A few clarifications: PBO DOES void your warranty, my BIOS does not allow PPT, TDC, or EDC adjustments 
, and I use BIOS for OC'ing. I turned Precision Boost Overdrive on in my BIOS, which basically means the PPT, TDC, and EDC ceilings are much higher for Precision Boost to use and put a -0.1 Vcore offset (this actually improves performance in my case). I get fast speeds like 4.35ghz, but also high voltages, like 1.45v (1.5v with no offset). These voltages are not constant, however. Is this normal for PBO to do? That is my question. I have heard of chips degrading with voltages of 1.45v, but Precision Boost Overdrive does not keep cores boosted for that long, and damage only occurs when high voltage is used for long periods of time (according to AMD). So will my chip degrade is all I'm asking. (Note: I believe HWinfo shows the real voltages, where AMD Master does not. The two pictures are from the same screenshot as well so they are taken at the same time)
Step 1: What Controls Boost
All 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen-branded Processors use Precision Boost 2, which intelligently leverages a large network of sensors built into the CPU to determine whether it’s okay to boost. These sensors measure and react in a very fast loop: up to 1000 times per second. Though there are many data points being measured, the most important are:
- SoC Power (“PPT Limit”): measured in watts, the amount of power the CPU can draw before boost levels off
- VRM Current (“TDC Limit”): measured in amps, the amount of current we let the motherboard deliver to the CPU before boost levels off
- Temp (°C): measured in degrees Celsius, the temperature the CPU can reach before boost levels off
If the sensors detect that the CPU isn’t close to one of these limits, Precision Boost 2 sees opportunity to raise clock speeds on as many cores as it can.
It is useful to imagine these three thresholds (“platform limits”) as a triangle, shown below, where the labeled corners are something like the RPM red line on your car. Inside of that, a safer and more reliable triangle that represents the factory configuration of your CPU.
Figure 1: Precision Boost 2 leverages extra thermal and electrical capacity to enable higher performance. The CPU’s factory configuration is aggressive, without pushing the CPU to the red line in power or temperatures.
When you mention that vCORE goes to 1.55 volts when in PBO, does that voltage stay at that level for a long time or is it just a short spike and then lowers below 1.4 vdc.?
If it is just spikes of 1.4 to 1.55 volts or greater and then immediately goes below 1.37 than that is normal and should not harm the CPU. As mentioned by Hallock, high voltage spikes are engineered into the Ryzen architecture and will never spike above a range that will damage the CPU and is considered to be normal. But if the vCORE stays above 1.4 up to or past 1.55 vdc permanently than that will definitely harm the Ryzen CPU and shorten its life span or even damage your processor in the long run.
Unfortunately, displaynerd, you do not. There has been plenty of complaining about this but AMD's reasoning is if allowed, then bad settings that cause an un-bootable system cannot be fixed except by serious work. What you can do is create a (or several) RM Profile(s) and save it (them). Then when you boot your system, Apply your Profile. Here is a Profile I created for Cinebench:
When I close RM (or Shutdown) the RM settings are lost but the PPT and TDC limits I set remain in BIOS. When I come back if I want to run CB, I open RM and select CB Bench Profile and click Apply. BTW, notice the Apply and Test. This applies the Profile and runs a short test - very useful. Have fun and enjoy, John.
Yes, I am secretly AMD CEO and come here under an assumed Users name to keep an eye on you 
