Overclocking 13700k

[Dardo Hameed]

RaptorLake processors provide a lot of room for performance tuning and overclocking, especially when paired with water cooling. By using a low-end Z690 motherboard, I hope to illustrate that this previous-generation platform can still push Raptor Lake to its limits.

Intel Raptor Lake builds on top of the performance hybrid architecture introduced with 12th gen Alder Lake. So, it also features Performance P-Cores and Efficient E-cores. Like Alder Lake, it is built on the Intel 7 process technology, formerly known as 10nm Enhanced SuperFin (ESF). While it may sound like Raptor Like is not much different from its predecessor, the spec sheet reads quite impressive.

I explained how I use ElmorLabs products in SkatterBencher #34. By connecting the EFC to the EVC2 device, I monitor the ambient temperature (EFC), water temperature (EFC), and fan duty cycle (EFC). I include the measurements in my Prime95 stability test results.

I also use the ElmorLabs EFC to map the radiator fan curve to the water temperature. Without going into too many details: I have attached an external temperature sensor from the water in the loop to the EFC. Then, I use the low/high setting to map the fan curve from 25 to 40 degrees water temperature. I use this configuration for all overclocking strategies.

Suppose the CPU is at TjMax, and the water temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius. In that case, it means the fans are at maximum speed, and thus the cooling solution is saturated. Improving the cooling solution by adding radiators or changing to more powerful fans would be the right action.

Suppose the CPU is at TjMax and the water temperature is below 40 degrees Celsius. In that case, it means the cooling solution is not saturated. Therefore, to improve the CPU temperature, you may enhance the thermal transfer of the CPU heat into the loop by changing the thermal paste, delidding, or changing the water block.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX2 enabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 4975 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 3801 MHz with 1.141 volts. The average CPU temperature is 90 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.2 and 37.4 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 253.0 watts.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX disabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5225 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 4091 MHz with 1.222 volts. The average CPU temperature is 90 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.0 and 37.4 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 253.0 watts.

Shorting the Clear CMOS pins will reset all your BIOS settings to default which is helpful if you want to start your BIOS configuration from scratch. However, it does not delete any of the BIOS profiles previously saved. The Clear CMOS pins are located in the bottom left of the motherboard.

Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology allows the processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency. Turbo Boost is available when the processor works below its rated power, temperature, and current specification limits. The ultimate advantage is opportunistic performance improvements in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

Similar to Alder Lake, but a significant change from any previous Intel Core processors is that, at least for the K-SKU CPUs, PL1 is by default equal to PL2. This differs from before, where PL1 would equal the TDP, and PL2 would range from 200 to 250W. This change effectively means that Intel has enabled near-unlimited peak turbo by default!

An easy CPU Cooler Tuning option on MSI motherboards allows you to unleash the Turbo Boost power limits. Set the option to Water Cooler and enjoy the maximum performance. The BIOS will give a menu on the first boot to select the CPU cooler type. On the Z690 Torpedo EK X, Water Cooler and its associated unlocked Turbo Boost power limits is set.

Turbo Boost 2.0 focuses explicitly on exploiting the available power budget to provide additional computing performance. On the other hand, Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 aims to use the natural variance in CPU core quality observed in multi-core CPUs. With Turbo Boost Max 3.0, Intel identifies the best cores in your CPU and calls those the favored cores.

Intel Extreme Memory Profile, or XMP, is an Intel technology that lets you automatically overclock the system memory to improve system performance. It extends the standard JEDEC specification and allows a memory vendor to program different settings onto the memory stick.

The XMP 3.0 standard is designed with six sections. One global section describes the generic data which is used across the profiles. The other five sections are designed for five profiles, respectively.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX2 enabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5090 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 4076 MHz with 1.188 volts. The average CPU temperature is 100 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.7 and 38.3 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 288.9 watts.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX disabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5287 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 4190 MHz with 1.237 volts. The average CPU temperature is 95 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.5 and 37.8 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 268.2 watts.

