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Determining The Safe Voltage for i7 6700k

Determining the safe voltage for an I7 6700k can be tricky for some people especially for those who have little knowledge about this stuff.

However, you can learn everything here related to the CPU voltage of the Intel Core i7 6700k model.

Intel processors have four different operating modes, each of which is designed for a specific type of workload.

The key to maximizing your Intel processor is to ensure it stays in the right mode at all times.

And that means you need to know how to identify and set the correct voltage for your CPU.

Contents

What Does ‘Safe Voltage’ Mean for Intel CPUs?

Safe voltage means the voltage that doesn’t need to be increased above stock settings because it is already at a safe level.

This means that when voltage is set at this level, it won’t ever need to be increased.

Of course, if you have a high-end CPU cooling system, you may choose to run voltages higher than stock in order to maximize your maximum overclock potential.

However, for most users running an overclocked CPU (which reduces its lifespan), it’s necessary to match the voltage of the processor to that of whatever cooling system they are using.

For example, if your CPU is running at around 1.2V and you use a Corsair H100i liquid cooler, you need to ensure that your CPU voltage is set no higher than 1.2V as well.

Using the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) is a great way to make sure you’re getting the voltage for the I7 6700k right every time.

If your chip ever becomes unstable, you can feel confident knowing it was because of too high of a voltage and not an issue with your overclocking settings.

The Best Voltage for i7 6700k

You’ll find many opinions online about what voltage is right for Intel CPUs, and in most cases, these opinions are incorrect and dangerous.

The best voltage for i7 6700k you will read in forums or whatever is wrong in most cases!

The best voltage for i7 6700k is the lowest voltage that your processor will run at stock settings without any issues.

If you can’t even get a stable overclock using only the multiplier, then you’ll need to turn off Turbo Mode and work from there.

Setting The Correct Voltage For Your Processor

Intel’s Turbo Boost, also known as Intel Thermal Velocity Boost (ITVB), is a feature that lets the CPU clock speed ramp up when running single-threaded workloads.

For instance, if your chip can run at 4GHz but you only demand it to run at 2GHz, the CPU will let the clock speed ramp up to 4GHz when needed.

This is how it can operate at slightly higher clock speeds than what you’ve set in the BIOS.

However, this feature does not work when multiple cores are being stressed and were designed for pure single-threaded capability.

As a result, processors will run much hotter when ITVB is enabled.

The only way to overcome this is by providing your CPU with more voltage, which can sometimes push it beyond the safe range of the stock voltage.

With that in mind, it’s not usually necessary to increase voltage for the I7 6700k more than 1V over stock settings at most.

Raising the voltage more than that can actually reduce your CPU’s lifespan and isn’t necessary for most extreme overclocking.

The key to getting the best value for i7 6700k 4.7GHz voltage is by gradually increasing it until you find the right spot.

This is done through either stress testing or benchmarking like those included with XTU.

This is the best voltage for i7 6700k as well as the safest and most stable voltage you’ll be able to achieve with an unlocked Intel Skylake Core i7-6700K CPU.

If you’re getting a BSOD or crash within XTU, then it’s because of too high voltage.

Lower the voltage until it runs stable again, and you’ll be set to continue with your overclock.

Chipset Voltage For i7 6700k/4790K/4690K

The chipset also needs a certain amount of voltage to operate properly. It’s also known as the FIVR on Haswell chips, or Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator. For the best voltage for i7 6700k Skylake processors, this skylake safe voltage is 1.05V.

You may need to increase this voltage if your CPU has trouble running under load and not crashing. A setting of 1.1V might be necessary to push the heavy overclocks that are often seen on these chips.

This voltage is set in the BIOS under CPU/Advanced Voltage Control/Internal Voltage Control, or Clear CMOS / Load Fail-Safe Defaults when using a Z97 chipset.

For the best voltage for i7 6700k Z170 chipsets, use 1.2V on the chipset voltage. However, you might want to double-check your 6700k overclock voltage to prevent any accidents.

What Is the Safe Voltage for Intel Core I7 6700k?

The safe voltage for an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU should not exceed 1.3V according to many reports made by professionals.

The Basics of I7 6700k Adaptive Voltage Settings

As most of the overclocking community knows, modern i7 6700k processors are equipped with an internal voltage regulator module that is capable of managing voltages fed to the chip internally.

What many people don’t know, however, is how this works at different clock speeds and whether or not it can increase or decrease your maximum stable overclock.

I7 6700k Voltage Vdroop and Vdrop Explained

Voltage droop and drop happen as a result of dynamic power draw on your CPU. If you’ve overclocked Intel’s new Skylake processors before, you know that they will automatically increase or decrease voltages for your chip depending on its current load.

This is called “adaptive voltage” and can be thought of as a turbo boost for the CPU, only it doesn’t ever turn off or decrease performance.

For example, you could set 1.23V in your BIOS thinking that this will be the maximum voltage your chip will use at full load.

