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How much core Volt is too much for a q9550?
- Thread starter Rambo2683
- Start date
Thats about the most u want to be running it with, but you should be able to get that speed with less vcore if you tweak the voltages urself.
If u don't think u can do that then no worries, 1.4v is fine aslong as the heat is acceptable, u don't want it really going higher then that though.
If u don't think u can do that then no worries, 1.4v is fine aslong as the heat is acceptable, u don't want it really going higher then that though.
Ok thanks.
I have noticed that when I run Prime95, the CPU-Z voltage actually goes down to 1.36v. And when my CPU is idle it's back to 1.4 again.
The heat is perfect, I have the H50 cooler on it and it's infinitely better than my old air cooler.
Think I'll leave it as it is then
Thanks
I have noticed that when I run Prime95, the CPU-Z voltage actually goes down to 1.36v. And when my CPU is idle it's back to 1.4 again.
The heat is perfect, I have the H50 cooler on it and it's infinitely better than my old air cooler.
Think I'll leave it as it is then
Thanks
Soldato
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the voltage decrease is vdroop, when you apply load to the cpu a current draw increase will cause the voltage to droop
it's not really a problem, as long as it doesn't droop far enough to cause the cpu to become unstable.
it's not really a problem, as long as it doesn't droop far enough to cause the cpu to become unstable.
Soldato
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What are your temps with the H20 and what was your old air cooler.
Ahh I always wondered what vdroop meant. Thanks for the explanation!
My temps with the H50 idle at around 33 degrees and on load never exceed the 60-65 degree mark on the hottest core (the other 3 cores are generally 5-8 degrees cooler). With my old Arctic Cooling freezer pro cooler the load at 4ghz reached over 80 degrees before I either got too scared and pulled the plug or it crashed. Never did get past 3.8ghz stable on air. It was also much louder with the air cooler. Love the H50.
My temps with the H50 idle at around 33 degrees and on load never exceed the 60-65 degree mark on the hottest core (the other 3 cores are generally 5-8 degrees cooler). With my old Arctic Cooling freezer pro cooler the load at 4ghz reached over 80 degrees before I either got too scared and pulled the plug or it crashed. Never did get past 3.8ghz stable on air. It was also much louder with the air cooler. Love the H50.
Last edited:
You wanna watch the FSB/VTT and PLL voltages try not to exceed 1.4 for the FSB and 1.6 for the PLL... vcore upto 1.4 should be ok but lower is better.
Generally people can hit 4gig on 1.25-1.3625 but of late 1.35+ seems more common... mine needs all of 1.4 to get 4gig stable.
Generally people can hit 4gig on 1.25-1.3625 but of late 1.35+ seems more common... mine needs all of 1.4 to get 4gig stable.
Soldato
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on my q9450 i need about 1.4v for complete stability at 3.8GHz, the droop is quite significant, hence the high voltage. if i dropped the o/c to 3.6GHz, i can get it stable at around 1.33v.
Thought I had mine stable at 1.35 vcore, 1.25 FSB/VTT at 3.825gig (passed any amount of time on OCCT and over night prime) but failed under 15 passes in IBT - upped the vcore and fsb slightly and its now fully 20 passes stable in IBT which is as stable as makes no difference.
After 3.8gig tho it needs significantly higher amounts to scale up stable.
After 3.8gig tho it needs significantly higher amounts to scale up stable.
Listen to this man. If all the voltages are on auto you can be pushing lethal voltages through the rest of the components even if vcore is borderline ok.
people say the load voltage is the most important, under 100% load mine is about 1.366v which is fine, its the idle that scares me when its sitting at 1.41v - i could reach 4.4ghz or more, but that idle volt is putting me off!
depends on your motherboard, with mine you get EasyTune6 which shows the info, check your motherboard cd.
depends on your motherboard, with mine you get EasyTune6 which shows the info, check your motherboard cd.
Soldato
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Mostly. A fairly complete discussion is lengthy, this is an abridged version pending my working through the mathematics.
When load on processor increases, it draws more current. It is difficult to maintain a potential difference across a current sink, the greater the current, the greater the voltage decrease for any non perfect voltage source. Motherboards aren't perfect sources.
Enthusiasts don't like this. We call it vdroop, as the voltage droops under load. Voltage drops sharply, then slowly until it hits equilibrium. This can cause really annoying things like it dropping too low to maintain stability only after six hours of prime 95. It also seems to annoy people when voltage changes under load.
Motherboard manufacturers have responded by offering load line calibration. This holds the voltage in windows as steady as possible, even under rapid load changes. However, the voltage source still isn't perfect. Voltage is maintained by monitoring current flow into the processor and increasing applied voltage to compensate for the voltage drop. The circuitry is good enough to keep it pretty close to constant.
