Having trouble switching to Adaptive voltage mode on Z390 Maximus XI Formula + 9900k

[Zammin]

Hi everyone

I've just recently finished dialing in my stable 5Ghz overclock in manual mode with the following settings:

- AI Overclock Tuner XMP I (clicked Yes at the prompt)
- Sync all cores
- AVX Offset 0
- Manual Voltage Override 1.33V
- LLC7
- IA/DC Loadlines 0.01
- Loadline Synch diabled
- CPU Current Capability 170%
- Long and Short Duration Package Power Limit 4095
- Package Power Time Window 127
- CPU Core/Cache Current Limite Max 255.75
- Cache Ratios Auto
- VCCIO 1.15V
- System Agent Voltage Auto (1.2V)
- BCLCK Aware Adaptive Voltage disabled
- MCE disabled
- SVID disabled
- Intel SpeedShift/Step disabled
- C-States disabled

Now that I'm stable in manual mode I'm currently trying to switch to adaptive voltage mode. I've done this before on Z370 and my 8700k with success, however with the 9900k and my ASUS Z390 motherboard it is exhibiting some strange behavior.

In manual mode it sits at 1.314V idle and drops to 1.27V under RealBench (or AIDA64) types of loads. When I re-enable C SpeedShift/Step, C-States and SVID, then switch to Adaptive voltage and set 1.33V as the additional turbo voltage it idles between 1.33-1.35V and sits around 1.33V under load, causing it to run much hotter than before. The only way I can get it to come down to 1.33V idle and sag to 1.27V under load again is to set LLC to level 6. This is all very strange to me as I would expect the LLC behavior as well as the idle voltage and load voltages to be the same as before until I set the windows power plan to balanced to allow the CPU to clock down when at idle.

This is not in line with my experience overclocking my 8700k on my ASUS Z370 Maximus X Code. In this case on the Z390 motherboard LLC6 in adaptive mode behaves closer to the way LLC7 behaves in manual mode, although the voltage level is not as stable under load, it fluctuates up and down a lot instead of sitting at 1.27V for the duration of the test. This appears to cause more heat and definitely isn't stable as I get BSOD's in RealBench with these settings in adaptive mode.

I'm not really sure what to do, I want to use adaptive mode to allow my CPU to clock down (and bring the voltage down) at idle but I just can't get it to work. I had no trouble doing it on Z370 following Raja's Z270 overclocking guide but it just doesn't want to work on Z390 for some reason.

If anyone has any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it. I've listed my settings above but if anyone requires BIOS screenshots I can get them for you as well.

[Silent_Scone]

Flokke wrote:
So, this seemed to switch from the topic of trying to get Adaptive voltage to work properly more so to purposes of getting a stable overclock at 5ghz. I'm also having the same issues with getting my CPU to downvolt when at idle running like an 800mhz clock speed. I have it steady at 4.9ghz all core at 1.279v but no matter what I change with adaptive voltage I can't get it to reduce bellow that 1.279v it just sits there. Granted this I suppose is first world problems at this point.
.

Please see Shamino's post on the previous page. It is not possible to set an Adaptive Voltage below the minimum VID. Please note that if you use Adaptive in conjunction with an offset (-) that this offset is applied to the entire VID stack.

[Flokke]

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
Please see Shamino's post on the previous page. It is not possible to set an Adaptive Voltage below the minimum VID. Please note that if you use Adaptive in conjunction with an offset (-) that this offset is applied to the entire VID stack.

Yeah I saw that I didn't realize what it meant as I really don't dabble to often into heavy overclocking but I do remember that I had this set before and it was down volting at idle on a different bios so i just assumed it was still a thing. I switched back to 506 and it's behaving as it did before so I'll just stick with the older bios for the reduced temps at idle.

https://i.imgur.com/uo7ScXS.png

[Zammin]

Flokke wrote:
So, this seemed to switch from the topic of trying to get Adaptive voltage to work properly more so to purposes of getting a stable overclock at 5ghz.

Yes, the original intent of the thread was to seek help regarding switching to Adaptive voltage mode under my circumstances at the time, however as mentioned on the last few pages those circumstances have changed for an unknown reason (my manual OC went from stable to unstable by itself, so to speak), throwing another spanner into the works. I am still working on an adaptive overclock, just not necessarily a 5Ghz one. I will likely need further assistance going forward. Feel free to start another thread if the info in this one or it's direction doesn't quite align with what you're looking for. 🙂

If it helps, what I am doing at the moment is following Shamino's suggestion of leaving the Adaptive Mode Additional Turbo Voltage on Auto and adjusting the IA AC/DC LoadLines and LLC to get the voltage in the right place.

[Flokke]

Zammin wrote:
Yes, the original intent of the thread was to seek help regarding switching to Adaptive voltage mode under my circumstances at the time, however as mentioned on the last few pages those circumstances have changed for an unknown reason (my manual OC went from stable to unstable by itself, so to speak), throwing another spanner into the works. I am still working on an adaptive overclock, just not necessarily a 5Ghz one. I will likely need further assistance going forward. Feel free to start another thread if the info in this one or it's direction doesn't quite align with what you're looking for. 🙂

If it helps, what I am doing at the moment is following Shamino's suggestion of leaving the Adaptive Mode Additional Turbo Voltage on Auto and adjusting the IA AC/DC LoadLines and LLC to get the voltage in the right place.

My appologies I'm not trying to hi-jack the thread. Generally as ALL post i've read on the subject point to another thread before making a new post. Since you started off with the problem I had which is that you couldn't get the downvolting to work on Adaptive I figured i'd post the question again to see if maybe someone had come up with a solution to that problem.

