What do you Sandy Bridge owners think? Offset or Manual voltage?

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

Thread title says it all.

I am curious as to how many of you use Offset voltage and how many of you use Manual voltage.

Those of you using Offset, have you noticed that it lowers your temps (both idle/load)?
Those of you using Manual, have you noticed it raises your temps (both idle/load)?

Me, personally, I use Manual voltage, as I haven't even delved into the Offset voltage option. But, now that I've seen so many people have great success with it here in Intel CPUs section, I may have to just give it a shot. I use Manual voltage for benching, because it's much easier and usually my method of cooling is Dry Ice, so no need to worry about high load temps there.

But, for my 24/7 OC, I am going to start messing with Offset voltage. Off to do that now!

Share your thoughts and your preferred way of applying vcore with Sandy Bridge.

DumpALump · Oct 4, 2011

As you saw in my other post, Offset here. My understanding is manual will set a voltage, but it won't be reduced by Speedstep/C-States. Obviously both will work when overclocking, but one just saves some electricity. When it comes to Offset, its a little more trial and error to get set correctly.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

DumpALump said:
As you saw in my other post, Offset here. My understanding is manual will set a voltage, but it won't be reduced by Speedstep/C-States. Obviously both will work when overclocking, but one just saves some electricity. When it comes to Offset, its a little more trial and error to get set correctly.

You are correct. If you use Manual, it sets it and it doesn't "throttle down" like Offset does.

For benching, I use Manual, because Offset is completely pointless when benching. It's very impractical, obviously. But, since I just built my first 24/7 machine (previous machines were a cross between benching and daily driver machines), I decided to use Offset.

I have a 2600K that will do 5.0GHz @ 1.4v. It's in a very well radiated loop and doesn't exceed 70C under LinX and Prime95. But, I want to try Offset. I think it'll be easier to find my correct Offset because I know the perfect Manual.

I'm excited.

EarthDog · Oct 4, 2011

I've never touched offset on any board. Manual. My 24/7 clocks have plenty of overhead tempwise...interesting to see if your experiences trend!

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

EarthDog said:
I've never touched offset on any board. Manual. My 24/7 clocks have plenty of overhead tempwise...interesting to see if your experiences trend!

Interesting. I figured you would've already.

Giving this a shot once I install all of my Gigabyte drivers.

I guess I'll find out if it lowers idle temps here in a few minutes...

PolRoger · Oct 4, 2011

I use "offset" on my SB setups for most o.c.'s. I do sometimes use "fixed" for high multi benching. I "crunch" on my rigs so they are usually running 100% load.

Janus67 · Oct 4, 2011

I use manual, I just haven't had the time (or the desire to take the time) to figure out the offsets for my chip, I'm happy with what I got out of mine as well as the temps.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

I'm figuring out the Offsets on two of my chips.
-The one in the gaming rig, which needs 1.4v in Manual mode for 5.0GHz
-The one in my P8P67 Deluxe, which needs 1.31v in Manual mode for 4.5GHz.

Currently finding the offsets for the P8P67-Deluxe, which it seems to like "+" 0.120v in the Offset option.
It's actually an interesting and fun way of setting voltage.

EDIT: I first tried +0.150 for the 4.5GHz chip. +0.150 in the OS was 1.360v. So I dropped it to +0.140, and booted into OS and ran a stress test. My voltage went all the way up to 1.376v... Very weird.
Once I find the correct Offset, I'm going to play with LLC and Offset together and see what happens

SamSaveMax · Oct 4, 2011

+.150 is too much for 4.5GHz.....all you need is around +.060 (I could be wrong due to mainboard/brand differences)

Beside low idle voltage as mentioned I also like to use offset as I've noticed through my observations that light threaded applications do not overvolt as much while under load unlike manual.

EDIT: I would like to add that I've done benching using offset.....and it seem to work just as well.
I think it's safer for me since I do most are 2D benches which are light threaded mostly.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

SamSaveMax said:
+.150 is too much for 4.5GHz.....all you need is around +.060 (I could be wrong due to mainboard/brand differences)

Beside low idle voltage as mentioned I also like to use offset as I've noticed through my observations that light threaded applications do not overvolt as much while under load unlike manual.

Good to know. Thanks. I'm just testing around with the waters here.

I've seen all of your threads with your 2500k and 2600k. You did an awesome job using Offset in those threads.

