CPU Drive Strength
Common Options : 0, 1, 2, 3
Quick Review of CPU Drive Strength
The CPU Drive Strength BIOS feature allows you to manually set the drive strength of the CPU bus. The higher the value, the stronger the drive strength.
If you are facing stability problems with your processor, you might want to try boosting the CPU drive strength to a higher value. It will help to correct any possible increase in impedance from the motherboard.
It can also be used to improve the CPU’s overclockability. By raising the processor drive strength, it is possible to improve its stability at overclocked speeds.
However, this is not a surefire way of overclocking the CPU. Increasing it to the highest value will not necessarily mean that you can overclock the CPU more than you already can.
In addition, it is important to note that increasing the processor drive strength will not improve its performance. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not a performance-enhancing feature.
Details of CPU Drive Strength
The system controller has auto-compensation circuitry to automatically compensate for impedance variations in motherboard designs.
Now, the impedance is more or less fixed for each motherboard design. So some manufacturers may choose to pre-calculate and use a fixed, optimal CPU drive strength for a particular design.
However, due to variations in ambient conditions and manufacturing variances, there may be situations where the impedance compensation may not be sufficient.
This is where the CPU Drive Strength BIOS option comes in – it allows you to manually set the processor bus drive strength. The higher the value, the stronger the drive strength.
If you are facing stability problems with your processor, you might want to try boosting the processor drive strength to a higher value. It will help to correct any possible increase in impedance from the motherboard.
It can also be used to improve the CPU’s overclockability. By raising the processor drive strength, it is possible to improve its stability at overclocked speeds. Try the higher values of 2 or 3 if your CPU just won’t go the extra mile.
However, this is not a surefire way of overclocking the CPU. Increasing it to the highest value will not necessarily mean that you can overclock the CPU more than you already can.
In addition, it is important to note that increasing the processor drive strength will not improve its performance. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not a performance-enhancing feature.
Although little else is known about this feature, the downsides to a high CPU drive strength would probably be increased EMI (Electromagnetic Interference), power consumption and thermal output.
Therefore, unless you need to boost the processor bus drive strength (for troubleshooting or overclocking purposes), it is recommended that you leave it at the default setting.
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