How much extra voltage is safe?

[AlexMc]

When overclocking a processor how far can you safely push the voltage up from its default setting. The processor in question is a Slot 1 P3 850 which normally runs at 1.65V

 

[AMDPwred]

I'm also wondering this (Duron 750).

 

[Pepsin]

You should be able to find that in some tech docs for the CPU.

I checked that for my T-Bird, and according to AMD themselves, the T-Bird 900 is designed to function at anything between 1.70V and 1.85V. I found it in a PDF document on the AMD site. I'm sure Intel has similar documents on their site.

 

[Marine]

To be safe, I'd ramp it up in .05 increments and I'd personally not exceed 1.8.

 

[WarCon]

10% (1.815v) is the golden rule for Intel (company specs I believe), with good cooling 15% (1.8975v) overvoltage is the max I would do. With extreme cooling (watercooling or peltiers) you might push it as high as 20% (1.98v). Have seen higher than that used, but I am sure it is aging the chip at a unpredictable rate, so failure could be much sooner than later.

 

[00aStrOgUy00]

hmmmm i see people getting it pass 2.00vcore aircooled...

 

[WarCon]

Um, I just set up a 700 celeron overclocked to 1050 with 1.8v and no amount all the way up to 2v would get 1102 (my next available step) to be stable. Pretty much depends on cooling and luck and maybe not so much on cooling. By the way, this was in a Soyo 6BA+IV in a slotket card and I had to adjust the voltage with jumpers and so I never tried less than 1.8. It might of worked at default for all I know.

But drift(which ages the chip) in the paths on the die is the main problem and more voltage increases this effect. I am not a thermodynamic engineer, but I am not 100% certain cooling will alter or slow this effect.

Maybe a chip designer or someone else who works in the field can answer this one.

 

[Richardito]

I've been running my Duron @2.10-2.20v with air cooling for over 6 months now and it still passes all stability tests.

 

[Dan]

The highest I've taken overclocked Durons is 1.85v.

 

[Def]

Intel's max spec for the P3 core is 2.10V I believe.

I've run my 933EB cBO stepping chip at 1.95V for the past year. This little ah heck has been humming along 24/7 on Seti@Home since then. No stability problems at all.

Pretty much any value your motherboard lets you select is fine. These chips can easily take that much voltage and never think twice about it.