SOLVED AMD FX - Throttling (not temp related)

[Aldakoopa]

Well turning HPC on disables the throttling, how do I turn on what I dont have grrrrr. 890fx does not have HPC setting in BIOS....

*********************taken from toms hardware-******************************
Although Microsoft helped AMD address how the Bulldozer architecture is addressed in less demanding workloads, there is still an issue we've seen on the FX-8150, where the 3.6 GHz part throttles down to 3.3 GHz under a full load. That’s probably considered a power-saving feature in densely-packed 2U servers. However, desktop users have the option to disable this strange step backward through the HPC Mode options exposed through recent firmware updates.
***********************************************************************

now I know what the cause is how to disable it through REGedit ?? anyone have a clue ? as this is not an option in the BIOS

regards

Sal.

The benchmarks they ran showed very little to absolutely no improvement with HPC. That doesn't sound right. Shouldn't keeping the multiplier higher and thus keeping the processor faster make more of a difference than that?

I don't have any BIOS options for HPC either. I was actually considering dropping the multiplier down to 16.5 and raising the frequency to 250MHz so I can keep my 1333MHz memory speed. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad idea... Somebody mentioned earlier that it doesn't make sense to have an unlocked multiplier yet have it throttle itself down, and I completely agree.

 

[salsoul]

The benchmarks they ran showed very little to absolutely no improvement with HPC. That doesn't sound right. Shouldn't keeping the multiplier higher and thus keeping the processor faster make more of a difference than that?

I don't have any BIOS options for HPC either. I was actually considering dropping the multiplier down to 16.5 and raising the frequency to 250MHz so I can keep my 1333MHz memory speed. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad idea... Somebody mentioned earlier that it doesn't make sense to have an unlocked multiplier yet have it throttle itself down, and I completely agree.

That was me- not really unlocked if they downclock and take away control from the user

The throttling happens so fast were talking 2us nano secs on throttling perhaps there is not that much performance lost. But it does cut down on heat

 

[Aldakoopa]

The throttling happens so fast were talking 2us nano secs on throttling perhaps there is not that much performance lost. But it does cut down on heat

Interesting... so in other words, it may actually be more beneficial then?

 

[salsoul]

Interesting... so in other words, it may actually be more beneficial then?

I wouldnt go that far lol

Im not even sure I got the 2us ? bit right I am assuming that the u/S bit is nano seconds.

you can d/load hw32 and see the throttling in pretty much realtime using HW32 > http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html

start it up and then start prime95 small fft's watch the FX beast turn into a chiuaua see image below

any underclock cant be good for performance. and cant be good for stablity. When throttling the VID and Multi constantly up and down.
VID throttles down to 1.275v multi down to x16.5. that has to stress components more I would say, but I am no expert at all. this FX CPU is still a mystery to alot of people including myself.

As it mentoned in toms h/w review that even the reviewer thought it was a bizzare implementation, more for low power 2u racks not desktop users.
HPC= High Performance Computing.

Im hoping to get a response from Asus about this new info and hope that the next BIOS update will implement HPC control.. until then Im stumped. Im also hoping that a REGedit guru will track the key down that controls HPC if its in windows that is. or know how to enable it on my board.

but for those of you with 990 boards and this option available in the BIOS please report back if you try this so other users can benefit.

 

[Aldakoopa]

any underclock cant be good for performance. and cant be good for stablity. When throttling the VID and Multi constantly up and down.
VID throttles down to 1.275v multi down to x16.5. that has to stress components more I would say, but I am no expert at all. this FX CPU is still a mystery to alot of people including myself.

Was this directed toward me dropping the multiplier to 16.5 and raising the bus speed to 250MHz, or was it directed to the throttling? Because even though I'd drop the multiplier, I'd raise the bus speed enough that'it's still a 4.1GHz overclock, minus the drop while it's throttling and not affecting my memory speed. I'm still very new to overclocking. In fact, this was my first time overclocking a CPU, so I still really don't know too much.

 

[salsoul]

Was this directed toward me dropping the multiplier to 16.5 and raising the bus speed to 250MHz, or was it directed to the throttling? Because even though I'd drop the multiplier, I'd raise the bus speed enough that'it's still a 4.1GHz overclock, minus the drop while it's throttling and not affecting my memory speed. I'm still very new to overclocking. In fact, this was my first time overclocking a CPU, so I still really don't know too much.

