Did Asus EZ Tuning do anything at all?

[steedsofwar]

SKIP TO 'PROBLEM' BELOW for actual issue.

I am over 30 and finally got the courage to try my hand and build my own PC. So it's my first ever build and I'm plagued with lots of uncertainties, even though everything actually functions just fine, on the face of it. I am still learning, reading forums and watching lots of videos.

I'll be posting my separate issues as different threads or would it be better to list them all here? Please advise, admin.

Build:
Corsair 380T case.
i7 4790k.
MSI GTX 980TI.
Asus Z97i plus MOBO.
16GB 1866(?) Kingston Hyper X DDR3.
250GB Crucial SSD.
Corsair RM650 80PLUS Gold.
H100i with noctua f series pushing air out, low voltage cable connected.
Noctua s series 120mm exhaust, low voltage too.
Corsair 120mm x2 quiet editions for intake.
Oh, and an Acer XB270HU 144hz, 1440p G-sync monitor LOL.

Primarily for gaming, a new hobby of mine. I know I'm too old for this yeah yeah, I don't care. I'm studying animation so I'm planning to do lots of rendering and video editing in near future.

PROBLEM:

I don't understand the over clocking science fully, so I read somewhere that Asus EZ tuning is like a set of presets for noobs like me. So I followed the onscreen questions and it says it is targeting a clock speed of 4.5x GHz and core voltage of 1.3x. Is this safe or correct?

However, using hw monitor, cpuZ, asus suite III and windows task manager 'performance' tab, I'm not seeing these figures. Still shows 4ghz and I don't even know what voltage reading to look for as some it says vccin, vid, core voltage etc. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF EZ TUNING DID ANYTHING AT ALL?

I loaded prime95 v26.6 and ran small fft for ten minutes for each 'clocking preset' in EZ tuning and found that base preset (no clock) temperatures at idle are 30°c and prime at 70+C. EZ tuning higher preset (gaming mode, water cooled, Asus optimal setting, turbo enabled, speed stepping disabled, epu power saving disabled) I get idle at v high ~44°C and load at the terrifying upper 80s, kissing 90s! No BSODs or anything but I'm not sure if an over clock is applied as all I'm seeing is higher temps.

Playing BF4 for short periods sees CPU temp flattening out in the mid to lower 60s! The 980ti exact same temps too.

IS EZ TUNING HAVING A PLACEBO EFFECT?
WHERE CAN I SEE aCtUaL CLOCK SPEED AND VOLTAGE?
ARE THESE (44-90) TEMPS SAFE/NORMAL?
PLEASE SEE LINK BELOW FOR SCREENIES
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xikuy96wjb159aq/AADMQlpEF8VMMcqcly75GtZFa?dl=0

I appreciate it you guys, been reading and reading these boards for months and now need hands on help.

Cheers.

 

[steedsofwar]

The way you have it set up is 4.8 for single core processes, 4.6 for two core processes and when it uses all 4 cores it is running at 4.4. There are some programs that use single core power and if you need it you can keep it but for the most part in windows and now in most games also, they are really starting to utilize more cores for all processes. You can see in bf4 it's using all 4 cores at 4.4 Ghz and the majority of my games will use all cores and threads so single core frequency is not used that much.

But yeah it is set up as an overclock now...4.4 when it uses 4 cores simultaneously. Stock speeds are 4.2 Ghz when it uses all 4 cores.

Honestly I would say try to do something closer to mine and if it's fast enough for you, which it should be since you have an ssd, then it should lower temps down some, especially light work, if you do it the way we did with auto tune and offset voltage so the voltage will fluctuate.

I didn't mess with cache voltage so you can lower it if you want or just run auto with it. If you did just a straight 4.4Ghz overclock where your voltage wont fluctuate like you are set up now, you would end up having the exact same power or performance you're getting in battlefield 4 right now but you could probably get your voltage way down to like 1.22V or lower, which should show a pretty good temp reduction from 1.27V.

Have you had a look at my above update? Thanks for explaining the different speeds, depending on how many cores are running.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Yeah I just saw it...starting to look better. What do the temps look like in bf4? I'm sure you probably already know but if not in the bios, under tools section there is a place for profiles that let you save different overclocks. I've got a bunch of them saved so it just loads them if I want to change up fast.

 

[steedsofwar]

Yeah I just saw it...starting to look better. What do the temps look like in bf4? I'm sure you probably already know but if not in the bios, under tools section there is a place for profiles that let you save different overclocks. I've got a bunch of them saved so it just loads them if I want to change up fast.

