Looking through the technical documents relating to the recent Intel processors, we noticed something that we hadn’t noticed before but which could well have an impact on overclocking over long periods. The maximum voltages recommended by Intel are considerably different between the Core i7 LGA1366s and the Core i5/i7 LGA1156s:
The VCC, which supplies the four cores, remains unchanged at 1.55V but the uncore part (L3 cache, memory controller) has dropped from 1.35V to 1.21V. This means that the voltage supply for the DDR3 should also drop as you're advised that the maxiumum difference between VTT and VDDQ should be 0.5V.
These are the “Absolute Maxiumum and Minimum Ratings” specified by Intel. Intel is unequivocal on these specs, saying that if the processor is subjected to higher values, even for a short period of time, it can be dammaged irreversibly.
Although it is common to go beyond these limits in record overclocking attempts, we don’t advise you to do so for long periods.
