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Asus ROG Strix Z790-e and i9-13900K - Undervolt CPU Core Voltage

EricJT
Level 7
I recently installed an Asus ROG Strix 790-e and an i9-13900K. I read about undervolting with Intel's XTU because I would like to get the temps down (90C) when running Cinebench R23. I tried Intel's XTU but when I went to incrementally undervolt the core voltage, the software said I didn't have Dogwatch Timer installed and if the change caused the system to crash, XTU would not be able to reboot to the last base core voltage.

I searched for other users who had the same experience and came up dry.....I do have the latest version of XTU installed anbd all of the current ASUS drivers and BIOS.

Is there a simple "how to" guide available as to undervolting the CPU in the Asus BIOS? I am not an avid gamer, but rather use my system for video editing (4K) and photography (RAW). TBH, I know enough about changing the BIOS but probably not sufficient to not cause myself a problem trying to undervolt the CPU in BIOS.

Suggestions? TIA.
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16 REPLIES 16

Awesome thx, below is the title of a thread i created elsewhere, to what i was asking for, thx, i have a Asus ROG Strix Z790-H Gaming WIFI and 13900K but its so hot and in bios idle its at 1.439v, so want to undervolt as from what i read i wont loose performance either and maybe even get better speeds, thx

Anyone tell me exactly how to under volt my 13900K in a Asus bios, i want to keep everything else at default, just want to lower voltage so it don't run so hot, just need to know what the exact names of the items in bios i have to change, there are so many options in Asus bios, dont want to change the wrong thing, thx

 

i actually spent like a week or so playing about with settings and every time i undervolted it i just lost system stability - even when benchmarks of various sorts would seem stable, id start running into issues with games - assassins cred Valhalla was terrible for it - I thought it was an issue with the game as my benchmark programs were running fine, and the overall system stability was fine, but as soon as i removed all of my undervolting tweaks it stopped crashing.

when you say its "running hot" how how, and under what kind of load?

if you goal is increased hardware life, i came to understand the very best thing you can do is STOP running bench ware tests on your system, as this does more incremental long term wear on it that running slightly warmer than it could be in every day to say use

If your hitting 50c idle, then maybe consider repasting instead of tweaking (forget thermogrizzyl and arctic, "SYY thermal paste is an industrial ceramic paste that has 4 times better thermal conductivity, your just not paying for the "gamer tax" on it, it took 5C off my temperatures) or just get a better cooling system - a 13900k really needs an AiO water coolant system with at least 360  (3x12 fans) and a good air flow

in my corsair 7000D with deepcool lt720, the aforementioned thermal paste, i idle 10c above room temperature, and i hit 50C gaming (30 above room temp), with no undervolting, and thats with ASUS AI overclocking to 6GHz (and remember, unless using liquid nitrogen etc, all cooling can only ever be relevant to external room temperature, if its 40C in your room, your chip is going to run at 50C, and not much you can do about it)

I have a feeling modern chips now a days kind of push the envelope on what can be squeezed out of them purely so they can slap a 5.8GHz or w/e label on it,  so unless you win the silicon lottery, tweaking in this day and age with the latest gen chips just seems to be flogging a dead donkey, and id happily sacrifice a 10C jump or a 10% performance drop in order to stop my games crashing ever hour or two

if its actually HOT hot, under normal every day conditions, repasting didnt help and there is no way to up your cooling solution, then sure, just put "offset voltage" into the search box at the top of the bio menu, and take it down as little as it will allow at a time, and use your pc for a week before touching it again, and just keep doing that

the bios is set up to recover from most changes as long as your only making small tweaks, as there are inbuilt safety systems in place, just don't over rely on them and go crazy

Thx for that reply, well i only just built PC, no OS yet, just was in bios testing stuff, all bios at default and not using any Asus AI or overclocking stuff, all default, except XMP2 for memory, and my cpu core volt is 1.439v at idle just sitting in bios and temp 39c, AIO 360. thx  Oh and this with room temp of 22c UK, just 1.439v seems high or is that default ?

again that will depend on your case, cooling system, and thermal paste

if air cooled, in a normal size case, that is probably about normal, and id really not mess about until you know for certain thre is an issue - these chips are rated to run happily up to 90C, and rated to safely run up to 105, so get an OS in, get a bench marker, and see what that puts you on, then atually installt he games you want to play (or w/e your intended usage is) and then check those temps

if its not over 70 doing the things you want to do, and not over like 90 doing the most demanding bench tests (assuming you unlocked you chip so its not capped at 90 anyway) then just go with it

best thing i learnt from my week tweaking was: if its not broken, dont fix it

 

edit: in fact, even if it does go over 90 using the most demanding bench tests, if your never ever going to actually put your PC though a use that is as demanding (and no games come close if that IS your intended use, even when streaming and browsing and playing youtube at the same time and w/e else) then just dont worry about it. again, the more you bench test hardware, the more thermal stress your going to put it under, and the faster it will wear out

and id (if possible) always look to upgrade your cooling systems and solutions before removing system stability by undevolting

Thx again, i have good cooling i think, Lan cool 3 and the EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Dark, just gaming mainly,  what do you mean by "(assuming you unlocked you chip so its not capped at 90 anyway)" im very noob to bios stuff, default bios would that be already unlocked ? what setting is this in bios, thx

ugh i dont actually remember exactly where it is, but i leave it locked at 90 max, because like i said nothing i want to do will take it over 90, so as it is its just a safety precaution to help preserve the life of your chip, because going over 90 is when it starts to properly degrade over time, so for gaming, just leave it as it is

personally, only thing i use is the A.I overclocking function, let it sort itself out, and, if its not broken, dont try to fix it

 

if you really wanted to find that setting, you would just go to search and type "90" or "90c" i suppose

Ok, thx very much for your posts, cheers