Question Is this a dangerous AC LL value for my i5-13400F ?

[Marcos Baras]

I own an i5-13400F with C0 die running on an Asus TUF B760. I think I'm pressumably out of danger of the Raptor Lake degradation issue (basically because my CPU is a rebranded Alder Lake silicon after all), but I have checked my AC Load Line value in HWiNFO64 after reading some post titled "13/14th gen Intel baseline can still degrade CPU, even with new microcode, due to AC LL" ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comm...seline_can_still_degrade_cpu/?sort=confidence

...and it turns out it's 1.700 mOhm, way higher than the recommended value, and now I'm pretty scared because I don't know how to change the BIOS settings. The valid range is between 0.01 and 62.49, but I don't know what value should I type in order to get around 0.900 mOhm. I tried exporting BIOS contents to a text file with SCEWIN, but I can't see any value, only "Auto". I'm running the latest stable BIOS for my motherboard. The one with the 0x12B update is in beta stage. I'm using Intel Baseline Profile, I have set ICCMax on 140 (intel's recommended value) and my CPU Load-Line Calibration is 1, the lowest possible.

 

[uWebb429]

I don't know what value should I type in order to get around 0.900 mOhm

If you want 0.900 mOhm, why not type that number into the BIOS? Boot up into Windows and see what value HWiNFO reports. You should always use HWiNFO to double check that the CPU is using the loadline values that you have requested. I would never trust using the default value for this very important setting. Too many motherboards are not setting AC/DC loadline to the proper or requested value.

Run Cinebench so you have a performance baseline to compare to. Some Intel CPUs can trigger Undervolt Protection or IA-CEP ( current excursion protection) when adjusting the loadline values. This can drop performance in half.

 

[Marcos Baras]

I didn't type it directly because I can't see what's the point of this range of values (0.01 to 62.49), when the upper extreme appears to be absurdly high, according to the post. What if this model of motherboard uses a weird scale for whatever reason and I set a too low figure and the system no longer boots?

 

[uWebb429]

0.01 to 62.49

My Asus motherboard has the exact same range. This has to do with how many bits of data can be stored in this register. There is no need to use the full range.

I have been using these loadline values for over a year.

IA is for the cores and GT is for the Intel GPU. No idea why this motherboard sets the Intel GPU to such high values. I cannot remember if I ever tried to reduce this. Not sure what the default loadline values are supposed to be for an Intel GPU.

No need to worry so much. You already know that your 13400F has more in common with the older 12th Gen Alder Lake than the newer and prone to failure 13th Gen CPUs.

 

[Marcos Baras]

Ok, thanks a lot!! I guess that I'm over-thinking this damned Raptor Lake degradation stuff. I will update my BIOS when the final release gets out and I will let it as it is. Who knows, perhaps Intel ends up silently tweaking AC/DC Loadlines, like it did with Load-Line Calibration before (it changed automatically but it was not documented in the BIOS changelog)...

 

[YSCCC]

Ok, thanks a lot!! I guess that I'm over-thinking this damned Raptor Lake degradation stuff. I will update my BIOS when the final release gets out and I will let it as it is. Who knows, perhaps Intel ends up silently tweaking AC/DC Loadlines, like it did with Load-Line Calibration before (it changed automatically but it was not documented in the BIOS changelog)...

I am using Gigabyte board and didn't use Asus for quite some time, but I would say after updating to the latest bios it would be nice to change the ACLL settings to something like normal/default kind of value rather than "Auto", auto nowadays gets really stupid settings IMO

 

[Karadjgne]

Time-line is the single most important variable in cpu degrading (imho). My daughter has my old i7-3770K that's sitting at 4.6GHz like a champ, but can easily hit 4.9GHz and less than 1.4v. It prolly helps it's a Golden batch, it can do 5.1GHz but at rediculous vcore.

Now ask how long I expected to keep and use that i7. It's been under a 1.1GHz for years, I dropped it to 4.6GHz after a cooler change. How long do you expect to run that 13400F? Mebe 5 years before dumping it and upgrading? How much degradation is going to happen, realistically, that you'd even notice before your cpu becomes e-waste?

So just how much does it really matter, overall?