May I be overvolting my CPU despite disabling Asus APE in BIOS?

[Marcos Baras]

Hi everybody!! My PC specs are as follows:

·         Core i5-13400F (stock)

·         Arctic Cooling i35

·         2 x 16 GB DDR5 Kingston Fury Beast (XMP1-5200 CL40)

·         SSD1: 1TB WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe

·         SSD2: 480GB Kingston A400

·         ASUS TUF Gaming B760-Plus Wifi

·         PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8

·         Gigabyte UD750GM PG5 750W ATX 3.0 PCIe 5.0

·         Windows 10 Pro 22H2 x64

 

I am aware of reports regarding Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen unlocked desktop processors experiencing issues with certain games, especially crashes during the shader compilation process. I know this would not be my case because I have a locked i5, but I do know too that these issues are, in many cases, related to certain default BIOS settings that unlock CPU’s current and power limits. The point is my BIOS comes with APE 3.0 (Asus Performance Enhancement) setting enabled by default, and Asus itself warns the user about it not following Intel guidelines regarding power limits.

Having heard about the problem, I disabled it, but even when it disabled, ICCmax setting remains at 500A, which seems rather excessive to me. The problem is that I have no way of changing it: the feature is greyed out, be it in the BIOS, be it in XTU application.

First, I have to clarify than I am NOT currently having any issues with my system, but I have been using my PC during 2 months with APE setting enabled, and I prefer being cautious than being sorry later. My question is simple: should I be worried about harming my CPU in the long term?

I attach some BIOS screenshots below.

Thx in advance!

[Kilrah]

32 minutes ago, Marcos Baras said:

ICCmax setting remains at 500A, which seems rather excessive to me.

It's irrelevant given there are power limits (that you also can't change).

 

But yeah none of this applies to your locked CPU, and anyway it's only recommended to disable when encountering isues since there's obviously a significant performance penalty.

[Marcos Baras]

With APE enabled, the power limits change to 253W-PL1, 4095W-PL2  with a 96 sec. Tau limit and 511.75A So, are you saying me this is safe as long as I don't reach the temperature limit?

[Kilrah]

As long as you don't exceed the 100°C yes, but you could even run there all day long, and it'll throttle itself if it exceeds it anyway.