Looking for Z170 OC Formula Guide & Tips

For some OC, temperature, and VCore examples, check out the thread below. It begins with some SSD benchmarks, but later posts are of i7-6700K over clocks of 4.9 and 5.0GHz. BTW, the maximum normal VID for Skylake and Kaby Lake processors is 1.52V. You can also see the CPU throttling temperature in your board's UEFI, which could be adjusted higher if you dare (don't!):

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1491&title=two-950s-in-r0

Granted, voltages above 1.4V are not what we like to use for every day use, but up to 1.45V is not insane for these processors, with proper cooling.

The VCore value being above the VID is caused by Intel's Adaptive voltage (not used with SB or Ivy Bridge), which I assume you are seeing when NOT using Fixed voltage (??) Otherwise the higher VCore could be caused by the stress test running AVX2 instructions, which are a killer for needing more VCore/power. The latest Intel HEDT processors have a special UEFI/BIOS option, AVX2 Offset, which lowers the core multipliers when AVX2 instructions are being executed.

OMG, with your board's 16 phase VRM design, which are not even all enabled by default, with a high (1 or 2) LLC setting, any Vdroop using fixed voltage mode will be Missing In Action!

For some reason, using the XMP profile on some boards can affect the VCore and CPU over clocks. I'm not saying not to use XMP, but if you are at a loss about why something is different, it might be using XMP.

If you are coming from Sandy Bridge, like an i7-2600K, don't forget that they are the last Intel non-HEDT processors that have solder between the processor die and IHS. From Ivy Bridge forward, we have TIM between the die and IHS. The i7-2600K temperature spec is Tcase (72C), which is not the same as the current Tdie temperature spec of an i7-7700K:

http://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz

If the max temperature you get stress testing is 85C with air cooling, you are doing fine.

VID is what the processor is requesting for the VCore, from its built in table of VIDs. That does not mean it will actually get/use that voltage, or that it needs that voltage, as you have seen from the VCore reading in HWiNFO. The VID is a worst case situation voltage, not a magic voltage value.

You were unhappy with a CPU temperature of 72C at 4.6GHz. That is really not bad at all, frankly it is very good. The CPU throttling temperature is 100C, so that leaves quite a bit of headroom. Your CPU cooler should be fine, I use a NH-D14 with my Kaby Lake i7-7700K. If the CPU temperature is too high for you, get some more air flow into the PC case, increase the CPU fan speeds, or get some higher speed fans for the CPU cooler. Noctua goes for quiet operation, which is not optimal for the best cooling. The OC preset should set the CPU fan speeds to Full On. If you are reducing the fan speeds, expect higher CPU temperatures.

A VCore of 1.4V is not unusual for an OC of an i7-6700K. Users at the 5GHz level run them close to or at 1.5V. Frankly, the Auto VCore for stock speeds of these processors is at least 1.4V. More than necessary for most processors.

A fixed VCore voltage is just that, fixed. It might droop with the LLC set to 3 or lower, but with your board, won't with LLC above 3. That is normal.

So your game crashed, but are you sure it was a CPU VCore issue?

I'm not sure why you are searching for a VCore value of 1.38V. I assume you think it is a perfect value? If setting Fixed voltage to 1.38V does not give you that result for the VCore, then set it to 1.4V, or 1.42V.

Going over your description, you said you applied the 4.6GHz OC preset. Later you set the VCore to Fixed, 1.38V, with an LLC of 3. Now you say those settings don't produce the same results?

Try this, don't do the Load UEFI defaults. Perform a Clear CMOS/BIOS, either with the jumper on the board, or the Clear CMOS button on the IO panel. That will reset every UEFI/BIOS value to their true defaults. Then go into the UEFI and select the 4.6GHz OC preset. Now go through ALL of the OC Tweaker screens to see what the options are set to. The Voltage Configuration screen cannot be skipped! For example, the CPU SVID Support option may be disabled with that OC preset. Or the Turn on All Phase option is not enabled by default. Or the PWM Switching Frequency is set to a different value. Carefully check ALL the options in this screen, before and after applying the OC preset. I'm sure the OC preset changed at least some of them from their default values.

Your board has options the no other ASRock board has for over clocking, and since I don't have your board, I can't tell you from personal experience. Also check the CPU Configuration screen in the Advanced section.

Also, if you set the VCore mode to Auto, you should get a high VCore, might be more than you want but at least it will be higher again.

ped wrote: Hi everyone, I'm looking around several other forums and not really found a good guide on navigating all the features on the OC Formula. Anyone have any guides or experience they can share? I'm in a situation were I bought a binned 6700K @ 4.8GHz so I can ensure that I can run it at 4.6/4.7GHz 24/7, and while trying to change the multiplier / Uncore / Vcore, I'm getting odd results in HWiNFO. For example, I did a test where I changed the multiplier to 46, uncore to 42, Vcore to 1.38, LLC to 3 (instead of 5) and it seemed to work once where I saw the Vcore range from 1.36 to 1.4 with a temp at 72C.    So clearly I was stable, but wanted to lower the temps, so I went back into the BIOS (ver 2.4), and found that the LLC seemed to be at 1 for some reason.   I set it to Auto, then did it again.   Then my Vcore was 1.22V.   After a crash or two and a UEFI default restore, I cannot for the life of me get the 1.38 or 1.3x Vcore to come back.    Are their other options I need to look at?   Perhaps something set to auto?  My last OC experience was SB, so been awhile. Thanks.

Sorry, no guides for the OC Formula that I am aware of. It is ASRock's most sophisticated over clocking model, so aimed at those with experience in that area.

What UEFI/BIOS version do you have installed?

What are you using for the CPU cooler?

My main question is, what VCore mode are you using? That would be in the OC Tweaker, Voltage Configuration screen. Did you use the same mode before and after the UEFI reset?

So you found LLC set to level 1, but then set it to Auto. Did you see what LLC level you had with it set to Auto? You wrote, "I set it to Auto, then did it again", which seems to say you left it on Auto, correct? The LLC level was most likely not 1 with it set to Auto. BTW, LLC level 1 is the highest level (most correction), and level 5 is the lowest.

You set VCore manually, apparently to 1.38V, is that right? I tend to doubt that.

Afterwards, you had some crashes, and did a UEFI reset to defaults. You were then unable to get the 1.38V VCore back.

Using the Auto settings, particularly for voltages, gives you the least amount of options to change manually. Is CPU Vcore Voltage set to Auto? The VCore range you listed, 1.36 to 1.4V, sounds like the Auto values you would get. Auto here would give you Intel's Adaptive voltage, normally producing the highest VCore values.

With CPU Vcore Voltage set to Auto, do you get an option to set a specific VCore value? Usually you don't.

Your description lacked details, such as after you reset the UEFI to defaults, did you reset your multipliers again? We have no way of knowing exactly what you did except from your description. The only options you listed were the two multipliers, and LLC.

What "VCore" are you looking at in HWiNFO64? The VIDs at the top, or VCore value way below that?

Don't forget you can save your UEFI option settings in a profile on the OC Tweaker screen.