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Maximus VII Hero voltage control help required

sherriffjb
Level 8
So Im used to overclocking with x58 - that's the last time I upgraded prior to this.

The Bios and voltages are getting on my wick

There seems to be some inherent LLC even when I - as far as I can tell- have it turned off in the bios, I want to set my voltages at 1.31v for 4.8 on a 4790K

If i use manual it ends up closer to 1.33 and Offset and Adaptive are messing with my mind.

When I set an amount of offset and turbo voltage which equals 1.31v the cpu has drawn 1.4 and on one startling occasion nearly 1.5v before I pulled the plug (literally and very quickly) so i think I must be doing something wrong.

Offset yields better results through more predictable voltages but still will not give me any fine control and when i set the voltages at anywhere between 1.295-1.31v the board without fail pulls 1.328

I am finding it impossible to set up any kind of precision voltage control, am I doomed to have to run at 1.328, when all i need is 1.31? Is it me missing something glaring obvious or have I been stripped of that kind of fine control that I want with this board?

Advice, correction and everything else are requested and welcomed.
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44 REPLIES 44

Nate152
Moderator
Hello sherriffjb and welcome


if you set it to manual and it needed 1.33v for 4.8Ghz then that's what it will need when using offset and adaptive modes too. 1.33v for 4.8GHz is quite good.

All cpu's do not overclock the same. Some need more voltage and some need less for the same speed.

Thing is it doesn't need that

It needs around 1.31-1.32, but i have no fine control with the voltages.

In manual no matter what I set it for it drags more voltage and yes this is with LLC on the lowest setting.

I appreciate your reply but perhaps I was not really clear, I know my way around overclocking, I also know different chips require different voltages, what I am frustrated with is that on manual voltage and with LLC on its lowest setting when I input 1.310 volts and the bios saves that figure the chip in windows pulls in 1.328 I have no absolute control over the voltages and I wonder if its a fault with the board, or something I am doing wrong or simply how the board is designed?

Nate152
Moderator
It sounds to me like it is pulling more voltage because it needs it. Are you stable in manual mode set to 1.31 - 1.32v?

LLC helps with vdroop, if your cpu voltage is drooping then add a little or set it to medium, if you set LLC to high or maximum your cpu will overshoot the voltage you set.

sherriffjb
Level 8
I appreciate you answering but as I have said I know the cpu is stable at that voltage in other boards , many of them worse and in another vii hero at that voltage.

Llc is not on, its set to it's lowest value and its in manual that I'm talking about this overvolting happening In, not auto, not adaptive, not offset pure 'manual' control.

The quandary is that it's not behaving like manual, manual should not SELF overvolt depending on the level of.voltage applied. Now this is my 5th ROG board since the rampage ii extreme so forgive me but I know what vdroop and llc are do, that's the point you seem to have missed.........


Let me be very clear, in manual any voltages I set from 1.295-1.310 result in a voltage pulled in os of 1.328

Anything between 1.2875-1.295 results in 1.3ish but its not stable and fluctuates a lot meaning it bounces just under which causes system stops... No level of llc evens this out in fact llc is almost behaving like its broken. All vdroop or a large overvolt, like all the settings between 2-8 just move to one extreme or the other.


My question is -because other people on the wider web report the same issue- is this by design or is it a fault? Should I flash a different bios or can I expect that this is how it will behave and that precision voltage control is not going to happen.

Cpu-z , and ai suite all report different vcore, substantially so.

Please advise

Ps apologies for any typos, this has been typed on a bumpy bus

Again thanks for the replies, I appreciate it

Nate152
Moderator
you're welcome

I guess it's normal for the cpu voltage to fluctuate some even in manual mode. For instance I have my voltage set to 1.420v and when I put a load on it, it will fluctaute from 1.380v all the way up to 1.416v and it's stable. So even though I have it at 1.420v it is not even running there. It pretty much sits at 1.416v.

I have LLC set to high which is 50% on my board.

sherriffjb
Level 8
Those differences are all within 0.04v I'm getting swings of up to 0.185.....that's a huge difference for a manually set voltage

Nate152
Moderator
I'm not sure what else you might have changed in the bios but you could try setting defaults and starting over.

