A little niggle with A8-3850 OCing

[datalol-jack]

http://www.techpowerup.com/148636/A8-3850-Has-Ineffective-BClk-Multiplier.html

Quoted source:
http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/amd-new-apus-a8-3850-has-unlocked-multiplier-that-can-be-set-higher-than-default-value-with-no-performance-improvement/

Thought folks who are considering this chip might want to know about this 'glitch'. It is not exactly end of the world, as someone at TP pointed out - these chips aren't BE/FX line, but it would seem BCLK clocking is the only effective way to go. This so called multiplier unlock will probably get fixed in later revisions.

It would be nice to see some performance graphs, though. Any early adopters willing to verify this with a simple OC/bench test?

 

[Shakeel]

just read this. i wonder how ocuk are ocing theirs

 

[datalol-jack]

TP just posted an update to the story. According to them AMD is aware of the multiplier glitch and it may not be a hardware issue, after all. BIOS updates for everybody! Quite happy with this actually, as I'm looking at building a system with one of these APUs.

I can't speak for OCUK on this, but I'm sure they are aware of both ways to clock a chip and probably noticed this glitch from running a few benchies, anyways.

 

[ng93]

Im confused. Was the bug that the bios let users set a higher multiplier than standard on a upwards multiplier locked chip, or that the chip is upwards multiplier unlocked but didnt respond to higher multipliers

 

[datalol-jack]

Apparently a glitch in the BIOS code allows the users to "set" higher multiplier values than the chip can respond to

AMD recommends only the base clock increase method for overclocking.

Just focus on these statements, I think they answer your question. The more I read around the issue, the more convinced I become of this being a vendor BIOS gaffe, no doubt stemming from a shift toward the new UEFI standard. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Llano meant to be multi locked from the start like the Athlon II line it is replacing?

 

[Redmint]

Yeah they were supposed to be locked which is why there is no performance increase when a higher value is set in the BIOS. Can anyone link me to an article where they actually manage a 4GHz clock and see a performance increase as I'm still curious about the OCuk 4GHz system.

 

[DragonQ]

BIOS updates will fix this, it won't affect 99.9% of users anyway, the users it does "affect" will just be confused until they use Google.

Thus, no worries.

 

[hbk123]

Yeah, hopefully it is just a bios issue as im seriously considering buying one of these once OCUK get the ASUS boards in stock.