and I ran it at 1.45v for 3 years without a hitch. There is a known safe limit according to Intel and that is any voltage below 1.52v. It's been proven throughout many other forums and many other threads. I'm sure any chip will eventually deteriorate and degrade just like anything that can manipulate electrical current but it will do it at a very,very slow pace just like any other semiconductor.

Where does Intel state that? What experienced forum writes that 1.52 safe?

Wow, Word Not Allowed, that was fast! I'll print that out and see what I can do. Probably won't get to it until tomorrow though.Thanks a bunch! Been reading and enjoying your posts for years now!Bruce

Where does Intel state that? What experienced forum writes that 1.52 safe?

Guru3D for example.

Wow, Word Not Allowed, that was fast! I'll print that out and see what I can do. Probably won't get to it until tomorrow though.Thanks a bunch! Been reading and enjoying your posts for years now!Bruce

No hurry. I gotta lot around my ears workwise.

Guru3D.

Link to the thread, statement? And Intel Paper on that would be nice. Otherwise can't take it for anything but an "opinion".

[alert]Folks, let's not descend into madness - Take it easy.I've removed the posts. Feel free to resolve any vendettas privately between yourselves and not here.[/alert]

Bogdan, AMD is not Intel. Phenoms have always been fine up to 1.5V - 1.55VNehalem was 1.375V - 1.4V, but with Sandy Bridge there are no maximums published so we just take a guess. What you call the maximum is the VID range which is NOT even the same as Vcore, and it has never happened that a die shrink or new generation of Intel CPU's has raised the max Vcore, it's always been the other way around. With every die shrink, the absolute max has gone downAnyway, when you begin needing to bump your Vcore like crazy to stabilize another 100-200MHz, I think it's safe to affirm your chip is crying for mercy hehe.It's accepted that under water a CPU can take more Vcore, but that's with a proper custom water loop, not a H100 or anything like that. How much more is another debate, but those self contained water coolers are nowhere near as effective as a custom loop like Word Not Allowed's for instance.http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227651

Right guys myself and our technical guys have spent the entire weekend and this morning in discussions with Intel regarding the alarming amount of reports of Sandybridge CPU's dying and have been conducting our own testing as have Intel to find out what is a definite no no.Sandybridge maximum safe voltagesCore Voltage - Not recommended too exceed 1.38v, doing so could kill the CPU, we therefor recommend a range of 1.325-1.350v if overclocking.Memory Voltage - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means upto 1.58v is the safe recommended limit. In our testing we have found 1.65v has caused no issues.BCLK Base Clock - This is strictly a NO, anyone using base clock overclocking could/will cause damange to CPU/Mainboard. (Set manually to 100)PLL Voltage - Do not exceed 1.9v!!Processor - Basically we recommend customers not to exceed 1.35v to play it safe, all our bundles are set at 1.3250v or lower, any competitors offering bundles above 4.6GHz you should be enquiring as to what voltage they are using as we believe anything over 1.38v will limit CPU lifespan and anything over 1.42v will likely kill the CPU or severely limit its lifespan.Memory - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means 1.60v is the ideal safe maximum, but we have found in our testing all 1.65v memory is fine. We have also found most new 1.65v like Corsair XMS3 will run at its rated timings with just 1.50-1.55v which is well within Intel specifications. So people upgrading to Sandybridge you can still use your old DDR3, but we do recommend you run it at 1.60v or less. We are shipping most of our bundles which feature Corsair XMS at 1.50v-1.55v at rated timings. We've also discussed with Asus and MSI regarding voltages for memory and they also confirm in their testing 1.65v caused no issues with reliability.Base Clock - To put it simple if you value the life of your components, do not overclock using base clock!PLL Voltage - Again do not exceed 1.9v!These are just guidelines we recommend you follow, if you want to push more voltage through your CPU's then just be aware they could die on you. Your warranty is un-affected and we will honor any CPU's that die, we just won't ask questions as to how you killed them. Not all CPU's are as fragile as others, we have experimented upto 1.50v Vcore and 1.70v memory and had zero issues with reliability, so it seems some of fine when pushing hard.

Bogdan, AMD is not Intel. Phenoms have always been fine up to 1.5V - 1.55VNehalem was 1.375V - 1.4V, but with Sandy Bridge there are no maximums published so we just take a guess. What you call the maximum is the VID range which is NOT even the same as Vcore, and it has never happened that a die shrink or new generation of Intel CPU's has raised the max Vcore, it's always been the other way around. With every die shrink, the absolute max has gone downAnyway, when you begin needing to bump your Vcore like crazy to stabilize another 100-200MHz, I think it's safe to affirm your chip is crying for mercy hehe.It's accepted that under water a CPU can take more Vcore, but that's with a proper custom water loop, not a H100 or anything like that. How much more is another debate, but those self contained water coolers are nowhere near as effective as a custom loop like Word Not Allowed's for instance.

Yeah,I get that but why would having a custom loop be different than having an H100? Is it because of some temp difference because I'm running mine at 1.488 volts since it's not stable at a lower voltage and 5.2GHz. My temps are in the low 40s while idle, in the high 50s and low 60s in FSX and in the 80s on 100% load so I'm definitely not overheating it...

Not all CPU's are as fragile as others, we have experimented upto 1.50v Vcore and 1.70v memory and had zero issues with reliability, so it seems some of fine when pushing hard.

That's prob. my case...EDIT: I just down clocked it to 4.8Ghz at 1.37v just for the heck of it....It's obviously stable and I'm probably gonna stay at this speed for a little while until the "voltage speculation" is solved and we know for sure how high we can go.

f you went that, good for you! And wow, really, a whole month? Let's talk again in couple of months, possibly a year, how much more Vcore you need after degradation. Good luck.

BTW what's your vcore set to, Word Not Allowed?

and in the 80s on 100% load so I'm definitely not overheating it...

80s is too much (or, depending which program you use for testing). What I've been reading around forums (overclockers, xtremesystems) bringing the SB into 80s range is basically risking the damage.Here on AVSIM, people are even more conservative, prefer to keep it below 1.4.Did you ever try Linx with AVX installed? That one give's you an idea how much your CPU can be pushed, even if Prime95 doesn't do it. The point is not how much P95 heats it, or FSX, but rather how much can it go. If a program can overdo it, then you are risking peakings which temperature measurement programs can't measure but sure are there.AVX basically pushes 10 degrees higher, but not only for a brief moment, so it's pretty measurable.And why water, because the cooler itself is working differently: it's cooler and it's way more effective at handling peak temperatures. With a closed loop system, the temperature is going to rise quickly if CPU demands it. With a watercooling loop it's gonna take an hour at least, if not longer.

EDIT: I just down clocked it to 4.8Ghz at 1.37v just for the heck of it....It's obviously stable and I'm probably gonna stay at this speed for a little while until the "voltage speculation" is solved and we know for sure how high we can go.

You can go 1.52. Heck, even more. And I'm afraid the speculation is never going to be over. It's not possible to know what your chip is going to hold and for how long. It's only what you are ready to risk.I have mine set at 1.46 I think for 48x, sometimes I run 1.51 for 50x. But since I see rather no difference, I just back down to 48x and mostly keeping it here.And I know the risks. I'm quite ready to get a new CPU if this one blows.