Kaveri safe operating voltage

[ManWithBeard1990]

Hi all

 

I am currently running an A10 7850K which I am trying to overclock to 4.4 GHz. That system is running fine right now, but isn't entirely stable so I am adding voltage until it is, in small steps. Thing is, stress testing shows it's going up to 1.44 volts right now (while I had to use 1.40V + 0.06V offset with 1/2 LLC on an ASRock FM2A88X Extreme4+) which seems more than it should be. Now, I know this is an entirely different process, different type of transistors inside etc so voltage requirements are different from what they are in Intel chips and even other AMD chips as this is a 28 nm part. Now, I'd like to know, what is the maximum voltage I could safely run, you reckon, on a daily used system that I'd like to keep for at least about three years if possible.

[lx_srs]

you may not be able to get it stable at 4.4GHz. I'm sure you already know this, but not every chip overclocks the same.  If I'm not mistaken, AMD Chips can take more of a voltage beating than Intel chips, but not by much.

[ManWithBeard1990]

you may not be able to get it stable at 4.4GHz. I'm sure you already know this, but not every chip overclocks the same.  If I'm not mistaken, AMD Chips can take more of a voltage beating than Intel chips, but not by much.

I know that but thanks for warning me as one can never be too careful. This one definitely hasn't won the silicon lottery as I don't seem to be able to get the northbridge to run at the required speed to support 2400 MHz RAM either. But I'm pretty sure my chip might be able to reach 4.4 at slightly higher voltage. I'm just asking how far I can safely push it.

[lx_srs]

I know that but thanks for warning me as one can never be too careful. This one definitely hasn't won the silicon lottery as I don't seem to be able to get the northbridge to run at the required speed to support 2400 MHz RAM either. But I'm pretty sure my chip might be able to reach 4.4 at slightly higher voltage. I'm just asking how far I can safely push it.

I honestly wouldn't go past 1.4 volts. Any higher and you're probably killing its life considerably.

[ManWithBeard1990]

I honestly wouldn't go past 1.4 volts. Any higher and you're probably killing its life considerably.

Thanks for the advice. Also, changing the LLC to 1/2 seems to have largely fixed the stability issue. I'll see if I can back down the voltage a bit after some more stability testing. If not it looks like I'll have to settle for a lower speed then.

[lx_srs]

Thanks for the advice. Also, changing the LLC to 1/2 seems to have largely fixed the stability issue. I'll see if I can back down the voltage a bit after some more stability testing. If not it looks like I'll have to settle for a lower speed then.

For sure.  The 7850k is fantastic even without OCing.

[ManWithBeard1990]

For sure.  The 7850k is fantastic even without OCing.

It sure is. Not the fastest in the world on paper but it absolutely creams the i7 2630QM I had before. I've eased it down to 4.2 GHz and it seems a lot happier now. Still slightly on the wrong side of 1.4 V at times, but it's by such a small margin that it doesn't really matter. The board's auto-OC utility seems to think that 1.45 is safe for its 4.4 GHz preset so I guess 1.41 isn't too bad. I know you suggested to stay below 1.4 but, well, it almost takes that stock when it turboes so not that much margin here. Looking up on the internet suggests that Kaveri can take about 1.47 V but I just daren't push it that far. Especially since it's still on the stock cooler. Once I get the Hyper212 installed and it can keep itself a bit colder I might try and see if I get an extra 100MHz out of it. It was so very almost stable at 4.3, being able to stresstest for two hours before it crashed. 4.2 seems solid so far.

[dev893]

I know that but thanks for warning me as one can never be too careful. This one definitely hasn't won the silicon lottery as I don't seem to be able to get the northbridge to run at the required speed to support 2400 MHz RAM either. But I'm pretty sure my chip might be able to reach 4.4 at slightly higher voltage. I'm just asking how far I can safely push it.

what is your stock voltage? I got 4.3ghz out of my Cheap A6-5400K so I see no reason wh you cant get 4.4 out of your CPU

[ManWithBeard1990]

what is your stock voltage? I got 4.3ghz out of my Cheap A6-5400K so I see no reason wh you cant get 4.4 out of your CPU

I think stock is about 1.36. Also note that pre-Kaveri parts had higher clock speed out of the box and overclocked better on the old 32nm process. the new 28nm stuff emphasises power consumption, not so much frequency. Also note I still use the stock cooler. It shouldn't matter too much as it should throttle, rather than start crashing randomly, but it's something to consider. I'm still waiting to paint the case this build is eventually going into, and I'll be installing the hyper212 when I swap cases. The current temporary case wasn't wide enough to install that cooler.

[lx_srs]

It sure is. Not the fastest in the world on paper but it absolutely creams the i7 2630QM I had before. I've eased it down to 4.2 GHz and it seems a lot happier now. Still slightly on the wrong side of 1.4 V at times, but it's by such a small margin that it doesn't really matter. The board's auto-OC utility seems to think that 1.45 is safe for its 4.4 GHz preset so I guess 1.41 isn't too bad. I know you suggested to stay below 1.4 but, well, it almost takes that stock when it turboes so not that much margin here. Looking up on the internet suggests that Kaveri can take about 1.47 V but I just daren't push it that far. Especially since it's still on the stock cooler. Once I get the Hyper212 installed and it can keep itself a bit colder I might try and see if I get an extra 100MHz out of it. It was so very almost stable at 4.3, being able to stresstest for two hours before it crashed. 4.2 seems solid so far.

Awesome! Kaveri is an awesome chip for sure.  Built a budget gaming/school PC for a friend with one, and it can tank it's way through almost anything.

[Legitsu]

~1.5 is fine for 27/4 provided you keep the temps under 60c

don't be scared of throwing voltage at it you aren't gonna kill anything 

1866 is really all you need you run out of gpu-core grunt before you hit the memory-bandwidth wall also ocing the NB on kaveri isn't nearly as critical as it was with the phenom II

[ManWithBeard1990]

~1.5 is fine for 27/4 provided you keep the temps under 60c

don't be scared of throwing voltage at it you aren't gonna kill anything 

1866 is really all you need you run out of gpu-core grunt before you hit the memory-bandwidth wall also ocing the NB on kaveri isn't nearly as critical as it was with the phenom II

The reason I said I wanted to run my RAM at 2400 was not because I want to OC it. It's rated at that speed. It should be able to run that speed, it just doesn't really want to, you know. Also, memory bandwidth is more critical on Kaveri than you might think. For the time being, I'm happy with 2133 with nice tight timings. 1.5 seems a bit much but hey, comforting to know I'm well under that limit. When I get the Hyper212 installed I'll have another crack at it, I think.