Z68XP-UD3 questions & OC remarks

[boondocks]

First of all, I have had 4.4GHz stable, but still working on 4.5. Spent a lot of time trying to keep Vcore down, but this board/cpu loves volts. After much perusing the Net, still not sure what "safe" vcore is so decided on 1.4 or slightly over.

Load Line Calibration (LLC) I got a 4 hour run in Prime 95 before crashing using Level 6 with a 1.35 Vcore set. In practice this worked out close to 1.4v (before vdrop) under load, and around 1.392 at idle as read in Hwinfo. However, the cpu would cycle up and down, sometimes all the way down to 3410 then back up to 4513! This is with no C1E, No EIST, etc etc. No matter the settings, using LLC the cpu would cycle under load. So that led me back to DVID.
Surely this is not normal?

DVID. First, early on I could not use Dynamic Vcore (DVID) and abandoned it when it did not work. I finally found the only way to get it to work was to load optimized defaults, reboot, set Vcore to Normal, reboot and then it's available.
Is this normal?

Bi-Directional Prochot. I can not see this in the BIOS at all, yet it appears in the Touch BIOS app.
Is this normal??
If I could access this feature, would enabled or disabled be optimal for OC?

Still not stable. Currently have +.070 DVID but that leaves my idle Vcore 1.392 since as yet I can't get stable settings to turn power saving features back on. I can run 20 passes of I.B.T with closely matched numbers one minute, crash on 2 passes 5 minutes later, so I'm a little puzzled but still working the BIOS.
Other relevant settings are Vtt 1.065 / cpu PLL 1.780 / Internal cpu Overvoltage set to Auto. Current DRAM settings all Auto.

[wazza300]

did you ever test higher between 1.1-1.2v qpi/vtt and a lower cpu voltage? ive seen a few users needing more qpi/vtt on gigabyte boards,as for dvid you should be able to just set to normal and then adjust it?

[Chike]

IBT is not the best software to test stability, Try Prime95 small FFT if it pass 2-3 hours try large FFT.
It may be memory/IMC related not vcore so it may be VTT or VCCSA (System Agent).

[boondocks]

did you ever test higher between 1.1-1.2v qpi/vtt and a lower cpu voltage? ive seen a few users needing more qpi/vtt on gigabyte boards,as for dvid you should be able to just set to normal and then adjust it?

Yes. and yes. Did you read third part.

IBT is not the best software to test stability, Try Prime95 small FFT if it pass 2-3 hours try large FFT.
It may be memory/IMC related not vcore so it may be VTT or VCCSA (System Agent).

What's the point of moving on to Prime 95 if it crashes on IBT every other run?...and if you'll read closely I have been running Prime 95, just not since I switched from LLC to DVID.
I thought System Agent was not to be adjusted?

I tried various cpu LLC & Vtt adjustments, but if I crash IBT intermittently it's hard to tell what's happening.
Thanks, guys, but I really wanted to know if anyone could answer my questions.

[Chike]

The point running Prime95 is to run a test that point to where the problem is and not just that there is a problem. If you pass small FFT and fail large FFT it is very much likely the problem is not vcore. If small FFT fail it is likely to be vcore.

There is an option to change VCCSA, how does it differ from every other voltage?
I recall that recently someone changed it from 0.92v to 0.925v(which is the "typical" according to intel) and by that alove the system became stable.

Your system does behave a bit strange, I'd suggest an overnight CMOS clear, with the battery out and CLR_CMOS pins jumpped.
What is the normal/default vcore for your CPU? It seems to be high to begin with.

[boondocks]

Thanks for the heads up on the different FFT sizes.

IDK, still learning this stuff and there is so much conflicting information out there.

At stock clock vcore don't remember exactly. I had the info but erased it accidentally.
I have thought about an extended CMOS clear. If I don't make any progress today (assuming I have time) will try that. Still don't understand why that one BIOS option does not appear, but I never paid attention to it before and it may have been there in previous BIOS versions.

Right now have C1E, EIST, etc reenabled. Now the vcore is settling down instead of close to 1.4 at idle, makes me feel better anyway. Going to do some more testing beyond IBT as it's passing OK now.

[Chike]

The Bi-Directional PROCHOT should be in Advanced CPU Core Features, try pressing Ctrl+F1 at main BIOS screen see if you see it then. Manual says it only present is supported by CPU but I believe the CPU does.

I suggested the CMOS clear to see if you can fix those anomalies.

Peheps it would be better to revert to latest final BIOS if there is no special reason for the beta.

[boondocks]

I'm running some small fft's right now and adjusting, I have found out it doesn't like much Vtt, at least at present.
Tonight when I don't need the computer I will probably clear CMOS.
I asked but never got an answer about the F10 BIOS, what the changes were, etc. I may revert after CMOS clear.

[Darkje]

The Bi-Directional PROCHOT should be in Advanced CPU Core Features, try pressing Ctrl+F1 at main BIOS screen see if you see it then. Manual says it only present is supported by CPU but I believe the CPU does.

For me BD-prochot was there upto F11j, but in F11 and F12 it's no longer there... I guess that means it's at auto all the time then? Touchbios does show it... haven't tested ctrl-f1 yet...

[boondocks]

I tried Ctrl + F1 at the Advanced cpu core features page but not at the main page yet. Wasn't curious until I went digging through the manual yesterday and noticed it's supposed to be the last entry on the page below EIST.

Nope, it's not in there.