VDroop

Mornincupofhate · September 26, 2016

So I went into my bios and I found a setting that says VDROOP OFF (Performance) | VDroop On (Power Saving)

And I turned it off.

Will this be bad for my computer in any way?

I tried googling it but had no luck whatsoever.

SpaceGhostC2C · September 26, 2016

23 minutes ago, Mornincupofhate said:

So I went into my bios and I found a setting that says VDROOP OFF (Performance) | VDroop On (Power Saving)

And I turned it off.

Will this be bad for my computer in any way?

I tried googling it but had no luck whatsoever.

VDROOP is the drop in voltages that occur when the CPU shifts from idle to full load. This may cause the CPU to run at a lower than desired voltage ("vcore"). For example, if vcore is set to 1.2v, and the CPU idles at 1.2v, when you increase the load it may drop to 1.18v (or 1.15v or whatever).

This is typically not a big problem at stock values, since voltages tend to be higher than strictly needed to run stably (manufacturers just make sure any unit of a given model will run fine at stock voltages). However, when overclocking or undervolting, vdroop may become an issue, since you are pushing the frequencies up at a given vcore (or lowering vcore for a given frequencey), to the point in which a little less voltage just won't do. In those scenarios, you want to have a tight control on thr voltages the CPU runs at. There are several alternatives, from setting an offset voltage (so, if you set vcore to 1.2v, and offset to 50mv, the CPU will idle at 1.25v and then take some vdroop to whatever it happens to be), to Load-line Calibration (LLC), which is a more or less sophisticated offset aimed at matching the actual vcore under load to the vcore set in BIOS, whatever the offset needed as load increases.

Both idling at soem fixed higher voltage or hgih levels of LLC will consume more power, but will also ensure that vcore is closer to the target set in BIOS at load. I assume your motherboard presents as "VDROOP OFF" the setting to enable offset/LLLC/something to fight VDROOP, while it presents as "VDROOP ON" the setting to use no offset/LLC/something, set vcore at the intended value and allow for drops under load.

TL, DR: no risk and no benefit for your computer if you are not overclocking nor undervolting. You'll just save a little energy by keeping "VDROOP ON".