Ah, I'm gonna have to find this preset thing in BIOS. I looked but never found it. Must dig harder. Will be very handy I'm sure.

I will post a BF4 screenshot late night tonight as I hadn't a chance after all the time consuming tests LOL. At work right now hahaha.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Haha, yeah it can be a pain at first but once you get things set up and then save the profiles, no more messin with it. I messed with mine for a good 2-3 days straight, probly more like a week, at least with all the tests and evreything trying to get stable and different overclocks. I was happy when it was done lol

It should be under the tools section at the top, next to exit.

 

[steedsofwar]

Haha, yeah it can be a pain at first but once you get things set up and then save the profiles, no more messin with it. I messed with mine for a good 2-3 days straight, probly more like a week, at least with all the tests and evreything trying to get stable and different overclocks. I was happy when it was done lol

It should be under the tools section at the top, next to exit.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s4ctosn7ladm3x9/bf4.png?dl=0

I think that going from the upper 70s to only the mid 50s flat out for hours of gaming is a big improvement for CPU temps. NFS Rivals and MGSV PP don't ever go into the 50s. This then leaves the following issues.

1. Idle temps are still in the lower 30s. This is prolly cos I have manually fixed the voltages. I found setting them to adaptive is advised against for OCing. I also forgot what the base voltage is for reference in adaptive. If you could point to how I can get my volts/temps lower in idle and not exceed 1.23/1.20v under load, I think I'll be well on my way to a final & completed config. My ambient temps are 20C give or take.

2. If the above can be achieved, I would save the profile and see if I can get 4 cores stable at 4.6ghz.

3. Most importantly, I simply cant get the kind of temps you're getting on your GPU when playing BF4. Although 65-68 isn't dangerous, lower would have been ideal. Want to figure out what the differences are between your temps and mine, apart from the case being one of the factors there.

 

[Reaper_7799]

55c -57c is still a big difference from 65-70 or whatever you were at before on bf4. I'll check battlefield 4 later tonight, since I added this ssd and moved things around, that 's the last game I've got to fix but it needed a registry edit and such and just hadn't done it yet. I'm pretty sure though that my temps were always higher on gtav, far cry 4 and crysis 3 but I could be wrong... I don't think I've tested bf4 since being in push/pull but I'll let you know later tonight.

Yeah, at idle that's why...when I run 4.6 on all cores, I have to set manual and can't use offset voltage and my idle is definitely higher..mid 30's maybe...34 at the lowest.

The easiest way is to turn on adaptive or offset mode, turn power phase control to optimized and load line calibration you can probably leave at auto. Leave adaptive on and change your cores to 4.6 all cores synced. Save and come in to windows and run a quick stress test to see what your voltage maxes out at. Then go back into bios and use the minus offset to bring your voltage down to where you are stable when you were testing it before.

The - offset that you enter may not equate to the exact thing in real life scenario, so say for example you want it to top out at 1.21V and when you set it to adaptive and test it, it tops out at 1.27V...you would think that using a - .06V offset would do it but it may not...it may then run at 1.24 or it might run at 1.19V so you'll have to just mess with it and test it really quick to see where it tops out and then just keep adjusting till you get what you want.

 

[Reaper_7799]

So Battlefield 4 jumps a lot between 50-55 but I played for a good hour or so to make sure they were staying around there. That's at 4.6 Ghz all cores.

 

[steedsofwar]

55c -57c is still a big difference from 65-70 or whatever you were at before on bf4. I'll check battlefield 4 later tonight, since I added this ssd and moved things around, that 's the last game I've got to fix but it needed a registry edit and such and just hadn't done it yet. I'm pretty sure though that my temps were always higher on gtav, far cry 4 and crysis 3 but I could be wrong... I don't think I've tested bf4 since being in push/pull but I'll let you know later tonight.

Yeah, at idle that's why...when I run 4.6 on all cores, I have to set manual and can't use offset voltage and my idle is definitely higher..mid 30's maybe...34 at the lowest.

The easiest way is to turn on adaptive or offset mode, turn power phase control to optimized and load line calibration you can probably leave at auto. Leave adaptive on and change your cores to 4.6 all cores synced. Save and come in to windows and run a quick stress test to see what your voltage maxes out at. Then go back into bios and use the minus offset to bring your voltage down to where you are stable when you were testing it before.

The - offset that you enter may not equate to the exact thing in real life scenario, so say for example you want it to top out at 1.21V and when you set it to adaptive and test it, it tops out at 1.27V...you would think that using a - .06V offset would do it but it may not...it may then run at 1.24 or it might run at 1.19V so you'll have to just mess with it and test it really quick to see where it tops out and then just keep adjusting till you get what you want.

