(Auto) Overclocking and Undervolting

As much of an enthusiast as I am, I have yet to believe manual overclocking is worthwhile. However, in the past 10 years auto OC features have emerged. So, I decided to experiment on the "one-click" AI-based masters.

Tools used:

• BIOS/UEFI dashboard
• CPUID'S HWMonitor
-- Corsair's iCue software as a secondary reference for monitoring sensors.
• EVGA'S Precision X1
• Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU)
• Maxon's Cinebench - Release 23

CPU

I previously posted a brief AMD PBO test:

Default/stock OC/boost: my SFF rig with 5600X cooled by an NH-U9S maxes out in the low to mid 70s C. If the graphics card is also active, that value ramps up another ~10ºC. When enabling PBO (auto limits), the under load CPU almost immediately jumps to ~96ºC -- obviously, the thermal wall. The CPU does hold ~4.8GHz all cores (for the most part) though. :) Indeed, I don't normally run the system that way. FYI: The ambient temp averages ~24ºC.

Also during the summer/fall heat, I undervolted my Intel rig's 11700K to keep temps lower. By default, the i7-11700K has a single core Max Turbo Boost of 5.0GHz and an all-core Turbo of 4.6GHz. At 100% load, the CPU package temp settled at ~68ºC with core voltage ranging from ~1.28V to ~1.31V. Using XTU, I set an offset of ~0.05V. This change dropped core temps to ~63ºC.

When winter came around, ambient temp now is ~21ºC, I decided to try Asus's AI Overclock. After enabling and allowing the system to learn the CPU limits, all-cores clock frequency topped at 4.9GHz with core voltage sitting at ~1.35V to 1.38V and average CPU temp plateauing at ~70ºC. Throughout the first couple of weeks the system experienced a crash and executed an auto-reboot three times. I discovered this was probably because I forgot to reset/disable the core voltage offset in XTU. Upon removing the offset, the frequency remained the same but voltages jumped to ~1.40V to ~1.41V with a max package temps lingering ~78ºC to ~80ºC. IA voltage went from 1.455V to 1.506V.

Graphics

EVGA advertises an "1800MHz Boost Clock" on the RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra (vs. 1700MHz on the FE). So, I was satisfied from the start when my 3090 topped at 1865MHz to 1920MHz 'out of the box'. Having the same curiosity as above, I allowed Precision X1's VF Curve Tuner to perform an OC scan. The test passed, and I applied the concluded GPU and memory clock frequency offsets (+130 and +200 respectively). Now, the GPU often holds at 2010MHz using the same 1.038V applied previously at 1920MHz -- essentially an undervolt.

The VF Curve Tuner was also successful on my RTX 3080 Founder Edition -- not quite as high of an offset, but that could also be a less fortunate pick of the silicon lottery.

Conclusion

I think, it is great manufacturers have worked harder to bin products closer to their max capabilities and provide fairly simple/easy tools for nearly everyone to extract a little extra no matter what kind of luck you have in the silicon lottery. With that said, I wish the auto-OC scanners for CPUs had overall results closer to EVGA's VF Curve Tuner, find untapped potential at the normal ranges rather than crank both power and speed to the max. To me, the ~6% CPU performance increase is not enough/necessary, even in high demand workloads, over the stock performance to justify the added power consumption and heat generation. As such, I am continuing the undervolt adjustments/tuning, and recommending other users not be concerned about achieving the ultimate (over)clocks.

I found it interesting as well. How things have changed/improved. And even though I do not feel the need to have my CPU run in 12900K territory, pulling 235 - 240W under full load, it's still nice that the option is fairly easy to enable if/when desired -- a little confusing to disable.

Originally posted by Onkel_Ken My old 12 year old Digital Storm system had a CPU OC on an i7 920 from 2.66Ghz to 3Ghz done by DS.

Drop back about another decade, that's when I last did this type of tinkering.

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I almost totally forgot about "double pumped" and "quad pumped".


Edited by MrCheetah - 05 Jan 2022 at 7:12pm

I personally like OC scanner as they automatically protect your PC while overclocking.