Question regarding overclocking - offset + LLC

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Joined
12 Oct 2009
Posts
62
Location
Peterborough
Hi, I will start by giving you my system spec:

I7 3770k (custom water loop - delidded)
ASUS Maximus V formula z77 (VRM on water)
16GB Corsair RAM
850w PSU

I have owned the system for 2 years and when I first overclocked it got great results with these settings:

Multiple - 47
Speed spectrum - Disabled
LLC - Extreme
CPU voltage frequency - AUTO
CPU power phrase frequency - Extreme
CPU power duty cycle - T Probe
CPU Current capability - 130%
Voltage + offset - 0.055 (CPUZ says 1.248v max load - 81c max temp)
All power saying modes ON

I have used these setting for 2 years without any issue or WHEA errors. System down clocks to 1600MHz with voltage of 0.994 - 1.008v. Perfect.

This was great so I thought and was very happy I had won the CPU silicon lottery as my voltage is so low. However a friend had a look at my settings and said that the setting I had chosen were not optimal and dangerous for both my CPU and motherboard for a 24/7 overclock and went onto giving me a lesson in Load line calibration which made perfect sense.

However what didn’t make sense was the fact my voltage range seams perfect. 1.008v idle and 1.248v load. All stress tests, benchmarks, games, rendering all report this as max constant voltage. However whilst using ROG realbench stress test the CPU dropped to 1.232v but still 100% stable and no WHEA errors after an hr. my system seams happy and has not exceeded 81c whilst torture testing with these settings and have also played around 100hrs of BF4 without a single crash max temps 67c.

My friend Went onto explain that because I set the LLC to Extreme that my VRM had to work much harder to create positive VDROOP to compensate for such a low offset and it will degrade the VRM. He also said that high spikes caused by no VDROOP CAN damage the CPU. Convinced I let him alter some settings:

Multiple - 47
Speed spectrum - Disabled
LLC - HIGH (flat)
CPU voltage frequency - 350
CPU power phrase frequency - OPTIMAL
CPU power duty cycle - EXTREME
CPU Current capability - 130%
Voltage + offset - 0.105 (CPUZ says 1.232v max load - 79c max temp)
All power saying modes ON

Since changing to these setting its passed 10 rounds (very high) of IBT, multiple rounds of cinnbench single + all cores. 1 hr ROG realbench stress test and about 12 hrs of BF4 as well as browsing, you tube e.t.c so looks to be stable with 0.014v less voltage which is awesome.

However through observation a few things don’t make sense. My idle voltage has gone up to 1.048v which is annoying as it previously was as low as 0.994v. With a offset of 0.105 there doesn’t seam to be any VDROOP even when using ROG REALBENCH at full load it’s stuck at 1.32v. I have a temp sensor on the input of my Rad that registers the water temps of the VRM and CPU as it goes into the Rad but the idle and load temps are the same Extreme vs High LLC. Shouldn’t there be a difference as the VRM are now being used more optimally? Core temps are still the same and to honest I can’t tell if there is any difference for the better by any of the changes made.

If someone with more experience than myself with overclocking could take a look and give me some advice on overclocking i7 3770k and LLC + offset I would be most grateful.

Many thank
Jay
 
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