LLC and Adaptive Mode

[Lapien]

Hello!

Im overclocking for the first time and I have some questions regarding LLC and Adaptive Mode.

the pc:

case - NZXT S340
cpu - i5 6600k
mobo - Asus Z170 Pro-Gaming
cooler - NZXT Kraken x61
ram - G.SKill Ripjaws 2x8gb 2666mhz
gpu - Sapphire HD7950 OC (waiting on the 1070's)
psu - Seasonic s12g 550w 80+ gold

So far I've managed to get to achieve a stable 4.6ghz with manual voltage set to 1.250.

I have some doubts regarding LLC and Adaptive Mode.

LLC: It's set to auto in the BIOS. Should I change it? As you can see on the screenshot, the Vcore is actually higher than the 1.250 set in the BIOS, is that the LLC at work? Should I up the voltage if I disable it?

Adaptive Mode: Is it worth using? My cpu temps are in the low/mid 50's (celsius ofc) even when running 10min of P95 26.6 on FFT's. Assuming I'm satisfied with 4.6ghz, should I just leave it on manual mode 24/7?

Thanks in advance!

 

[FrankenDesign]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1313466/cpu-load-line-calibration-what-is-it

check this out

keep it in the middle whatever that may be on intel. on my board I keep it at medium or high (not ultra high or extreme) and 120% current capacity. So I should get no vdroop but no 'vboost' as the guy in the above thread explains. The cpu can pull a bit of extra juice if it wants

basically you want to find the minimum vCore your system will operate at. When I clock to 5.1ghz (the edge of what this chip can do in my rig) if vCore is 1.49 windows will freeze (eg., the mouse pointer stops and a reboot is necessary) but if I just turn it up a notch to 1.5v it will stablize enough to operate windows and play games BUT it will NOT handle a p95 torture test; it will instantly freeze and a reboot is again required

eg. the vCore that your cpu requires is somewhat proportional to the load; counterbalancing that is how much heat your cooling system can dump and how quickly; as higher vCores produce higher temperatures. Therefore you need to balance llc against load & temperature to achieve a stable overclock where you can do what you actually want to do (rather than make a pointless point with a stress test) without any system freezes.

Part of the problem as well really is the indicator (the mouse freeze) that says you need more vCore is also the indicator (mouse freeze & system stop) that the cpu is damaged so you need to be experienced/knowledgeable/understanding enough to know which applies to what situation; the same indicator for different conditions is a bit of a headache.

 

[Lapien]

Thanks for the info!

I'll go back to BIOS and set the LLC to a medium value and see how it goes.

 

[Lapien]

update:

set the clock to 4.5ghz, manual mode 1.215v, LLC at 4 (1 to 7), CPU capacity on auto.

Passed Realbench 15min stress test and then I ran 10min of small FFT's on P95

Should I attempt to lower the LLC?

Any insight on adaptive mode would be great aswell!

 

[FrankenDesign]

adaptive mode sounds like something unique to your bios; check the manual.

Should you lower the llc? What are you trying to do? Everything looks good but to technically pass for the OC club on this forum you need to p95 for 2 hours.

You could lower your llc IF you want to attempt to establish the lowest possible vCore that your system will operate at with this overclock; useful info if you want to know if you can push more mhz while staying within thermal boundaries. You will want to find the max vCore your rig can handle before the thermal load is too great

Thereby you can tune the system using the minimum power necessary to achieve the target you are aiming for.

 

[Lapien]

Should you lower the llc? What are you trying to do? Everything looks good but to technically pass for the OC club on this forum you need to p95 for 2 hours.

Basically I want to get a 4.5/4.6 oc while staying at the lowest voltage/temps possible. From what I understand, the higher the LLC, the more prone my system is to having voltage spikes, correct? I'm asking if lower LLC values may cause instability, or if it wont have much of an impact at all.

About p95 2 hour testing, should I use the small FFT's?

Sorry if this is all basic stuff, but it's the 1st time im oc'ing so I'm double checking everything to make sure I dont cause any damage to my rig.

 

[FrankenDesign]

Lower llc might mean that your system just can't pull enough juice; in which case it will freeze. Too much llc and you're burning oil as they say in the motor industry; so keep your llc on medium and set vCore at the lowest setting that windows will load on.

That means turning vCore down rather than llc. Then increase it in each small increment of maybe what 150 millivolts 0.0150 steps that the bios likely allows and that way you will find the minimum. So you want windows to load.. you want to play a game and you want to find the level it will p95 on.

But if you turn up the LLC then you will be pumping more juice through than is necessary for the mhz you are using and that energy will turn into waste heat which obviously you do not desire more heat if you don't have to generate it on the cpu.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/277215-29-intel-overclocking-club?_ga=1.142873845.177135468.1463724278

The rules for the intel club are a bit different. amd has to do 2 hours; intel has to have a cpu-z validation.

It is a little bit tedious to test each increment of vCore. It could take you a couple of hours at each 0.0150 increment to test in order to figure it out; here all you require is an abundance of patience.

 

[Lapien]

Thanks for your help! I'm ready to do some real testing now!

 

[Lapien]

Hello again!

So after doing multiple tests with multiple settings:

4.5ghz
1.215 vcore manual mode
LLC 5 (1-7)
CPU current capability - 120%
CPU power phase control - optimized
CPU power duty control - extreme
SpeedStep - enabled (windows power saving - balanced)

Looks stable and temps are barely reaching 50c using Realbench for 4 hours (default settings)
Vcore readings on CPU-Z and HWmonitor are fairly in sync, showing 2.16v at 100% load (steady), and 2.00v on idle (also steady).

Any other stress tests I should run before calling it a day?

 

[Lapien]

Ran a 2nd Realbench just to be sure and it actually froze the pc 1 hour in🙁

Guess I was being a little too optimistic with 1.215v... 1.230 will probably work 100%, still I cant complain being near stable at such low voltages!

 

[Lapien]

Bumped it to 1.230 just to be safe. It's super stable after running all sort of benchmarks and playing stuff like bf4. Feels pretty solid.

I also made the mistake of trying to open my browser with a stress test running... didnt go well.😀

Im fiddling with the adaptive voltage mode right now, although it seems to cause some spikes on the vcore during load transitions even if i lower the LLC. Will probably keep it on manual voltage for the time being