Ryzen 7 1700 vCore not applying properly, Aorus x370 gaming k5

[Lewinator56]

Before anyone says that its a rubbish MOBO, i'm getting 3.6GHz stable at stock voltages, its getting higher than that thats the issue.

Since the BIOS has no static vCore option, i have to use vCore offset, setting this to +0.03v to get 3.7GHz should be fine (stock voltages hover around 1.18v) However, the voltage never actually applies to the CPU, it shows in the BIOS as the offset voltage, however, if i check HWINFO, the CPU vCore still sits at 1.188v on each core, vCore read straight from the BIOS registers the offset value however. To make matters even worse, under load, the vCore will drop to 1.144v on stock voltages, if i increase the offset, it actually drops more, which basically makes getting a higher OC than 3.6GHz impossible.

Gigabytes BIOS was awful enough to actually force me into OC'ing in the first place, since leaving everything on auto caused vCore to spike to over 1.4v when SCT was hit (3.7GHz), though, according to the BIOS, the vCore when the multiplier was set to auto was about 1.38v (seriously gigabyte? 3.2GHz on almost 1.4v...)

Any ideas?

 

[theyeti87]

What BIOS version are you on?

 

[Lewinator56]

F23d

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Might be something in the new BIOS revisions. I had a 1700 running in a gaming K3 for the better part of a year, on the F5 BIOS that was supposedly burning up CPUs, with reasonably normal results. After upgrading to the F23d BIOS and dropping in a new CPU, the board has begun to behave a bit odd, plus many of the BIOS settings have been either renamed, removed, or relocated to obscure places with less than good descriptions. Also, voltages and temperatures have been all over the place with the new BIOS and CPU, whether set to Auto or even with a negative offset, spiking into the range of 1.52+ and hitting over 60°C.

I had to reloaded BIOS defaults to get somewhat more normal behavior from the new BIOS, and while temperatures actually went down to the 40s under load, voltages are still running just as high as they were.

When I was running a 1700, I was up to almost 1.4 for a stable 3.85 GHz on the k3 version of that board. Probably just a poorly performing chip, but other than the inability to go higher, or run with lower voltage, can't say I had any actual issues. The temperature was never an issue, and as long as I used the .5 multiplier for the CPU speed, the overclock did not lock the core frequency. Clocking at an even number, such as 3.8, the cores would lock to their overclocked speed. I'm not sure if the half-step-unlocked overclock was a BIOS bug, but it's nice to not lose the ability for the cores to spin down at idle.

With the newer 2x00 series CPU in the board, the system has been less than stable, and that's without overclocking the CPU at all. Memory compatibility appears to have taken a step backward, so if you have high speed RAM that isn't able to boot using an XMP profile, you might keep that in mind for any future upgrades.

I actually expect there may be further BIOS revisions for these boards to smooth out some of the transitional bugs between the 1x00 series CPUs and the newer 2x00 series. Until then, if you're only running a 1700, and you don't need a feature the F23d BIOS offers, it might be worthwhile to use whichever BIOS you found to be most stable.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Are you sure you are applying as much vCore offset as you think you are? +0.03 is only going to give you a 30 mV offset, turning the base 1.2 into a 1.23. That's not going to get you very far trying to overclock your Ryzen, unless you're right there at the edge, where it only needs the slightest bit more voltage for stability.

Also, you're not going to see full voltage + offset unless you have disabled all of the system's power management, modified the default Windows power plan, or are loading the CPU.

The 1x00 Ryzen CPUs have been found to be binned fairly well, so you actually shouldn't be expecting the same results from a 1700 as you would see from a 1700x, 1800x, or Threadripper CPU. Heck, even 1800x CPUs aren't guaranteed to hit 4 GHz.

If your CPU shows the correct voltage + offset under load, then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Lewinator56]

I noticed a few issues with the BIOS also since upgrading to f22 then to f23d, voltage spikes to 1.42v and a really high (1.38v auto vcire in BIOS).

I looked around in the BIOS a bit more after posting the initial thing, it could be an issue with the new p-state OC thing, looking at the defaults, vcore on all states is 1.188v.

Also, I'm definitely applying the suitable amount of additional voltage, tried +0.125v on 3.8 GHz, still the vcore in ryzen master displays as 1.188v whereas it should be 1.32v, and vcore drops dramatically under load still.

It's not as if I've got a bad chip, since it will hit 3.6GHz stable on 1.188v (1.144 under load) so 3.7/3.8 should be easy, I can tell as soon as the system starts to boot windows that the additional voltage isn't really being applied properly as it's much less stable even with a +0.16v offset.

Don't see why Gigabyte can't just fix the BIOS on this board, they say you can't have a static vcore option because if the vrm design, I don't really buy that, and the vrm controller supports LLC, and they haven't added that yet. I've had cheaper boards in the past with rubbish vrms and they still had a vcore option.

