Upgrade to 8700K (core components only)

[evernessince]

There is actually a reason for that. When you let the CPU downclock , so do the voltages , though you might have achieved a stable overclock those P-states might not be fully stable , therefor switching between these states may crash your system.

The P-States baked into the processor are tested by Intel and completely stable. You should only ever keep a fixed voltage / clock when your are figuring out your max overclock. If your processor is crashing from switching from your custom P-state and one of the low power one's made by Intel either your overclock isn't stable, your power supply isn't giving the correct voltage, or your motherboard is doing something wrong. I have been overclocking Intel processors for what seems like forever and since adaptive voltage has introduced I have never had an issue with the system crashing after I'd gotten an overclock stable after an 8 hour stress test that could at all be attributed to low power P-States.

 

[Whitestar]

see which one gives you the smoothest voltage.

By smooth do you mean the least differences possible between idle and load? Or the least possble fluctuating values when just under load?

 

[jboydgolfer]

You should only ever keep a fixed voltage / clock when your are figuring out your max overclock.

I agree with you, theres no need imo, But its one of those things that people seem to just do. Similar to applying TIM, or tying their shoes, changing a persons mind on this seems futile. Its one of those things people do theyre own way i suppose.

since adaptive voltage has introduced I have never had an issue with the system crashing

same here. which is what makes it so hard for me to understand the reason a person would want it any other way.

either way, it is no skin off my back if they do it non dynamically. its their Money

 

[Whitestar]

I think I will just keep it simple and use what I have now. Ratio at 47, CPU core voltage at Auto, LLC at 5 (default), EIST (Speedstep) Enabled. Temps are fine and system seems stable. I will do some burn tests, and if they are successful I will have a go at 4.8GHz. There doesn't seem to be much to gain in games above that, except for Project Cars 2 maybe.

 

[Basard]

By smooth do you mean the least differences possible between idle and load? Or the least possble fluctuating values when just under load?

Whatever keeps your system stable, I suppose. Some LLC settings will jack your voltage WAY up when under load. So, if you have an already high vcore setting in your BIOS then you definitely don't want it jacked up even higher under load. For instance, on my old 990FX system, if you set LLC to "extreme" the voltage would jump from 1.4 idle to 1.55 under load.
I'd start at a modest clock speed, and low voltage, then play around with your LLC. till you find one that keeps good load AND idle voltages. THEN start bumping vcore and frequency.

I'd also consider what @Vario wrote as well, one of them hidden facts that the gurus only seem to know about:

One concern with running the highest LLC setting, the setting that provides the most voltage correction, is that you have transient overvolt applied to your processor. These transient high voltages long term can degrade it and are so brief they are not always detectable with software. It is up to you how much risk you want to assume, but using a moderate LLC is fine long term.

You can have a lower LLC setting set, if your idle voltage is, say, 1.3v, and load voltage with lower LLC setting is 1.25, then that is good because 1.3 is not very high and 1.25 should be good enough under load--depending on cooling.

 

[Vario]

LLC5 is the lowest for AsRock Z370. He has a good setting, if it is stable. Vdroop is the drop in voltage when the processor goes to full load. The motherboard's voltage regulation modules (VRM) determine the drop, by how much, how quickly. At stock, you will likely run a lower voltage under load then idle, I do anyway. It is because of the Vdroop. Intel designed it this way to avoid transient overvoltage when the processor exits load. However these drops in voltage will cause high overclocks to become unstable. You can sometimes run more offset voltage but the result is you are providing more power than you need the rest of the time, and you can still become unstable when the Vdroop occurs. That is why LLC is used. If you are running LLC5, you are running the lowest possible setting, which means less risk of transient overvoltage, more vdroop hence lower load voltages, and greater instability at higher overclocks.

For AsRock Z370 boards be sure to update your bios, the original bios on the early boards had really bad overclocking, not to mention you need to get your improved CPU microcode for spectre and meltdown mitigation.

I noticed with my Z370 Taichi, LLC5 through 3 was basically off and LLC2 was moderate, LLC1 was high.

 

[Whitestar]

Yes, I noticed the Spectre/Meltdown patch arrived in 1.60. I have 1.30.

I suppose it doesn't matter which flash method I use; memstick in BIOS or exe-file from Windows?

 

[Vario]

I highly recommend doing the USB memory stick and updating in bios rather than from Windows.

Edit: I forgot to mention but it will wipe your bios settings you use currently, so jot down some notes first.

 

[Whitestar]

Edit: I forgot to mention but it will wipe your bios settings you use currently, so jot down some notes first.

Yeah, I knew that and took my precations. Updated to 1.80, all good.