Question Voltage for overclocking

[Jimsterino98]

I've been wondering if its a problem if i leave the voltage on auto if i overclock? what's the point in adjusting voltage if you can leave it on auto? cheers

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi Jimsterino98 One of the most important factors when Overclocking is Voltage efficiency.

Leaving CPU voltage on Auto very often does not provide optimum regulated efficiency. The higher you go in CPU frequency the more voltage required to maintain stability. Other voltage adjustments are also required for stability such as LLC (Load Line Calibration) to prevent voltage droop when system comes under peak demand, also voltage offsets used to set the processor’s operating voltage.

 

[Jimsterino98]

Hi Jimsterino98 One of the most important factors when Overclocking is Voltage efficiency.

Leaving CPU voltage on Auto very often does not provide optimum regulated efficiency. The higher you go in CPU frequency the more voltage required to maintain stability. Other voltage adjustments are also required for stability such as LLC (Load Line Calibration) to prevent voltage droop when system comes under peak demand, also voltage offsets used to set the processor’s operating voltage.

yikes lol thats a bunch of voltage tampering guess i won't overclock without some help cx

 

[drea.drechsler]

I've been wondering if its a problem if i leave the voltage on auto if i overclock? what's the point in adjusting voltage if you can leave it on auto? cheers

What are your system spec's? motherboard, processor, gpu, psu, cooling, etc.

You might can leave it on AUTO. It will probably limit your overclock potential, which could be a good thing to a novice overclocker, but it also depends on how your system responds which is something you need to test.

 

[drea.drechsler]

What are your system spec's? motherboard, processor, gpu, psu, cooling, etc.

You might can leave it on AUTO but that depends on what your system is like: on mine it limits my overclock because voltage can't rise high enough to keep it stable. That might be a good thing to a novice overclocker, but then it does depend on how your system responds. That's something you need to test.

 

[tennis2]

Generally "Auto" voltage will result in a voltage that is higher than needed. This applies for both CPUs and GPUs. The mobo or GPU will error on the conservative side because they're set up with a BIOS "profile" from the manufacturer that encompasses the majority of chips so that stability is maintained.

As a general procedure, you typically OC using Auto voltage first. At some point, the CPU or GPU will become unstable. Then, you back the frequency off just a bit so Auto voltage is stable again. Then start testing into lower manual voltages. Lower voltage = lower power = lower heat, so manual voltage reductions open up more OC headroom since it lowers temps.

 

[Jimsterino98]

What are your system spec's? motherboard, processor, gpu, psu, cooling, etc.

You might can leave it on AUTO. It will probably limit your overclock potential, which could be a good thing to a novice overclocker, but it also depends on how your system responds which is something you need to test.

i have a ryzen 5 1600X, msi b350 gaming plus mobo, gtx 1070, nzxt kraken x62 aio cooler, psu is evga supernova 650 watt, 16 gb corsair vengeance LED 3200 MHz ram

 

[drea.drechsler]

i have a ryzen 5 1600X, msi b350 gaming plus mobo, gtx 1070, nzxt kraken x62 aio cooler, psu is evga supernova 650 watt, 16 gb corsair vengeance LED 3200 MHz ram

I can tell you my experience, but it may not be the same for you:

I have a Ryzen 1700 which I had in an MSI B350m Mortar. I could overclock that 1700 on Auto to about 3.8G. The VCore would run around 1.34 to 1.36 volts, with LLC setting on 1. But at 3.9G it would crash every time I tried stressing with Prime95 small FFT's. I had to manually set a VCore of 1.3875V to get it to run stable at 3.9G in small FFT's.

That may have changed since that was pre-Gen2 Ryzen so the BIOS may have changed. But that's something you always have to check when update BIOS: the OC settings you had before may not work the same.

 

[Jimsterino98]

so try using auto voltage until it crashes then adjust voltage from there?

