GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 + 6300 Overclock

basic run down, by newegg, where I got my entire system.
1 RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply, New Version with Build-in LED Fan On/Off Switch
1 x AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x MSI R6570-MD2GD3/LP Radeon HD 6570 2GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card
1 x Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3S8N9K2/4G

I am having problems maintaining an overclock of 4GHz, and for some reason, I am thinking it's my memory, any thoughts?

Rather than guessing what might be the issue with 4.0Ghz...

...there is a way to allow us a look see at how things are at your end. Without which we can guess as well as the next.

This is what we need to see for sure and a real good starting point.

Normally during setup and testing we disable C1/E, C6, Cool N Quiet, APM, TurboCore and in windows performance manager itself we set to "performance" mode. ALSO if you have HPC in bios you would ENABLE it. That way there are not "other" settings messing with the overclocking process. Some of those settings are not available on all models of cpu but where in evidence we disable for setup of overclock process.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU CORE TEMPS / "package" temps fully visible. Latest versions of HWMonitor show the CPU Core Temp as " a Package Temp" and is only shown as a single temp since there were never multple, individual core temp sensors anyway.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open and running on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.



In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.

"Normally during setup and testing we disable C1/E, C6, Cool N Quiet, APM, TurboCore and in windows performance manager itself we set to "performance" mode. ALSO if you have HPC in bios you would ENABLE it."
Hm.
Well right now, I am using my laptop... but I'll see about the above tomorrow.
I'll do some testing, and then get back to you.
And Thanks.

If you intend to overclock, it is best to take all those variables out of the way as possible issues or there is a hard road in front of one when trying to diagnose what is or maybe causing a problem. Luck man.
RGone...

Right now, my AMD FX6300 is running 3.9 It is running a job, if it finishes, I will assume, that it is fully stable. It froze up, while running the same job at 4GHz. It's mildly possible, that it's either overheating, or not enough volts? If I had the money, I would place something else on there, other then stock heat sink and fan. I first have to ask my (ssi) payee, see if they will approve the money. I am sure, they probably will.
Running TMPGEnc Mastering Works, Lion King, 1080p to MKV.
This is just for a test file.

I'll do another reply later, with CPU-Z frame caps.

If you were to post some of the info RGone asked for in post #2 we could likely help you find the culprit.

FievelJ said:

Right now, my AMD FX6300 is running 3.9 It is running a job, if it finishes, I will assume, that it is fully stable. It froze up, while running the same job at 4GHz. It's mildly possible, that it's either overheating, or not enough volts? If I had the money, I would place something else on there, other then stock heat sink and fan. I first have to ask my (ssi) payee, see if they will approve the money. I am sure, they probably will.
Running TMPGEnc Mastering Works, Lion King, 1080p to MKV.
This is just for a test file.

I'll do another reply later, with CPU-Z frame caps.

Click to expand...

If you are happy with that for a stability test so be it but speaking from experience, I use BDRebuilder for my BLU-RAY encodes like you have just done with TMPGEnc Mastering Works. Even using multiple encode plus batch encode where I will do 3 to 6 movies at a time where I will have my FX 8350 pegged at 100% for 6 to 12 hours t a time, I still don't find that X264 will really test my stability as I can run an OC about 200MHZ more then what I have found stable with PRIME95 during stress tests. Maybe I am just picky, maybe I just don't want to deal with doing my encodes over again, maybe its just that old time mentality do it right the first time. Let the guys help you they will get you the best stable OC you can count on.

Bassnut uses his FX-8350 similar to myself...

...similar to my own loading with video encoding. I take home videos and add music, title panels and other descriptions within the video and then recode it for saving and upload to Youtube very often. There is no way in the world I want a crash during that process and lose any data or have to restart.

I was doing my encoding on an 8 core i870 at 3.6Ghz and on a whim moved to my FX-8350 test bench setup @4.0Ghz. Cut my rendering time by about 50%. Then I pushed my FX-8350 to 4.3Ghz speed and cut right at another 40% off my rendering times. Bumped cpu speed once again and this time to 4.5Ghz and dropped rendering times again and again by nearly 50% time for render. Then following the pattern I have found from testing, I increased cpu speed to 4.8Ghz and this time I was complettely blown away at the reduction to rendering time.

I had almost tired of working with my home videos because of the time to render video to usable format. On my Intel rig it was taking about 1.45seonds per 1MB of data to do the final render. When I jumped to using my FX-8350 bench rig at 4.0Ghz, that time came in at well below a minute per MB of video rendered all using the very same Video application. After increasing my FX-8350 from 4.0Ghz to 4.8Ghz, the render time per one MB is now at about 12-14 seconds. That is a HUGE differfence in time to render. Platform and optimization of said platform put me back into a mindset of not so much drudgery to render my home videos. YMMV.

Cooling of any FX 6 or 8 core is of the utmost consideration to run the level of speeds that cut the renderng times of video files. Original Equipment cooling fans seldom need apply. And the speed of FX processors is highly prized to allow one to stay even with Intel cpus in completion of actual work to be done such as video rendering. As we used to say: "been there, done that and have the T-shirt to prove it".
RGone...ster.

Sorry.
I hit the wrong button.
I don't know a way for sure to capture the screen with ET6 running.
But there's what's seeming to work just now.

We still would like to see the SPD tab from CPU-z and a shot of HWMonitor free whaile under load. Windows has this feature in accessories called snipping tool. It works great for screen shots and there's also paint. With paint hit CTRL+ print screen then go to accessories and open paint then hit CTRL+V and save as jpeg

Yeah okay.