No not at you that whole statement was about the throttling and what occurs not what your setup is. purely at the throttling. Ive been running that way myself for a while but found a wall at 290 on the fsb on my board. I was trying 300x16.5 but it needed too much voltage.

So I went back to multi OCing and trying to overcome the throttling problem.

And it appears I seem to have fixed it. well until I reboot I bet.

Using the OverDrive again in another attempt it appears as though the throttling has gone. ( i know i said it would never be installed again in an earlier post)

I set both turbo states 0 & 1 including VID to my current settings
1.35vid 22.5 multi. then I enabled turbo core and it prompted me to disable turbo core for best overclocking results. it hasnt throttled since.

try your own settings or even try at stock.

Im gonna bench cinebench now see if there is any diffrence in performance. there should be hopefully. and then I will reboot and see if the settings stick.

 

[Aldakoopa]

No not at you that whole statement was about the throttling and what occurs not what your setup is. purely at the throttling. Ive been running that way myself for a while but found a wall at 290 on the fsb on my board. I was trying 300x16.5 but it needed too much voltage.

So I went back to multi OCing and trying to overcome the throttling problem.

And it appears I seem to have fixed it. well until I reboot I bet.

Using the OverDrive again in another attempt it appears as though the throttling has gone. ( i know i said it would never be installed again in an earlier post)

I set both turbo states 0 & 1 including VID to my current settings
1.35vid 22.5 multi. then I enabled turbo core and it prompted me to disable turbo core for best overclocking results. it hasnt throttled since.

try your own settings or even try at stock.

Im gonna bench cinebench now see if there is any diffrence in performance. there should be hopefully. and then I will reboot and see if the settings stick.

I'd try it but I can't figure out why Overdrive isn't working.

(P.S. reset everything to stock currently)

 

[salsoul]

I'd try it but I can't figure out why Overdrive isn't working.

(P.S. reset everything to stock currently)

AMD -Overdrive is a seperate utility go here http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/amd-overdrive/Pages/overview.aspx and download it and have a read of the guide to using it. it will give you a starting point.

Just to clarify I have restarted and the throttling came back, so I have to turn on turbo mode everytime I restart...oh well heres to a large uptime

p.s you dont have to use 3rd party hosting for you pics just click the paperclip next to the white smiley on the toolbar above. that way it resizes automatically for everyone

 

[Aldakoopa]

AMD -Overdrive is a seperate utility go here http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/amd-overdrive/Pages/overview.aspx and download it and have a read of the guide to using it. it will give you a starting point.

Just to clarify I have restarted and the throttling came back, so I have to turn on turbo mode everytime I restart...oh well heres to a large uptime

p.s you dont have to use 3rd party hosting for you pics just click the paperclip next to the white smiley on the toolbar above. that way it resizes automatically for everyone

I didn't know I had to download Overdrive. The GPU Overdrive was working and is what I'm using to hold my current GPU overclock with so I thought the CPU should have worked too. And I also didn't know about the pic thing. Thanks for letting me know!

 

[salsoul]

I didn't know I had to download Overdrive. The GPU Overdrive was working and is what I'm using to hold my current GPU overclock with so I thought the CPU should have worked too. And I also didn't know about the pic thing. Thanks for letting me know!

no problem

Good luck

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I didn't read the entire thread, but its the mobo BIOS. The CIVE has bad bios support for Bulldozer, same thing happens on FX-6100 and FX-8120 on my CIVE using BIOS 3027.

I don't expect Asus will ever release an update again, but if they do that would be a pleasant surprise. This problem does not exist on the CVF.

By disabling all power settings in BIOS, I've gotten good benchmark results on the CIVE anyways - but at idle the clocks and volts drop even though I disabled all the settings for that stuff.

 

[salsoul]

I didn't read the entire thread, but its the mobo BIOS. The CIVE has bad bios support for Bulldozer, same thing happens on FX-6100 and FX-8120 on my CIVE using BIOS 3027.

I don't expect Asus will ever release an update again, but if they do that would be a pleasant surprise. This problem does not exist on the CVF.

and if they do it needs HPC mode support to permenatly stop this throttling.

 

[Aldakoopa]

I don't expect Asus will ever release an update again, but if they do that would be a pleasant surprise. This problem does not exist on the CVF.