Only adjust the core ratio and the core voltage, set your ram and let everything else on auto. Try it in manual mode and see if you get any better results.

Costas
Level 10
I think what the OP may be referring to is the fact that he was used to the behaviour on X58 series boards but with the later X79 hero and 4790K the behaviour of cpu voltage is not quite the same.

Sherriff - You need to be mindful that one major difference over the X58 mobos & CPUs is that the X79/4790K combo has had part of the voltage reg circuitry moved to the CPU itself [FIVR - Full Integrated Voltage Regulator]. The CPU will actually control the core voltage to some extent even though its set to fully manual on your board - this is normal.

Use HWINFO for measuring Vcore as it seems the most accurate.

The cpu can vary the volts slightly which it does when under load. Your best bet is to pre-empt the amount of difference in voltages when idling Vs under heavy load [Prime95 is a good load...!]. Also - Manually set your cpu volts rather than relying on Adaptive or Offset modes when overclocking. You can switch to Adaptive/Offset once you know exactly what range of voltages your CPU is stable at your chosen overclock frequency by factoring in the difference between idling and full load. Its a lot more complex to setup Adaptive/Offset modes when overclocking and in some cases it will introduce instability - especially if not set correctly so a lot of overclockers do not bother using those modes and ultimately stick to manual core voltage control.

Here is a snapshot of my manually set Vcore at idle and then under load [Prime95 v28.5 - Small FFT Torture test].
Mobo is Hero VII with a 4790K - ie same setup as yours.

It's pretty warm today [approx 28C here in my room atm] so excuse the slightly highish cpu temps...:)

Note that VID = Voltage set in Bios [1.31v] and Vcore is the actual voltage supplied to the CPU. So only refer to the Vcore voltages near the bottom of each screenshot and not the VID voltages.


@ IDLE - Note VID and Vcore volts are pretty much the same.




@ Prime95 Load [v28.5 Small FFT] - NB: Only run this test for extended periods if you are kitted out with a very good cooling setup [Pref. a high performance water cooled solution] as the CPU can easily reach in excess of 100C in seconds. My 4790K has been delidded and runs in a custom water cooled loop. You can see my temps still ramp up to in excess of 85C pretty much as soon as I execute P95. Although its quite warm in my room atm - around 28C due to it being summer here Downunder - Should go and switch on my air conditioning...!

Note that the core voltages have jumped by approx 20 to 30mV which is normal when under heavy load.

I appreciate the reply.

Again Nate, this is in manual mode I am talking about. I don't use adaptive or offset because i'm trying to pinpoint and control a stable precise voltage in manual first.

@Costas - yes you can see what I'm driving at 🙂

I have turned off the option for the vrms on die to communicate with the board and request more voltage.

I knew this chip could pull extra voltage but after using x58 and overclocking sandy and ivy im taken aback as to how much extra it pulls!

Dont worry about the cooling 😉 I have it running at 4.8 @ at said 1.328 and even with my fans blowing whisper quiet Im yet to see temps in excess of 67c, I like my loops to run super super quiet. I haven't even delidded the thing because at those temps I don't see the need to. I have a lot of rad space so can run in such a way that you have to put your head against the case to hear whether it is even turned on - the noise of a running pc after all these years make me irritated.

As it so happens I flashed back to a different bios and I seem to be getting stable speeds at lower voltages to the point that under load its no longer pulling 1.328 its pulling 1.31 something, ill bench for a while over the next few days to see how stable it is.

The thing that puzzled me the most though was that this voltage issue occurs over a range of voltages i can set 1.295-1.325 and it will always upp itself to 1.328, anything higher set in the bios and it hits 1.344 regardless of what i set anything lower and it hits 1.3** ( something smaller).

Because that is so arbitrary I know it can't be LLC as that is a percentage of the voltage applied rather than a bracketed range of voltages that the chip sets itself too, so are these VID brackets set by intel? if so is there a way to not comply with them and have true control of the voltage? (again this is with SVID set to disabled so the comms between PWM and the CPU are not supposed to be in place)

Thanks for the replies guys I really appreciate it