• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

CPU loadline calibration

currob

currob

currob

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2011
Posts
901
Location
Stafford
Hi, I've read that this feature does not only reduce vdroop but can also increase cpu vcore above target setting, i currently have a stable oc at 4.7ghz with 1.45v and LLC at "ultra high". If i reduce the LLC then the oc becomes unstable (testing with prime95).

Just looking for thoughts on whether the "ultra high" setting is safe for 24/7 use, predominantly gaming with average cpu load at 30 to 70% overall.

My max cpu temp is 47c under gaming load (prime 95 raises that to 54c after 30mins load) so temps are no issue with current settings.
 
Hi, below is a reply to someone asking the same question LLC ON or OFF, my mobo LLC has 3 settings standard/level 1/ level 2, and after a research no higher than level 1 for cpu lifespan as level 2 would decrease lifespan. But there are overclockers using level 2 and no problems after a year or two, its upto you at the end of the day, l'v been using level 1 for nearly 4years.

But saying that mobo's have improved a great deal since this was written, component wise, etc.

Quote from another furum -
Here is a reply from one guy that gives me a better understanding, I have disabled it because like him I need my PC to last a while:

Vdroop (or rather, having LLC disabled) protects the CPU in the way described by this 2-page section of a 13-page article on AnandTech:

1. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2404/5
2. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2404/6

Enabling LLC disables vDroop, goes against Intel's specifications, and allows dangerous voltage spikes when overclocking like this. If it were a really small overclock, then I guess I wouldn't be worried. Or, if it were a 65nm CPU, then I wouldn't be worried either because Intel's 65nm CPUs can handle vDroop being disabled (or in other words, having LLC enabled).
 
Thanks oldphart, i had to read through that a couple of times, so basically by using LLC i am allowing the vcore to spike higher than my setting of 1.45v. I understand vdroop more now and LLC. I am also thinking along the same lines as chrisoldinho that if i disable LLC then i will probably need to raise the vcore up to around 1.48v i guess. Looking at those links though at least i would know that 1.48v would be the highest it would peak at, currently i have no idea what peaks it is getting with LLC on. I think i would rather know how high the vcore actually is so will try and get a stable oc at same frequency without LLC, should be interesting to see what voltage i will need. I will post my results here.
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works, you should not use Ultra at all on air. Regular or medium is the highest you should be going. The higher settings are for people like 8 Pack who use exotic cooling on extreme o/clocks @-50c or more.
 
OK, here's what happened: with LLC off the following occurred:

1.4500v - system crashed at windows splash screen
1.4750v - most workers stopped in seconds on P95 and system hang
1.4875v - most workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5000v - 2 workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5125v - 2 workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5250v - 1 workers stopped after about 1 minute of P95 - aborted

Decided not to try any higher voltage !
 
currob said:
I am using a h100i watercooler with 4x120mm fans in push pull, would that suffice?
Click to expand...

I use a H100 on one of my X79 systems and the highest I go is Medium for LLC, most of the time I don't use it.

The one time I did set it to high (instead of raising the vcore a bit more) to see what would happen. The PC crashed very quick and there was an awful smell comming off the mobo that hung around for hours. Fortunately there was no permanent damage.

As I said earlier High and Ultra are only good for extreme overclocking at very low temps. I have just had a look at some settings 8 Pack put up for his RIVE and he is only using High on that occassion.
 
currob said:
OK, here's what happened: with LLC off the following occurred:

1.4500v - system crashed at windows splash screen
1.4750v - most workers stopped in seconds on P95 and system hang
1.4875v - most workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5000v - 2 workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5125v - 2 workers stopped within 10 seconds of P95 - aborted
1.5250v - 1 workers stopped after about 1 minute of P95 - aborted

Decided not to try any higher voltage !
Click to expand...

Did you measure the droop?
 
Kaapstad said:
The one time I did set it to high (instead of raising the vcore a bit more) to see what would happen. The PC crashed very quick and there was an awful smell comming off the mobo that hung around for hours. Fortunately there was no permanent damage.
Click to expand...

Ohhh, right I will reduce it to medium and lower the OC then, don't want that to happen :D

Chrisoldinho said:
Did you measure the droop?
Click to expand...

I don't know how to measure the vdroop :(
 
Kaapstad said:
I use a H100 on one of my X79 systems and the highest I go is Medium for LLC, most of the time I don't use it.

The one time I did set it to high (instead of raising the vcore a bit more) to see what would happen. The PC crashed very quick and there was an awful smell comming off the mobo that hung around for hours. Fortunately there was no permanent damage.

As I said earlier High and Ultra are only good for extreme overclocking at very low temps. I have just had a look at some settings 8 Pack put up for his RIVE and he is only using High on that occassion.
Click to expand...

I read heavily before going for Ultra High LLC on my 8350 on the OCN Vishera owners club, the general consensus for this CPU is Ultra High LLC is a sweet spot.

On my 990FX regular / high (no medium setting) created a moderate / minor droop, I recall needing to run 1.488 vcore to get 4.8 on high to compensate for the droop, on Ultra High I run 1.4625 in the BIOS, this equates to 1.464 in monitoring tools under full load, and occassionally a slight droop still at 1.452.

