FX6100 Overclock.

Can anyone help, I have a FX6100 on an MSI 990FXA-GD80 with :-

Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Module CL9 1.5V X 3
Coolermaster GX 650W PSU
MSI GTX 550 TI O/C

Cooler is an Antec Freezer Pro Rev 2
Case is Coolermaster CM 690 II Adavance - Special Edition White (plenty of cooling)

I can get the chip to run at 4.0 by just having everything on Auto and pushing the ratio up to X20 and it seems to run fine (bit hotter though)

I want to try and get a little bit more out of it ( I have heard it can go up to 4.5 ) but have some questions.

A) Is it worth it VS. the life span degrade on the board ( even though I have a tough board for o/c)

B) How would I apply more to this board, as just using the multiplier and Auto settings makes the system unstable and I either get crashing or a fail boot.

And another question to save another post, if I was to sell the board and CPU to go intel i5 2500k It would cost £100 more with the AMD stuff sold.. is it worth it? would there be a noticeable increase in performance? I know its a touchy subject to which there's many responses but I'm trying to get the best from my system based on what I have and the possibility of going to an i5 if it wont cost me THAT much more...

I mean if I was to stay with this system and get a better GPU, say a 680 then I would be set for Battlefield 3 maxing out the Graphics and getting the best performance wouldn't I? So what would the i5 bring to this? Would going to an i5 actually do any more good, or is it just 'picky' gaming rig builders that give the impression that the i5 is better when they will both equally do the same job?

Appreciate any help!

My bios and CPU below.

http://d.pr/i/98Pq
http://d.pr/i/WZUX
http://d.pr/AcR0

Welcome!

Check out the overclocking guide to bulldozer linked in my signature. That should help you out.

Im not an AMD guy but can say you shouldnt overclock on auto (chances are it over volts in favor of stability).

A. You would be degrading the chip more so than the board, but Im certain, where you are trying to reach, that you will want another CPU before it actually dies b/c of overclocking.

B. See o/c guide.

Look at reviews with 2500k vs 4100 and make that call yourself.

EarthDog said:

Welcome!

Check out the overclocking guide to bulldozer linked in my signature. That should help you out.

Im not an AMD guy but can say you shouldnt overclock on auto (chances are it over volts in favor of stability).

A. You would be degrading the chip more so than the board, but Im certain, where you are trying to reach, that you will want another CPU before it actually dies b/c of overclocking.

B. See o/c guide.

Look at reviews with 2500k vs 4100 and make that call yourself.

Click to expand...

Hi thanks for the reply

this is true, my concerns about the life span are now no more.

I have read the reviews and I cant make up my mind, I'm not picky nor fussy and I'm running BF3 on that build above with a mix of high and ultra settings and I get 50 FPS and sometimes more! So the only thing holding me back here is my GPU really? So no need to worry about the whole song and dance that is i5 vs 6100 ?

I shall turn off my O/C until I can clock it properly based on your comments, just need to figure it all out really.

Nope. I wouldnt worry about the CPU for that game at 1920x1080.. def. GPU limited.

Its up to you. If your load temps while stress testing are fine (read: under 60C) then keep on keeping on.

EarthDog said:

Nope. I wouldnt worry about the CPU for that game at 1920x1080.. def. GPU limited.

Its up to you. If your load temps while stress testing are fine (read: under 60C) then keep on keeping on.

Click to expand...

Playing the game with the Freezer Pro Rev2 at 100% along with all case fans at 100% I stay pretty much around 50C / 55C MAX

If I was to go 3 Screens, Surround with an SLI setup lets say 680's (for sake of example) would the CPU still let me do this do you think?

I would like to pull them down a bit (temps) and maintain the 4.0 Ghz maybe 4.4 ? Am I right in saying that this is where manually setting the right settings will let me achieve this? And also, that guide is for the 8120 but that doesn't matter, right?

Again, thanks for this, I'm learning, slowly =D

No sir, you are spot on with your assumptions.

EarthDog said:

No sir, you are spot on with your assumptions.

Click to expand...

Brill, Ill have a play when I get home from work in an hour or so. Hopefully I can get a nice speed from it and keep the temps down as I tend to VNC in from work so I can check mail / do some bits n baps on it (basically its on quite a bit, sometimes working hard)..

Thanks for the help will post back if I get stuck !

Ok so all looks good at 4.2 Mhz, I know this will go up more but happy with this to begin.

BF3 crashes though with "c0000005" which I think is something to do with memory. When I O/C my CPU do I have to do anything memory related? At the moment I changed it from Auto to its actual configuration, may change it back to auto and see if this crash does a hike?