AMD Turbo Core - Whaa, seasoned overclocker stumped ......

[mongoled]

Hi peeps,

am having an issue where I am hoping to hear if others have similar experiences so I have an idea on which direction to go.

Basically, see rig in sig, decided to shift the 8350 and purchased the 8370e for two reasons.

1/ Wanted to play with a new chip
2/ Was planning to run it as it was manufactured i.e. factory defaults, turbo core enabled etc

Sooooooo,

the issue is this, the CPU is very stable under all Pstates (even heavily under voltaged) have tested with Prime95 (blend) all cores etc.

But when I leave it at default settings, default == reset bios, manually set mem clocks/timings, very few tweaks etc while in Windows just doing regular things the PC will after anything from several minutes to a few hours just bluescreen on me.



Simply disabling AMD Turbo Core in the BIOS and the system is perfecly stable.

As explained above (reason 2) I cannot seem to run my PC in n00b mode i.e. non tweaked, has anybody else experienced these sort of issues with AMD Turbo Core ??

Yes, I know, that I can setup my own pstates and run the CPU just as I was running my 8350, but thats not really what I was planning to do.

Simply, plug n play (pray ?)), run the CPU as was intended by the manufacturer etc.

Another anomoly, probably contributed via AMD Overdrive (really people should just avoid using this app to change any sort of settings), caused my CPU to randomly reboot/boot with VID over 1.56v !

PC would then hard shut down, power on the hard shut down again.

Power recycling sometimes help the PC recover, sometimes not.

Hard to hard reset the BIOS!

This happened after I used AMD Overdrive to enable/disable AMD Turbo Core, play with some of the multiplier settings etc.

So any peeps have any input that I can use ?

Cheers

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Sounds like it just needs a touch of voltage to be stable at the turbo clocks to me.

 

[caddi daddi]

that would be it, vcore sag at idle.
check to make sure you are runnind a bios that suppots the 8370e.

 

[caddi daddi]

you might also try going into power options/ advanced power options and raise the minimum processor state 15 or 20.

 

[mongoled]

Sounds like it just needs a touch of voltage to be stable at the turbo clocks to me.

Understand what you are saying, but at each pstate/turbo clock I am prime95 stable with .04-.06 less voltage.

that would be it, vcore sag at idle.
check to make sure you are runnind a bios that suppots the 8370e.

I thought the issue might be to do with the switching/response time but was unsure/uneasy what to change having seen the 1.56+ voltage spikes. Am using the latest BIOS by the way.

you might also try going into power options/ advanced power options and raise the minimum processor state 15 or 20.

Have not seen that setting before, what about the settings in digi+ for the switching times ??

Will check tomorrow when I have access to the PC

Thanks for both of your inputs, very much appreciated !

 

[caddi daddi]

till you get to way big clocks stock for switching times will be fine.
power managment is in windows power options.

 

[mongoled]

till you get to way big clocks stock for switching times will be fine.
power managment is in windows power options.

Oh a Windows setting (just checked it on my notebook), will give it a try tomorrow, cheers

Found this nice thread discussing the advanced power feature you mentioned (core parking)

https://products.bitsum.com/forum/index.php?topic=3548.0

A good read and also talks about disabling C6 states.

Will report back with results when i have them!

 

[mongoled]

Someone please correct me if my expectation is incorrect.

1/ Start prime95
2/ Task Manager --> Right Click Prime95 --> Set Affinity --> Have only 4 cores ticked (the same as AMD Turbo Core setting)
3/ Start a torture test

My expectation is that four of the cores should jump to a turbo state.

But none of the cores jump to a turbo state.

I have CnQ enabled, have disabled C1 & C6, AMD Turbo Core set to Auto.

Using default balanced profile setting.

Tried with high performance profile state, still no change.

Tried ticking the green circle in AMD Overdrive to force high power state.

What am I missing ?

 

[mongoled]

Back to the drawing board.....

After another reset of the BIOS, turbo is kicking in automatically but not when I run prime95.

I reset the BIOS again as was seeing anomolies in what pstates (viewed using AMD PSCheck) were available.

What do I mean, well...

Usually there are seven pstates by default, but for whatever reason why sometimes some go missing

i.e. Default are

4300/3600/3300/2900/2400/1900/1400

Then for reasons unknown to me

4300/3600/3300/1400 only are available.

I have been through the BIOS changing different settings one by one to see if any of these trigger pstates to disappear, but I have not been able to trigger it.

The setting I have been changing have to do with power saving settings and in digi+

If I were to guess I reckon AMD Overdrive is causing the issue, now I am wary to even open it !!

So for now, I am starting at a new 'base'

Will see how long will pass before possible blue screen ......

 

[Johan45]

Turbo function on the FX is more complicated than just setting four cores. There's also power draw/temps factored in. Typically the turbo will only activate under light load situations which P95 is not.
I have to ask, have you installed AISuite as well?

 

[mongoled]

Turbo function on the FX is more complicated than just setting four cores. There's also power draw/temps factored in. Typically the turbo will only activate under light load situations which P95 is not.
I have to ask, have you installed AISuite as well?

Hi!

Nope never installed AISuite on this OS,


Yeah, seems you are right abt turbo only activation with light loads.

Since resetting the BIOS I can see in HWMoniotor that turbo is kicking in. This is using the PC for office/development related tasks ec

Since I reset the BIOS havnt had a bluescreen yet!

Still not opened AMD Overdrive. If the system has stabalized will then open AMD Overdrive and see if it causes any weird issues.

Cheers!

