13600k undervolt with B660

[unclewebb]

VBS has to be disabled if you want CPU voltage control in ThrottleStop to work.

My signature shows how.

 

[technik000]

VBS has to be disabled if you want CPU voltage control in ThrottleStop to work.

My signature shows how.

VBS disabled

I did everything as advised

unfortunately the temperatures dropped by about 5/7 degrees

and the cinebench result is practically the same as UV

any ideas what i can be doing wrong?

 

[Tremolo4]

VBS disabled

I did everything as advised

unfortunately the temperatures dropped by about 5/7 degrees

and the cinebench result is practically the same as UV

any ideas what i can be doing wrong?

What do you mean "unfortunately"? That sounds like a reasonable result, particularly if you were reaching 100C before.

If your CPU was not throttling significantly, then undervolting does not provide any performance increase.

 

[KMel]

Do I understand correctly that all virtualization settings have to be disabled for all this to work? Gigabyte B660I pro DDR4 with a 13600KF here and I need the virtualization for Windows Subsystem for Linux...

 

[Tremolo4]

Do I understand correctly that all virtualization settings have to be disabled for all this to work? Gigabyte B660I pro DDR4 with a 13600KF here and I need the virtualization for Windows Subsystem for Linux...

Yep, can't use throttlestop and WSL at the same time.

I also want to use WSL, so I'm now using GRUB to apply my undervolt settings before windows boots. One downside is that it doesn't persist through sleep mode.

 

[veidas]

Maybe its gonna be useful for someone, I just updated my Gigabyte B660m board to newest bios F28. Now they allow to select microcode x104, which allows undervolt with throttlestop. And whats even more interesting, IA CEP seems to be disabled by default with no setting available, now I can just undervolt in bios without loosing performance

 

[KMel]

Maybe its gonna be useful for someone, I just updated my Gigabyte B660m board to newest bios F28. Now they allow to select microcode x104, which allows undervolt with throttlestop. And whats even more interesting, IA CEP seems to be disabled by default with no setting available, now I can just undervolt in bios without loosing performance

This is the BIOS update of December 15, 2023? That one seems to be available for my B660I Aorus Pro DDR4 as well.

Where are these settings located? As mentioned previously I can't use throttlestop as I need WSL, but undervolting in the BIOS without losing performance is a no-brainer.

Do I need to select the x104 microcode somewhere? Which voltage settings do I need to change after that to get an undervolt? The offsets I assume?

 

[veidas]

This is the BIOS update of December 15, 2023? That one seems to be available for my B660I Aorus Pro DDR4 as well.

Where are these settings located? As mentioned previously I can't use throttlestop as I need WSL, but undervolting in the BIOS without losing performance is a no-brainer.

Do I need to select the x104 microcode somewhere? Which voltage settings do I need to change after that to get an undervolt? The offsets I assume?

Yes F28 from 12/15. I'll just attach a picture. Power draw down from ~190w to 130w under full load, same cinebench r23 score of around 24k.

 

[Tremolo4]

Maybe its gonna be useful for someone, I just updated my Gigabyte B660m board to newest bios F28. Now they allow to select microcode x104, which allows undervolt with throttlestop. And whats even more interesting, IA CEP seems to be disabled by default with no setting available, now I can just undervolt in bios without loosing performance

Thanks! The microcode option works for me, when setting the MCR register (e.g. with ThrottleStop)

Have you by any chance tested if the BIOS voltage offsets work *without* the downgraded microcode? Hard for me to test atm.

 

[veidas]

Thanks! The microcode option works for me, when setting the MCR register (e.g. with ThrottleStop)

Have you by any chance tested if the BIOS voltage offsets work *without* the downgraded microcode? Hard for me to test atm.

I did not. Im done with testing, just happy that it works now

 

[Tremolo4]

I did not. Im done with testing, just happy that it works now

I've tried it now, it only works with the microcode downgrade.

Interesting also that the voltage offsets from the BIOS show up when querying the MSR register (e.g. in HWinfo), exactly as if set via ThrottleStop (which sets them via MSR as well).

This is an upgrade to my method of setting MSR in GRUB: setting in BIOS is re-applied after sleep mode, GRUB method does not persist through sleep. BIOS or GRUB method is nice because I can have the Virtualization thingy in Windows for WSL at the same time as undervolting.

My only problem is that I can't set a negative Cache offset in the BIOS. Called "L2Atom" in the BIOS. For some reason you can only set positive offsets. Seems to be an oversight from GIGABYTE, because it works when using MSR register. Maybe they can fix that.

 

[KMel]

Updated the BIOS and applied a -0.1 offset. Average power over an R23 run is down from 182W to 140W. Performance is the same.

I'm only getting ~23000 though, even with all power limits set to 4095W...

 

[AleXXX666]

I've worked with a 13600k on a Z790 board from MSI and also had issues with undervolting in the BIOS. It would accept any value I gave it and I wouldn't lose performance but it would only actually offset the voltage down to -0.050mV even if I were to put more.
XTU also did not work at all. Voltage control was greyed out

Ended up using ThrottleStop and it works perfectly.
It's sitting happy at -0.125mV atm but can go even further. Scheduling it on startup also works perfect

My personal computer I use XTU to undervolt and I don't see any disadvantage of doing it in software vs BIOS. More convenient for dialing in your UV in software for sure though

just remember to try not to autorun first or it would be f..ck times to get this thing rid of autorun later lol

I use Win10. Xtu does not work, refuses to start due to my cpu.

anyone using this ANCIENT utility still....

 

[Tremolo4]

My only problem is that I can't set a negative Cache offset in the BIOS. Called "L2Atom" in the BIOS. For some reason you can only set positive offsets. Seems to be an oversight from GIGABYTE, because it works when using MSR register. Maybe they can fix that.

I have asked GIGABYTE support about this, they are unwilling to fix it.