©ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Odaik · ‎10-22-2013

Hello,

I recently built a system around the Asus Gryphon Z87 and the i5 4440.

There are dozens and dozens of settings on this board relating to power regulation, voltages etc and most were set to 'Auto' when I first opened the BIOS.

I'm used to overclocking systems, and so have always spent countless hours adjusting these settings and testing them to get the best results.

With this board however (first time using a Haswell system), the number of customisable options is mind boggling. Far more than on my old Nehalem Bloomfield system. As I am not overclocking this system, it may be worth leaving some settings on "auto" as I simply don't have the time to repeat hours of stress testing every time I change a parameter.

It would be very useful therefore to know what effect setting "auto" has on a given variable. Is there any chance anyone knows what the motherboard will default to for each of these settings when "auto" is used?

Digital Power control:

- CPU Load Line Calibration
- CPU Voltage (switching) frequency
- CPU Power Phase Control
- DRAM Voltage (switching) frequency
- DRAM Power Phase Control

Integrated CPU Power control:

- Integrated CPU iVR voltage switching frequency
- Power Decay mode
- Idle power - in response
- Idle power - out response
- Power current slop
- Power current offset
- Power Fast Ramp response

And:

- CPU Spread Spectrum

I would massively appreciate any assistance in clearing this up!

Thanks

Odai.

Zka17 · ‎10-22-2013

Welcome to the ROG Forum!

I would suggest you to check out some of the stickies in the Maximus VI section of this Forum: http://rog.asus.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?155-Maximus-VI-Series-Motherboards

If you're not OC'ing, I would say to leave everything as is - of course if everything is working perfectly...

Odaik · ‎10-22-2013

Many thanks for your response!

I've had a look at a lot of the stickies, and found that they mostly explain what each parameter does but does not explain what happens for each parameter when setting "auto".

Does "auto" for example always correspond to a preset value programmed by Asus into the BIOS chip, or does it vary dynamically based on system loads and other settings in the BIOS etc?

I have tested my system to find that it is stable with the current voltages for CPU core, CPU cache, and DRAM set manually - with everything else on auto. However, I am concerned that if I start messing with some settings the definition for "auto" might change for some parameters, therefore affecting system stability. It would therefore be useful to know exactly what the motherboard does when using "auto" so that I can set the same setting manually, to ensure that this remains consistent through any other changes I make to the BIOS.

RochXS · ‎10-22-2013

Hi, Odaik, don't worry about changing parameters in the BIOS and leaving everything else in Auto, remember that the manufacturer (in this case Asus) always know its business and now days this kind of features (BIOS settings) are "fool proof".

Regarding the "Auto" it seems that some are presets values, other are calculated dynamically depending on certain parameters (known formulas), other are stetted depending on the hardware installed (like the latencies taken from the SPD info in RAM memory modules or the default voltage depending on the CPU model). The MoBo know what is doing so you'll be ok, at least that you are doing some extreme OC where you need to provide specific values, and even in that case there's always a way to recover from any mistake in the values that you enter.

Odaik · ‎10-22-2013

Thanks for the continued assistance.

My principle doubt about using "auto" settings on voltage parameters is that they tend to apply too much voltage. Whilst this is not a safety concern when not overclocking (as voltage is already low), it does seem like a bit of a waste (I am trying to maximise power efficiency). I am concerned therefore that similar inaccuracies result when it comes to other kinds of parameters. It also helps ensure consistency when moving from one config to the next if I can fix certain variables.

I appreciate the values I requested for the listed parameters are very specific details, but is there any chance they are publicly available? Would I need to get in touch with Asus or would there be some list here on this forum?

Thanks again!

HiVizMan · ‎10-23-2013

That may have been the case a few generations ago but with the current ASUS ROG range there are basicaly three settings you change.

XMP as mode of Overclock This sorts out all your memory settings and you do not need to change anything else to do with the memory voltages or timings.

Digi+ You want to set your LLC to medium (here you are correct auto would set it way to high)

And then finally

Vcore to offset
+ or - and then a value normally in this form (+ 0.020) or (- 0.005)

Those are the three voltage related things you would change in bios.

Other settings are Multiplier and your mode of SATA

Leave all else on auto.

🙂

To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

Odaik · ‎10-23-2013

Thanks for your response!

Can you confirm to which voltages the LLC will apply? Is it only the vcore it will affect? The reason is all my stability testing so far has been with LLC on "auto", and so I'd need to redo the testing once I have manually set the LLC - changing each affected voltage setting at a time.

I have Levels 1 to 8 available on the Asus Gryphon BIOS - which option should I select? It is not clear whether 1 or 8 offers the highest load voltage.

HiVizMan · ‎10-23-2013

Medium is 4 or 5 in this case either will do. And LLC simple negates the amount of vdroop.

To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

Odaik · ‎10-23-2013

Can you confirm on which line the reduction of vdroop actually takes place? Would it just be the vcore or would it also negate a drop in cache voltage, DRAM voltage etc?

Zka17 · ‎10-23-2013

CPU Load Line Calibration (CPU LLC) will modify your CPU's Vcore...

Not sure what you mean by cache voltage, but DRAM voltage would not be affected by changing CPU LLC...

"Auto" or Fine-tune?