However, the voltage regulator will throttle back the voltage to 1.2V when more load is applied in order to get more power from your CPU.

This will increase clock speeds since there’s less power draw at lower voltages and you can push your chip beyond its full capabilities for a short time.

According to Tom’s Hardware, you should aim for an average voltage of 1.2V in XTU if using adaptive voltage.

However, this can vary depending on your CPU quality and how it reacts to adaptive vdroop/vdrop.

Also, read –can you use cpu thermal paste on gpu

Intel’s Adaptive Voltage Explained

According to Tom’s Hardware, most Haswell CPUs will be able to work with stable voltages as low as 1.15V and up to 1.3 volts depending on the quality of your CPU and how it reacts to adaptive vdroop/vdrop.

Lowering voltage by 0.05 – 0.1V is typically all that’s needed to stabilize an overclock with adaptive voltage.

This means that 1.25V should be your target average for our i7 6700k chip, or whatever voltage is necessary for stability at your desired clock speeds.

Keep in mind that temperature can also affect core voltages, so use XTU’s built-in monitoring to avoid going too high.

Speaking of the temperature you can read our guide on “do ssd get hot”

If your processor gets too hot, the voltage will automatically be reduced by adaptive vdroop/vdrop as a fail-safe.

This also means that your CPU automatically makes up for overvoltage conditions and reduces voltages if there is a current load on key components inside your machine.

In simple terms, the processor uses adaptive voltage to keep from frying itself in case you happen to push a bit too much voltage through it.

You might also want to check our latest guide on the safe voltage for ryzen

How Do I Check Whether My Motherboard Is Using Adaptive Voltage?

It’s actually pretty easy to see what your motherboard is doing in realtime when overclocking.  All you have to do is open up HWinfo64 under the sensors tab and look at the digital readout for core, vcache, etc.

The graphs will show a dynamic range of voltages based on load. If your motherboard adapts voltage, you should see a drop in voltage during idle/light loads and an increase during heavy usage.

*If your motherboard is not capable of using adaptive voltage, you will see a flat line for vcore at all times.

Don’t automatically assume that this is the case though. Just because XTU says “Adaptive Voltage” doesn’t mean it’s actually functioning properly or working with your motherboard.

You can check by simply increasing your CPU speed in XTU and watching the voltages to see if they are indeed increased. Intel’s internal monitoring system used for vdroop/vdrop is called “Turbo Boost power policy” or TDP.

It allows you to set a maximum TDP that the CPU will not exceed. TDP is designed to put a hard stop on power consumption by overriding voltage regulation if necessary.

This means that your voltages should be at their maximum possible levels for stability (1.45V or 1.5V) even though adaptive vdroop/vdrop would otherwise throttle voltages back.

In other words, this option allows you to maximize the range of voltages your CPU receives during heavy loads.

Setting TDP essentially gives XTU full control over your motherboard’s voltage regulator if adaptive vdroop/vdrop fails for any reason.

But wait! There’s more! XTU also has its own system of adaptive voltage control that you can see when you click the “voltage scales” option under the frequency/voltage curve.

You should set a manual vcore in XTU based on the average voltage shown in HWinfo64.

This is going to be different from your motherboard’s maximum voltage since it will only be active when your CPU is at full load.

You can set the voltage target to +0.005 under XTU’s adaptive voltage control system, but this may not always have an effect.

Just use whatever is listed in HWinfo64 for vcore/cache voltage under that option and you will be fine unless it’s listed as 0.000 or -0.005V for some reason.

You can also set the adaptive voltage to “auto” under XTU so that it automatically increases/decreases your core voltage based on load, but this usually doesn’t work unless you have TDP turned off.

You can also try manually setting a voltage target and then enabling adaptive voltage, but this may produce strange results.

I would not recommend trying to use TDP with XTU’s adaptive voltage system while your motherboard is also using Adaptive Voltage.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Voltage Is I7 6700k?

The voltage of the i7 6700K Skylake is around 1.2V stock and 1.35V-1.45V at full load, depending on temperature and silicon quality. It is also considered as the i7 6700k safe overclock voltage

2. Is 80c Safe for I7 6700k?

80C is safe at stock settings. Just don’t go much higher than that with a stock cooler, as it will quickly degrade the lifespan of your chip.

3. Can I run 4.8GHZ on air?

You can run overclocked if you have a good cooler and decent motherboard, but you should still expect to see voltages

4. How Hot Should an I7 6700k Run?

It is going to run at max temps under a sustained 100% load, with stock cooling.

There’s really no such thing as “max temperature” for an i7 6700K. You can expect temperatures to remain close to or below 80C under normal use and 80C-85C while gaming/benchmarking.

Final Words

After making it this far, we hope you’ve learned what is the safe voltage for i7 6700k. However, we tried our best to explain the topic by covering other angles too such as what is the safe voltage for the chipset and CPU voltage basics, etc.

We hope after reading this guide you will be able to select the right voltage value for your CPU confidently without toasting it.

For more information, you can read our guide on “realtemp vs coretemp