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AMD® Athlon™ II Overclocking Thread

Just another stability shot of the above clock, at this speed the machine is very stable indeed! . . . had a teething problem once I started working on the CPU-NB/HT Link speeds so am having to knock out 24 hour Blends to flush out the rogue setting . . . still a bit more to come I hope! :)

  • 3724/2128/2128/1064 (24 hour Blend/OCCT/LinX/Folding 3 days, yada yada . . . stable basically!)
  • 3724/2394/2128/1064 (12 hour Blend passed, now retesting for 24 hours)
  • 3724/2394/2394/1064 (Rebooted after 20 hours Blend)

372421282128ibt.gif
 
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I am using a Asus M4A785TD-M Evo MB and 4GB Geil Value ram at the mo.
Thought I would practice a bit first, I haven't overclocked since my Barton days ;0)
 
It is indeed. Seems to be quite a good budget board from the first few tweaks.
Borrowing a cpu cooler tomorrow, will have to take the lid off the Fusion to get it on though. Real world *Budget* overclocking this
 
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Take your time basically . . . get a feel for it, check out the "low" temps and then proceed to break it! :p . . . . I did run my first AM2+ system at stock for a week and found that surprisingly fast . . . . although everyone has their own pace with these things . . . . I'd expect when your ready that 3.5GHz would be a good first overclock to aim for . . . . may need to help the vCore but apart from that no problems! :cool:
 
Had it running stable at 3.5Ghz, as you say with a slight tweak to the vcore, I would be a bit concerned about the temps with the stock cooler if I go any higher.
Let's see what the borrowed cooler brings and I will get some screenies up.
 
i cant get any furthwer than 3.4 ghz, no matter what i try and remain completely stable (seti 24/7) using a zalmon cnps9500 cooler running about 50c full load lowest fan setting.

i think the problems lie wiith my budget setup and asrock mobo & cheap ddr2 kingston memory. that said with all other settings reduced i could not manage the cpu at 3.5 and get full stability for 24/7 use. even with high voltages, loads of cooling. 'the dilithium crystals cant take it captain'

i really wanted 3.6 a full ghz overclock, so good luck raptor your doing well
 
Big.Wayne said:
Just another stability shot of the above clock, at this speed the machine is very stable indeed! . . . had a teething problem once I started working on the CPU-NB/HT Link speeds so am having to knock out 24 hour Blends to flush out the rogue setting . . . still a bit more to come I hope! :)

  • 3724/2128/2128/1064 (24 hour Blend/OCCT/LinX/Folding 3 days, yada yada . . . stable basically!)
  • 3724/2394/2128/1064 (12 hour Blend passed, now retesting for 24 hours)
  • 3724/2394/2394/1064 (Rebooted after 20 hours Blend)

Nice to see someone doing proper stability tests!! :)
Click to expand...
 
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Just thought I'd update this thread although I've not made much progress since my last post! :p . . . just have been playing about trying to get the HT Link/CPU-NB MHz running a little faster . . while using [Auto] volts for both of them of course!

The HT Link didn't like running faster than 2128MHz when combined with the higher 3724MHz CPU frequency? bit odd as it is ok running at 2500MHz when combined with a lesser 3500MHz CPU clock? . . . not a biggie and probably something I can work through by manually boosting the HT Link voltage . . . . anyway I thought I would come back to the HT Link later and have a go getting the CPU-NB boosted, changed it's multi from [x8] to [x9] and that worked fine! :)


Click for stability . . . 24 hour "Blend"

Oi don't laugh! :p . . . 2128 >> 2394 is an extra 12.5% CPU-NB Speed, not bad for a weeks work! ;) . . . . after excessive stability tests I left the machine folding for a few days . . . PPD not as good as I hoped but I suspect I may be getting some dodgy work units? . . . either that or Folding likes level 3 cache?

fold.gif


At 3.7GHz the PC is plenty fast, considering the minimal effort needed in the BIOS with most settings still on [Auto] and it's "utter" stability I think few will complain! . . . . really want a GPU now to play some games and do a few game benches! :o

So after getting 3724/2394/2128/1064 "validated" for stability I decided to see if I could get a bit more speed from the CPU-NB . . . 2394 >> 2660 . . . this was accomplished by changing the CPU-NB multi from [x9] back to it's default [x10], I also needed to manually boost the CPU-NB voltage to 1.2500v to even get Windows loaded properly! :p

Prime Blend didn't last long using just 1.2500vCPU-NB so slowly but surely that got boosted all the way to 1.300v then finally 1.325vCPU-NB to get "full" Prime stability . . . however, this is when I noticed something strange . . . . the CPU-Multi started dropping to [x4] while the processor was fully Prime loaded, the vCore would also drop down? . . . basically as if CnQ was kicking in except the chip was 100% loaded across all cores . . . It's not locked at this speed but appears to drop once or twice a minute and lasts 2-3 seconds?