 

[drea.drechsler]

so try using auto voltage until it crashes then adjust voltage from there?

Or leave it at one or two straps below where it crashes. But it's not always that simple...temperature still needs to be well controlled too.

 

[Jimsterino98]

Or leave it at one or two straps below where it crashes. But it's not always that simple...temperature still needs to be well controlled too.

what are good programs to use for stress testing, also i just ran a shadow of the tomb raider benchmark and my cpu is at 4 GHz and no problem auto voltage.

 

[drea.drechsler]

what are good programs to use for stress testing, also i just ran a shadow of the tomb raider benchmark and my cpu is at 4 GHz and no problem auto voltage.

You might run a game like SotTR without problems, and many people do and leave it at that. But that's not really a good test for stability and you'll quite possibly find your system is unstable under a more heavily threaded workload than a game.

I'd go look for something called Prime95, but Aida64 is also good. Aida64 is time-limited unless you buy a license. There's also something called OCCT which may be a bit easier to use..

When you run the stress test you have to monitor voltage and temperature too. If you're using Ryzenmaster to overclock with you can do it with that. I use a utility called HWinfo64, not only because I overclock in BIOS but also because it monitors the most parameters and is the most accurate of any I've found. OCCT will also monitor voltage and temps but you have to figure out which are which cause it's not correctly labled. AIDA64 will too but it's a PITA, IMHO, and is frequently innaccurate.

 

[tennis2]

Prime95 for stress testing.
HWMonitor for monitoring system info.

 

[Jimsterino98]

You might run a game like SotTR without problems, and many people do and leave it at that. But that's not really a good test for stability and you'll quite possibly find your system is unstable under a more heavily threaded workload than a game.

I'd go look for something called Prime95, but Aida64 is also good. Aida64 is time-limited unless you buy a license. There's also something called OCCT which may be a bit easier to use..

When you run the stress test you have to monitor voltage and temperature too. If you're using Ryzenmaster to overclock with you can do it with that. I use a utility called HWinfo64, not only because I overclock in BIOS but also because it monitors the most parameters and is the most accurate of any I've found. OCCT will also monitor voltage and temps but you have to figure out which are which cause it's not correctly labled. AIDA64 will too but it's a PITA, IMHO, and is frequently innaccurate.

so i think i got a stable overclock of 3.9 GHz at 1.2875 volts is that good

 

[drea.drechsler]

so i think i got a stable overclock of 3.9 GHz at 1.2875 volts is that good

If that's with Prime95 small FFT I'd say it's pretty good and be content... 3.9G is right at the optimum 24/7 overclock for gen 1 Ryzen processors. I have a 1700 with 2 cores/4 threads extra and it's also a non-'X' CPU, which have higher leakage current, which usually need a bit more voltage to stay stable.

 

[Jimsterino98]

If that's with Prime95 small FFT I'd say it's pretty good and be content... 3.9G is right at the optimum 24/7 overclock for gen 1 Ryzen processors. I have a 1700 with 2 cores/4 threads extra and it's also a non-'X' CPU, which have higher leakage current, which usually need a bit more voltage to stay stable.

i see. i used occt because i have no clue how to use prime95 lmao

 

[tennis2]

That's what Google and YouTube are for! The Internet is an amazing thing.

 

[drea.drechsler]

i see. i used occt because i have no clue how to use prime95 lmao

OCCT is good too... the 'small' memory option is also a really good burner to test CPU stability. The Linpac option also tests your memory overclock, although not necessarily a good test, alone, for memory.

But if your system holds up for 20 or 30 min's of that you're as good as you need to be for game play and casual use. If you use your system for heavily threaded productivity apps you should make sure it will stay up for 2 or more hours...maybe overnight. You don't want a crash to spoil a two-day-long render or encoding batch job causing you to miss a deadline.

What's also important is the CPU temperature: CPU temps below 80C would be good, below 70C is ideal. With a 280mm AIO I think you should be good there.