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Skunkfoo · ‎12-26-2017

I'm curious as to what a safe voltage range for the PCH Core is.

I've been trying to get my brick of a keyboard called the ASUS ROG Claymore working and I read somewhere that increasing the PCH core can help with USB problems. Increasing the Voltage of the PCH appears to be having some positive effects but I don't know how high I can safely go.

Can someone help me decipher Intel's Specs? I see min and max but I don't know which applies to my BIOS setting of the PCH Core.

NOTE: I do not have ASUS Aura 1.05.28 syncing the keyboard or mouse (gladius II)

When PCH Core is set to Auto in the BIOS
- BIOS displays voltage around 1.008 - 1.016.
- Aida64 shows the same voltages 1.008 - 1.016.
- ROG Claymore will never connect.
- Windows will make the USB sound and then it will display a message that the USB device is malfunctioning.

When PCH Core is set to 1.025 in the BIOS
- BIOS displays voltage around 1.025.
- Aida64 displays voltage at 1.032.
- ROG Claymore actually connects!!! HOWEVER when I run armory it will connect for only 5-10 minutes before it starts to glitch out (ASUS Armory errors out and closes, the Keyboard goes black).
- Leaving Armory OFF, the Keyboard now remains connected (1 hour so far) after unplugging the keyboard and plugging it in again.

I found the following specs on the x299 PCH on intels website (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/200-series-chipset-pch-datasheet-vol-1.html)

Menthol · ‎12-26-2017

I do not not what is safe for sure but I don't believe 1.04 would be to excessive, I have mine set to 1.025 just because, I was not having any issues
Someone else may be able to give you a more specific answer

Skunkfoo · ‎12-29-2017

Anyone experiencing differences in voltages?

PCH Core set to 1.01875 in BIOS
- BIOS reports 1.032

PCH Core set to 1.02500 in BIOS
- BIOS reports 1.040

Aida64 in Windows 10 FCU also reports the same higher voltages.

I'm still hoping someone can tell me if 1.04 - 1.05 volts is safe for PCH Voltages in either the setting or actual reading.

Silent_Scone · ‎12-30-2017

Skunkfoo wrote:
Anyone experiencing differences in voltages?

PCH Core set to 1.01875 in BIOS
- BIOS reports 1.032

PCH Core set to 1.02500 in BIOS
- BIOS reports 1.040

Aida64 in Windows 10 FCU also reports the same higher voltages.

I'm still hoping someone can tell me if 1.04 - 1.05 volts is safe for PCH Voltages in either the setting or actual reading.

I've not had any issues with the Claymore with PCH in Auto on the Apex. The actual voltage will likely be somewhere in between. None of which that are reported are going to be detrimental to longevity. I'd try to keep it under 1.1 for arguments sake, though.

13900KS / 8000 CAS36 / ROG APEX Z790 / ROG TUF RTX 4090

meankeys · ‎12-29-2017

I found this... Hope it helps. Do you have the same problem in different ports?

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/260467-29-voltage

Interesting read on North and South bridge voltages

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/understanding-all-voltage-configurations-from-the-motherboard/6/

Amurtigress · ‎12-30-2017

Hi Skunkfoo,

I've had quite some experience with PCH voltages in the last 6,7 years. Also because it looks like my previous X79 PCH's default has been rather insufficient.

I can tell you for sure that 1.05V doesn't pose a risk for your system. My own x299 has been running on 1.05~1.10V with no issues. Also I have seen that Supermicro's and ASRock's X299 boards are using 1.05V as default.

Also, please don't read too much into the sensor readings. Such sensor readings are very rough compared to actual multimeters, and to my experience the actual settings of the BIOS are much closer to the real voltage than the sensors.

Ever since I found that my X79 PCH needed 1.275V over the 1.10V default I've had an eye on USB problems and PCH voltages. That had me confused especially because th BCLK has always been 100 MHz. So the PCH has never been overclocked.

Here's a list of problems that I have seen on my old Gigabyte X79 system:

x79 PCH Volt:
1.10v: Various problems. Up to 15 seconds delayed detection of connecting or disconnecting USB devices. Microsoft webcam was not found sporadically.
under 1.16V: GPU driver may crash.
under 1.20v: Bluetooth dongles may have trouble, i.e. with a Wiimote. Wiimote was found but the update rate was too low to actually play on the Dolphin Wii emulator
up to 1.25V: Latency of add-in network card (intel) was inconsistent.
1.275V: Generally better system performance and consistent benchmark results. i.e. Cinebench R15, Valley 3D benchmark, Linx.