372426602128trottle.gif

Processor is at full 100% load in the above image . . .

I'm still not sure what is causing this, CnQ is disabled in BIOS, I don't have CnQ drivers installed and I also tried changing the CPU multi in BIOS from [Auto] to [X14] but still no joy? . . . the "Throttling" issue goes away if I reduce the CPU-NB clock and reduce the CPU-NB voltage to reasonable levels? . . .

I thought maybe this could be a safety feature of the processor or perhaps a "limitation" of the baby uATX board I am using? . . . It seems to be down to a combination of high vCore along with a high CPU-NB voltage, I did notice the core temps increase a little bit from the added CPU-NB voltage but not seem them rise above 49°C yet so I'm not convince this is a Thermal problem? . . . . checking in SiSoftware Sandra shows the Propus has it's Thermal protection set at 99.5°C

sisoftwaresandra.jpg

Deneb 965 vs Propus 630 (Cutout) . . . thanks to gareth170 for the pointer!

My personal Athlon™ II X3 Rana runs fine at 2.66GHz CPU-NB so I'm thinking that maybe the extra core of the *overclocked* Athlon™ II X4 Propus is pulling a bit more power than perhaps the motherboard can accommodate, it's the "Pro" DDR2 board below:

asus785g.jpg


ASUS M4A785D-M PRO Webpage

Support CPU up to 125W
4+1 Phase Power Design

So maybe 4+1 phase is not enough to deliver a high *dual-plane* voltage to an overclocked quad-core?, I'll have to look into that but I notice some of the slightly beefier board state they have 8+2 Phase Power Design . . . hmmm

Another area I am suspecting is the PWM/Mosfet cooling . . or lack thereof! :p . . . . I opened the case and had a good nose and yes indeed the PWM/Mosfets are running "Wickedly" hot while the machine is under heavy load, couldn't hold my finger-tips to them for much over a few seconds! . . . I've got a few spare BGA heatsinks knocking around so I may slap them on the PWMs and deploy some spot cooling to see if that helps rid me of the "Hokus-Pokus!" :cool:

372426602128hokuspokus.jpg
 
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A lot of the 8+2 phase VRM designs are split 4+4+2 phases. Hence they actually use a 4 phase design but with the components doubled up AFAIK. IIRC this means they run cooler and are stabler(not a hard and fast rule though as it depends on component choices of course).

It would be a good idea to cool the VRMs as overclocking any quad core (even a 95W one) is likely to push the VRMs a bit!!

Perhaps you could attach a 40mm fan to the VRM area to provide some more cooling air.
 
Hey CAT, theres enough room to fit in a 80mm/92mm/120mm I believe, just been thinking of a way to attach it . . . do you think that the "throttling" problem could be connected with hot power circuitry? . . . I've been meaning to get some cooling down there but wanted to see how the board did at stock!

If on your travels you come across a uATX 785G AM2+ that features some Uber PWM cooling *and* 8-pin +12v ATX then let us know please! :)
 
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Just whipped the machine open again to see what the dealio is . . . . the components highlighted in yellow below were really quite hot! . . . of course this is why most overclocking boards have a nice heatsink fitted here to keep the PWM/Mosfets from getting too toasty! :D

Didn't have enough BGA ramsinks so I thought as a test I'll just start with a fan and see how that cools, then if needs be go back and add some heatsinks . . . As the AM2+/AM3 motherboards have the CPU socket placed a little more centrally there was enough room to fit a 92mm fan totally flat or a 120mm fan at a slight angle . . . so went with the 120mm! . . . fits great, rests on part of the case/northbridge and is secured with a single cable tie . . .

ghettopwmcooling1.jpg


It seems the fan alone is all thats needed to keep the Power-Delivery components nice and chilly . . . . Set the CPU-NB volts and Multi back to [Auto] giving 2.66GHz and has been Blending without issue for a few hours! :) . . . I'd say the added Ghetto cooling has improved things a lot, I couldn't get it Blend stable before without manually setting 1.325vCPU-NB and that weird issue with the CPU "Throttling" down in speed appears to have gone away? . . . . fingers crossed this added cooling may have been the fix! :cool:
 
Big.Wayne said:
mymorph, what processor are you using? :D
Click to expand...
better late than never i guess, athlon II x4 620 (see sig for info)
still at 3.4ghz, x9 on the nb multy & ht link.

just fiited a gtx 260:D so my airflow has been severaly disrupted:eek:

and i now have the urge to build a new system for a hex phenom in a custom brass art-deco style case. i do have these ideas that i get obsessed about and then usually abandon:(
 
Nice one! :) . . . I'd imagine it's a bit harder to clock the AIIX4 620 as it's got a X13 CPU multi? . . . Have you tried 266MHz Ht Ref. Clock= 3458/2660/2660/1064 . . . not a huge boost from where you are now but every little helps! :cool:
 
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