Offset voltages do just what you think it does – offsets the voltage +/- the amount you set. It takes the standard Intel voltage curve and just raises the whole darn thing, top to bottom. While this is better on your CPU than just a manually applied, constant voltage -and it used to be the best option for not running manual voltage- it’s not the best option any more.
Adaptive Voltage
Adaptive voltage is a lot smarter than your average offset voltage. What it does is raise the part of the voltage curve that you need under load, but leaves the lower end of the curve (when the CPU is operating at 800 MHz) alone. Thus, the higher voltage you need is there when the CPU calls for it, but you have no increase in idle voltage at all. This is going to be the best choice for letting your CPU breathe, as it were, when idle. You set the maximum voltage you want the CPU to get and go on your merry way knowing the CPU can draw the voltage it needs when it needs it.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and this slide outlines the voltage override modes quite well.
Various Integrated Voltage Regulator Configurations – Image Courtesy HWBot
Caveat – big, massive, honking, pay attention to this – caveat! When using adaptive voltage, the top of the curve isn’t necessarily the whole story. ASUS drove this point home when we met and I’m doing so now; we all need to do this as a public service to our users and readers. Even though you set 1.25 V as your maximum voltage, under certain very heavy loading conditions (i.e. stress testing), the voltage can and will exceed the maximum you have set. Let me say that again – if you stress test using adaptive voltage, even with the maximum set to 1.25 V, the CPU will – guaranteed – request and receive more voltage than you have told the motherboard to deliver it. It’s just the way this works.
In the ASUS demonstrations, setting a maximum 1.25 V in this scenario and then running something like AIDA64, Prime95, etc – any stress testing application designed to stress more than normal loads – the CPU requests and gets ~1.36 V. There is nothing you can do about this and it will happen whether you want it to or not. The only way to prevent stress testing programs from pulling extra voltage is to use a manually set voltage, which takes away your CPU’s ability to reduce voltage when idle.
All is not lost though! You probably noticed every time I told you what would happen it went hand in hand with stress testing. That’s because those are the only scenarios that will lead to this behavior. In all other circumstances so far as ASUS can tell, the CPU will cap at the set 1.25 V and never exceed it. Even if you’re Folding@Home it should maintain the 1.25 V cap (though those folding at home are under 100% load all the time and I’d suggest using a manual voltage for those machines just in case). Likewise, video encoding, audio encoding, compression, rendering – any CPU-intensive process, your CPU will maintain the 1.25 V cap.
So, now that you know the very important caveat, set 1.25 V as your maximum voltage with adaptive voltage, enable C1E and EIST (which throttle your multiplier and voltage when not under load) and go on with your merry life knowing your CPU is as relaxed as it can get when idle.
. Aber ich muss ja 100 % load auf die CPU bringen, da ich sonst nicht weiss, ob ich bei Offset die richtige Anzahl eingegeben habe, um unter 100 % load auf die oben genannten 1.25 V zu kommen.
