Higher temps with vcore offset than manual, am i missing something?

[seadoggo]

Hey guys

I would appreciate some advice!

I'm pretty new to overclocking, although have had my current build OC'd for 6 years on motherboard preset to 3.9Ghz, I run Hackintosh and Windows dualbooted on seperate SSDs, mostly using Mac side.

Build -
i7 4930k with Noctua NH-D14
Rampage 4 Black Edition MOBO
Gtx 770 4gb GDDR5
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2133

I often have my PC on idle whilst working (video editing and colour grading) so want to optimise for longevity especially as its quite an old build now!

I started out this OC with 4.3Ghz OC using XMP set to 1.2 vcore manual - that was all. I was getting good temps and not much higher than 75c on a 30 minute Prime95 1344 test, XTU was a breeze. Using XMP with a 100blck and 100 cpu strap keeps my RAM at 2133, if i change the CPU strap to 1.25 then it flips the RAM up to 2600 and i cant boot.

So I turned vcore offset on +0.005, and temps were hitting up to 85c on Prime95 within first 5 minutes so I flipped it to negative offset and dropped to 4.2GHz, testing my way down to -0.100 offset. This lands me back at 1.2vcore under load as per CPU-z, whilst Core Temp says 1.286 at idle and goes up to 1.310 under load. I get max temp of 70c with XTU and 78 with Prime95 1344 test.

Are there any issues that could arise from using such a high offset? I havent done longer tests yet but it hasnt had any issues, Ideally i'd like to get temps down a bit further to help with longevity, but not that sure what the best approach is with custom settings. Would adjusting LLC to 75% help with the offset at all?

Why do i get much lower temps with a manual vcore vs using the offset?

Thankyou for any help!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The way offset works is it adds voltage on top of your motherboard's auto voltage logic. Manual works by setting a number and staying there. I can almost guarantee your offset is still landing you at more voltage than manual, as Core Temp suggests.

 

[seadoggo]

Thanks for the reply ATMINSIDE!

I see - so is it problematic to increase my negative offset to say -0.185 (instead of -0.100, obviously it might not go there if its dropping my idle vcore too much) to try and get closer to how it ran at manual?

The reason im confused on this subject is ive seen lots of conflicting information from researching this on whether using offset is a good route or not!

Is there anything else i should consider adjusting to get better temps without relying on offset? Are those temps bad for my build and its age?

EDIT: Interestingly the CPU Vcore listed in my BIOS above the offset tool says 1.008v

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Most people around here will overclock via manual. No harm in trying to go lower with your offset, though, so try it and let us know how it goes!
I'm not seeing any temps that are going to be an issue, that generation of i7 you want to keep out of the 95°C+ range. Your temps overall look good and aren't a concern, likely because of your NH-D14 being a very good cooler.

 

[seadoggo]

Thankyou! Glad to know its not unusual!

GOt to -0.160 and was hitting no mroe than 75c on 30 minutes of Prime95 1344, and 65c max on XTU

However for some reason even though windows booted fine I started having issues booting in to OS X so back to -0.120!

Thanks for your help!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

That sounds like good progress, to me!