6800k Stock Voltage High?

[GeekMan]

All,

I just put together my new build and am a little confused by the stock CPU voltage I'm seeing.  On first boot I'm seeing a CPU voltage of 1.776, which I think is very high, especially for stock voltage before overclocking.  Again, to be clear, I haven't done ANYTHING but turn the thing on.  Below is a photo of the screen.  Do I have a bum CPU or something?

[done12many2]

5 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

All,

I just put together my new build and am a little confused by the stock CPU voltage I'm seeing.  On first boot I'm seeing a CPU voltage of 1.776, which I think is very high, especially for stock voltage before overclocking.  Again, to be clear, I haven't done ANYTHING but turn the thing on.  Below is a photo of the screen.  Do I have a bum CPU or something?

 

Yes, that is beyond dangerous.  Clear your CMOS and try again.  

[FilipSebik]

3 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

All,

I just put together my new build and am a little confused by the stock CPU voltage I'm seeing.  On first boot I'm seeing a CPU voltage of 1.776, which I think is very high, especially for stock voltage before overclocking.  Again, to be clear, I haven't done ANYTHING but turn the thing on.  Below is a photo of the screen.  Do I have a bum CPU or something?

Omg, so high voltage and so low temps... How it could be?

 

To OP: Try to put BIOS settings in default or change it to something like 1.150V or 1.200V

[Quaker]

If resetting the BIOS or "loading defaults" doesn't cure the issue, It could also be a bad motherboard, or the motherboard's BIOS/UEFI may need to be updated.

[steffeeh]

Shouldn't there be a hardware cap or something that prevents such high voltage, that needs to be switched on/off on the board itself? Asking because mine has it.

Considering the low temps I get the feeling it may just be reading the voltage wrong? Or maybe it's because it's idle? What is the VRM temperature?

[GeekMan]

All,

I've tried rebooting with no effect.  I tried unplugging from power AND removing the BIOS battery for 15 minutes and the voltage hasn't changed.  Then I tried manually lowering the voltage to 1.2v and the MB wouldn't even POST.  It just turned itself off before showing anything on the screen necessitating another BIOS battery pull to reset the board.  

I'm feeling a little out of my depth here.  The CPU and MB temps are near perfect, but the CPU voltages are crazy high and can't be lowered without introducing instability.  It just doesn't make sense.  Also, not sure if this is relevant, but here's a photo of my DRAM voltages which also seem high to me.  Any thoughts on this?

 

steffeeh, I don't know where on this MB UEFI to find the VRM temp, so I don't know what the temp is.

 

[done12many2]

What motherboard do you have?

[GeekMan]

6 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

What motherboard do you have?

Right, I guess it might help if I mention the components of my build.

 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass

Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X62
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold
Case Fan: 3 Corsair ML140 Pro LED Fans

[done12many2]

22 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

Spoiler

 

Right, I guess it might help if I mention the components of my build.

 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass

Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X62
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold
Case Fan: 3 Corsair ML140 Pro LED Fans

 

Right, I guess it might help if I mention the components of my build.

 

 

Okay, I know you powered it down and pulled the CMOS battery, but what I wanted you to try was actually clearing your CMOS.  

 

#29 in the diagram below is your CMOS jumper.  Power down the PC and move the jumper cap from it's current location to the other.  No need to unplug the computer or do anything else.  Once you've moved the jumper, put the jumper cap back in the original configuration.  

 

After successfully clearing your CMOS you should get a message on your next boot up letting you know that you need to enter setup to reconfigure everything. 

 

Scratch everything I just said.  You have a clear CMOS switch on the back of your I/O panel.  Very convenient.  Just power down the PC and hold that button in for a second.  Power it back on and everything should be cleared.

 

If this doesn't work, your motherboard supports dual BIOS so switch it to the other BIOS.  

 

If that doesn't work, you should manually update your UEFI/BIOS to the latest firmware available from AsRock.

 

[GeekMan]

26 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

 

 

Okay, I know you powered it down and pulled the CMOS battery, but what I wanted you to try was actually clearing your CMOS.  

