Help needed controlling CPU Voltage : MSi 450 + 3700x

[WeeemRCB]

Hi

I just put together my first AMD build and it all went pretty smoothly, but the CPU voltages are all over the place and I need a little help calming it down.

 

Use: All-use desktop, some video rendering and photoshop. Not gaming

Mobo: MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC (ITX)

CPU: Ryzen 3700X

RAM: 2x16Gb Corsair 3200Mhz

Cooler: Noctua NH-L9A-AM4

 

One thing I noticed was that the BIOS looked old. Like a  2009 bios rather than a 2019 one. I flashed to the latest revision (7A40vAB) and it's still the same.

After a bit of digging about I see that it was due to a memory limitation on the Mobo and increasing compatibility meant that they sacrificed looks and reverted from a Click 5 Bios to the older Click GSE Lite one.

Fair enough. It's not like I'll be in there once it's set up 

 

Running stock with XMP enabled to allow the RAM to run at full 3200Mhz it looked fine.

But I noticed in MSI Afterburner that the temps would often fluctuate a lot even when there was very little load on the CPU.

So using CPU-Z I watched and see the CPU voltage was all over the place which explained the temperature fluctuations.

 

When idle it ranges anywhere from 0.25V(parked cores?) to 1.41V

Put a small load on it and it run at anywhere from 1.07V - 1.48V and the CPU temps fluctuate a lot from mid 40s - mid 50s as a result. 

But if I really load up the CPU with Cinebench R20 or something like that it runs at about 1.44v @ 4300Mhz for 3-4s and then drops to 1.29V @ 4000Mhz (final score 4770) with temps rising from 74C start to 84C at the end.

 

Really inconsistent... and hot thanks to the smaller cooler and ITX case

 

Is there a way to cap the voltage to, say 1.2V?

 

In the BIOS, under Overclocking it shows:

CPU Core Voltage: 1.472V

CPU NB/SoC Voltage: 1097V

 

If I try to change the

CPU Core Voltage: Override Mode

Override CPU Core Voltage: [AUTO] is the only option I have

 

CPU Core Voltage: Offset Mode

CPU Offset Mode Mark: [AUTO, +, - ] are my options

CPU Offset Voltage: [AUTO]  - is the only option I have for all the above?

 

CPU Core Voltage: AMD Overclocking

Override CPU Core Voltage: [AUTO] - only option

Max Voltage Offset: [AUTO, -25mV, -50mV, -75mV, -100mV]

That doesn't seem enough.

 

 

 

[leo1798]

Honestly, just set your CPU to stock and let it go, it takes care of the voltages, clock speeds, and everything for you. If you manually lower the voltage, you will lower performance. If you manually lock the clock speed, you will lower performance except in select all-core workloads. The temperature fluctuates and that's fine, it's designed to work that way. It has a boost algorithm that increases performance at lower temperatures until it gets too hot and needs to dial back.

 

If you want to get extra performance, you can overclock your infinity fabric and your memory, and there are guides to do that. Your CPU voltages are fine at default though.

[WeeemRCB]

Thanks for the reply

TBH, I don't think I can change the core clock even if I wanted to.

 

A lot of the Click GSE Lite BIOS looks like it's locked down so I can't change much.

Even the CPU and System fan speeds are hard set and can't be changed.

[WeeemRCB]

I give in and have contacted MSI support in an attempt to getting the power under control 'cos this this noisy when it should be silent when idle

When they reply I'll post here in case someone else has the same setup/issue

[Guest]

Return the board.

I reccomend Asus Rog B450-I Gaming for replacement. Best ITX board you can throw money at.

Built in Blue Tooth and Wifi. Has the color flashy stuff. Fully unlocked over feature packed bios o.c. such as SenseMi Skew and SenseMi offset. And of course, ROG swag.

 

 

[WeeemRCB]

On 1/16/2020 at 3:44 AM, ShrimpBrime said:

Return the board.

Yea. You and me .... same idea

My gaming PC has an Asus Strix X99 with an i7-6850 which I overclocked no problem. (4.7Mhz stable, 4.3Mhz for daily use)

 

I only went for the MSI as the ASUS B450 boards were trashed in the Motherboard Tier List thread  and MSI recommended instead.

 

Here's the follow-up from MSI Support.

I contacted them with the subject "How to control Multiplier and voltage of CPU" explaining that the voltage was all over the place and I looked all through the bios and couldn't see where the options were for me to OC/UC it myself.

Their reply was:

Thanks for contacting MSI technical support.

Regarding your concern, we are sorry, but would you please adjust the options CPU ratio and CPU voltage in BIOS for a try?
 

Like ... yea?

So I replied saying that's what I wanted to do and asked them how to do that in the their Lite BIOS as I couldn't see where the settings were.

They replied:

We are sorry, can you find them in BIOS-->Overclocking?

 

... 5 minutes later and I had an RMA to Amazon and a new ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming on its way (comes today ..wooo  )

 

 

[Guest]

Im not a fan of MSI. Dont like the cheap hardware they have been known for using at least through Am2 and AM3 boards. My brother RMAed the same board 3 times. I have it now. Dont dare to OC on it though......

[WeeemRCB]

I got the Asus board today,

 

Few hours to swap them over and I'm up and running.

Even on the stock setup it was running quieter and controlling the voltages better than the MSI board.

 

Quick BIOS update then a whiz through the bios and 5 minutes later I finally have the system as I wanted.

Locked it at 3.6Mhz @ 1.1V

RAM left on auto voltage @ 3200Mhz

21W on idle, 65W maxed out.

Cinibench R20 gets me a 4200 score. Not as fast as when it was self clocking, but it's still 34% faster than my Gaming PC's 4.3Ghz i7-6850

 

I further improved things with another run through the bios to tweak the CPU and Chassis fans to Manual settings.

It so quiet now - esp for an ITX case. Only once I get some cpu load on it it'll ramp up, but it quietens down really fast after.

 

Really Happy now

Cheers for the help.

[starwars74]

On 1/13/2020 at 1:48 PM, WeeemRCB said:

 

 

Is there a way to cap the voltage to, say 1.2V?

 

If I try to change the

CPU Core Voltage: Override Mode

Override CPU Core Voltage: [AUTO] is the only option I have

 

CPU Core Voltage: Offset Mode

CPU Offset Mode Mark: [AUTO, +, - ] are my options

CPU Offset Voltage: [AUTO]  - is the only option I have for all the above?

 

CPU Core Voltage: AMD Overclocking

Override CPU Core Voltage: [AUTO] - only option

Max Voltage Offset: [AUTO, -25mV, -50mV, -75mV, -100mV]

That doesn't seem enough.

 

 

 

Currently in Click BIOS 5, when you click after override mode on "Auto", and click + or - it start adjusting the number, and move out from "Auto"