The critical part is that the supply circuitry must increase/decrease the voltage as load changes, rather than feeding a steady voltage whatever happens. The reality of electronics is that you cannot go from one voltage to another without some overshoot, this drops neatly out of fourier analysis and is seen on oscilloscopes. The overshoot is called ringing. The magnitude of the overshoot depends on the magnitude of the voltage change (probably proportional) and on the time interval over which it changes (probably exponential), I can't remember the equations though.
Quick changes in voltage will lead to large ringing, and processors can change from idle to load very quickly. When going from idle to load, voltage will overshoot and put more than the bios value through the processor. This will degrade the chip. I can't (not tried very hard to) calculate the magnitude of the overshoot, everest puts the transient voltages around the 2V mark, though the duration is brief and I don't know how accurate everest is. Next up, when going from load to idle the voltage drops below the bios value, potentially well below it. This can cause instability that will likely not be detected by stress tests.
I summarise this as the benefit is that idle and load voltages are the same, so you can set a lower voltage in the bios. Load voltage is the same with it on or off. Comfort can be drawn from the lower bios value, though some thought offers that it's only load voltage that matters in terms of chip lifespan (it's only hot when under load). The drawback is the transient voltages (unknown, perhaps negligible in magnitude) and the knowledge that you're deliberately violating intel's specifications in order to have a lower number in the bios.
I see this as conclusive for not using it. Others hang onto the "potentially negligible" part and use it anyway. Each to their own.
When load on processor increases, it draws more current. It is difficult to maintain a potential difference across a current sink, the greater the current, the greater the voltage decrease for any non perfect voltage source. Motherboards aren't perfect sources.
Enthusiasts don't like this. We call it vdroop, as the voltage droops under load. Voltage drops sharply, then slowly until it hits equilibrium. This can cause really annoying things like it dropping too low to maintain stability only after six hours of prime 95. It also seems to annoy people when voltage changes under load.
Motherboard manufacturers have responded by offering load line calibration. This holds the voltage in windows as steady as possible, even under rapid load changes. However, the voltage source still isn't perfect. Voltage is maintained by monitoring current flow into the processor and increasing applied voltage to compensate for the voltage drop. The circuitry is good enough to keep it pretty close to constant.
The critical part is that the supply circuitry must increase/decrease the voltage as load changes, rather than feeding a steady voltage whatever happens. The reality of electronics is that you cannot go from one voltage to another without some overshoot, this drops neatly out of fourier analysis and is seen on oscilloscopes. The overshoot is called ringing. The magnitude of the overshoot depends on the magnitude of the voltage change (probably proportional) and on the time interval over which it changes (probably exponential), I can't remember the equations though.
Quick changes in voltage will lead to large ringing, and processors can change from idle to load very quickly. When going from idle to load, voltage will overshoot and put more than the bios value through the processor. This will degrade the chip. I can't (not tried very hard to) calculate the magnitude of the overshoot, everest puts the transient voltages around the 2V mark, though the duration is brief and I don't know how accurate everest is. Next up, when going from load to idle the voltage drops below the bios value, potentially well below it. This can cause instability that will likely not be detected by stress tests.
I summarise this as the benefit is that idle and load voltages are the same, so you can set a lower voltage in the bios. Load voltage is the same with it on or off. Comfort can be drawn from the lower bios value, though some thought offers that it's only load voltage that matters in terms of chip lifespan (it's only hot when under load). The drawback is the transient voltages (unknown, perhaps negligible in magnitude) and the knowledge that you're deliberately violating intel's specifications in order to have a lower number in the bios.
I see this as conclusive for not using it. Others hang onto the "potentially negligible" part and use it anyway. Each to their own.
Soldato
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So if you can get it stable (with testing) without load line calibration. (like my old Abit IP35pro, if I remember right it never had anything to combat vdroop)
Will test mine see what I get.
Edit Thanks Jon.
Will test mine see what I get.
Edit Thanks Jon.
That's my opinion on it. Reading around (did a lot of this, information on it is quite scattered) showed a consensus that it is never necessary, and best avoided if working with voltages on the limit of safety as the spikes could push it well over. Also an awful lot of posts to the effect of "it's well good and my board ain't broken yet innit", which I guess is what the motherboard manufacturers were hoping for.
It was brought in with P45 as far as I know. The P5Q boards are nice, I miss my one.
No worries man, thanks for taking the time to read it
It was brought in with P45 as far as I know. The P5Q boards are nice, I miss my one.
No worries man, thanks for taking the time to read it
Remind me never to stray from asus again.Yeah, there's point of diminishing returns where small increase in clock speed starts to need notable voltage increase fast leading to dramatically higher power consumption for very minor speed benefit.
(my 1.25VID E0 runs nicely at ~3.7GHz using 1.2V)
"If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it; ride the ******* down."