Offset vs Fixed Vcore? (2600K OCing)

With regards to your voltage dropping, are you using some type of load line control or vdrop? I was having an issue with that and it fixed it.

I've only recently ever used offset, I believe this relates to the standarized VCore levels that the mobo sets when you set your clockspeed to something (using some technical term that I don't recall). So when you offset by .xxx it adds or subtracts that quantity to the value, instead of manually setting the voltage which pegs it at that level constantly (why you get lower voltages at idle, using all the nice power saving options that come with chips these days).

Why you may not notice a difference between +.02 and -.02 might be because of the size of the offset in comparison to voltage "wobble". You don't get a truly fixed voltage, but rather your PSU/mobos best approximation of averaging to that value.

As for BClk, it's fine. People have been BClk OCing in much much higher amounts for a long time. It's usually not going to give you anything you couldn't get without it, except for a slightly more fine granulation on clock speed adjustment.

Hope that helps.

Oh wanted to EDIT a PS, 5GHz @ 1.36V is pretty darned nice. Grats on a nice chip if it's truly stable (a 1Hr blend isn't quite enough for most people )

Running with offset vcore is my prefered method for milder daily overclocks. I've been using it with no problems.

I don't know if it works like it does in X58, but in my platform the "healthiest" way to overclock is to set and Offset value while disabling Load Line Calibration.

Offset voltage is a value added to the base voltage of your CPU. If at stock you have 1.1V, and you set +0.2 to the offset voltage, you are stating that the maximum voltage is going to be 1.3

Load Line Calibration forces the voltage you set in the BIOS through the chip, and gets rid of Vdroop. Vdroop is a drop on voltage which follows Intel specifications to avoid damaging the CPU. WITHOUT LLC, when you set 1.35V on the BIOS, while you stress test the chip, voltage might drop to 1.3 - 1.25 V. When the test stops it will go back up. So Vdroop only is enabled while your CPU is under stress. This means you will have a larger voltage when idle than while doing work.

Therefore you need a method of having a lower voltage when you CPU is idling. Enter C1E. With this feature, the CPU lowers it's multiplier when it`s idling, but also lowers the voltage! This is why Offset voltage is useful. It dynamically adjusts the clock AND voltage to what the chip needs.

Without Offset you CPU doesn't know what maximum and minimum voltage you want. It will just stay at the same voltage the whole time, while idling and while doing work. If the voltage is not very high, the degradation shouldn't be substantial, but it's always nice having lower voltage when you don't need alot of power. Why would you want to use 1.45V when browsing the web when you could do the same at 1.1?

Also, this inderectly lowers the temps a bit. With lower voltages the chip is less hot, but when it idles it also underclocks and the temperature difference is very noticable.

If you want to know more about Vdroop, check out this post. I hope this isnt tltrt

I need to leave now so I can't search, but CPU-Z is not extremely accurate for voltage reading, so maybe +0.02 is actually higher than 1.36, but CPU-Z doesn't detect the difference. The only way to know the actual voltage is with a well calibrated multimeter.

This is the only thing that pops to mind...

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by evolart Offset mode gives you more stability at lower maximum voltages. When settings the voltage change it from fixed to offset. You will often get lower stable voltages than with fixed, that alone is a great reason to do it. The other reason offset is sweet is that it doesn't keep your processor at a set voltage. This allows you to save power, heat, and add longer life to your processor. Just start at +0.005V and work your way up. I was able to get it working at -0.010V (which when under full load was 1.23V) but it wasn't stable enough. For my setup +0.005V = 1.28V under full load.

I found this post. It seems that Offset actually makes the overclock more stable. I dind't read the whole thread but if more users are experiencing the same, i guess it's absolutelly normal.
Edited by hugo19941994 - 4/26/11 at 9:30am