MSI Z690-A DDR5 undervolt settings not working with new bios update

[gaming157c02da]

Hello,

I just updated my MSI Z690-A DDR5 Bios from version 7D25vA7 to 7D25vA8 and after the reboot all of my settings were wiped out.
I applied all of my previous config including my undervolt settings for my 12700K.

I had set the mode to offset + adaptive with a -0.100mV setting, this worked fine with bios version 7D25vA7 and my CPU would stay around 72C at around 170Watts of power draw during Cinabench R23.

Now with Bios 7D25vA8 and with the same undervolt settings, CPU goes to 100c on some cores and power draw is around 238Watts.

To rule out any config issues I cleared my CMOS via the jumpers and re-configured all my previous settings on bios 7D25vA8 but the settings don't seem to apply.

I also reverted to using 7D25vA7 with my settings and this works correctly, all of my settings are working because when running Cinabench R23 my power draw does not go over 170Watts and CPU is at around 72C.
Anyone have any ideas why changing the bios would make the undervolt settings not work.

 

[glenntidbur156f02e4]

I have Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) 6000 MT / s DDR5 CL40 and they work perfectly at 6000. But I have not overclocked because I have air cooling for the moment.

I must have lost the silicone lottery with my cpu maybe? haha

 

[glenntidbur156f02e4]

I have Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) 6000 MT / s DDR5 CL40 and they work perfectly at 6000. But I have not overclocked because I have air cooling for the moment.

I've also just read online somewhere that disabling ecores might help improve ram stability at higher frequencies?

Does this sound like it could/ should be a thing?

I wonder how it affects gaming performance having them disabled?

I just ran a very quick test, and it does still boot at 6400cl32 with the ecores disabled, but I didn't see any improvement on ram latency, or read/write speed in aida64 with stock xmp profile 6400 compared to my 5800-28-35-35-28 profile..... the cpu did run a lot hotter though, and in cinebench it quickly hit the low 90s as opposed to the low-mid 70s with the 5800 profile. Massive difference in temperature.

I imagine if I altered the primary and sub timings to match or get close to the 5800 profile, the latency and read write speed would see an improvement at 6400, but then it would only get even hotter?

I know that things like cinebench are not realistic workloads for normal gaming use, but even so, I like to have a system that can keep temps at least below 90 (preferably below 80) even in these extreme cases.

Also, I'm on windows 11, which actually makes use of the ecores?I think?

So im probably better sticking with my 5800 profile and having temps well under control?

I haven't tried running full stress tests with the ecores disabled, as I'm not comfortable leaving it running for 10 minutes above 90C for zero improvement, or possibly closer to or exceeding 100C for some improvement?

 

[Alan J T]

I've also just read online somewhere that disabling ecores might help improve ram stability at higher frequencies?

Does this sound like it could/ should be a thing?

I wonder how it affects gaming performance having them disabled?

I just ran a very quick test, and it does still boot at 6400cl32 with the ecores disabled, but I didn't see any improvement on ram latency, or read/write speed in aida64 with stock xmp profile 6400 compared to my 5800-28-35-35-28 profile..... the cpu did run a lot hotter though, and in cinebench it quickly hit the low 90s as opposed to the low-mid 70s with the 5800 profile. Massive difference in temperature.

I imagine if I altered the primary and sub timings to match or get close to the 5800 profile, the latency and read write speed would see an improvement at 6400, but then it would only get even hotter?

I know that things like cinebench are not realistic workloads for normal gaming use, but even so, I like to have a system that can keep temps at least below 90 (preferably below 80) even in these extreme cases.

Also, I'm on windows 11, which actually makes use of the ecores?I think?

So im probably better sticking with my 5800 profile and having temps well under control?

I haven't tried running full stress tests with the ecores disabled, as I'm not comfortable leaving it running for 10 minutes above 90C for zero improvement, or possibly closer to or exceeding 100C for some improvement?

Umm watch please

 

[glenntidbur156f02e4]

Umm watch please

Hint that I've gone off topic a bit?

 

[Alan J T]

Hint that I've gone off topic a bit?

Na just has some under volt stuff in it mind a lot of what I have see screams you need a stupidly massive cooler to get temps under control and we'll what are the new Intel CPU going to be for heat managment

 

[glenntidbur156f02e4]

yeah, I do only have a 240 AIO on mine thinking about it, push pull config on the fans, but could probably push things a bit further with a larger case and a 360 rad. I'd probably be able to get temps down enough to be able to test the theory of having ecores off and running my ram at 6400. happy with 5800 though, now I've found it to be stable, and as high as I can push with my hardware.

If I were to move to 13th gen, I'd definitely need a bigger case though (and probably upgrade the board to z790, which should make running 6400 a doddle)

:: edit::
Just thought I'd test this thing called linpack, since I never bothered before.... turns out that even though I've been using this setup for a while, without any issues, no corruptions, no crashes or anything like that....linpack stress test gave me bsod after just 10 loops..... so not as stable as I thought.

Also, although most loops performed well (around 660+ gflops), one or two were severely underperforming (like around 370 gflops).

Not sure if it's the ram oc or the cpu UV, so I've just set ram back to stock 4800cl40 and will see if it still fails. Fingers crossed

:: edit 2::
Passed. So definitely the ram. Possibly just the change from 5800-30-37-37-28 to 5800-28-35-35-28....but I'll test that another time. Back to stock for now. Still a great system even at stock.

 

[nikonj156302dd]

Disabling core isolation also helped me with undervolting, because with it turned on CPU was stuck at 3,6Ghz no matter what I do, when I disable it it all works ok. Right now running at -0,120 offset, +2 offset on turbo on P and E cores, -2 offset on AVX, on 12700K with temps around 15C lower than before. And power draw also dropped to max 160W with almost no performance impact.

 

[glenntidbur156f02e4]

Disabling core isolation also helped me with undervolting, because with it turned on CPU was stuck at 3,6Ghz no matter what I do, when I disable it it all works ok. Right now running at -0,120 offset, +2 offset on turbo on P and E cores, -2 offset on AVX, on 12700K with temps around 15C lower than before. And power draw also dropped to max 160W with almost no performance impact.

I tried these settings, but my system couldn't handle the turbo offsets I think as it couldn't finish even booting to windows haha.

At least I got my ram back up to 5800 again though. 5800-30-37-37-28. Stress tested over 30 runs in linpack this time. Residuals even mostly matched (I think it was only 2 out of around 33 runs that didn't match.... but depending who you ask, they don't NEED to match to be considered stable anyway). It's passing though, instead of crashing to bsod, which is fine. Memtest already tested before to over 1000% coverage and khura to over 10000% coverage with these settings. Linpack was showing some slight variations from around 655gflops to 662gflops, but averaging I would guess around 660gflops. Think I definitely have to call it a day and accept these as my best performance on this system, at least without going nuts on the cpu cooling.... maybe if I got liquid nitrogen I could increase the turbo lol.