FEATURED Info & Tips >> Using the AMD FX Bulldozer/Piledriver...

Pizzarakskis chasing me? Hale man I like pizzas of all types. Hehehe. Thanks "johan45".
RGone...

Okay been trying to avoid the papperazi for months...

...just now coming out of hiding somewhat.

Once again in the AMD CPU and AMD MOBO section we are getting users with cheap boards and trying to overclock 8 core processors. The majority of those that help in here day in and day out and have been on the job for nearly 3.5 years, we know what to get and not to get in the way of motherboards if we intend to overclock. So rather than just post inforrmation in each individual thread, I am going to post in this 'stickyed' thread and hopefully the info will be findablle easier and longer.

I have looked in other forums for more information to help move joe six pack away from the El Cheapo mobos when the words in their sentences include "I want to overclock". Especially so if use of an 8 core FX processor is in the works.

One user with a current thread in AMD Cpu section with this motherboard. Jep he has problems.

ASRock 970 EXT 4
http://forums.techarena.in/motherboard-processor-ram/1470455.htm

Also disable the thermal throttling and set LLC at 1/2.

ASRock 970 extreme4 not stable with FX-8350 processor
If you are looking for overclocking then the motherboard of ASRock 970
extreme4 that you have is not fit the high end Amd FX-8350 processor. You
can try to go for asrock fatal1ty board that seems to be more powerful
enough to match with the processor. Then there are also other boards like
M5A99FX PRO or 990FX sabertooth that will surely give you a huge
performance with that processor.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18553105
My theory is maybe the motherboard is throttling somehow? I've tried
turning off Cool and quiet and the power management stuff in the BIOS,
CPU spikes still happens. Could it be the VRM overheating?

It's probably the VRMs dude. Those boards can barely hold a FX 83x0 at
stock without throttling. It took me ages to get 4.2ghz out of mine.

It's better replaced if you want to overclock. If not? then put a fan over the
power stages to at least try and cool them down a bit.

Thought as much, im gonna whack a fan pointing over it.

FROM OCF: March 5, 2013
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/728209-FX-8350-

Asrock-970-Extreme4-Not-a-good-couple
FX-8350 + Asrock 970 Extreme4; Not a good couple?

Pretty sane discussion about cheap mobos for 8 core FX and why NOT...

What can Asus D.O.C.P. do to me?

...well in keeping with my now linking answers from general forum areas back into this umbrella thead, I did a little answer thing in a thread. This was about D.O.C.P. on an Asus Sabertooth 990FX motherboard.

Possible mis-steps with Asus AM3+ D.O.C.P.

RGone...

Continuing to put information in one location...

...We are too often seeing under-spec'd motherboards coupled with FX processors and then the word 'overclock' inserted in the conversation and then coupled neatly with 'safely'. Huh?

To overclock or not to overclock (gigabyte GA-78lmt-usb3), that is the question.

RGone...

RGone said:

...We are too often seeing under-spec'd motherboards coupled with FX processors and then the word 'overclock' inserted in the conversation and then coupled neatly with 'safely'. Huh?

To overclock or not to overclock (gigabyte GA-78lmt-usb3), that is the question.

RGone...

Click to expand...

Too funny RGone but so true.

Okay Mid March 20015...

I was advised that a number of links in this thread were no longer valid. I have gone thru this #66 Post and tested every link and RE-arranged as necessary.
3:03AM Nov 5, 2015. RGone...

...Like I said a while ago, I do search the net for AM3+ stuff. I found all these links in one place so I copied them and will put them here.

Some of the links are to threads that have been going on for years. Some only go until the boards are no longer in the minds of the users. Pretty good reads as the really long ones begin with incoming users and then to problems and then to what is up still today in Mar 2015.

If you read them all it will be pretty apparent why most of us in here helping like on a 24/7 basis for now nearly 3.5 years, have chosen to suggest the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 and the CHV-Z and non-Z motherboards if you really want to overclock. Most surely those two boards if you want to 'really' overclock the FX-8 core series of cpus.

At least now these long-running threads will be where I can find them and not have to search again. Hehehe.

RGone...


[Official] ASUS Crosshair V Formula (990FX) club > 9,319 Posts in thread. Still posts in thread in March of 2015.


[Official] ASUS sabertooth AMD Owners Club > 8,194 Posts in thead.


The AMD ASRock Extreme Series Motherboard Club > 841 Posts in thread. Not [Official] thread.


ASRock 990FX Extreme9 > 73 Posts in the thread. Not [Official] Thread. As of today, March 15, 2015, the last post was July 12, 2014.


[Official] Gigabyte GA-990FXA-Series Owners Thread/Club > 11,317 Posts in thread. As of today Mar 15, 2015;
the last post in that thread was March 7, 2015 so thread is still some active.