Z97 PCH: ASRock used 1.225V on Auto over the official default of 1.05V-The same 175mV offset that I saw was needed on my X79. A friend of mine ran a Linux file server with several harddrives with an ASUS Z97 board on defaults. An external USB3 HDD threw an error in the BIOS upon every launch, and one of his SATA drives was not detected sporadically. His problems disappeared after I recommended him to increase the voltage to around 1.18V.

So, here is my conclusion:

USB problems seem to be a good indicator if the PCH voltage is sufficient or not. Even tho you only see USB problems, the rest of the PCH's internal units (SATA, PCIe hosts, etc.) are most likely not happy either-which may or may not lead to problems. I think especially the SATA controllers and thus data integrity are too crucial to run on too little voltage. And as you can see in my list of problems, even cards and onboard devices connected to PCIe lanes of the PCH can suffer in performance.

I wouldn't be surprised if your problems disappeared fully with a PCH voltage of between 1.05 and 1.075V.

Crossing fingers.

Skunkfoo · ‎01-04-2018

Amurtigress wrote:
Hi Skunkfoo,

I've had quite some experience with PCH voltages in the last 6,7 years. Also because it looks like my previous X79 PCH's default has been rather insufficient.

I can tell you for sure that 1.05V doesn't pose a risk for your system. My own x299 has been running on 1.05~1.10V with no issues. Also I have seen that Supermicro's and ASRock's X299 boards are using 1.05V as default.

Also, please don't read too much into the sensor readings. Such sensor readings are very rough compared to actual multimeters, and to my experience the actual settings of the BIOS are much closer to the real voltage than the sensors.

Ever since I found that my X79 PCH needed 1.275V over the 1.10V default I've had an eye on USB problems and PCH voltages. That had me confused especially because th BCLK has always been 100 MHz. So the PCH has never been overclocked.

Here's a list of problems that I have seen on my old Gigabyte X79 system:

x79 PCH Volt:
1.10v: Various problems. Up to 15 seconds delayed detection of connecting or disconnecting USB devices. Microsoft webcam was not found sporadically.
under 1.16V: GPU driver may crash.
under 1.20v: Bluetooth dongles may have trouble, i.e. with a Wiimote. Wiimote was found but the update rate was too low to actually play on the Dolphin Wii emulator
up to 1.25V: Latency of add-in network card (intel) was inconsistent.
1.275V: Generally better system performance and consistent benchmark results. i.e. Cinebench R15, Valley 3D benchmark, Linx.

Z97 PCH: ASRock used 1.225V on Auto over the official default of 1.05V-The same 175mV offset that I saw was needed on my X79. A friend of mine ran a Linux file server with several harddrives with an ASUS Z97 board on defaults. An external USB3 HDD threw an error in the BIOS upon every launch, and one of his SATA drives was not detected sporadically. His problems disappeared after I recommended him to increase the voltage to around 1.18V.

So, here is my conclusion:

USB problems seem to be a good indicator if the PCH voltage is sufficient or not. Even tho you only see USB problems, the rest of the PCH's internal units (SATA, PCIe hosts, etc.) are most likely not happy either-which may or may not lead to problems. I think especially the SATA controllers and thus data integrity are too crucial to run on too little voltage. And as you can see in my list of problems, even cards and onboard devices connected to PCIe lanes of the PCH can suffer in performance.

I wouldn't be surprised if your problems disappeared fully with a PCH voltage of between 1.05 and 1.075V.

Crossing fingers.

Thanks for the comments.

I'm going to start with 1.04 in the bios which will likely read more than 1.05 in Aida64 and see where I end up.

I don't know much about Z97 but when you ran PCH: ASRock used 1.225V with a default of 1.05V, what was intel saying the max PCH voltages were?

Amurtigress · ‎01-07-2018

Skunkfoo wrote:
Thanks for the comments.

I'm going to start with 1.04 in the bios which will likely read more than 1.05 in Aida64 and see where I end up.

I don't know much about Z97 but when you ran PCH: ASRock used 1.225V with a default of 1.05V, what was intel saying the max PCH voltages were?

Intel's papers said X79 is "1.3V tolerant", also confirmed by a support posting by EVGA on their X79 models. They said literally voltages under 1.3V won't shorten the lifespan of the PCH. Same should apply to Z97, too.

On the X299 we're having a hefty die-shrink. On my system SATA stopped detecting devices at around 1.16V. That should be enough of a warning I think....

Also the PCH papers are mentioning internal voltage regulation that can be enabled or disabled via individual pins on the chip. I am seriously wondering if we're feeding the core directly or not. If not, that could explain the higher voltages on the X79.

x299 PCH Voltage Range?