ASRock 990FX Extreme 4 opinions.

[esCob4r]

I am currently running this board with my Phenom II X6 1090T. I have been told by a friend that this board is garbage for overclocking and wanted to get some non intel biased opinions on this. I am trying to overclock my 1090t to the highest I can. So far I have reached 3.8ghz but still not fully stable. I am still unfamiliar with what settings I need to adjust and how high or low per step to adjust in order to get a rock solid stable overclock. My goal would be to reach 4.0Ghz + if possible. If my motherboard and chip aren't going to hold me back my cooler might hold me back. I am currently using a Cooler Master Hyper 212+. How ever it has surprised me by keeping my processor cooler then the Corsair H60 did when I had that.

 

[trents]

Please attach pics of CPU-z tabs: "CPU", "Memory" and "SPD".

Also, what is your ram voltage set to and what is your CPUNB votage set to?

If you haven't done so, you should disable Cool N Quiet, Turbo, and C1E and then go into Windows Control Panel and set Power Options to High Performance.

 

[esCob4r]

Yeah all that is disabled. I think I have power options to performance.

Ram is G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 1600Mhz 8-8-8-24 2t 1.5V
I am not sure how to set my CPUNB Voltage.

Only thing I think I have changed is the multiplier and cpu voltage plus I made something 2400 instead of 2000 I cant remember.

 

[trents]

If you would attach those three CPU-z pics I spoke of some of those "I don't remembers" and "somethings" would become apparent.

 

[esCob4r]

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2314739

I have no clue how to get the memory and SPD to show. I tried pressing validate while on the memory or SPD tab but gave me the same link thing.

 

[trents]

If you will look along the top edge of CPU-z you will see different tabs. The default tab is the "CPU" tab. If you will click on the "Memory" tab you will see the current memory frequency (in bus speed, not DDR3 transfer rate which is twice the bus speed). Clicking on the "SPD" tab shows the manufacturer's recommended timings and voltages for various standard memory frequencies. I would like to see three pics of the "CPU", "Memory" and "SPD" tabs grouped together.

The forum has a built in pic loader and attacher tool which is preferable to linked pictures because it makes the pics visible with your post. You can use the Snipping Tool in Windows Accessories to frame, crop and save images to disk. Then go to any new post window and click on the "Go Advanced" button at the bottom of the frame. When the Advanced Post window appears go to the top and click on the little paperclip tool. That will bring up the file browser and uploader. The rest is obvious. You can upload up to three pics at a time. If you need to attach more then you can go into Edit and add more.

 

[trents]

Like this. Make sure you choose a "populated" slot in the SPD tab or no values will display because there wouldn't be a ram stick present.

 

[esCob4r]

Are you taking screnn shots or pressing the vailidate thing?

 

[esCob4r]

 

[trents]

Your memory timings look correct for your frequency. I have some suggestions that very well may get you to 4.0 ghz or a little better.

1. Your CPU voltage at 1.352 is too low. You will probably need around 1.45 volts to get to 4.0 ghz. Watch your CPU socket and core temps though. You want to keep the socket temp from exceeding 65 C. and the core temps from exceeding about 55 C. AMD CPUs will not tolerate as high a temps as Intels will. Intels are often good up to about 80 C. If you have HWMonitor open on the desktop while Prime95 blend is running it will give you max, min and current temps, both CPU socket and core temps.
2. Bump your memory voltage up from 1.5 to 1.55. A little extra than stock often helps with stability
3. Increase your CPUNB frequency to 2600 mhz and your CPUNB voltage to around 1.25. In your bios it is just called NB and is found in the same section as the OC Tweaker CPU overclocking controls. You may need to take stuff off of Auto to see the relevant choices. In AMD overclocking, those adjustments to CPUNB frequencies and voltages are a critical element as the overclock gets into the higher ranges.

Overclocking AMDs requires more attention to detail than is the case with Intels I think.

 

[esCob4r]

I am going to write that down and try it out for sure.

 

[esCob4r]

Thanks trent! This has been the help I have been needing to learn. I got the basics down but not to the point of stability. I will give this a go either some time later tonight or maybe 2morrow and let you know how it works. I might go for it now and run prime to check while i do the crap I have to do to my other pc.

 

[esCob4r]

The socket area is rocking pretty high . 70C


The cores havent exceeded 47C yet. Should I stop running it at this spec?

