cpu underclocking itself

[Hussie]

Hello. Since 3 weeks ago ive been struggling alot with fps drops caused by cpu underclocking itself and back to normal after a while. The result of this is that i drop a good 80 fps in world of warcraft and other games like league of legends, witch makes the game unplayable to the least. i dont know why its doing it, ive been searching on forums and getting tips everywhere i go without any results.

My specs:
mobo ASUS M5A78L LE
cpu AMD FX-Series 8150-Bulldozer
gpu Zotac GeForce GTX 670 2gb APM! Edition
ram 8gb ddr3

Things ive tried:
updating drivers/versions for; Bios, gfx card, chipset
playing around with settings in bios such as cpu acceleration , cool 'n quiet amongs other things
playing with or without vsync in wow as well as playing with and without addons
installed a brand ned h60 watercooler to keep the temps even lower
used cpu-z for monitoring
msi afterburner for gpu levels
tested it with prime (good temperatures but still underclocks and goes back to normal).

i balanced out the multiplier in bios to x19 = 3.8k and the games i play are stable now, but whenever i stream my normal load is 30%. ever so often it might go up to 50%+ causing my cores to underclock.
so that concludes: when cpu goes to mid/heavier load. it underclocks itself.(same thing happens when i use prime to load cpu to 100%)

when i visited the asus forum to look for answers they told me it probably was a cooling issue, witch just cant be the issue here since i installed a h60 watercooler keeping the temperatures at steady 25*

any ideas at all? id love input to sort this issue.

 

[trents]

The problem is your motherboard. It's power phase is not up to the FX-8150 power draw under load and so it down-clocks the CPU to protect itself. As I like to say, you have erected a skyscraper on a chicken coup foundation. With that CPU you really need a board that has 8+2 power phase, not 3+1 or 4+1.

 

[Hussie]

wow. thats really sad news.. so the computer store that sorted that out for me and gave me theese parts obv didnt know what they were giving me.. sad as i expected them to be the experts, since i dont like to build my own computers cus im bad at it.

Is there anything i can do to turn that thing off or sort some voltages in bios so it doesnt turn itself off like this, or am i just out of options?

 

[trents]

In bios, disable C1E, C6 and APM. In Windows Control Panel Power Options configure it to high performance. Then position a fan to blow on the VRMs of the motherboard.

 

[Hussie]

thanks for the quick reply, ive read in forums that c1e should be disabled. but the problem is that the bios doesnt have that option as to were my manual describes it to be (manual version 0202) i did upgrade my bios from 0902 to 1401 but the option is still not there.
so:
1. how do i find c1e?
2. c6 is disabled
3. windows is set to high performance
4. ill check for APM and see if its on or off.
thank you again

 

[Hussie]

Here are the options for APM in bios:

*Restore on AC power Loss [Power Off, Power Or or Last State] (tried power on and off)
*Power from S5 By PME# [Disable, Enable] (Currently Disable)
*Power from S5 By ring [Disable, Enable] (Currently Disable)
*Power on By PS/2 Keyboard [Disable, Space bar, Power key, Ctrl-Esc] (Currently Disable)
*Power on By PS/2 Mouse [Disable,enable] (currently Disable)
*Power on From S5 By RTC Alarm [Disable, enable] (currently disable)

are theese settings ok?
im a bios nub. :/

 

[mammut]

According to asus the FX-8150 is officially supported since BIOS 0503 and since you have updated BIOS, that part should be covered.

Enable Unleashing and and ACC to "Per Core".
Install Turbo Key feature to work around the FPS issue in games.

 

[Dlaw]

I don't think the fault lays entirely with the "experts" at the computer shop, as the 8150 is on the supported CPU list for that motherboard. Try putting a fan over the power delivery section of the board as trents suggested, that may just do the trick.