In our second overclocking strategy, we use the one-click overclocking feature called Game Boost. This unique MSI feature has been on motherboards for quite a while and offers an instant overclocking boost.

Enabling Game Boost on the Z690 Torpedo EK X with the Core i7-13700K lifts all Turbo Ratios by +1 for both P-cores and E-cores. In addition, it also sets an AVX Negative Ratio offset of -3. This results in a maximum P-core boost frequency of 5.5 GHz.

AVX negative ratio offset is a feature that allows the CPU to reduce the operating ratio when AVX instructions are used. It is a valuable tool to achieve maximum performance for both SSE and AVX workloads

We used the Y-cruncher component tester to test various AVX workloads on the 13700K. Four of the 6 pure AVX2 workloads trigger a frequency reduction when an AVX Negative Ratio is set. For the other two workloads, the frequency remains elevated.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX2 enabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5083 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 4202 MHz with 1.188 volts. The average CPU temperature is 100 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.7 and 38.1 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 287.8 watts.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX disabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5353 MHz and average CPU E-core clock is 4256 MHz with 1.259 volts. The average CPU temperature is 100 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 26.7 and 38.3 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 283.0 watts.

Sync All Cores sets a single fixed ratio applied to all cores. This is very much the historical way of Intel CPU overclocking. Turbo Ratio configuration allows us to modify the default Intel frequency specification and configure an overclock for various scenarios.

The P-core rules for maximum allowed frequency can also be applied to the E-cores. However, with one major caveat: the E-core CPU ratio can only be controlled in groups of 4 E-cores. So, for the 13700K, since it has eight E-cores in total, we can configure the maximum allowed core ratio for a total of two groups of four E-cores. However, we can still configure the maximum allowed frequency for 1 active E-core up to 8 active E-cores.

In our overclock, since we lift the Turbo Ratios by +5 bins for the P-cores and +2 bins for the E-cores, the configuration allows the favored P-cores to boost to 5.9 GHz, the other P-cores to boost to 5.8 GHz, and the E-cores to boost to 4.4 GHz.

On Raptor Lake, the VccIA voltage rail drives the voltage for the CPU cores, P-core and E-core, and the Ring. That means a single voltage is used for all these parts of the CPU. How that voltage is configured is straightforward yet complex.

An Intel CPU relies on many factory-fused voltage-frequency curves, or V/F curves, to regulate its dynamic compute performance behavior. A V/F curve describes the relationship between an operating frequency and the voltage required for that frequency. A lot of parts inside your CPU have a V/f curve, including those relevant to the VccIA voltage rail:

In the case of the Core i7-13700K, the VccIA voltage rail is affected by no less than 11 different voltage-frequency curves. Based on these V/F curves, to get a specific voltage provided via the VccIA voltage rail, the CPU issues an SVID request to the voltage controller. The VID requested is the highest among all the requested voltages according to every V/F curve affecting the voltage rail.

The impedance can significantly affect the actual voltage at the CPU die. To avoid too big a difference between the requested and effective voltage, we can adjust for this in the motherboard BIOS. The adjustment consists of informing the CPU of the motherboard impedance via the AC loadline setting so the CPU can request a higher voltage to the voltage regulator.

The VRM loadline setting determines how much the output voltage increases or decreases during a transient load. Transient means when the CPU goes from a low load to a high load or vice versa. Two parts of the VRM loadline are relevant for overclocking: Vdroop and Undershoot.

Vdroop is the decrease in voltage when the CPU goes from idle to load. You want your CPU to be stable in all scenarios, so knowing the lowest voltage the CPU will run at is very important. After all, if the voltage is too low, the overclock will be unstable.

Undershoot and its counterpart, overshoot, is a brief voltage spike that occurs when the CPU switches from idle to load or from load to idle. These spikes cannot be measured easily and usually require an expensive oscilloscope to detect. I highly recommend the ElmorLabs article titled VRM Load-Line Visualized to see a great picture of undershoot and overshoot in action.

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