FX-8350 frequency drops (throttling?) on ASUS M5A87

Hello! That`s what I own:
MB: Asus M5A87
CPU: FX-8350
Cooler: Thermalright Macho HR-02
PSU: Zalman 600w (80+ Bronze)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 770 OC

The problem is: when this CPU is under heavy load like OCCT or Prime95 it drops its frequency from 4000 mhz to

3400mh. It happens 2 times a minute and longs for 1-2 seconds. The voltage also drops from 1.375 to 1.275.
Max CPUIN temperature is 63 celsius. The cores never exceed 50 degrees celsius.

What I already did:
BIOS. I`ve updated Bios to the latest 1506 version.
1) Disabled Cool`n`Quiet, "С" statuses, TurboCore, Qfan.
2) Set a fixed multiplier to x20 (4000 mhz).
3) Load line calibration, voltage and other setting are on Auto. Tried to disable LLC but it changed nothing.

Voltage is set to "Offset" as there are only 2 options: Offset and manual.

Motherboard.
I have installed custom heatsinks on VRM as there was none (still it hurts my finger to touch it even for 1

second!). Later I added 2 40x40 coolers on top of these heatsinks but it changed nothing. So I put the third

cooler right at the back of my motherboard to the place where CPU`s smds are situated and it still drops that

frequency. The last thing I did was the total North Bridge thermal grease replacement.
Everything I could do is a minor temperature drop of 2-3 degrees celsius.

What else should I do!? I do not want to overclock the CPU I only want it to work properly by default. I don`t

want to buy 990FX motherboard because I Don`t really need it! Thanks!

Sorry to tell you this, but i'm 99% sure it's the VRM protection kicking in. You could try riging a bigger 120/80 fan there and see if that helps(40mm fans are very weak) and stick a 40mm where the socket is. Hope it helps.

Synchro said:

I don`t want to buy 990FX motherboard because I Don`t really need it! Thanks!

Click to expand...

Well if the bios of that mobo does not have HPC where it can be ENABLED and/or in the bios there is no menu setting where you can DISABLE > APM, (application power management), then likely the 890 chipset type mobo you have WILL throttle under heavy load with ALL the cores on which is what you have when you set x20 multiplier and disable TurboCore.

If those setttings are not available, in bios, for the adjustments mentioned then to stop the throttling the only choice is likely a good 990X EVO mobo or the 990FX PRO board as cheaper alternatives to the big boy Sabertooth 990FX R2.0.
RGone...

RGone said:

Well if the bios of that mobo does not have HPC where it can be ENABLED and/or in the bios there is no menu setting where you can DISABLE > APM, (application power management), then likely the 890 chipset type mobo you have WILL throttle under heavy load with ALL the cores on which is what you have when you set x20 multiplier and disable TurboCore.

If those setttings are not available, in bios, for the adjustments mentioned then to stop the throttling the only choice is likely a good 990X EVO mobo or the 990FX PRO board as cheaper alternatives to the big boy Sabertooth 990FX R2.0.
RGone...

Click to expand...

i'd even consider a gigabyte board (rev4 only)

tungureanu said:

i'd even consider a gigabyte board (rev4 only)

Click to expand...

In truth, the way Giga has treated their customers of late (1.5yrs) with FX processor boards, I just could/would not put them on anyone. Plus if OP runs into issues we do not have to REinvent the wheel with strange bios and other menu items in bios since we are pretty well accustomed to what we would see in the Asus bios. There is something to be said for 'real users' having had plenty of experience with what I have in hand. More so if "I" then need help.
RGone...ster.

Thanks for your answers, friends. It`s a pity Asus creates this kind of disinformation.

Here are some more of my experiments:

Oh! My BIOS doesn`t have HPC, APM btw.

Synchro said:

Oh! My BIOS doesn`t have HPC, APM btw.

Click to expand...

Since that is the situation, I know of nothing to do to stop the throttling but don't run P95 or OCCT. They are likely a heavier load than you experience in day to day usage.

Both HPC and APM when set correctly will not 'allow' the safety throttling to take place. So if they are not in bios...about all you can do is not run super heavy loads on 8 core FX processor. Or upgrade mobo, because you have done most of the mods we do on mobos with the good settings just to ensure a measure of safety when we use the two settings to kill off the safety features they provide.

By the way it is the 63c temp that is doing the deed. Most report such throttling as soon as the socket temp reaches roughly 61c or clsoe thereto.
RGone...