Think it's possible I am getting too hot for much more?

yes you are getting too hot we recommend 65*C MAX core temp (package) and 75*C Max on your socket (TMPIN 1 or 2) not sure which it is on your board ........ you need better cooling. Think Corsair H80 at min or better yet the H100 or better if it will fit in your case and you want to stick with a closed loop system. There are some good air coolers as well but will let one of the other guys recommend one as I am not up to date with the Air coolers.

That thing is definately smoking hot. 76°c on the package is way too hot. I realize the board is slightly under powered for this CPU and will get hot but that temp leads me to believe either the CPU cooler isn't seated properly or just terribly inadequate for the job. What are you using for a cooler and have you checked it to make sure it's seated properly and has a good TIM spread.

FievelJ said:

If I had the money, I would place something else on there, other then stock heat sink and fan. I first have to ask my (ssi) payee, see if they will approve the money. I am sure, they probably will.
.

Click to expand...

"johan" he is usihg the stock heat sink for cooling the cpu at this time, he says earlier. He has that seemingly low Vcore but yet such high temps...leading me to believe the heat sink maybe not mounted well or the case has almost no air-flow in it to remove any hot air the cooler releases into the case.

We are again beiing flooded by users with far too entry level motherboards, that are wanting more than the surrounding pieces can support these hOt FX processors to perform at.

I look at his Vcore and suspect the cpu voltage is way too little to support a fully stable 4.0Gzh or greater, yet the temps already registered, show to be far too high for extended overclock use. Cooling will have to get better by a pretty large margin if the cpu speeds we expect to function...could actually function.
RGone...

FievelJ said:

Yeah okay.
View attachment 154276
View attachment 154277

Think it's possible I am getting too hot for much more?

Click to expand...

You are running your RAM at 1487 mhz and it's only rated for 1333 mhz. I certainly would look at that as a cause for instability at higher clocks. Don't forget, when you are using the FSB to overclock it also drives up other frequencies that are tuned to it like the RAM, the HT Link and the CPU/NB. These other frequencies may need to be manually adjusted downward in order to maintain stability.

trents said:

You are running your RAM at 1487 mhz and it's only rated for 1333 mhz. I certainly would look at that as a cause for instability at higher clocks. Don't forget, when you are using the FSB to overclock it also drives up other frequencies that are tuned to it like the RAM, the HT Link and the CPU/NB. These other frequencies may need to be manually adjusted downward in order to maintain stability.

Click to expand...

Just now, that's not what I am the most concerned with. I am also considering one of my temperatures to maybe be incorrect.
It sits on 48Degrees even on idle. This temperature just doesn't seem right, when the cpu will sit on about 35 - 38 degrees.
And then what concerns me even more is, that it'll go over 70 when under 100% load. The cpu does too. If thermal guide lines are 65 degrees max, will I burn out my cpu if I just let it go? And what if, when it gets up to 76 degrees, it's a false read out?
If it's a false reading, how would I really know? It's good to know these things, as it extends the life of the cpu, even while overclocking. I am thinking about getting a pre-assembled water cooler, and then if temperatures still reach over what they seem like they should reach, then there may be some inaccurate readings there.
I'd say considering all the other temperatures, while running windows on idle, there's definitely a reading which is inaccurate. It just seems like it's way too hot, for one of the temperatures to stay around 48 degrees, when no other reading is near that hot. Between 34 and 35 degrees for the cpu. Most temperatures hanging below 40, with one as hot as 48?


What's your opinion?

No pics and no specific reference to temps but only "it"

...make it tough to have a valid opinion.

You say >> It sits on 48Degrees even on idle
We ask >> What temp is being referred to. "it" does not tell us anything.

Without the image of temps to go by, we are at a loss.

You say >> I am thinking about getting a pre-assembled water cooler,
We say >> When swapping to just about 'any' form of watercooling, you remove the air-flow over the VRMs and also the general socket of cpu area and without replacing that air flow with a fan...you will get a raised cpu socket temp for sure. We have had this happen so water cooling is certainly not an end all be all.
RGone...

EDIT:
I decided to put this here for reference. In general AMD core temps are not 'for real' until about 45c is reached. Plenty of posts from a year ago by AMD reps have stated this. They are not in the HVAC business but only in monitoring a temp for them so they can shut the cpu down. Not a real signal for accurate external temp reading at lower temps while cpu is not loaded. This is why we always ask for captures of HWMonitor while the cpu is actually under load from Prime 95 Blend mode.

HWMonitor Free has been pretty close to accurate for most of us for 3 years of the FX processor. The ONLY time I care at all about Idle temps is if my "core/package" temps reading exceptionally high at idle which tells me I have a poor cooler to Cpu mount or there is not enough air coming thru the case to remove heat. Otherwise I do not pay more than a passing glance at Idle temps of later AMD cpus.
END EDIT.

Both "package" temp and CPU socket temp (likely represented by TMPIN2) are too high by a considerable margin and they seem to be abnormally high given the low vcore of 1.224 max.

What are you using for the CPU cooler? Are you using the stock heat sink/fan ("HSF").

At those low voltages, high temps can be caused by:

1. HSF not being mounted correctly
2. TIM (thermal paste not being applied correctly
3. Poor case ventilation
4. High ambient air temps. What is your room temperature?

Your motherboard is not a good one for overclocking an FX CPU. It only has 4+1 power phase components and it does not have a heat sinks on the power phase components.

We know nothing about your cooling/case hardware. Please make a "Sig" that lists your components in some detail. A "Sig" follows every post you make and serves as a quick reference to those helping you. It's a common courtesy on the forum. To do this go to the top of the page (upper right corner) and click on "Settings" and then click on "My Settings" (left hand margine) and then click on "Edit Signature" just below that. I'm not sure if you have enough posts yet to have access to this feature but please check that now and if it is not available to you please check it later on after more posts. In the meantime, please give us info about your CPU cooler and your case make and model.