Hi guys! Can you explain what Vdroop really is? I tried googling it but I didn't find any definitive answer. Is it bad? Should I stop overclocking till I get a better MOBO?
AMD FX 6300 OC'ed to 4.1ghz at 1.36 volts (drops down to 1.328 with Prime96)
Asrock extreme3
HD 7770
Corsair CX500
Agreed. Some nice tech explainations would be interesting to see on the show.
vdroop is the drop in voltage when the load on the cpu becomes heavy. More amps are pulled throughout the powerphases of the cpu, and without compensation, this means less volts as the PSU has to deliver more watts.
Vdroops can be countered with regulating vrm systems in motherboards. the most important component that can keep the voltages stable is your phasedesign (4+1, 6+2, 8+2, and so on)
for example, i had a gigabyte fx990 D3 with 4+1 phase design and crappy vrms, which caused voltage spiking, that couldnt be controlled with regulating, this is because the phase design didnt have enough lanes to compensate on the spot. voltage spikes are bad for hardware milage, and could in extreme conditions blow up vrms, mosfets, or even cpu's.
for example I now have the sabretooth 8+2 and the voltage is just frozen, with 8 digital phases and better vrms the mobo is able to insta-compensate for vdroops.
doesnt your mobo has a vdroop compensation feature?
vdroops are never welcome, as we all know the cpu at a certain frequenty has to rely on a specific voltage value. thats why a vdroop should be countered with precise excecution: too much voltage for compensation generates too much heat, and might even be damaging. Too less compensation might result in cores shutting down. so its a fine line to walk, and your OC will feel much better when the mobo is able to keep up with the vdroops.
(sorry for spamposting)
But, I also would like to see other explainations. I'm just sharing my experience. There are alot of other VRM's who are responsible for regulating voltages that I dont know everything about!