That sucks. I'd love to see a BIOS update for my mobo because currently Bulldozer can't play certain games (like Portal 2 and Team Fortress 2, there are several others but I don't have them). The only people to have ever gotten them to work from what I've read own Gigabyte motherboards and Gigabyte made a patch for it to work in those games. I'm not even sure what chipset that was for (probably 9xx) but it's still aggrevating to me. I built this computer for gaming and I love Valve games, and if it doesn't work right all the time with their Source engine, what am I supposed to do?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I'd contact support about your options. Incompatibility like that is a product defect in my book, and I would not be very happy.

 

[Aldakoopa]

I'd contact support about your options. Incompatibility like that is a product defect in my book, and I would not be very happy.

It's been a problem with all Bulldozer CPUs on all motherboards. I did a little more searching just now. Somebody actually updated all the 9xx BIOSes across all board manufacturers, but nothing for 8xx.

However... that same person also made a .exe fix that works for the 8xx BIOSes. He apparently couldn't fix them. You have to start the file every time you start your computer, but it could be made to run on startup easily.


Salsoul, since you have the 890 chipset this might be of interest to you. It fixes issues with a few games that would BSOD with a Bulldozer chip. I'll PM you the links if you're interested.

Sorry for this being off-topic.

EDIT: *shakes fist at FBI* Nevermind, can't get the download.
RE-EDIT: After some more searching, I found another download for it.

 

[salsoul]

It's been a problem with all Bulldozer CPUs on all motherboards. I did a little more searching just now. Somebody actually updated all the 9xx BIOSes across all board manufacturers, but nothing for 8xx.

However... that same person also made a .exe fix that works for the 8xx BIOSes. He apparently couldn't fix them. You have to start the file every time you start your computer, but it could be made to run on startup easily.


Salsoul, since you have the 890 chipset this might be of interest to you. It fixes issues with a few games that would BSOD with a Bulldozer chip. I'll PM you the links if you're interested.

Sorry for this being off-topic.

EDIT: *shakes fist at FBI* Nevermind, can't get the download.
RE-EDIT: After some more searching, I found another download for it.

can you give me the link if I can see what its doing then I could possibly change the reg myself instead of an unknown .exe running on my pride and joy. no offence and greatly apprieciated..

Does this .exe fix the throttling or is it just for the BSOD (which im not getting) for the aformentioned steam games.

currently im only playing BF3 in 5760x1080 all settings high HBAO on Motion Blur off/ AA off/ Tess AMD optimised. getting 130-150fps drops to 70-80fps in massive firefights. currently using 4GB system ram & 3.6GB vram according to MSIAfterburner 2.20 beta 11.

so if the .exe is only for the steam games Im gonna have to pass. I have the steam games but TF2 looks so dated after playing BF3 I just cant do it anymore.

Thank you for the offer though (assuming its only for the bsod steam games)

 

[salsoul]

Hey Aldakoopa,


Thanks for PM.. been reading through the thread and it appears that there is a fault in the microcode & AGESA of the Orochi (BD codename)OR-B2 stepping version of the CPU's that causes poor performance in CEG protected steam games. it appears that alot of people have had success with this on different boards. but it still remains untested on the Crosshair IV extreme. I would much prefer someone else to try this first.

This will either work or turn my MB into a very expensive Door Stop.. Definitely rather someone else took the lead on that one..

 

[Aldakoopa]

I know it works with my board... but I didn't know it could possibly harm it.

 

[salsoul]

I know it works with my board... but I didn't know it could possibly harm it.

yeah man flashing your BIOS with an unofficial modded bios can be risky.

I would wait for an offical release. have you submitted a steam ticket about it ?

By the sounds of it if you can wait there may be a official microcode update from Asus. hopefully.

 

[Aldakoopa]

yeah man flashing your BIOS with an unofficial modded bios can be risky.

I would wait for an offical release. have you submitted a steam ticket about it ?

By the sounds of it if you can wait there may be a official microcode update from Asus. hopefully.

Whoa! Orochi-CEG.exe isn't a BIOS flash. Sorry for the confusion. Since it's off topic, I'll PM you about it to explain.

On topic, now that you've figured out a way past throttling and shown me about AMD Overdrive I think I'll retry my overclock and see what it can do.