Overclocking for the first time...

[aevitas]

Hello guys,

Last week I ordered myself an aftermarket cooler as I wasn't happy with my temperatures of my CPU while idle and on load. My i5-2500k was running with stock cooler and sometimes up to 50 degrees, not overclocked at all. It had to do with dust obviously but while cleaning it I may aswell slap a new cooler on it.

So I ordered a Zulman CNPS10x Performa and installed it, idle it runs on about 32-35 degrees and while on load not higher than 51-53 degrees. I decided to overclock.

To start; here's my build:

i5-2500k now running on 4.5 GHz
GA-Z77X-D3H mobo
Corsair Vengeance 1600 MHz C9
Zulman CNPS10x Performa cooler
Geforce GTX 560

After a load of reading I came across the guide "http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=693613" on this website and followed it pretty much. I ran in a few issues though:

- I can't complete this step: Find Load Line Calibration, or LLC. Set it to 50%. If it is in levels, 5/10 or 3/5.

I have 2 different LLC in my bios which are Vcore LLC and CPU vtt, after a bit of reading I found out I should adjust Vcore LLC (i hope this is correct) but I can only put it on auto/low/medium/high/extreme etc... What should I do to get the desired levels as in the guide?

-Adjusting my CPU voltage does nothing. I started at 1.35v but Core Temp keeps saying it runs on 1.381 volt. I then proceeded and changed it to 1.34 volt and my PC wouldn't boot (bios error or so), after putting it on 1.345 it booted again.

Why is my voltage constantly higher than I tell it to be? I now downclocked to 4.4 GHz to see any change in voltage/temperatures and my voltage is 1.3761 now.

-My CPU is running at about 70-76 degrees while torture testing with Prime 95. This was about 5 hours. Is this okay?

In my bios I made the following changes:

Turned off:

-Turbo Boost
-C5 C1 and a C3 option
-EIST
-Checked ram speeds and timings. These were correct.
Changed CPU PLL to 1.81 from 1.80 as I read in another guide.

How do I fix this? I really want my cpu to run at lower temps and I dont see that happening without me being able to adjust my voltage... It seems to have it's own will.

Thanks in advance!

 

[EarthDog]

Try medium or high. the goal is to make your load voltage match your idle voltage with LLC.

What does CPUz say your voltage is at under load?

 

[aevitas]

I've set the VCore LLC to High previously, forgot to add that.

This is strange.. Just downloaded CPU-Z and it shows Core Voltage is 1.344 volt.. So it IS adjusting? :S Why does Core Temp shows 1.3811 volt now ? This is under load by the way, turned on the torture test of prime.

CPU-Z is accurate? Should I now, perhaps, try to reduce the voltage or is that not worth it seeing as my system is stable now?

 

[redduc900]

Where in Core Temp are you seeing a Vcore of 1.381V? And yes, CPU-Z is accurate.

 

[aevitas]

VID: 1.3761v. It's under processor information, so I kind of assumed this was the voltage it was running at.

 

[redduc900]

For one, the VID (Voltage ID) reading for SB CPUs is inaccurate in Core Temp and can be disregarded. Second, the CPUs VID is not the same as the current Vcore / Vcc.

 

[Knufire]

Naturally, when your CPU is under load, the voltage will drop. LLC compensates for this by adding more voltage when the CPU is under load, it's sort of a correction feature. Setting it to high/extreme is the quick and dirty way, which is what that guide is written for. The best way would to find the level of LLC that would keep the voltage the same (too much LLC would cause the voltage to always be higher than what you set it at). IMO, a little too much is better than too less.

I'd use HW Monitor, it should give you voltages and temps. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html. CPU-Z is accurate as well though.

 

[aevitas]

Right, thanks a lot.

So all I can really do now is lower the CPU vcore (or up it) and put the LLC on medium/high or extreme?

Or should I just leave it be?

 

[redduc900]

You'll just have to experiment with the different LLC levels, combined with differing amounts of VCC, to find out which produce optimal results.

 

[aevitas]

Alright. I'm now running it with LLC on medium and core voltage on 1.340. However CPU-Z shows 1.320v ? Does that have to do with the LLC medium setting?

I'm trying to understand how this works so I can do this efficiently. Excuse me for my silly questions hehe.

 

[EarthDog]

As we said, llc controls the voltage drop from idle to load, called vdroop. You set your voltage in the biosz say 1.25. You to to windows and it says 1.23. That difference from bios to windows is vdrop. So you have vdrop and vdroop. Llc affects vdrOOp. So your goal is essentially to have the voltage you et in the bios match your load voltage. If you want a higher load voltage, raise llc. If it is overshooting your goal voltage, lower the level of llc.

Hope that helps.

 

[aevitas]

Thanks a lot EarthDog your latest post made it perfectly clear to me.

I got it running 100% stable at high LLC and 1.345 volt. For some reason I can't up the volt by 0.001 at a time, only 0.005. Oh well.

With medium LLC one core kept getting errors after 20 min - 1.5 hours testing. Just closed down prime95 after 10 hours of torture testing, max temps were between 69 and 75 degrees. Doubt any game would reach that, I guess I'm done tuning it now?

Thanks for the awesome help!