OK! Now I`m totally full of fans! Jesus! 2 of them are on top of the vrm heatsinks. 1 is on the back of my CPU socket and that`s it! I`m sick and tired of all these manipulations. I`m not that enthusiastic. I really didn`t expect this kind of Asus mobo behaviour. Still don`t really know who to blame.
Well here are some graphs for you to learn. I don`t think that the throttling comes from overheating. Take a closer look at the first case and you will see that it starts from 54.5 degrees celsius and I don`t think that it`s an extreme value. What do you think?

1.) Honestly it does not matter what I think. It is going to be what it is without the two settings in bios previously mentioned.

2.)The 63c I mentioned has been a "point" where when cpu socket temp which also seems to be indicative of the current pulled thru the VRMs being elevated and causing heat and thus throttling.

3.) In my own use of cooling over the VRMs, I found there was not enough airflow using 40mm fans. Total is likely less than 20CFM. No match for my 92mm fan at all or the 50mm fans we have seen used pretty extensively here in this forum section.

4.) If the system will game and do your normal duty on a daily basis, I would not do anything but use it and forget the apps made strictly for stressing the system heavily and more so than most apps will ever do in daily use. Otherwise get a heavier board as most of us that stay in here everyday and pro-offer help after nearly 2.5 years of dealing with hot and high current drawing FX-8 core processors. There are no other choices really since Asus is not going to change that bios due to the older nature of the mobo pcb.
RGone...

I can`t believe it but I have managed to solve the problem! A guy from a different forum wrote: Get AMD Overdrive and Open and Enable Turbo Core Control then Push OK then Open and Disable Turbo Core Control then push OK then exit AMD Overdrive. (Application Power Management) *disabling the AMD Turbo Core Technology via AMD OverDrive utility will also disable APM).
So it helped me! Does that mean I do not need to change this mobo? What also would you recommend? Will it remain stable or the mosfets may burn any day?

I wouldn't try to go any higher since you're pushing your thermal envelope already. You should be OK for everyday use since you're not likely to put such a load on the CPU. As for the VRM they'll likely hold up one thing you could do is try to use offset voltage and enable your power savings in bios and windows. That way when the PC isn't being pushed it'll drop volts and speed which will give the VRM a break.
Thanks for coning back and giving us your fix BTW.

Well I would like to thank overclockers.com as well for a ton of info I`ve learned! I will continue my experiments till I am satisfied with my new CPU 100% possible. I will try to make my PC as cool and quiet as possible when idle but still powerfull when needed. I will report here as much useful info as I can because I feel sorry for people who also are the "happy" owners of that enthusiastic hardware lol

Is it just me or in the first picture, is the heatsink melted or chipped away or something?

It`s chipped away for purpose)) It used to be installed visa versa and the chips have been made by me to make it stand perfectly fit with the capacitors.
Later I decided to place the ASUS heatsink differently in order to make it more stable. It kept falling off after slightly forcing it. I used super glue first btw and it sucked. Later I bought a thermal glue so now it`s pretty firm I believe.

EarthDog said:

Is it just me or in the first picture, is the heatsink melted or chipped away or something?

Click to expand...

It wasn't just you E_D , I was pretty sure something had been gnawing at it too

Not mocking your work Synchro just makes you look twice

Oh that`s ok) It does look weird. I was too lazy to use my angle grinder to cut it properly ))

Hey functional is all you need. It's not a beauty contest.

Ok Synchro...

...If using AOD to enable / disable TurboCore stops the throttling then that older 8xx chipset board should respond to what we found to use so that AOD does not have to be RErun at every boot up.

Use AmdMsrTweaker and a .bat file to run AmdMsrTweaker at boot up every time with the APM set to Disabled since that is a choice put into AmdMsrTweaker. Was done by the orginal app maker because some bioses did not have option to disable APM. To disable APM when not in bios menu we only used the APM=0 and made no other changes inside AmdMsrTweaker.

I had forgotten we used that at least 2 years ago on some earrly boards with no APM>Disable option.

You can do forum search for RGone + AmdMsrTweaker and will find posts I made helping them find and get AMT working.

Current working link to AMDMsrTweaker. Link worked June 13, 2014.
https://mega.co.nz/#!C0wk2ZQC!cMaQODozN40y3elVHbSCDkv-irVJ69HkeR5da2TT0gg
RGone...

Thanks a lot RGone! That will really come in handy. I really appreciate this. Today I`m going to try to make it work stable @4100mhz with c'n'q, "C"s and qfan on. Also I`m going to remove that ridiculous side case back mobo fan as it generates a way too annoying sound.