Help needed with bios settings to keep temps manageable for delidded 8700k + Strix 370-i + 645LT

[Ranker]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue with thermals for my v4 Dan A4 SFX build. I'd appreciate any guidance for bios settings to help get temps manageable.

Case: DAN A4 SFX v4
CPU: Intel 8700k delidded with Conductonaut
CPU Cooler: Asetek 645LT
Motherboard: Asus RoG Strix Z370-i Gaming
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 32GB
GPU: eVGA RTX 2080 Ti XC Gaming
SSD: Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2 1TB
PSU: Corsair SF600
Fans: 2 x Noctua's A9x14 @ 2200RPM

My thermals:

	Idle	Gaming Load	Prime95
Motherboard	45		54
CPU	45	70	80
NVMe M.2	66		72
GPU	55	80	55

Relevant BIOS settings I've already changed based on suggestions I've found lying around.
XMP: On (but declined the next prompt for aggressive Asus tuning)
MCE: Off
Voltage Offset: -.05
Long Power Limit: 95W

I'm wondering if you all could share BIOS settings for the ASUS RoG Strix Z370-i. I'm pretty novice at fiddling with the BIOS and the wealth of information is just going right over my head. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[BennyBait]

I got pretty similar results and have no idea if it’s normal for the case or not

 

[Nanook]

Your idle temps are a little high, but the gaming temps aren't too far off what I'd expect.

 

[Ranker]

Would you guys suggest any bios settings to keep the temps down or would this be considered safe/normal operating levels.

 

[Nanook]

Would you guys suggest any bios settings to keep the temps down or would this be considered safe/normal operating levels.

What bios setting are you using now? Are you using MCE on? I believe Z370i has MCE on by default, and that can run pretty toasty.

 

[Ranker]

What bios setting are you using now? Are you using MCE on? I believe Z370i has MCE on by default, and that can run pretty toasty.

I've turned off MCE, set voltage to offset with "-" and a value of "0.05", and Long Power Limit to 95W

 

[Nanook]

Have you tried other settings,such as a lower load line calibration level, lower voltage, XMP, etc? I suspect your Z370i is still pumping quite a bit of voltage into your cpu.

 

[Ranker]

I’m not even sure what to do with those settings. I have XMP on to have my RAM set to their appropriate settings.

The only thing I did with voltage was use offset and set to -0.05 as recommended on a few threads. I turned multicore enhancement off and set Long Power Duration to 95w instead of auto.

I’m not sure which other settings I should modify. (Or how to find the appropriate settings)

 

[Nanook]

I’m not even sure what to do with those settings. I have XMP on to have my RAM set to their appropriate settings.

The only thing I did with voltage was use offset and set to -0.05 as recommended on a few threads. I turned multicore enhancement off and set Long Power Duration to 95w instead of auto.

I’m not sure which other settings I should modify. (Or how to find the appropriate settings)

I’d recommend that you research into those other areas. I don’t have a Z370i active at the moment, so I don’t have the UEFI screens in front of me. But please look up these terms online: 8700k undervolting, core sync, Asus Z370i load line calibration, etc. there was a good thread within the NFC S4 Mini (classic) from 2017 which had a lot of information on managing heat of the 7700k and 8700k with an NH-9i cooler in the S4C / S4M.

 

[brt02]

As Nanook has said, your temperatures look OK under load. If anything focusing on reducing GPU temperatures will net bigger gains (GPU will boost higher) than trying to reduce CPU temperatures.

You can try these... I've arranged these by section so that should help you find the settings. Pretty safe to change except for load-line calibration which you will need to test.

/AI Tweaker

ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Disabled]
Ring Down Bin [Enabled]

/Internal CPU Power Management

Long Duration Package Power Limit [95]
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

/DIGI+ VRM

CPU Load-line Calibration [Level 1] Try level 1 to begin with. If you get instability go up a level and test again.

 

[Ranker]

I’d recommend that you research into those other areas. I don’t have a Z370i active at the moment, so I don’t have the UEFI screens in front of me. But please look up these terms online: 8700k undervolting, core sync, Asus Z370i load line calibration, etc. there was a good thread within the NFC S4 Mini (classic) from 2017 which had a lot of information on managing heat of the 7700k and 8700k with an NH-9i cooler in the S4C / S4M.

I think I found the post in the thread but unfortunately the guy Ceski deactivated his account. All of his images which showed his settings no longer load.

