FX55 OC potential

I have an AMD FX55 OC'd to 3052MHz I use water cooling that keeps it around 46*C full load and 34*C Idle, it has been running very stable for about a month now, I achieved this setting by changing the HT to 4x, the base clock to 218 and the multiplyer to 14x and it will only run stable at 1.55v, that is the highest voltage setting my MoBo will allow(I'm sure I've screwed up my terminology) I have Corsair XMS Pro series DDR 400 with a stock timing of 3-3-3-8, it is now set to 2-3-3-7. ANYWAY! if I try to push it any further it becomes completely unstable, I was just wondering if anyone has achieved higher clock speeds and how, and if there is any way I can push it further with what I have. Also, does changing the frequency to the PCI-Ex in BIOS help improve the GPU performance?

AMD FX55
ASUS A8N5X Mobo
Corsair XMS Pro 2x1Gb (2048)
WD Raptor HDD Serial ATA150 74Gb
Antec Truepower 550w SLI PSU
eVGA 7900GT
Thermaltake Bigwater Liquid Cooling System

wow that a big drop in your timmings from stock cas 3 to cas2 . When you ram is @ stock timmings can you push it farther ? might me that your ram doesnt liek cas2 above 218 ? But 3ghz seems right for a fx imo

I have no idea, I have a basic understanding about Overclocking, I was under the Impression that the lower the Cas the better? what about the PCI-Ex frequency, does that affect anything? and what do you suggest my RAM settings be for best gaming potential?

A lower CAS setting improves performance, but a higher CAS setting can sometimes net you higher memory bus speeds, it's a trade-off. You won't see a benefit by increasing the PCI-Ex frequency, actually you'll want to keep it as close to 100mhz as possible for the most trouble-free operation. Have you tried adding more voltage (vdimm) to your memory?

yes, the lowest voltage I can go on the RAM to keep the system very stable is 2.7v, I know it can handle 2.8v, but even at that it made no improvments on the stability of the system if i try to push my cpu past 3052 MHz. I had the base clock as high as 225 with the multi at 14x giving me 3.15GHz but it was very unstable, and the highes Vcore my Mobo will allow is 1.55v. even at that speed, it wasnt running hot at all, it idled at 39*C. but Windows kept crashing. Could lack of voltage be my only enemy here? or am I possibly missing a step concerning the RAM

Oops, I misread, I thought you were having trouble getting your memory speed above 218. I've never owned an FX but I would think 1.6v for the CPU would be fine with watercooling, provided you get a board that allows a higher vcore or voltmod your current one. As long as the temps don't exceed 50c on a regular basis if it were mine I would try to push more vcore into it. At >3Ghz already it's a good overclock for a single core.

Yeah, unfortunatly 1.55v is the most voltage my BIOS will allow, so I am kind of stuck there, that is why I was posting to see if anyone has been able to achieve higher clock speeds with the same voltage, or if I need to change a setting on the RAM

I have the same board. Lock the PCI-E at 100Mhz. That is still a nice OC and you are running faster than any other store bought AMD is going so remember that at least.

Do the steps to check. Drop another divider on the ram getting it below 200Mhz and see if your chip goes higher. If so you know it's the ram. If not then you have to weigh the cost/benefit of buying a new MB to get another 100 - 200Mhz or so. I doubt you could go higher than that even with water.

MrJ007 said:

Yeah, unfortunatly 1.55v is the most voltage my BIOS will allow, so I am kind of stuck there, that is why I was posting to see if anyone has been able to achieve higher clock speeds with the same voltage, or if I need to change a setting on the RAM

Click to expand...

I am in the same boat Although I am putting mine on water this weekend. Right now its on cheap air running all stock but x14. Its not sp2004 stable at stock vcore, but it has not crashed or corrupted data in the 2 weeks I have been running it like this. IT takes 1.45 to sp2004 but hte heat on this throw away heatsink gets too high. And 1.5+ for 3 GHz.

(I also got to see 3.1+ but sooo unstable, and I had to clockgen to that speed, think I might try a volt mod on this asus, since I have another )