Is a high Vcore in itself dangerous or is it just the heat?

[dtrvndrn]

Hi,
I'm a beginner at overclocking and 1 thing's not entirely clear to me: is a high Vcore in itself dangerous or is it just the resulting heat? I'm reading here and there that Vcore's of 1.4+V are to be avoided but I'm not sure whether that's because of the heat it causes or because of the voltage itself. If it's just the heat then it would be fine if it's kept under control by the cooler and/or the CPU/mobo's thermal/current limits. If not then great care has to be taken 'cause sandy/ivy bridge overclocks done by only tweaking the turbo ratios with Vcore left on auto see their voltages rise well above 1.4V. My i7-2600k on a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 was at over 1.4V with 4-core turbo set at 40x.

Thanks for any clarifications. D.

 

[skaker]

The two are related. More voltage means more current flowing through of the CPU. More current leads to more heat. More heat leads to more resistance. The amount of current the 'correct' pathways in the CPU can handle depends on the temperature (and temperature's effect on resistance). With high resistance (high temps), if you keep increasing the voltage, the current will find another path (a 'short circuit'), which is how CPUs die.

If you keep temperatures down (in the extreme using liquid nitrogen), resistance stays lower, and you can safely push more current through the 'correct' pathways of the CPU. This is why for overclocking (using LN) records you see ridiculous voltages (1.7+vcore).

This also explains why voltage requirements for overclocking are not linear, and why sometimes decreasing voltage can lead to increased overclocks.

 

[shibirian]

This also explains why voltage requirements for overclocking are not linear, and why sometimes decreasing voltage can lead to increased overclocks.

Very true.

Increase Voltage all too much and you will fry your chip -- at best. If you're unlucky, your motherboard will be a goner, too, perhaps. Loosing all warranty too, I may add.

Nevertheless, you will definitely shorten the life span of your components. But if that's not a bother to you...

 

[dtrvndrn]

The two are related. More voltage means more current flowing through of the CPU. More current leads to more heat. More heat leads to more resistance. The amount of current the 'correct' pathways in the CPU can handle depends on the temperature (and temperature's effect on resistance). With high resistance (high temps), if you keep increasing the voltage, the current will find another path (a 'short circuit'), which is how CPUs die.

If you keep temperatures down (in the extreme using liquid nitrogen), resistance stays lower, and you can safely push more current through the 'correct' pathways of the CPU. This is why for overclocking (using LN) records you see ridiculous voltages (1.7+vcore).

This also explains why voltage requirements for overclocking are not linear, and why sometimes decreasing voltage can lead to increased overclocks.

Thanks for the clarification!