 

[Ranker]

As Nanook has said, your temperatures look OK under load. If anything focusing on reducing GPU temperatures will net bigger gains (GPU will boost higher) than trying to reduce CPU temperatures.

You can try these... I've arranged these by section so that should help you find the settings. Pretty safe to change except for load-line calibration which you will need to test.

/AI Tweaker

ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Disabled]
Ring Down Bin [Enabled]

/Internal CPU Power Management

Long Duration Package Power Limit [95]
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

/DIGI+ VRM

CPU Load-line Calibration [Level 1] Try level 1 to begin with. If you get instability go up a level and test again.

Really appreciate this detailed setting adjustments like this!!

On that thread that Nanook recommended, I read that XMP should be manually configured to avoid the massive power draw and subsequent throttle.

However after turning off XMP, manually tuning ram, and adjusting the settings above, I'm either hard locking or experiencing system resets within a few seconds. I've tried Level 1, Level 6 and Level 7.

Is the offset of -.05 too high with the settings above? or is turning off XMP and manually tuning RAM the culprit? or should i only introduce the settings above one at a time?

 

[Nanook]

Really appreciate this detailed setting adjustments like this!!

On that thread that Nanook recommended, I read that XMP should be manually configured to avoid the massive power draw and subsequent throttle.

However after turning off XMP, manually tuning ram, and adjusting the settings above, I'm either hard locking or experiencing system resets within a few seconds. I've tried Level 1, Level 6 and Level 7.

Is the offset of -.05 too high with the settings above? or is turning off XMP and manually tuning RAM the culprit? or should i only introduce the settings above one at a time?

Yes, definitely try one setting as a time. Overclocking / undervolting takes a lot of trial and error...
Have you tried running everything Intel-stock, no OC, and comparing temperatures?

 

[brt02]

I would reset your BIOS to defaults and start again. Keep RAM at the default 2133MHz to begin with. Get your CPU stable first and then move on to your RAM. The settings above are the same as what Ceski suggested in his post (with the exception of LLC). Changing one setting at a time is safest. That way you know what is causing your crash and you can rectify it.

Try the above without your undervolt first. Setting a low LLC has a similar effect to undervolting so in effect a LLC=1 and -0.05V offset applies an undervolt on top of an undervolt, hence your instability.

If you turn off XMP and apply RAM frequency, timings and voltages manually, don't forget to check and change VCCIO and VCCSA if needed. Too low a voltage here will cause a crash.

I am running my 8700K on the same motherboard, initially with an undervolt of -0.06V which resulted in a Vcore of 1.124V when running prime95 26.6. Wth LLC=1 I get a Vcore of 1.084V.

 

[Ranker]

I would reset your BIOS to defaults and start again. Keep RAM at the default 2133MHz to begin with. Get your CPU stable first and then move on to your RAM. The settings above are the same as what Ceski suggested in his post (with the exception of LLC). Changing one setting at a time is safest. That way you know what is causing your crash and you can rectify it.

Try the above without your undervolt first. Setting a low LLC has a similar effect to undervolting so in effect a LLC=1 and -0.05V offset applies an undervolt on top of an undervolt, hence your instability.

If you turn off XMP and apply RAM frequency, timings and voltages manually, don't forget to check and change VCCIO and VCCSA if needed. Too low a voltage here will cause a crash.

I am running my 8700K on the same motherboard, initially with an undervolt of -0.06V which resulted in a Vcore of 1.124V when running prime95 26.6. Wth LLC=1 I get a Vcore of 1.084V.

Ahhh I never even heard of VCCIO and VCCSA. I'm guessing that's where the instantaneous crashes arose from. I'll start over as you suggested.

First step:
VCore offset [-.05]
ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Off]
Long Duration Power Package Limit [95]

Prime95 to test for stability

Second step:
/AI Tweaker
Ring Down Bin [Enabled]
/Internal CPU Power Management
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

Prime95 to test for stability

Third step:
/DIGI+ VRM
CPU Load-line Calibration [Level 1]

Prime 95 to test for stability

Fourth step:
RAM focused (XMP settings but manually)
BCLK Frequency [100.0000]
DRAM Frequency [DDR4-3200MHz]
DRAM Voltage [1.3530]
DRAM CAS# Latency [16]
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay [19]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time [36]

MemTest to test for stability

Where does one find VCCIO and VCCSA and what would be optimal settings to start with?