Chris.
 
Last edited:
currob said:
I don't know how to measure the vdroop :(
Click to expand...

Use HWMonitor, CPU-Z, AIDA64 anything like that and monitor vcore voltage. You know what you set it to in the BIOS, just look at what it runs at, you should see a droop if LLC is off / on a lower setting, this is a good method for tuning LLC correctly / understanding if you need to use it.

e.g. BIOS setting 1.5000, voltage observed 1.47500 = 0.02500 vdroop
 
I have dropped the LLC to "high" from "ultra high" (options are "regular" "high" "ultra high" and "extreme"). I have also lowered the OC to 4525MHz (220x20.5) and the vcore to 1.425v.

Thanks Chris, HWMonitor is showing 1.416v and I am currently running P95 to test, so far so good but only been running 5mins or so, time will tell :)
 
Chrisoldinho said:
I read heavily before going for Ultra High LLC on my 8350 on the OCN Vishera owners club, the general consensus for this CPU is Ultra High LLC is a sweet spot.

On my 990FX regular / high (no medium setting) created a moderate / minor droop, I recall needing to run 1.488 vcore to get 4.8 on high to compensate for the droop, on Ultra High I run 1.4625 in the BIOS, this equates to 1.464 in monitoring tools under full load, and occassionally a slight droop still at 1.452.

Chris.
Click to expand...

I don't use AMD and as you point out things are a bit different
 
On some motherboards, high/ultra high will give excessive voltages. On my Asus M5A99X and 8350, setting vcore to 1.496V and ultra high LLC will give voltages in cpuid of 1.488-1.464V. This is backed up by other apps and I consider it safe. 1.512V gave 1.500-1.488V in cpuid.
 
currob said:
I have dropped the LLC to "high" from "ultra high" (options are "regular" "high" "ultra high" and "extreme"). I have also lowered the OC to 4525MHz (220x20.5) and the vcore to 1.425v.

Thanks Chris, HWMonitor is showing 1.416v and I am currently running P95 to test, so far so good but only been running 5mins or so, time will tell :)
Click to expand...

Are you changing the settings in the BIOS out of interest or using a windows based tool?

Reason I ask is that "personally" I found it better to use a Windows based tool like TurboV EVO built into ASUS's AI SUITE first to find a good base setting,
alternating between this and the ASUS Digi+ (to change things like LLC), this enabled me to immediately see the pros and cons of running each setting. Once I was satisfied I found my sweet spot, I proceeded to note down the values, go into the BIOS and set these accordingly (using an offset value), finally boot back into Windows, verify everything was stable and save this as my "base" over clock as a BIOS profile. Then it's just a matter of doing very minor tweaking from there in the BIOS, or if you are happy just leave it :D

Also, as for over clocking the 8350 I find a multiplier over clock works better as the HT/NB speeds often create stability issues unless correctly managed when over clocking via the FSB, not sure what clock speeds you are aiming for, but looking at your signature 4.8 should be achievable comfortably unless you have a very poor chip.

One final thing, and again this is only my opinion, but I find that Prime95 to be OTT for stability, and there are plenty of comments again on the Vishera owners club over at OCN how it needs more vcore than most stress tests.

Something like AIDA64 Extreme stresses your CPU enough along with other components as well, and takes account of all of the latest instruction sets to validate your stability. I run 4.8 on mine, and hit 53 degrees on the core temp using AIDA after a 1 hour stress test, playing BF3 core temp never exceeds 47.

Chris.
 
Last edited:
Chrisoldinho said:
Are you changing the settings in the BIOS out of interest or using a windows based tool?

Reason I ask is that "personally" I found it better to use a Windows based tool like TurboV EVO built into ASUS's AI SUITE first to find a good base setting,
alternating between this and the ASUS Digi+ (to change things like LLC), this enabled me to immediately see the pros and cons of running each setting. Once I was satisfied I found my sweet spot, I proceeded to note down the values, go into the BIOS and set these accordingly (using an offset value), finally boot back into Windows, verify everything was stable and save this as my "base" over clock as a BIOS profile. Then it's just a matter of doing very minor tweaking from there in the BIOS, or if you are happy just leave it :D

Also, as for over clocking the 8350 I find a multiplier over clock works better as the HT/NB speeds often create stability issues unless correctly managed when over clocking via the FSB, not sure what clock speeds you are aiming for, but looking at your signature 4.8 should be achievable comfortably unless you have a very poor chip.

One final thing, and again this is only my opinion, but I find that Prime95 to be OTT for stability, and there are plenty of comments again on the Vishera owners club over at OCN how it needs more vcore than most stress tests.

Something like AIDA64 Extreme stresses your CPU enough along with other components as well, and takes account of all of the latest instruction sets to validate your stability. I run 4.8 on mine, and hit 53 degrees on the core temp using AIDA after a 1 hour stress test, playing BF3 core temp never exceeds 47.

Chris.
Click to expand...

I do the same Chris, use the AI Suite to test the new settings and if they are stable then i set the same settings in BIOS. I use P95 because it is OTT and if it is stable on that for an hour then i am more than happy, i know people will say it's not stable unless you run P95 for 24hrs but indeed, when will i ever use 100% load for 24hrs, lol :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom