AMD FX Overclocking

[Relentless81]

Ok thanks, how long do you run realbench for?

 

[Scurburg]

Ok thanks, how long do you run realbench for?

I'm lazy and impatient so I just run the standard bench a few times as I already have max temps from prime95 (10-20 mins). If that doesn't fail, I then try other benches and game benches, then encoding, and eventually I get to gaming. If anything fails, I will adjust settings and test to stop that failure but thankfully that just has not happened so far. Once you have the vcore sorted, it only seems like the ram that causes instability. It my most stable build so far tbh.

Others stability practices are probably more thorough and therefore a better way but this is just how I do it. I was just saying that prime is not good for stability, because I have had it stable in prime for hour tests, but failure in realbench on 1 standard run.

 

[Relentless81]

So I've been tinkering and have gotten to 4.7 with LLC on low with vcore set to 1.425, HWINFO states 1.416 max and 1.380 min, had some problems at first getting it to boot but this seemed to be the sweet spot

I am yet to do a full hour of realbench, so far I've run ten minutes without crashing but my temps hit 61C, they dont seem to go over that, is that temp ok or is it too high?

Its a single fan air cooler

 

[Scurburg]

I believe the limit is 72 and I think its supposed to throttle at that point (unless disabled in bios?) I can't confirm that though as I'm not entirely sure. My system can hit low 60's too due to xfire heat so I think you are ok too. If its just a single fan cooler, maybe you could attach another for push/pull for added cooling if you are worried?

It also seems you still have a little vdroop going on but if its stable, thats all that matters really. I take it the VRMs are now a little happier/cooler?

Anyway 4.7 is a fine OC and you have fairly low vcore to achieve it too. If you are happy at that speed, just get on a use the stuff you normally do and look out for stability probs and enjoy or go bananas on benches hehe. You could try nudging the fsb a bit to eek a few more mhz out, but watch out for your other linked speeds like ram, nb and HT, you may need to adjust the ratios to keep in spec or keep desired speeds.

 

[Relentless81]

Its hitting 64 after half an hour but doesn't go over that, I'm not sure a push pull setup would help as this is in a 540 air case with 5 fans, I ran all the fans at max and it still got to 60.

Vrms are getting hot still, not sure why or what to do tbh

I'm happy as it is though, its testing now for an hour and the cpu temp is low 50s in gaming

I might knock the llc up to medium over the weekend to see if the vcore straightens out a bit but I its stable after an hour of realbench I might just leave it as is

Thanks for the tips

 

[Relentless81]

A bit disappointed with the realbench bench mark score compared to others especially considering there is a 290x in there, what gives!?

 

[gpuerrilla]

The 290x will only be effecting the OpenCL test.

 

[Relentless81]

Yeah but still seems quite low, the overall score seems relatively low too

Can someone help with these bios settings please, are they ok?

Core performance boost - disabled (I read this is best disabled)
CPU Unlock - disabled (Was already disabled)
Cool & Quiet - Enabled (Enabled after successful stress testing, is that the norm?)
C1E Support - Enabled (I read this best enabled)
SVM - Enabled (No idea what this is)
CPU Core Control - Auto (I read this is best enabled)
Core C6 State - Enabled (Recently read its best disabled?)
HPC Mode - Disabled (No idea its on default)
APM - Enabled (No idea its on default)

 

[Scurburg]

Core performance boost - disabled (I read this is best disabled)
Leave as disabled

CPU Unlock - disabled (Was already disabled)
This is to unlock x3 to 4x cpus etc. Leave as default.

Cool & Quiet - Enabled (Enabled after successful stress testing, is that the norm?)
Conflicting info on this. I normally disable.

C1E Support - Enabled (I read this best enabled)
this is low power state at idle/low use. Probably best disabled for best performace.

SVM - Enabled (No idea what this is)
Probably the virtual stuff, leave disabled unless you will use it.

CPU Core Control - Auto (I read this is best enabled)
Auto should be fine or you can enable and make sure all cores are available, but it shouldnt make a diff.

Core C6 State - Enabled (Recently read its best disabled?)
Another low power state setting. Again, I normally disable. Once you have got everything configured for performance, you can try re-enabling these sort of setting to see if it causes issues and reduce idle power. For now set to disabled.

HPC Mode - Disabled (No idea its on default)
Stops low power states and some other things. Potentially its faster but at the cost of heat apparently. I disable this and have seen no diff with it enabled.

APM - Enabled (No idea its on default)
I believe this to be thermal control (72C limit I mentioned) Leave enabled IMO.

I cant post images yet I dont think but my scores are this (Remember I have 280X xfire)

Image Editing 8008 - 107.239

Encoding 93521 - 128.185

OpenCL 100032 - 2606

Heavy Multi 88424 = 110.603

System 70489

If start the bench then cancel out straight away, then run again, the image score will increase.