 

[brt02]

I would start with Nanook's advice to you, so

Step 0 (BIOS Default)

Run at default bios settings. Use HWinfo64 (or similar) to find VID, Vcore and CPU package temperature and power

Step 1 (Intel Default - as per datasheet)

ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Disabled]
Long Duration Package Power Limit [95]
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]

Step 2 (Ceski's settings) - Use HWinfo to find VID and Vcore, they will be different - CPU voltage, power and temperature should be a lot lower

Ring Down Bin [Enabled]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

Step 3 - apply undervolt or LLC as you wish - remember not to have both

Step 4 = RAM, same as your 4th step, HWinfo64 to check what auto VCCSA and VCCIO are set to.

For VCCIO and VCCSA intel defaults are 0.95V and 1.05V repectively, this is what i'm using on my DDR4-3200 RAM, so it might also work for you - this will depend on your CPU, some will need a liitle more voltage, increase in steps of 0.05V

 

[Ranker]

I would start with Nanook's advice to you, so

Step 0 (BIOS Default)

Run at default bios settings. Use HWinfo64 (or similar) to find VID, Vcore and CPU package temperature and power

Step 1 (Intel Default - as per datasheet)

ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Disabled]
Long Duration Package Power Limit [95]
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]

Step 2 (Ceski's settings) - Use HWinfo to find VID and Vcore, they will be different - CPU voltage, power and temperature should be a lot lower

Ring Down Bin [Enabled]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

Step 3 - apply undervolt or LLC as you wish - remember not to have both

Step 4 = RAM, same as your 4th step, HWinfo64 to check what auto VCCSA and VCCIO are set to.

For VCCIO and VCCSA intel defaults are 0.95V and 1.05V repectively, this is what i'm using on my DDR4-3200 RAM, so it might also work for you - this will depend on your CPU, some will need a liitle more voltage, increase in steps of 0.05V

This is a life saver!
I tried my outlined plan of action but crashed instantly. Thanks for putting this “how to for dummies” together. Time to start plucking away.

 

[brt02]

Setting IA AC and IA DC loadline to 0.01 might be reducing your CPU voltage, and this may not work well with your 0.05V undervolt.

That undervolt might have worked for you before, but that might not be true now that you've changed other settings.

 

[Ranker]

Setting IA AC and IA DC loadline to 0.01 might be reducing your CPU voltage, and this may not work well with your 0.05V undervolt.

That undervolt might have worked for you before, but that might not be true now that you've changed other settings.

Ahh, ok I see now. AD/DC Loadline as well as Load Line levels affect voltage which all may have contributed to the instability

 

[Ranker]

I would start with Nanook's advice to you, so

Step 0 (BIOS Default)

Run at default bios settings. Use HWinfo64 (or similar) to find VID, Vcore and CPU package temperature and power

Step 1 (Intel Default - as per datasheet)

ASUS MultiCore Enhancement [Disabled]
Long Duration Package Power Limit [95]
Package Power Time Window [8]
Short Duration Package Power Limit [119]

Step 2 (Ceski's settings) - Use HWinfo to find VID and Vcore, they will be different - CPU voltage, power and temperature should be a lot lower

Ring Down Bin [Enabled]
IA AC Load Line [0.01]
IA DC Load Line [0.01]

Step 3 - apply undervolt or LLC as you wish - remember not to have both

Step 4 = RAM, same as your 4th step, HWinfo64 to check what auto VCCSA and VCCIO are set to.

For VCCIO and VCCSA intel defaults are 0.95V and 1.05V repectively, this is what i'm using on my DDR4-3200 RAM, so it might also work for you - this will depend on your CPU, some will need a liitle more voltage, increase in steps of 0.05V

So on step 3, I'm planning to modify LLC, starting at 1 and working my way up until i'm stable. Upon reaching that point, would I then start using the Vcore offset function and reduce voltage further? Or do I simply only choose to do LLC *OR* Undervolt. I'm not sure whether to read that as modifying one at a time before moving onto the next or just choosing one and only one of those to modify and then ignoring the other.

Edit:
I'm crashing at Step 2 after applying Ceski's settings. After applying Step 1 settings (MCE, Long Duration Power Package, etc), I ran Prime95 for 30 minutes with no errors. However, moving on to the next step and applying Step 2 settings (Ring Down Bin, AC/DC Load Line), I'm getting two errors in Prime 95 right away. This kept happening despite multiple system reboots and rerun tests.

Just outta curiosity, (as I don't know exactly what those settings in Step 2 or 3 do), despite the errors in Step 2, I applied Step 3 and set Load Line Calibration to Level 7 and 5 errors instantly on Prime95 within the first two seconds.