I just made the step from 4.8 to 4.9 with my 3770k and Asus PZ77 - V MB... I noticed markedly better performance at 4.9 than 4.8, much more than any other incremental OC so far. My question is that in order to achieve 4.9 my voltage is around 1.5v. It is set at 1.45 but with LLC at Extreme it hits 1.5v when being pushed. My temps are absolutely fine, in fact I just put a new coat of IC DIamond 24 on the chip the core temps aren't much above 70c. My question is what is the max safe voltage for this setup? If my temps are fine am I good to go? I'm not interested in preserving my CPU for years and years as I'm sure I'll want to upgrade in another generation or two. Any advice would be appreciated.

1.52 is the absolute max as defined by Intel. I'm running stable at 4.9ghz and 1.43vcc with EIST and turbo mode on but no Hyperthreading which is a no-no for FSX and generates much more heat. What MOBO do you have? Regarding heat - I delidding my 3770 and used Antec formula 7 diamond paste (great stuff) and dropped my temps into the high 50's under load. Anyway you should be able to get to the mid 1.4's on your voltage I'm thinking. It really depends on your MOBO. What C-States are you using? If set correctly your volts should not go above what you have set in BIOS and possibly may drop a bit under load. Cheers from Broomfield CO! jja

I push 1.50V into my chip for 4.9GHz without HT. It's fine as long as you keep heat down. Though I suspect your numbers a bit if you're hitting 70C under load, that's probably an FSX number not a "real" load so if you run any sort of multi-threaded application your temps are likely to skyrocket and approach the level at which the chip would need to throttle to prevent heat damage.

Thanks for the reply. You are correct. Around 1.5v my temps are in the 70s while under the full load of P3D. Since my rig is exclusively for flight sim, I only care that it is stable for flying.