Voltage Damage Symptoms?

[redsquirrel0249]

So I thought I had a stable overclock on my Ryzen 5 1600 at 3.9 GHz, 1.334 V (nothing fancy, just trying to keep temps conservative at about 59C load). I ran AIDA64 for 15-20 mins and had had crashes at lighter voltages. With such a run, I figured I'd reached stability. Then I loaded Deus Ex: Mankind Divided just to test graphics and I got a freeze. Since I had thought the overclock was stable, my first suspicion was that I had overvolted in an earlier setup...

 

in initial overclocking, I misunderstood the core voltage to be 1.2 V, not the 1.25 it actually is. I had heard from Paul's Hardware 1.4 was AMD's upper limit on these chips, and so I made a mental note that I had 200 mV of headroom (when I really only had 150). I can't remember the exact number I set it to, but I tried 3.9 GHz at between 1.39 and 1.42 V.

 

This leaves two possibilities:

 

1. I overvolted, and now I'll be prone to random crashes. This is what my title assumes, as, if this is true, I'd like to learn symptoms of overvolting from other examples. 
2. I didn't test long enough and 1.334 V was just barely stable. This would be corroborated by my reset to stock settings and being able to play through the first level of Deus Ex just fine.

 

Also note that I had crashing in chrome after the Deus Ex game and a couple more instances in Windows near startup. No BSOD, just hardware freezing. This was weird contrasted with the relative stability of that voltage in AIDA64.

 

To those who are familiar with my CPU, does this sound like low voltage? Was overvolting likely?

 

To those familar with overvolting, do these symptoms sound familiar?

[Jurrunio]

It takes a lot longer than a few tries before you even degrade a CPU (so needs more voltage for stability) when using voltage less than 100mV, not to mention breaking it completely.

 

You just used the wrong stress test tool. Prime95 small FFT is the best for torturing CPU cores, Prime95 blend test and Intelburntest are the best for testing memory and CPU overclock at the same time.

 

[Bananasplit_00]

1.42V for just a little bit won't do any harm, you need more voltage for that 3.9GHz. I'd use IBT instead of AIDA for stress testing and I would not use P95 unless you are doing extremely important stuff as it's pretty unrealistically aggressive IMO. 

 

Symptoms of overvolting is generally degradation which means you need more voltage for a given frequency and also dead chips. 

[redsquirrel0249]

15 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

when using voltage less than 100mV

What do you mean by this? You mean the margin relative to a safe max?

 

15 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

so needs more voltage for stability... You just used the wrong stress test tool

So you consider the possibility of my circumstance of overvolting virtually non-existent?

 

14 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

1.42V for just a little bit won't do any harm

I mean, is there risk of damage at all? Of course, it varies between CPUs, but with modern processors, That seems like something higher overclocks would utilize. And given that the temps were perfectly under control, I don't know at what margin it would begin to damage the processor.

 

Thanks both @Jurrunio and @Bananasplit_00 for the confirmations.

[Jurrunio]

3 hours ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

What do you mean by this? You mean the margin relative to a safe max?

 

So you consider the possibility of my circumstance of overvolting virtually non-existent?

 

I mean, is there risk of damage at all? Of course, it varies between CPUs, but with modern processors, That seems like something higher overclocks would utilize. And given that the temps were perfectly under control, I don't know at what margin it would begin to damage the processor.

 

Thanks both @Jurrunio and @Bananasplit_00 for the confirmations.

to degrade a CPU within a few hours, you need a LOT more voltage than just 200mV over spec. When you have adequate cooling, this process takes even longer. For example, even if you're shoving 1.55V into your Ryzen CPU, you wont notice any degradation after a whole month of use if the temps never climb past 60C. CPUs are tougher than people think they are.

 

Oh and btw, AMD's recommended maximum voltage is actually 1.425V. However, your B350 Gaming 3's voltage reading is 1000% inaccurate, so let's say you did go overspec in voltage.

[redsquirrel0249]

17 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

B350 Gaming 3's voltage reading

I used CPU-Z for the read, my memory just lost the last couple digits.

 

Good to hear about CPU durability. It still confuses me why I got crashes in non-load scenarios, though. Some where right at Windows loading in from the lockscreen. It's not that important, but computers are definitely spooky sometimes.