x399 Taichi CPU vcore at stock settings too high?

Arundor wrote: I have a x399 Taichi motherboard with BIOS 1.50 and a 1920X Threadripper CPU. I have not attempted to overclock yet and all voltage settings are at default and auto settings in the BIOS. In Windows 10 CPU-Z is reporting my CPU vcore fluctuating around 1.4v, sometimes going as high as 1.43v, even when the system is idle.  Is this safe? From my reading it seems that only extreme overclockers push into the 1.4v range so it seems odd for a system at stock settings. I have placed my full system specs in my signature in case they are needed.

Unfortunately, it is common for higher then necessary VCore voltages to be set in the default/Auto settings for any new system/platform.

That is a compromise to insure that each and every production processor that we purchase will operate correctly with stability when we initially start up our newly built system.

Imagine if the default VCore value was too low for the board to start/POST into the UEFI/BIOS, or work correctly while installing an OS. If we cannot get into the UEFI/BIOS, how could we increase the VCore? Or if we cannot run an OS and then run CPU-Z, how would we know what the VCore level is?

The board was designed with several iterations of ES type processors. Just before the official release, the non-ES production processors are delivered. What's the sample size of processors a manufacture gets? 100? 1,000? That sample size is small compared to what will be sold, and sold over at least two - three years, with new models and variations added along the way. Then we are dealing with eight to 16 core processors, what will the VCore droop be like on the 16 core models? Plus who knows what changes will occur during the platform's life cycle? How do we determine the minimum, 100% safe, default VCore value, in every possible situation? Safe meaning guaranteed to POST every single time.

Those are just some of the main considerations that mother board manufactures must deal with when choosing default VCore values. Intel Skylake and Kaby Lake boards that can use just four core processors also had default VCore values of 1.4V. The maximum VID/VCore value programmed into those processors by Intel is 1.52V. Would a potentially dangerous (if only short term) voltage value be programmed into a processor by the manufacture?

Given my experience with Ryzen, and that of others, you'll find that while 1.4V is on the higher side for the VCore, it is not only used in extreme over clocking. The default Ryzen 7 VCore values were higher than that. I saw Turbo boost VIDs over 1.5V. Don't forget the Turbo VCore will be more than the base frequency VCore, which explains the 1.43V reading.

If we reduce the VCore in the UEFI for testing to a low value, and the CPU/board fails to POST, we can clear the UEFI/BIOS, regain the default VCore, and try again. If the default VCore is too low to POST, what can we do?

None of this considers that the CPU power saving options are enabled by default, which will mean the VCore actually in use will be less than the maximum value we see in a reading. Sophisticated monitoring programs like HWiNFO64 that displays, on mother board capable of providing this information, CPU VRM output voltages, VIDs, and the actual VCore being used. The differences in those things are very educational. The actual VCore with any CPU VRM voltage mode besides Fixed Voltage is rarely constant for very long. Plus it is a sample taken once every two seconds, not a continuous, analog reading.

Yes, I don't like seeing the high default VCore values. But until I reduce the VCore myself and test that the CPU is stable at that voltage, I don't know what the appropriate VCore for a new processor actually will be.