 

[Mandrake4565]

Turbo function on the FX is more complicated than just setting four cores. There's also power draw/temps factored in. Typically the turbo will only activate under light load situations which P95 is not.
I have to ask, have you installed AISuite as well?

Was thinking the same Johan, FYI mongoled Aisuite on my CHV throws it for a loop. I've had all kinds of issues with my setup with it installed and they disappear when it's uninstalled.

Just so I'm on the same page, what are you trying to accomplish here. Are you just trying to get the setup stable at stock settings? If that is the case, you may need to give the Cpu Nb V a bump due to trying to run 2133 Mhz sticks.

 

[mongoled]

Was thinking the same Johan, FYI mongoled Aisuite on my CHV throws it for a loop. I've had all kinds of issues with my setup with it installed and they disappear when it's uninstalled.

Just so I'm on the same page, what are you trying to accomplish here. Are you just trying to get the setup stable at stock settings? If that is the case, you may need to give the Cpu Nb V a bump due to trying to run 2133 Mhz sticks.

Hi!

Yeah,

just want to run bog standard setup as it was made at factory.

dont think I need to bump up the CPU NB voltage as its prime95 stable when running in non manual mode.

As things stand the PC has not had a bluescreen since I last reset the BIOS which was 5 hours ago.

I am pretty sure AISuite hasmt been installed on this OS, did a reg search for aisuite but nothing came up.

Thanks for your input

 

[mongoled]

The mystery deepens......

So yesterday, after the PC had been running fine for over 7 hours I turned it off and went home.

At this time all 7 pstates were showing in PSCheck.

At no point within these 7 hours did I open AMD Overdrive.

Also before the 7 hour uptime and after resetting the BIOS I rebooted several times and on each tim checked the pstates to make sure all 7 were showing.

Came to work this morning, turned on the PC and went to check the pstates and now only 4 (4300/3600/3300/1400) are showing.

I have just uninstalled AMD Overdrive and will be resetting the BIOS again.

Unsure what to make of this, will have to reflash the BIOS but need to find out what is triggering the pstates to 'disappear'



** EDIT **

OK, pstates back to normal after reset of BIOS

Looks like the bluescreens are directly related to the pstates issue as just as I was about to reboot the computer after writing this post "Windows Explorer" crashed.

Managed to reboot before the bluescreen came.

Lets see if the pstates stick without AMD Overdrive installed ....

 

[mongoled]

Well still unresolved.

Removing AMD Overdrive has solved the pstates going missing issue. Its not happened again since I removed this software.

But bluescreens keep happening.

Last bluescreen caused many files to get corrupted on the RAID array, but memory is locked, have not seen the CPUNB alternate through different power states, ever, should it ??

Im not wanting to re-install the OS as its working fine other than this issue of using AMD Turbo Core.

Really is a pain in the *** as explained was just wanting to run defaults and have found have spent more time troubleshooting than if I had setup my own pstated and disabled AMD Turbo Core altogether.

Having spent all this time want to get to the bottom of this!

Hope someone can think of something else.

Off to do a chkdsk /r ........................

[DEL]Ive also now lost the core parking options in 'Advanced Power' options ?[/DEL] CnQ was disabled in BIOS needs to be enabled

Also have updated the firmware of the SSD'd to the latest.

Have just added minimum processor state to 20% lets see how we get on .....

 

[Mandrake4565]

Try dropping the memory down to 1600 Mhz and see if the bluescreens continue. The only real issues I've ever had running my Fx 8350 were when trying to get certain sticks of ram above 1866. I have a particular set of G. Skill Snipers 1866that my Fx 8350 absolutely hates. They run fine with my 2 other Fx chips and on my Intel setups, but my 8350 throws up all over itself every time I try running them with it. They also run fine with it at 1600 Mhz hence the reason I mentioned turning the ram down just to see.

 

[mongoled]

Try dropping the memory down to 1600 Mhz and see if the bluescreens continue. The only real issues I've ever had running my Fx 8350 were when trying to get certain sticks of ram above 1866. I have a particular set of G. Skill Snipers 1866that my Fx 8350 absolutely hates. They run fine with my 2 other Fx chips and on my Intel setups, but my 8350 throws up all over itself every time I try running them with it. They also run fine with it at 1600 Mhz hence the reason I mentioned turning the ram down just to see.

Hi again,

will give that a try if the minumum processor state change I made makes no difference.

Do you know if the CPUNB should alternate through different power states ?

I have two pstates 2200mhz/1.175v and 800mhz/1.550v (the 1.550v is not a typo PSCheck shows it as that!)

The main reason I asked is because of the file corruption which can be caused by bad memory or memory running out of spec (tested mine thoroughly at 2133mhz with present settings) or CPUNB running out of spec.

Cheers

 

[Johan45]

Like Manny says, the memory is likely the issue, you're on the right track. Have you tried giving the CPU_NB an offset? Since you're on auto that would be the way to go. It may not be giving the IMC enough juice for the ram. I'd try a .07-0.1v offset

 

[mongoled]

Like Manny says, the memory is likely the issue, you're on the right track. Have you tried giving the CPU_NB an offset? Since you're on auto that would be the way to go. It may not be giving the IMC enough juice for the ram. I'd try a .07-0.1v offset

Hi again,

will be trying other things, just one at a time, we always need to be working from a base line



Speaking of base line, im looking to see if others CPUNB pstates change and what values they are set at.

As my post above states the secondary pstate on my CPUNB is 800 @ 1.550v !!

That cant be right .....

 

[Johan45]

Nope that can't be right. What OS are you using