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GravitySandwich · ‎10-31-2017

TL;DR: Is LLC even functional on these boards? I get insane voltage drops trying all different LLC settings and more. Causing my CPU to be even barely stable at stock clocks(hangs for 10 secs)

So, Let's start off with my current setup:
- ASUS Crosshair VI Hero (1701 BIOS)
- Ryzen 7 1700
- 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz @ D.O.C.P. Standard
- 840 Evo 250GB
- 2x Seagate HDD's in SW Raid 0
- GTX980Ti Gaming 6G
- Seasonic Platinum 760W

Currently at bone stock settings the PC works decent with a occasional hang dat corrects itself after about 10-15 seconds. After researching for a while, i noticed that this issue is not really related to any motherboard, so i took a further look.

Troubleshooting:
I first started a stability test with AIDA64 to see if my system was even stable, ran it for 2 hours and there where no issues apart from some hangs. But that did not trigger AIDA to report instability. The first thing i noticed when doing this was that i got some extreme voltage drops to the point where if i would run the test, the voltage could drop over 0.25v! To confirm this. I manually set the CPU voltage to 1.4v(anything under would result in PC not to post) and ran my tests again. Again i saw a significant drop in voltage going all the way down to 1.10v.

After that i started messing with LLC. Tried all levels, all power delivery percentages and put all phases on extreme. however, i got zero results. All settings did not change anything to the behaviour on the PC. So that concluded to me that LLC was not working at all. I even tried a Ryzen 1600X from a friend and the same results happened. Also different BIOS's made zero results and LLC was not working.

Just to be sure i swapped my memory kit with a Vengeance 3000Mhz kit. This also made no difference to the results shown above.

Does any of you have this same issue? I can't even overclock my CPU 100mhz without it crashing. Even though i can get 4Ghz on it on a Gigabyte board @ 1.35v (Where LLC actually does work). This really dissappoints me since i bought this board as a reliable overclocker for my workstation/vr system(That's why i need the USB ports :P)

Raja · ‎10-31-2017

LLC levels worked fine when I last tested them:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1624603/rog-crosshair-vi-overclocking-thread/8460#post_26005246

http://www.overclock.net/t/1624603/rog-crosshair-vi-overclocking-thread/8640#post_26007418

GravitySandwich · ‎11-01-2017

Raja@ASUS wrote:
LLC levels worked fine when I last tested them:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1624603/rog-crosshair-vi-overclocking-thread/8460#post_26005246

http://www.overclock.net/t/1624603/rog-crosshair-vi-overclocking-thread/8640#post_26007418

Could it be related to my board? Because i still got 30 days return warranty so i can swap it within an hour.
I just think it's quite weird that i get so much voltage drop. And every setting gives the same results.

GravitySandwich · ‎11-01-2017

Here is a screenshot of the processor at bonestock speeds with P-States disabled and voltage set to 1.4v.

First is current, second is when system was at load, last is maximum measured.

This was one of the best results so far but still bad. Also tried different LLC settings but results come out identical.

Raja · ‎11-02-2017

I've always measured Vcore from behind the socket instead of using software. There can be quite a disparity in what software displays and what the CPU actually receives.

GravitySandwich · ‎11-02-2017

Raja@ASUS wrote:
I've always measured Vcore from behind the socket instead of using software. There can be quite a disparity in what software displays and what the CPU actually receives.

Even though this measurement might not be 100% accurate. There still should be a difference when i apply different LLC levels right?
The CPU is barely stable at stock so there must be something that is wrong.

EDIT:
It's not even stable at all. Bonestock BIOS settings with only DOCP enabled for memory. Fails in 46 secs....

Raja · ‎11-02-2017

LLC works, I think the VID reported by software is the problem. As for the instability, sounds like it's memory related. Try with fewer modules and/or without DOCP.

GravitySandwich · ‎11-02-2017

Ok so i actually fixed the problem. It was not bad reporting by software.

The issue was that i had only plugged in the 8 pins and not the extra 4 pins on the motherboard. On my Previous Rampage IV Extreme that did not make a difference. On this board it somehow causes LLC to not work for me. After connecting the extra 4 pin, LLC worked straight away and the system is stable and dropping ~15mv max. Even managed to get it at 4Ghz @ 1.35v now as i got with the Gigabyte board.

Now i can finally use this board the way it's intended 😄

Thanks for the info anyways. Good to hear that LLC actually works in this board.

Raja · ‎11-03-2017

Those two connectors are in parallel, so not connecting the 4-pin has little influence over LLC. On top of that, with conventional cooling, Ryzen doesn't consume enough power to make the 12V lines appreciably sag under load. Placebo effect.

unknownmiscrean · ‎11-03-2017

Raja@ASUS wrote:
Those two connectors are in parallel, so not connecting the 4-pin has little influence over LLC. On top of that, with conventional cooling, Ryzen doesn't consume enough power to make the 12V lines appreciably sag under load. Placebo effect.

It shouldn't make a difference for everyday overclocks or LLC, but there is some sort of detection on the headers. There is a red light that comes on if you don;t plug either in or just the 4-pin. Whether this goes to the VRMs or anything is another matter.

Have you tried with a different PSU cable?

Serious LLC issues with Crosshair VI Hero