Maximus Gene VI, 4770K, BIOS CPU Level Up.

[PaulZeN]

I couldn’t find much on the ‘CPU Level Up’, so thought I would share my experiences here.

I recently updated the BOIS from original to see if it would help the overclocking, and found it to be marginal on my current settings:

100 x 46, Min 46 Max 46, 1.285 v, Spread and Multi Core Enhancement off. Everything else on default.

This setting is good for Cinebench R15 and my DAW (Studio One), but will crash with Prime95 which requires many more volts or a reduced multiplier.

Coincidentally, the CPU Level Up setting had an option for 4.6, so I tried that on its own. It would not boot without increased voltage and resulted with a peak of around 100 x 39 at 1.285v while testing; useless.

So I returned to the settings above, as well as Level Up at 4.6 with these results:
1. The voltages became variable for each core, instead of permanently at 1.295 according to Asus AI, now the range is from 0.00 to 1.34
2. My Cinebench went up from 905 to 928
3. The system is less stable, but acceptable
4. Temperatures cooler

I’m still a bit formulaic and not instinctive with overclocking, but after hours of messing around have decided I’ve reached the point of diminishing returns for more speed under 1.3v.

Comments appreciated.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Overclock manually through the BIOS

 

[PaulZeN]

All done through the BIOS, funny though, my cooling water reservoir went up a few degrees due to day warming up and use, then the system fell to ****.

I will test in the morning to see if a few degrees of cooling is really that critical.

It was good for the short time it lasted. Maybe back to fixed voltage by turning off CPU Level up.

 

[PaulZeN]

Not sure what is going on, but have turned CPU Level Up off, down to x45, with volts still at 1.285.

Asus AI shows variable volts, which allows real world use; 60% CPU with DAW and video, Realbench R15 score of 908 but Prime 95 crashes immediately causing a freeze. Very nice temps on low load.

The initial setup above seemed unpredictable, but related to temp with it not booting when the water was 30 C but usable around 26 C. I’ve messed with too many variables to isolate one.

Maybe when I have a day to waste...