Since you seem to have your core clocked to a reasonable lvl, you can start looking at OC the NB and HT. I run my NB in the 2600 and HT the same as its supposed to give best performance. NB and HT at anything 2500+ should be fine. NB will probably have the most impact on performance but not by a lot. Mine NB doesn't like anything over 2700. You may need to adjust the volts for these up to achieve although, again, this can be different for each MB.

Also I'm not sure it will make a diff, but change the GPU settings to performance.
Looking at your results, you dont seem to be that far behind. You could also try setting the LLC up a lvl to see if extra power is needed.

 

[Relentless81]

Do you mean uber mode on the gpu? If so its already on.

Had a major issue before, it seems when stressing it gets to 64c which is concerning in itself but with benching I noticed the package temp rocket up to 90 odd degrees for a second but it passes everything completely fine

Not sure what to do now, it seems my cooler cant handle the oc so I'm considering setting it to stock running everything again to check for the temp issue and then if it doesn't happen im going to have to aim for a much lower overclock

In regards to the power saving stuff I kind of like it as my pc hosts my media and can be sat idling for long periods but if it only saves a bit of power I'm not fussed I'm more concerned about stability and heat

Thanks for all the answers above its really appreciated

 

[gpuerrilla]

If your cooler is not up to it, run it between 4 and 4.5Ghz for now and look into what cooling you can get for your case.

As Andy and a few of us others have done is improvise and do not be afraid to experiment. I used the stock FX cooler fan to go over my caps and sinks for some active cooling around that area.

I just set all the power saving features to off.

 

[Scurburg]

"Do you mean uber mode on the gpu? If so its already on."
It should be in CCC under 3d app settings - Texture Filter Quality - set to performance (You may want to set it back to standard or high q later though)

I think if you have set something to "Uber" (Means super?) its probably the Anti-Aliasing Method you have set to super/uber sampling. If this is the case, that is the slowest but best quality setting, so it a massive hit on performance. Set to Multisampling for better performance (at a slight cost of IQ)

I wish I could help further with your cooling prob, but I have no idea how anything can be hitting 90c without crashing the system. Maybe put a small fan aiming at VRM and base of the cooler?

Which cooler is it you are using?

Anyway just want to make clear, I'm no expert at any of this but if I have given any false info. Please do let me know. GL

 

[Davedree]

Core performance boost - disabled (I read this is best disabled)
Leave as disabled

CPU Unlock - disabled (Was already disabled)
This is to unlock x3 to 4x cpus etc. Leave as default.

Cool & Quiet - Enabled (Enabled after successful stress testing, is that the norm?)
Conflicting info on this. I normally disable.
Best to leave it on it gives you good idle clocks and if you master offset voltage, then you'll benefit from low v-core when idling. Very common that people believe this is a cause of throttling or withholding performance which both are incorrect.

C1E Support - Enabled (I read this best enabled)
this is low power state at idle/low use. Probably best disabled for best performace.
Leave on no issues with holding back performance.

SVM - Enabled (No idea what this is)
Probably the virtual stuff, leave disabled unless you will use it.

CPU Core Control - Auto (I read this is best enabled)
Auto should be fine or you can enable and make sure all cores are available, but it shouldnt make a diff.

Core C6 State - Enabled (Recently read its best disabled?)
Another low power state setting. Again, I normally disable. Once you have got everything configured for performance, you can try re-enabling these sort of setting to see if it causes issues and reduce idle power. For now set to disabled.



HPC Mode - Disabled (No idea its on default)
Stops low power states and some other things. Potentially its faster but at the cost of heat apparently. I disable this and have seen no diff with it enabled.
Can either be left on or off.


APM - Enabled (No idea its on default)
I believe this to be thermal control (72C limit I mentioned) Leave enabled IMO.
This is the main reason for throttling on Gigabytes sometimes, make sure it's disabled.

I cant post images yet I dont think but my scores are this (Remember I have 280X xfire)

Image Editing 8008 - 107.239

Encoding 93521 - 128.185

OpenCL 100032 - 2606

Heavy Multi 88424 = 110.603

System 70489

If start the bench then cancel out straight away, then run again, the image score will increase.

Since you seem to have your core clocked to a reasonable lvl, you can start looking at OC the NB and HT. I run my NB in the 2600 and HT the same as its supposed to give best performance. NB and HT at anything 2500+ should be fine. NB will probably have the most impact on performance but not by a lot. Mine NB doesn't like anything over 2700. You may need to adjust the volts for these up to achieve although, again, this can be different for each MB.

Also I'm not sure it will make a diff, but change the GPU settings to performance.
Looking at your results, you dont seem to be that far behind. You could also try setting the LLC up a lvl to see if extra power is needed.

/\ great advice from Scurburg, with my opinions and views in orange.
I would try occt as this program will show logs as to whether your cpu is throttling behind the scenes. an example is here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18639472

 

[Relentless81]

If your cooler is not up to it, run it between 4 and 4.5Ghz for now and look into what cooling you can get for your case.

I just set all the power saving features to off.