As it appears to be an issue of bios versions just breaking things pretty much I have reverted back and now I have what I was looking for. Sorry again for posting the way I did if it felt like I was trying to hi-jack. (people on this forum are not keen to accepting new topics for issues that are currently being discussed already. I've read enough replies on threads that have something similar to this issue post that their is already a topic for that.)

[Zammin]

Flokke wrote:
My appologies I'm not trying to hi-jack the thread. Generally as ALL post i've read on the subject point to another thread before making a new post. Since you started off with the problem I had which is that you couldn't get the downvolting to work on Adaptive I figured i'd post the question again to see if maybe someone had come up with a solution to that problem.

As it appears to be an issue of bios versions just breaking things pretty much I have reverted back and now I have what I was looking for. Sorry again for posting the way I did if it felt like I was trying to hi-jack. (people on this forum are not keen to accepting new topics for issues that are currently being discussed already. I've read enough replies on threads that have something similar to this issue post that their is already a topic for that.)

It's all good, I know you weren't trying to hikack. My issue originally was that my system was actually running a lot more voltage through the CPU under load in adaptive mode with the same LLC settings and voltage target I had in manual mode, now I understand why. The CPU was able to down-volt at idle still but I couldn't get the voltage where I wanted it under load. As Shamino said it turned out to be because my OC was not exceeding the factory single core boost speed so it was ignoring some of the settings I had input. A different issue to yours so I thought this thread may not have quite aligned. Good to know you found the issue, I have had issues after updating BIOS versions in the past with my old Maximus X Z370 boards as well.

[Zammin]

Sorry for what are likely a couple more noob questions. Still working on my 4.9Ghz adaptive OC here.

At LLC6 with the loadlines set to 0.03 I was able to pass an hour of realbench. Voltage under load was around 1.23-1.24V.

I've brought the LLC down to level 5, and ran realbench for an hour. The load voltage was generally 1.20-1.21V with very occasional dips to 1.19V. Temps were much better, not going much higher than 84C at peak, and averaging 74-80C when the coolant was fully soaked at 36.5C. Unfortunately the system froze while the display was asleep at around the 45min mark. No BSOD, everything had just locked up and the display wouldn't wake up.

I then increased the Loadlines to 0.04 and ran the test again. It passed the hour test with similar temps and the same voltage reading as the last test.

My questions are as follows, does setting the IA AC/DC Loadlines manually override the SVID Behavior setting? Or is it the other way around? I've had SVID behavior set to "Best Case Scenario" for this 4.9Ghz OC and when doing a bit of reading up on the AI AC/DC Loadlines I came across a thread where Raja mentions setting this to best case is equivalent to setting the Loadlines to 0.01. I would assume that setting them manually overrides this but I thought I would ask to be sure. Should I set SVID behavior to Auto or leave it as Best Case Scenario?

The other question is regarding the cache ratio. I'm trying to overclock to cache now that I believe I am stable (at least in RealBench) and I've set the min and max ratio to 45, however this appear to prevent the CPU from downvolting at idle. Should I just set the max ratio and leave the min at Auto to amend this?

Is Realbench still a good test for the OC with the cache ratio increased? Or am I better off running AIDA64's cache stress test instead?

Thanks again for any help and advice!

[Shamino]

raja is right but since you're manually over-riding it doesnt matter if its auto or best case, you will get your specified 0.04


The other question is regarding the cache ratio. I'm trying to overclock to cache now that I believe I am stable (at least in RealBench) and I've set the min and max ratio to 45, however this appear to prevent the CPU from downvolting at idle. Should I just set the max ratio and leave the min at Auto to amend this?

yes if you wanna idle with low volts.


Is Realbench still a good test for the OC with the cache ratio increased? Or am I better off running AIDA64's cache stress test instead?

if you mean what is toughest to pass, its no different from core, the heaviest and hottest bench is the toughest, AVX prime95 is one of those. but you dont need to
realbench is enough if you just want a stable system apart from prime95 torture.

[Zammin]

Shamino wrote:
raja is right but since you're manually over-riding it doesnt matter if its auto or best case, you will get your specified 0.04


The other question is regarding the cache ratio. I'm trying to overclock to cache now that I believe I am stable (at least in RealBench) and I've set the min and max ratio to 45, however this appear to prevent the CPU from downvolting at idle. Should I just set the max ratio and leave the min at Auto to amend this?

yes if you wanna idle with low volts.


Is Realbench still a good test for the OC with the cache ratio increased? Or am I better off running AIDA64's cache stress test instead?

if you mean what is toughest to pass, its no different from core, the heaviest and hottest bench is the toughest, AVX prime95 is one of those. but you dont need to
realbench is enough if you just want a stable system apart from prime95 torture.

Thank you very much for your advice. 🙂

I have set the cache max 45 and left the min on auto. I've set the IA AC/DC Loadlines to 0.05 and LLC to level 5. I was able to pass an hour of RealBench with these settings as well as an hour of OCCT Large Data Sets. I'm thinking of running non-AVX Prim95 (26.6 is the one right?) as well but it's looking good so far. My idle CPU and water temps are much better, and the CPU only needs 1.2-1.21V under load now which is great provided it stays stable.

[Silent_Scone]

The latest Prime95 beta allows you to disable AVX from within settings. Personally, I would stay with RB stability and use the machine for what you built it for till you encounter any issues, and adjust accordingly*

[Zammin]

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
The latest Prime95 beta allows you to disable AVX from within settings. Personally, I would stay with RB stability and use the machine for what you built it for till you encounter any issues, and adjust accordingly*

That's good to know, I'm glad they added the ability to disable AVX in Prime. Cheers.