 

#29 in the diagram below is your CMOS jumper.  Power down the PC and move the jumper cap from it's current location to the other.  No need to unplug the computer or do anything else.  Once you've moved the jumper, put the jumper cap back in the original configuration.  

 

After successfully clearing your CMOS you should get a message on your next boot up letting you know that you need to enter setup to reconfigure everything. 

 

 

Swapped the jumper, then swapped back to no effect.  Also tried removing the battery again.  No help.

[done12many2]

Just now, GeekMan said:

Swapped the jumper, then swapped back to no effect.  Also tried removing the battery again.  No help.

 

Okay.  I edited that post for simplification and to include some additional options.

[GeekMan]

done12many2,

Tried all your suggestions and nothing worked.  CPU voltage remains 1.776v and temps remain at 35 or lower.  This is insane.  I've written to ASRock, but since it's New Years Day I don't expect to hear from them for a couple of days at best.

Any more ideas?

[done12many2]

Just now, GeekMan said:

done12many2,

Tried all your suggestions and nothing worked.  CPU voltage remains 1.776v and temps remain at 35 or lower.  This is insane.  I've written to ASRock, but since it's New Years Day I don't expect to hear from them for a couple of days at best.

Any more ideas?

 

I'd personally remove the chip and try reseating it.  I doubt that the voltage is actually that high and suspect that something is causing it to report that.  Pulling it and reinstalling may not help, but at this point it's worth a shot.

[GeekMan]

Well, while this isn't my first build, it would be the first time I pull a CPU after I've attached an AIO to it.  I'd need new paste and something to clean the AIO and chip with to pull it and reseat it.  Also, I don't think that would fix the problem since the temp is fine.  Feels more like a MB issue.  I think I'll hold off on doing that until I hear from ASRock just in case there's a simpler solution.  

Thanks for all the advice.  I just hope someone else has an idea of what's wrong and can help me fix this.

[done12many2]

4 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

Well, while this isn't my first build, it would be the first time I pull a CPU after I've attached an AIO to it.  I'd need new paste and something to clean the AIO and chip with to pull it and reseat it.  Also, I don't think that would fix the problem since the temp is fine.  Feels more like a MB issue.  I think I'll hold off on doing that until I hear from ASRock just in case there's a simpler solution.  

Thanks for all the advice.  I just hope someone else has an idea of what's wrong and can help me fix this.

I'm not suggesting you pull it for temp reasons, but for the sake of reseating the CPU on the pins.  Not that it's likely to occur, but occasionally pins don't contact the CPU correctly depending on how the CPU was installed.  This can cause anything from sporadic unknown type issues to more well-known memory issues.  Excessive clamping for is really known for causing memory issues.

 

I understand that you need fresh thermal paste, but not for simple testing after reseating the CPU.  Just reuse what you have to test.  If it fixes your voltage, great, order some new paste.  If not, pull it back apart and RMA the board and the CPU.  Better to RMA both to minimize your down time.

 

I suspect that you have a bad board, but I always try to rule everything out before RMA.

 

Either way, good luck.

[GeekMan]

Hey all,

So after much research I think I've discovered the "real" problem.  Apparently, my ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7 MB is reporting the CPU Input Voltage as the CPU Voltage, which is why it reads as 1.776v.  Now that I've figured that out I need to discover which option in the UEFI actually controls the CPU Voltage. Since I can't find any option for CPU Voltage in the UEFI, I'm guessing that the CPU I/O Voltage is the option I need to alter.  Any thoughts?

[done12many2]

3 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

Hey all,

So after much research I think I've discovered the "real" problem.  Apparently, my ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7 MB is reporting the CPU Input Voltage as the CPU Voltage, which is why it reads as 1.776v.  Now that I've figured that out I need to discover which option in the UEFI actually controls the CPU Voltage. Since I can't find any option for CPU Voltage in the UEFI, I'm guessing that the CPU I/O Voltage is the option I need to alter.  Any thoughts?

 

Well, that would make perfect sense as that is right around normal CPU Input voltage at stock.  The problem with that is, it obviously isn't functioning correctly so you should RMA it.  If you have something wrong with something like that, you could have a lot more hidden surprises ahead.

[GeekMan]

All,

I'm posting this followup for others who might run into the same issue.