 

[theyeti87]

I am using the F6 BIOS on the K7 board. Voltage is stable in BIOS and HWMonitor.

 

[Lewinator56]

I am using the F6 BIOS on the K7 board. Voltage is stable in BIOS and HWMonitor.

K7 board has a different BIOS, one thats actually suitable for operating a CPU.... since it has the vCore option, not just a vCore offset.
I see no reason why GB can't implement the majority of the k7 features on the k5, ok the VRMs are different, but EVERY other manufacturer manages to have the basic CPU settings. I can't understand why basic things like static vCore and LLC aren't in the BIOS.

Maybe unless i'm reading something wrong in HWINFO, surely the per-core cpu#n VID should be the same as the vcore reading from the BIOS? surely ryzen master should display the vcore set in the BIOS, not always 1.188v.

You can see in the image, under the 'GIGABYTE AX370 GAMING...' part, CPU vcore, see the highest value is 1.2v, but if you look at the part fro the CPU (above MOBO bit), CPU voltage never goes above 1.188v. This stays exactly the same if i increase the voltage offset, the vCore display for the MOBO will show the offset voltage, but CPU voltage will remain maxing out at 1.188v, no matter how big the offset.
I hope thats clear?

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Pretty sure you're reading things correctly in HWiNFO. HWiNFO64 reads close to the same as HWMonitor, BIOS, and Ryzen Master on my system. I think differences between the different programs are in part due to different sampling intervals, and the high rate of speed at which the values are fluctuating.

I agree completely that having to fiddle with offset voltages is irritating, and think it would be nice if Gigabyte provides a logical, consistent solution across their entire product line. Once you get used to setting offsets, it does at least work but if you don't know what the initial reference point for the offset is, it's a right pain. You should be able to see the default voltage in the new P-State overclocking section, as it lists the voltage for each P-State when set to Custom. Not sure why one should have to dig for that information however. The engineers writing the UEFI interface must never have to actually use it much.

In your picture, your voltage looks to be about where I would expect it for stock settings.

Have you perhaps used Ryzen Master to do any overclocking, or used the new P-State overclocking method? I know those can lock the maximum voltage and clock speed. You might at least check the P-State section in BIOS to ensure things are set to Auto.

If you never loaded defaults or reset your BIOS after upgrading it, you might consider doing that. Don't forget to write down or take a picture of any custom RAM timings and other settings pages you might forget to re-customize.

The difference you see between VCore under the motherboard section and CPU Core Voltage under the CPU section is similar to what I see. Mine has a difference of .012 mV, yours screenshot looks to be .013 mV. I chalk the difference up to reading the value from different sensors, which obviously aren't perfectly calibrated to match one another. Heck, there's even a third chip with sensor readings, an ITE IT8792E, beneath the ITE IT8686E in HWiNFO, and it gives slightly different readings than the first two.

I think, at first glance, your voltage readings are probably correct. The question then becomes, what is preventing any voltage offset from being applied? It certainly wouldn't be the first time Gigabyte released a buggy BIOS for these boards.

 

[Lewinator56]

i sent a thing to gigabyte support about it, who are as useless as you would expect, i would try and get a picture with a higher voltage offset set to better show my point, but i really cant be bothered to reboot my system as it takes ages (oh yes.... still booting off a HDD). I'll get one anyway.

i set a +0.084v offset, vcore changes, but core voltage remains exactly the same...

Don't think its a dodgy reading either, since the WRMs don't seem to get any hotter with a higher vcore.

--- update ---
did some more testing today, seems that setting vcore in ryzen master actually has the desired effect, the cpu per core voltage actually increases, as does the vcore reading from the BIOS. seems gigabyte messed up their BIOS somewhere, since it should have the same effect as ryzen master does.

 

[paramedicus]

i sent a thing to gigabyte support about it, who are as useless as you would expect, i would try and get a picture with a higher voltage offset set to better show my point, but i really cant be bothered to reboot my system as it takes ages (oh yes.... still booting off a HDD). I'll get one anyway.

i set a +0.084v offset, vcore changes, but core voltage remains exactly the same...

Don't think its a dodgy reading either, since the WRMs don't seem to get any hotter with a higher vcore.

--- update ---
did some more testing today, seems that setting vcore in ryzen master actually has the desired effect, the cpu per core voltage actually increases, as does the vcore reading from the BIOS. seems gigabyte messed up their BIOS somewhere, since it should have the same effect as ryzen master does.

Hi, I want to know if you have found a solution for this. I'm encountering the same problem with the same mobo but ryzen 5 1600, although I noticed that quite late. The vcore applied in bios doesn't save and after reboot, in the vcore section of my mobo in hwinfo vcore increases, but the core voltage in CPU section doesn't. Only the changes applied via Ryzen master are saved which is quite annoying, bearing the fact, that after reboot ryzen master changes are cleared. Please let me know if you have found any soluttion for that issue.