 

[esCob4r]

Ok well it seems you have gone to bed so I am not sure whether I should continue running prime or not. I think I am going to give it a go and hope I do not fry anything. Right now the CPU SOcket area is holding steady @ 65 - 70C. The temps are all capped at 45C. I need to figure out how to better cool my socket area.

 

[esCob4r]

Well I was able to hit 4Ghz with the settings you suggested. I ran prime over night for 9 hours with no warnings and errors. Would you say that it is stable or do I need to run prime for 12 - 24 hrs?

 

[trents]

Good morning! Yes, I went to bed. Sorry to leave you hanging.

Actually, my standard Prime95 stability test is 2 hrs. I have never had instability in running applications if I can pass 2 hrs. of Prime95 blend. Although, I know a lot of guys on the forum insist on 8+ hrs. It may depend on how you use your computer. I don't do games. In the beginning stages of overclocking I use 20 minute Prime95 blend tests to check in a tentative way for the stability of settings. I find that is economical from a time standpoint but long enough to conclude that you are pretty close to being stable. Close enough to assume a few minor tweaks will get you there if it won't finish the longer test.

I'd like to see you get those temps down. Have you tried a lower CPU core voltage than what I suggested? It may be stable at less than 1.45. I just threw that number out there from experience but you might get by with less and it would help with temps. Also, it's common for the Thuban core temp sensor to report too low. I suspect about 10 C. too low. So your core temps are probably on the brink of being in the unstable range and at 70 C your CPU socket temps are at the max "safe" range for AMD CPUs.

 

[esCob4r]

Good morning! Yes, I went to bed. Sorry to leave you hanging.

Actually, my standard Prime95 stability test is 2 hrs. I have never had instability in running applications if I can pass 2 hrs. of Prime95 blend. Although, I know a lot of guys on the forum insist on 8+ hrs. It may depend on how you use your computer. I don't do games. In the beginning stages of overclocking I use 20 minute Prime95 blend tests to check in a tentative way for the stability of settings. I find that is economical from a time standpoint but long enough to conclude that you are pretty close to being stable. Close enough to assume a few minor tweaks will get you there.

I'd like to see you get those temps down. Have you tried a lower CPU core voltage than what I suggested? It may be stable at less than 1.45. I just threw that number out there from experience but you might get by with less and it would help with temps. Also, it's common for the Thuban core temp sensor to report too low. I suspect about 10 C. tool low. So your core temps are probably on the brink of being in the unstable range and at 70 C your CPU socket temps are at the max "safe" range for AMD CPUs.

Ahhh I did not know that the sensors report 10C lower then what it was. That means I was running Cores at like 55C all night and my Socket area around 80C. Not good IMO. And no I didn't try adjust the voltage yet. I was planning on doing so but wanted to let things cool down in my room. I had this going and my other computer goin all night. Forgot to turn the folder down and my room go hot. I will adjust my core voltage sometime later and will report back. I definitely would like to see my temps go down as well. I am a nut job when it comes to low temps. =/

 

[trents]

No, the socket temp sensor is usually pretty accurate. It's only the core temp sensor I was referring to. Your cores were probably maxing out at about 57 c.

I also have some suggestions for redoing your thermal paste on the cooler if you're interested as I find the manufacture's suggested method doesn't work well sometimes on the exposed heat pipe coolers like the Hyper 212+.

 

[esCob4r]

Currently I have been using the small pea size method and allowing the heat sink even out the layer across the chip. Any other methods that may help I am more then willing to try if I have the paste.

 

[trents]

What I find is that with the exposed heat pipe coolers when the "pea-sized blob in the center of the CPU face" is used the ridges and valleys on the heat sink bottom often interfere with the spreading of the paste across the surface. What I recommend is:

First, clean the old paste off both the CPU and the heat sink. Paper coffee filters are ideal for this because they are a smooth, shiny (and insexpensive) material that doesn't leave behind insulating fibers like paper towels, kleenex or soft cloth. Start with a dry coffee filter to remove the bulk of it and finish with one moistened with isopropyl alcohol.

Then turn the cooler "bottoms up" and lay down two parallel lines of thermal paste perpendicular to the copper heat pipes from side to side across the bottom of the heatsink. Make the paste lines as think as possible while still being continuous. Space them evenly so that the bottom of the heat sink is divided into three approximately equal sections. This way, the ridges won't prevent the spread of the paste.