Its starting to look like my cooler is the issue here, I've just dropped the clock to 4.5 and VCore to 1.380 and realbenched for 15 mins and it didnt go over 59C

Should I be doing this after an afternoon of drinking, probably not

"Do you mean uber mode on the gpu? If so its already on."
It should be in CCC under 3d app settings - Texture Filter Quality - set to performance (You may want to set it back to standard or high q later though)

I think if you have set something to "Uber" (Means super?) its probably the Anti-Aliasing Method you have set to super/uber sampling. If this is the case, that is the slowest but best quality setting, so it a massive hit on performance. Set to Multisampling for better performance (at a slight cost of IQ)

I wish I could help further with your cooling prob, but I have no idea how anything can be hitting 90c without crashing the system. Maybe put a small fan aiming at VRM and base of the cooler?

Which cooler is it you are using?

Anyway just want to make clear, I'm no expert at any of this but if I have given any false info. Please do let me know. GL

In regards to GPU i meant the switch between Uber and Quiet mode, everything else is default, I've only just installed a 290X reference card and it replaced a 970 and my case temps actually dropped due to the reference cooler exhaust so it seems again that this points me toward the CPU cooler which is a single fan Be Quiet Dark Rock 2 and everything is in a 540 Air Case with 3 120 exhaust and 2 140 intakes, this again points me toward the CPU cooler as being inadequate for my goal

Honestly you've been more than helpful and I appreciate it greatly as its helped me a lot, this threaad has been great too

/\ great advice from Scurburg, with my opinions and views in orange.
I would try occt as this program will show logs as to whether your cpu is throttling behind the scenes. an example is here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18639472

I've made the bios changes and declocked as above, i've also changed settings as recomended and left C1E and C&Q on but C6 and hpm is now disabled as I do have a Gigabyte board

Benching now, really hope my temps stay in check as the bench seems to affect the temps more than the stress test

 

[Relentless81]

Bench has finished and HWMONITOR states it didnt go over 59C at 4.5 so this again points me toward the CPU cooler -

However HWINFO shows this which is the same as it did previously while benching but even higher on a lower clock and less volts This cant be right, surely the chip would brick itself if it was!

 

[gpuerrilla]

Yeah I think that would be the next step Rel81. You could try dropping your voltages for the stablest clock with that cooler but it would take time and prolong the instability issues.

For an FX as most guys on this forum point out you do need a SOLID cooler. This is why they recommend the i5's instead. You can however pick up referbs, second hand or MM for great prices still keeping the budget below an intel.

If you had the money in the first place the intel does make more sense. However do not let that put you off. FX's are fun to overclock and in some instances can more than hold their own.

The sweet spot for running them cool is around the 4.5Ghz mark. Anything around the 5Ghz area and they get pretty toasty. If you can get to 4.8Ghz but can back off the voltage you can get the best of both worlds (coolish and fast).

Good luck and carry on sharing your efforts as it helps everyone, there is a good crowd of AMD users on here to discuss items with!

 

[thebennyboy]

This is the best voltage i can get at 4.8Ghz. Any lower and it fails the stress test, gaming seems to be fine too.

 

[Relentless81]

Thanks Th0nt, I'm down to 4.4 with 1.344V now its just to hot with any higher settings I need a better cooler

bennyboy that was similar to my settings and it was stable when stressing but what heat is it putting out as i noticed in some of your previous posts it was a bit hotter than mine and anything over 60C on these for extended periods isnt good from what I've read, what cooler do you have?

I think mine is staying at 4.4 until I get a new cooler as with all the help I've had and all the different clocks and volts I've tried I really am starting to think that everything points toward my CPU cooler, what do people recommend? Most with my case seem to go for a H100i

 

[thebennyboy]

Thanks Th0nt, I'm down to 4.4 with 1.344V now its just to hot with any higher settings I need a better cooler

bennyboy that was similar to my settings and it was stable when stressing but what heat is it putting out as i noticed in some of your previous posts it was a bit hotter than mine and anything over 60C on these for extended periods isnt good from what I've read, what cooler do you have?

I think mine is staying at 4.4 until I get a new cooler as with all the help I've had and all the different clocks and volts I've tried I really am starting to think that everything points toward my CPU cooler, what do people recommend? Most with my case seem to go for a H100i

Under stress test it reaches about 70C on the socket temp and about 55C on the core temps.

This is what i get on realbench with 4.8Ghz @ 1.428v.

 

[Scurburg]

I'm so jealous of you E version owners. Such low volts

As for cooling, I mentioned it on another thread, but these Raijintek Triton AIO's are pretty damn good. Similar or better that h100i according to some.

I have to say though, I'm still not convinced about your CPU cooler. The one you have is supposed to be pretty good. To me it looks like more a dodgy sensor, rather than real readings.

Also the worrying about above 60 for long time. I don't think you should worry at all. On a stock cooler, these chips would easily be doing that so I would hope AMD designed them to take it without causing fault. I've also yet to hear of anyone burning one of these chips out, Although I've tried my hardest to change that.