Pretty good chronicle of the Gigabyte GA-990FXA AM3+ mobos. From
the Rev 1.0 boards with no LLC thru the Rev 3.0 boards that had
most pulling their hair, to some about the Rev 4.0 but nothing about
the Rev 4.1 yet that I saw.

Also a little but not much about the 970-UD3P 970 chipset board that
Gigabyte released because of so many problems with the under-
VRM'd early 970 boards.

C_D tells it like...

...like it should be.
C_D and getting a grip on what changing the FSB does. GOOD.

These tips are gonna be useful real soon.
Better start reading up!!

Thanks a again for the hard work digging up all the info RGone!!

Okay even with this mountain...

I was advised that a number of links in this thread were no longer valid. I have gone thru this #69 Post and tested every link and RE-arranged as necessary.
3:06AM Nov 5, 2015. RGone...

...mountain of words in this thread, I have said nothing about an APU type AMD processor. i don't really like them and have had NO need of one. They; according to AMD, apparently have their place in the overall scope of things processor oriented, but I am not there yet.

Since the release of the AMD FX 4, 6 and 8 core processors we have generally agreed that when we saw a CPU temp in HWMonitor Free that it should not exceed ~72c and that when we saw what is now called the "package" temp that it should not exceed ~62c. Well that has worked extremely well for nearly 3.5 years and I would guess 1,000s of users and those helped here in the AMD Cpu and Motherboard sections when speaking strictly of the discrete AMD FX cpus.

Well the later APU users for whatever reason are not satisfied at all with readings shown in HWMonitor Free. The temps are TOO high it seems. From what I have read one could just offset by a minus 10 or 12 degrees and the "package' temps would again be close to a livable temp. Most cannot do this. I mean "gimme a d*mn temp I like".

So what to do? You, make that many of you, can look at the image below and see that it has been a good long time since AMD has given us an actual temp reading. Certainly NOT on the 15h and 16h cpu families. However we with the discrete cpus have managed admirably. Not so, many APU users.

So for APU users there is now the AMD OverDrive™ Utility 4.3.1.0690 and later if so released. Now you will not see those high temps sometimes viewed in HWMonitor Free or likely in many other 3rd party monitoring applications.

You will need to look for current AMD Overdrive Utility since AMD keeps changing the page link.

i took this as a capure from AMD's tech paper for the 15h processor family and is also accurate as regards temperature specs for the 16h family. Those are the two families of AMD cpu I was dealing with. Other older famiiies may vary.

RGone...

Editted Capture shown below.

RGone i can confirm this as i got a copy of AOD around Jan. It is version 4.1.3.0698 and here is the help file, you can see at the bottom it give thermal margin witch it states 70c for lidded chips



Running prime to check the math with HWmonitor and AOD
as it shows for my 8320 its giving the 70c for max package just to confirm this.

Thanks...

...NiteSmoker17. That is the very 'latest' HWMonitor Free? If it is that HWMonitor reading is now "not" a temp as was always wanted (everybody wants a temp) but rather it seems showing the same readout number to Max Tctl as is the newer AMD AOD. Odd CPUID has not mentioned making such a change. At least not that I have heard about. Guess I don't pay much attention to the change logs but just get the newer version when it surfaces.

Maybe HWMonitor has made a real difference. I don't have APU myself to verify what you see, but am guessing one my buds may have APU. Thanks again for the heads up.

RGone...

RGone no what im showing you is that in HMonitor it still shows the current temp but in AOD it is showing you how much is left in temp till you hit thermal max. if you add the temp from Hmonitor and the AOD you get 70c. which is what AMD is now giving us for package temp max for lidded chips.

In the past we have believed that package temp max has been ~62c and we finally see that it is fact 70c.

it's not that we thought 62c was the max, it is that we saw a large number of cpu's start to get a bit unstable at that temp so we capped ourselves here in the forum.
we have all been well over that temp and the vcore to keep it stable over that temp can run into the .........well.... I like it range, we never really new what max was.
we shoot for a max temp of 55c because we have known that they can freak a little at 62c and the new guys, well, what would we have been doing to them if we had lead them up to running unstable?
I like the fat margins we keep in the forum.

Another reason we state 70c and 62c for the Cpu and Package temps respectively is because usually we are helping someone we do not know on the forum and are trying not to blow up their components for them. I know there are a few of us that have pushed past those margins, I also know of a member who was folding on his rig with temps in the 80's for weeks straight without a problem.

the amd fx cpu's and upper end motherboards are quite amazing in what they will take, i was in the mid 5's on ambiant water, core temps were in the mid to upper hell range, both are still hammering along like a cool spring afternoon. I'm not going to sit here looking at numbers on a screen that are an hour old and tell the poor guy how to do it.

Well Shett...