I spoke with ASRock tech support (only on hold for 17 minutes, a new record!) and was assured that there's nothing wrong with the MB.  Apparently, it's normal for the UEFI CPU Voltage reading on ASRock X99 MBs to show the CPU Input Voltage instead of CPU Voltage.  I was told that this has been the case since the Haswell chips, although the tech wouldn't, or couldn't, explain why they made the change.  Also, when overclocking, the actual CPU voltage is controlled via FIVR options, NOT the Voltage options.  So don't mess with the CPU Input Voltage or the CPU I/O Voltage options in the Voltage folder of the OC Tweaker Tab.

So, it seems this whole bruhaha could have been avoided if ASRock MBs would read and report the CPU Voltage correctly.  But at least there's nothing physically wrong with the board so I don't need to RMA.

I hope this helps anyone who might come here looking for answers.

[done12many2]

25 minutes ago, GeekMan said:

All,

I'm posting this followup for others who might run into the same issue.

I spoke with ASRock tech support (only on hold for 17 minutes, a new record!) and was assured that there's nothing wrong with the MB.  Apparently, it's normal for the UEFI CPU Voltage reading on ASRock X99 MBs to show the CPU Input Voltage instead of CPU Voltage.  I was told that this has been the case since the Haswell chips, although the tech wouldn't, or couldn't, explain why they made the change.  Also, when overclocking, the actual CPU voltage is controlled via FIVR options, NOT the Voltage options.  So don't mess with the CPU Input Voltage or the CPU I/O Voltage options in the Voltage folder of the OC Tweaker Tab.

So, it seems this whole bruhaha could have been avoided if ASRock MBs would read and report the CPU Voltage correctly.  But at least there's nothing physically wrong with the board so I don't need to RMA.

I hope this helps anyone who might come here looking for answers.

 

I would refuse to continue using ASRock x99 motherboards considering that they know this is an issue, but have done nothing to fix it, with the exception of the fact that there are other ASRock x99 boards and they do not exhibit this issue.  

 

As far as the FIVR controlling CPU voltages, that is the case with every Haswell-E and Broadwell-E chip.  Intel moved the FIVR to the chip itself for better voltage control.  That has nothing to do with the BIOS/UEFI user interface with regards to overclocking or voltage manipulation.  When it comes to end user monitoring of manipulation of voltages, the only thing that changes is that manipulating the CPU input voltage changes the voltages at the FIVR and not the VRM.

 

I actually can't believe that AsRock told you that it is "normal" to report CPU input voltage as "CPU Voltage".  Now I'm curious to what their own manual says since this is apparently normal.

[GeekMan]

I agree and will probably not use ASRock in the future because of this.  However, since I have it from them directly that the board isn't malfunctioning, I'll just keep this for now.  When it's time for the next upgrade or build though, you can be sure they'll be off the list.

 

Thanks a lot for your help.  Happy New Year.

[GeekMan]

I'm reviving this thread to give an update on my MB issue.

 

After installing Windows 10 and running Cinebench, RealBench, Heaven, Valley and lastly AIDA-64 for 2 hours without issue (all reported CPU temps at max load were under 60 via HWMonitor and CPU-Z with no crashes), I was feeling much more comfortable about the MB.  But just as I was getting ready to begin overclocking... it happened.

 

The computer suddenly shut down during idle and refused to turn on again.

 

I checked everything, from cables to PSU, but I knew it was the MB.  Put in a support ticket with ASRock, but didn't hear back.  After 48 hours of no response, I found their support phone number and called them directly.  The tech and I went through all the motions and came to the conclusion the MB needed to be RMA'd.

 

Now I don't know if I should also RMA the 6800k as well, just in case something went wrong with it, too.

 

Currently, based on my experience with this board, I would NOT recommend ASRock X99 boards at all.  If the techs at ASRock believe misreading the CPU voltage in the UEFI is "normal", then that's a red flag.  And when the MB breaks down for no reason during idle after seemingly passing all stress tests with flying colors... well, let's just say I now question the reliability of the reporting ability of ASRock boards.

 

Next time I'll stick with ASUS, Gigabyte, or MSI.