DumpALump · Oct 4, 2011

bennoculus said:
I'm figuring out the Offsets on two of my chips.
-The one in the gaming rig, which needs 1.4v in Manual mode for 5.0GHz
-The one in my P8P67 Deluxe, which needs 1.31v in Manual mode for 4.5GHz.

Currently finding the offsets for the P8P67-Deluxe, which it seems to like "+" 0.120v in the Offset option.
It's actually an interesting and fun way of setting voltage.

EDIT: I first tried +0.150 for the 4.5GHz chip. +0.150 in the OS was 1.360v. So I dropped it to +0.140, and booted into OS and ran a stress test. My voltage went all the way up to 1.376v... Very weird.
Once I find the correct Offset, I'm going to play with LLC and Offset together and see what happens

So the way it works, if you haven't already figured it out, is the chip will scale the voltage the higher the clocks. So as you hit 5ghz it'll bump the voltage accordingly. Then you need offset to adjust your upper and lower voltages. I haven't tried offset for 5ghz, but I could see an issue arise where you might only pump a small amount of offset, but not have enough for idle. Or you bump too much offset for your load voltage, but have much higher voltage for your idle. Now that is when LLC comes into play.

Like Samsavemax said .06 is perfect for 4.5ghz. Maybe a small change, but that is right about where most people should be stable with good voltages for idle and load.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

DumpALump said:
So the way it works, if you haven't already figured it out, is the chip will scale the voltage the higher the clocks. So as you hit 5ghz it'll bump the voltage accordingly. Then you need offset to adjust your upper and lower voltages. I haven't tried offset for 5ghz, but I could see an issue arise where you might only pump a small amount of offset, but not have enough for idle. Or you bump too much offset for your load voltage, but have much higher voltage for your idle. Now that is when LLC comes into play.

Yeah. I've figured it out. Took me a second. Offset with 5.0GHz is definitely going to be a challenge, but it can be done.

DumpALump said:
Like Samsavemax said .06 is perfect for 4.5ghz. Maybe a small change, but that is right about where most people should be stable with good voltages for idle and load.

Thanks for tips, my man. I'm working on the 4.5Ghz and it turns out +0.070 is perfect for it. CPUZ even reads the same as when I had it set to manual (well, under load, that is

).

SamSaveMax · Oct 4, 2011

On this post here I've benched at 5GHz using offset.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

Thanks for the link.

So far, my idle temps have dropped 7 degrees. (This could be that tonight I reseated my heatsink and added AS5 instead of my usual Ceramique.)

ghost_recon88 · Oct 4, 2011

I had a P8P67-M Pro that used voltage offsets, first board and last board I'll ever have with that type of setting. Manual voltage from here on out, and I'm willing to pay a premium for it. Call me old fashioned but I could not stand the process required to fine tune my voltage with offsets compared to manual. Also, and maybe it was just the board, but the voltage seemed to spike a lot more even with LLC enabled.

bennoculus · Oct 4, 2011

ghost_recon88 said:
Also, and maybe it was just the board, but the voltage seemed to spike a lot more even with LLC enabled.

I'm noticing that with offset I get a lot of voltage movement. Whereas using manual, it would roughly stay at the same value the entire time. :shrug:

freakdiablo · Oct 4, 2011

Another one for manual. Going from stock to 1.33v has raised core temps from mid 50s to high 60s under load, if I ever get around to tossing on the other fans I got I might go a bit higher, but that's it for now.

SamSaveMax · Oct 5, 2011

bennoculus said:
I'm noticing that with offset I get a lot of voltage movement. Whereas using manual, it would roughly stay at the same value the entire time.

Oddity here is the other way around in my case of Giga. Though I believed that LLC is automatically disengaged when I use offset on Giga. (grayed out and non-adjustable)

bennoculus · Oct 5, 2011

SamSaveMax said:
Oddity here is the other way around in my case of Giga. Though I believed that LLC is automatically disengaged when I use offset on Giga. (grayed out and non-adjustable)

Good idea. I'll try some LLC with my offset voltage.

+0.70 rock stable @ 4.6GHz.

grumperfish · Oct 5, 2011

I had been sitting at 4.3 with this chip (manual voltage). Running offset at +.70 (LLC disabled) and it's stable at 4.6 now. Not sure what's up with that, but I'm happy with the added speed.

What do you Sandy Bridge owners think? Offset or Manual voltage?

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