...just crapOla. I know what you are saying "manny" and C_D. We have had to sort of keep it on the most likely end of things when being asked that oh so newbie question of "how do I overclock my shett?" I have no desire to tell someone else something that might harm their parts and pieces and from a distance, using a keyboard. Also bear in mind that most of what we have said temp wise is petty d*mn universal across many of the more prominent forums.

I really did not make that post #69 for the discrete cpu users but only the APU users since I don't have one of the newer ones to really sort out the temp thingie with HWMonitor. And I have looked at literally 100's of posts and too dang many pieces of white paper to last me for a good while.

I am going to say something here in my 'own' thread and let the chips fall where they will. I have never written into any forum asking how to overclock. I never expected someone else to help me run my parts out of manufacturer's specifications. We hear it all the time, "what is max safe voltage or temp?" Who the heck really knows that answer? It is never more than a guesstimation. That guesstimation has a wider or bigger chance to be somewhat accurate as the number of people reporting that their rigs have lived at X temp or X voltage. But is that a 'rule' that will not be violated? Not hardly. AMD has a number of tutorials on how to overclock their particular cpu/chipset platforms. What is the disclaimer with that tutorial? To proceed to overclock is to void the warranty. Far too many have no concept of what that means. That is why they ask about safe volts and temps. Trying to skirt the issue. And then when overclocked they still expect warranty when there is a failure. Go figure. Modern thinking? No clue.

I know about when Mandrake4565, Johan45 and Caddi Daddi started their performance overclocking journeys. It has not been that long really. A couple of years. But you guys along with others I will not name since I know them not so well, take the bull by the horns and go for it. C_D once published to the forum his "bone pile" thread. Holy Bat Shettman. What a list. And if he updated that list with what went down moving to Intel...it would be astonishing. You hear him complain? Nope. Cost of learning. Send a few pictures off and talk about frozen gold-fish parts and suddenly huge gallons per hour pumps are pushing ice cold water thru big water blocks. Hand holding required? Nope. With that group there is an undestanding that overclocking is not guaranteed. Search for the golden silicon is in effect. Hehehe.

So is Max Tctl now 70c and not 62c Core/Package temp as we have made it to be for the sake of the newbie? 62c as we viewed in HWMonitor Free for so long now on discrete FX processsors since they have been the main players for nearly 3.5 years now? Well what the heck is Max Tctl? It is the place on a scale where AMD has set up the processor to do something to save itself and bring the temps back into a more usable range. Do I want to push my processor temps up to the place where AMD says something needs to happen to bring temps under control? I do not. I most certainly do not want to for use in a 24/7 situation. Most of us spend very good money to get the heck away and below that Max Tctl value.

Do I want to see a value of 0c in the place where AOD displays a value as if it were a temp? Nope. The whole idea with overclocking is to get speed that is not warrantied or guaranteed so we can say we been fast. Hehehe. And you get that speed in most silicon vested components by cooling the heck out it and not pushing it to the Max Temp limit.

Over the years that we have hung around and helped those asking for help we have seen 100s probably 1000s that had marginal setups that were just not up to withstanding heat or high temps. So in reality keeping as far away from the Max Tctl when overlocking probably saved a lot of hardware. The hardware manufacturers should have all sent us goodies for saving them money. Hehehe.

So life will go on probably close to how it has for 3.5 years. I will likely not suggest other than 62c for Max Package/Core temp when viewed in HWMonitor Free when loaded fully with P95 Blend mode and using discrete FX processor. Is the added 8c going to really do much to help? Not if the silicon components remain true to form. Because "more" heat just means more voltage and that more voltage just means more heat and round and round. An increased temp Max or increased value of Tctl and most likely following more voltage, do not seem at all in the logical procession to getting a sustainable overclock. ICBW and YMMV.

RGone...you ole faht, return this thing to its' regularly scheduled programming and shut the heck up. Over and out.

RGone....................

That sums things up very well RGone.

The simple fact remains most people that come hear not understanding these simple things you mentioned above or what really is necessary to OC one of these FX chips beyond a mild / medium OC. While most after a little coaching do grasp what we say but there will always be some that feel they know best and do what they do and unfortunately the few, very few who take our advise to heart and get serious about their endeavour and do it right. For me as CD has stated 62*C is where most chips start to show instability and is where I will always consider my max temps to lie and recommend thus, as I believe you do as well.

ba da boom! ba da bing!

Yep sounds about right. I am known for beating the ever loving hell out of my gear, and have successfully run WAY past the temps that a recommend to a new overclocker. Just because I have done it, and did so without fear does not make it a reliable measure.

ssjwizard said:

Yep sounds about right. I am known for beating the ever loving hell out of my gear, and have successfully run WAY past the temps that a recommend to a new overclocker. Just because I have done it, and did so without fear does not make it a reliable measure.

Click to expand...

Exactly the person whom I was referring to Nice to see you pop on ssj