Okay, that's awesome. I'm gonna try follow your steps above and start some more tests some time late night tomorrow. I see you mention that your temps stay in the lower/mid 50s. Is that CPU temp or GPU temp? As you saw, my CPU temps are not far off from yours, despite the smaller case, albeit on a milder OC as compared to yours. But my GPU seems to prefer 68*C consistently. You had 60 max I think, but mostly much lower.

 

[Karadjgne]

Gotta say, you are doin an admirable job of getting your temps under control. And that's really what OC is all about. You taking control of your pc's behavior. Anyone can just use Asus easy tune to bump performance, but often little thought is put into the consequences.

Congratulations, and welcome to the club.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Yeah for battlefield 4 it was 49C min and bounced to 55C a lot whereas gtav, skyrim, far cry 4 are all between 45-50C. I'll throw up a little vid of it later to youtube before I go to bed and post it tomorrow but yeah bf4 definitely runs it harder.

My GPU temps are max 49 C but it's the hybrid.

 

[Reaper_7799]

That's 4.6 all cores and it's 55 max but it varies map to map ...shanghai was more like 55-60 max.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h5RtRoAAKc&feature=youtu.be

 

[steedsofwar]

Gotta say, you are doin an admirable job of getting your temps under control. And that's really what OC is all about. You taking control of your pc's behavior. Anyone can just use Asus easy tune to bump performance, but often little thought is put into the consequences.

Congratulations, and welcome to the club.

I'm sure you guys won't mind my saying but I really genuinely needed holding your hands in order to make this progress. Thanks to you two gents, my system's come a long way. Only a month and a half ago, I would faint at the idea of opening up a PC to replace RAM, let alone building one from scratch and then stabilising an OC! So, only my wife knows really how chuffed I am, LOL...

 

[steedsofwar]

Yeah for battlefield 4 it was 49C min and bounced to 55C a lot whereas gtav, skyrim, far cry 4 are all between 45-50C. I'll throw up a little vid of it later to youtube before I go to bed and post it tomorrow but yeah bf4 definitely runs it harder.

My GPU temps are max 49 C but it's the hybrid.

Oh crikey! Those GPU temps are sweet. A 20 degree difference between mine and yours. That hybrid water cooling system is working it's magic alright. I just need to know, is my GPU gonna face future issues in the long run, being operated for hours at 70C max? Average 66-68 actually. If my case would have allowed, I would probably have returned this for a hybrid model instead.

And thanks for the upload on YT. Game looks silky smooth at those frame rates. For a second I could have been fooled I was watching a movie clip. What's the OSD that's displaying the readings?

 

[Reaper_7799]

No problem man. Lol yeah it is pretty cool though to learn everything about it or at least enough to appreciate the upper end comps and to be able to troubleshoot much easier in the future. I got away from building and all that for a few years and just got back into it again, so it's good for me too.

No it wont hurt it or degrade it at those temps, they're built tough. It's msi afterburner osd. It's a little confusing at first to set it up but if you want a quick little guide, I can give you one that I did for someone else.

So I went back to 46,45,44,44 and my max temps for cpu are 50-55, even on shanghai and all the other ones. That's probably where I'll stay for now, I didn't notice any performance difference for 4.6 and honestly I couldn't even tell any difference at stock speeds.

The reason I got this chip was just to be able to keep it strong for a couple years down the road and because it has a fairly high stock speed with turbo and to overclock to 4.7 or 4.8 if it's needed later on before I upgrade again. I love this little i7.

 

[Karadjgne]

A long time ago, everyone knew the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was the center of the universe. Not so long ago, everyone knew the earth was flat. Last month you knew controlling OC was a mystery. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

I wouldn't say we held your hand as much as just offered clues as to the right direction, you did the walking, all on your own 2 feet, this was your victory, and damned right you should be proud of it. It may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but that matters not for its the little things that truly are important in life.

You learned something, that's more than most who ask for help do, and if for nothing else, that alone means more to me than any answer I could give.

Thank you.

 

[steedsofwar]

A long time ago, everyone knew the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was the center of the universe. Not so long ago, everyone knew the earth was flat. Last month you knew controlling OC was a mystery. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

I wouldn't say we held your hand as much as just offered clues as to the right direction, you did the walking, all on your own 2 feet, this was your victory, and damned right you should be proud of it. It may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but that matters not for its the little things that truly are important in life.