 

[RGone]

Here are the options for APM in bios:

*Restore on AC power Loss [Power Off, Power Or or Last State] (tried power on and off)
*Power from S5 By PME# [Disable, Enable] (Currently Disable)
*Power from S5 By ring [Disable, Enable] (Currently Disable)
*Power on By PS/2 Keyboard [Disable, Space bar, Power key, Ctrl-Esc] (Currently Disable)
*Power on By PS/2 Mouse [Disable,enable] (currently Disable)
*Power on From S5 By RTC Alarm [Disable, enable] (currently disable)

are theese settings ok?
im a bios nub. :/

That is not the (APM) which 'trents' was referring to. That cheap board you bought will not likely have the other FX cpu, APM enable/disable because Asus does not want to burn up the motherboard.

Two APMs. Similar but not the same as used by AMD with Bulldozer cpus.
Advanced Power Management (APM) and Application Power Management (APM) >>This particular APM setting is described by AMD as, "disable APM_Master_En (disables APM which may cause the CPU to throttle at full load.

 

[RGone]

About these cheap boards. >> M5A78L-M LX Or LE Or PLUS

Over Current Protection (OCP) is something I have recently been examining. Protection features exist against VRM overheating/overloading depending on motherboard model and brand.

 

[RGone]

The problem is your motherboard. It's power phase is not up to the FX-8150 power draw under load and so it down-clocks the CPU to protect itself. As I like to say, you have erected a skyscraper on a chicken coup foundation. With that CPU you really need a board that has 8+2 power phase, not 3+1 or 4+1.

We can suggest possible partial workarounds but the most correct answer is what 'trents' said. AND there is no setting in bios of that cheap board to raise the % of current that is 'okay' as far as the board and bios is concerned like there is with the CHV and Sabretooth motherboards.

 

[Hussie]

Right so i enabled Unleashing and set acc to per core, and amd turbo feature is on auto. i can set it to enable but then another option under it got red color witch also was on auto, do i have to try with that on and if thats the case, what do i set that other option to?
edit: i did test prime and no suprise, still underclocks itself. core voltage is on 1.4v

 

[mammut]

A couple more things for workarounds as to not trip the OCP too easily.

Reduce number of active cores (feature in BIOS, see manual p2-14),
this should allow the board to handle the processor without
tripping OCP, while say e.g only 4 cores active should not impact
gameplay as much.

With a bit of luck you might be overclock also if starts to act normal with lesser cores.


I see ACC also allows for reducing frequency, -2-12%

Multi to 18x

Enable C1E
Enable CnQ
lower core voltage one or two notches if it allows without loosing stability.

 

[RGone]

@"Hussie", take that system back where they assembled it and get a good motherboard. Why would you want to always have to crutch and turn off cores and crap with a system you just paid good money for? I wouldn't. You may not have known any better but a 'real' computer assembling company should have known that what they were asking you to pay for had a very good chance of giving issues.

You only have to put the 'correct' search terms into g00gle search and the net has plenty of information about the cheap under-speced setups giving problems with FX processors.

Do what you want, but I dislike the idea of a customer being handed something less than suited to even do simple gaming at what is stock for a cpu.

 

[mammut]

I also agree on changing the motherboard for the OP to enjoy the full potential of the processor, lest hope they will swap it free of charge even after this time...


Interesting to know though if OCP will trip if # of active cores is reduced

 

[RGone]

Actually I too may have been slightly off in looking at the real big picture. So far the FX-series processors have not shown real gains over some of the Phenom 2 four core cpus. He mgiht do better just to have the FX taken out and a Phenom 2 955BE or 965BE put in the board. That way that cheap board would do fair I suppose.

 

[Hussie]

ill talk to the shop soon at some point and see what they say about it. Probably they want to discover the issue themselves and realise they either could fix it or sort me out with something else. its just the time consuming that is going to be annoying.

 

[RGone]

Well in the long-run of day in and day out use, I would be way annoyed with that downclocking crap from a weak motherboard.

ill talk to the shop soon at some point and see what they say about it. Probably they want to discover the issue themselves and realise they either could fix it or sort me out with something else. its just the time consuming that is going to be annoying.

 

[Hussie]

Well in the long-run of day in and day out use, I would be way annoyed with that downclocking crap from a weak motherboard.

completely true. Since u experts seem to know so much i do trust u guys, hence i made the thread in the first place. but it wont mean they trust me and will do their own tests that are going to take a while. hopefully they will come to realise the same problem and sort it out. if not, ill tell them how i really feel.