You learned something, that's more than most who ask for help do, and if for nothing else, that alone means more to me than any answer I could give.

Thank you.

Haha! An epic reply, Karad. Glad guys like you and @Reaper_7799 make up this great community. Was a bit worried that my post would be met with snobbery and sneering. Happy to be so wrong about that.

I know I'm outstaying my welcome but I wanted to know if you or reaper could advise me further. I've just switched my h100i fans from pushing gpu/cpu hot air out through the rad to pulling cool air in from outside the case. Naturally, the GPU temp shot up during gaming to an unpleasant 80*C. However, I found that the CPU was staying at the excellent low to mid 40's during these gaming sessions! So my experiment has advantages and disadvantages. In order to remedy this, I decided to flip my exhaust inward to act as intake, as it is closest to the GPU and rad hot air. I also flipped the two front intakes in reverse so now they were exhausting that hot air, as pushed through the case by what was formerly my exhaust. Dunno if I'm making any sense lol.

As a compromise, I've left the front panel open so the two fans can exhaust properly, as the front panel has a tight mesh and fine grill, preventing exhaustion from functioning as desired. My CPU temps are nice and low in the low/mid 40's and GPU has climbed down to a more tolerable 62-65 Celsius.

Do you reckon this is a stupid workaround? Is there any potential harm that can arise from this? Is there a better solution, as I hate having the front fans exposed?

 

[steedsofwar]

No problem man. Lol yeah it is pretty cool though to learn everything about it or at least enough to appreciate the upper end comps and to be able to troubleshoot much easier in the future. I got away from building and all that for a few years and just got back into it again, so it's good for me too.

No it wont hurt it or degrade it at those temps, they're built tough. It's msi afterburner osd. It's a little confusing at first to set it up but if you want a quick little guide, I can give you one that I did for someone else.

So I went back to 46,45,44,44 and my max temps for cpu are 50-55, even on shanghai and all the other ones. That's probably where I'll stay for now, I didn't notice any performance difference for 4.6 and honestly I couldn't even tell any difference at stock speeds.

The reason I got this chip was just to be able to keep it strong for a couple years down the road and because it has a fairly high stock speed with turbo and to overclock to 4.7 or 4.8 if it's needed later on before I upgrade again. I love this little i7.

I just wanted to update you on my success in lowering the idle voltages as per your instructions. I won't pretend I fully understood what was going on there but I managed to succeed regardless. Stress tests are showing stability under load and in idle, voltages are as low as 0.6xxv.

I've been experimenting with something else. Please see my above reply to Karad and kindly share your thoughts. Thank you.

 

[Reaper_7799]

Haha good deal man glad you got voltage worked out, we're just here to help and glad you learned some things along the way. I don't see anything wrong with it, with that heat coming back into the case and coupled with it being a small case I'm not sure if adding any additional fans, even blowing directly on the gpu will help but it might.

Your gfx card is set up like that right? Is there enough room or even a way to attach a fan or two to the side panel and still be able to close it?

 

[Karadjgne]

Wow, hmm, ok, lol.
Hot air rises, that's it's natural progression. The objective of case fans is to give that progression a helping hand. Ambient temps outside the case are usually cooler nearer the bottom. So generally, intakes are lower, draw cool air into the case. The exhaust fan draw creates a vacuum near the rear / top, and nature abhors a vacuum, so fills that space with the nearest available source, the warmer case air. Repeat constantly.

By moving the fan flow direction on the h100i to intake, its fully natural your cpu will drop temps because the air drawn through the rad is cooler outside air, which will remain consistently cooler than the case internal temp. However, the drawback is that all that exhausted warm air is now dumped into a restricted space around the gpu, so the gpu cooler is using progressively warmer air to try and cool a heatsink. Not very effective, as you found out.

There are solutions to this dilemma, but they require creative thinking. You'd need to almost isolate the cpu exhaust from the rest of the case, and yet still supply airflow to exhaust the cpu exhaust out of the case. My Dell 8400 was set up that way, with a shroud covering the cpu fan, basically a tunnel that warm air was shoved out of at the back of the case. In a standard case that would be easy to do with a chunk of cardboard placed front to back, side to side, below the level of the rear exhaust. In your case... woof that's problematical.

What it's going to boil down to is the lesser of 2 evils, lower gpu/case temps/higher cpu temps or lower cpu temps/higher gpu/case temps.

For major cpu usage/minor gpu, I could live with lower cpu/higher gpu+case, but for major gpu/minor cpu, which is a gaming setup, I'd rather keep gpu+case temps down with manageable cpu temps.