FX-8120 Overclocking. Continued as new post!

[bulldog1963]

this is all wrong. I have no time ATM, but EarthDog said ambient affects CPU temps 1:1. He didn't say pulling in 80 degree ambient is going to make your cpu cooler. He is right, whe I go from 70 to on-peak hours at 74, my cpu and other s all jump about a degeree-ish or a bit more.

 

[GamerMagnet]

I figured the way this case is I wouldn't have to worry about that. There are 2 huge vents on the top of my case and I can put my hand a good 6ft above the case and feel the air moving still from the top.

Front Intake: 100cfm Ultra Kaze
Side Intake: 100cfm Ultra Kaze
Rear Intake on the Radiator: Push/Pull fans are 62cfm Slipstreams
Top exhaust: 50cfm Thermaltake

I've tried mounting my Radiator to exhaust air instead of bring it in, but the temps are about 3c higher.

I've even took the side panel off just to see if temps would drop. It didn't change.

But yeah, I think having this room so warm..It was almost 90 in here yesterday, well 87 and I think that was one of the reasons. It's much cooler today and I also put a big fan at the door to bring in air from the hallway. Right now room temp is 78

 

[caddi daddi]

I really don't see this as such a big issue, lots of people pull hot rad air in and have good numbers to boot. if he has tried it both ways and this works best thats the way to go.
what i would like to see is trying to slow the cpu/nb closer to 2000 and also the htt link speed, this might buy a little more temp overhead also try lowering the cpu/nb voltage to get a little more.
$100 for 200-300mhz is not such a bad deal, your going to get to 4.3-4.4 with this rig and be very safe.

 

[bulldog1963]

let's begin. Those core temps are insane 65 at load? 34 at idle? The 920 is MUCH better than this. I've seen tons of testing and they all show outstanding results for the closed loop system. They are much higher than mine when I was on air using Cooler Master 612 PWM.. Also he is using all his fans at 100% and they are very high rpm fans - except what he has for exhaust. He has 1 exhaust fan that does 47 cfm. Period.

He put 2 slipstream fans on his radiator (and mounted it ans an INTAKE) that have about 68 cfm at 1200 rpm (but god knows how little pressure these put out because they refuse to publish that stat (scythe). The original fan was PWM and maxed out at 2400 rpm and is supposedly rated 2 dB BELOW the slipstreams. But that doesn't matter because I can guarantee with his overclocking his 2 gpu's, the whole mess sounds like a leafblower with 3 case fan intakes running at max speeds and 2 gpu fans spun up to max..

Also, 80 degrees isn't really cool air. It may be "fresh air" like he calls it, but the case doesn't care if you use canned methane gas (although it may burst into flame, but that would look cool! ) to get flow across the components. I am new at WC, but I don't recall ANYWHERE the suggestion to mount a top radiator as an intake. I'M, by no means, an engineer, but I am an Electronics Technician and know the importance of airflow in an enclosure. Once I had the money, I got myself a case and a set of fans that dropped my temps 11-12 degrees c JUST with proper airflow. It looks to me he is pumping in boatloads of cfm at god knows at what static pressure into an enclosed case. The ****ty slipstreams are probably moving the hot ambient air across the rad POORLY or NOT AT ALL. and the poor 47 cfm 140 mm fan might as well just be a gaping hole in the top of the case.

Looking at the case,it is really setup for a negative pressure system. only 2 120 intakes (front and side) and 3 exhausts (120 rear) and 2 (120/140 tops). Overally, the case looks really cool (not like the box I have) and would do well with fan replacements. The 2 supplied are only 42 cfm fans. Personally, as I have read around here, lately, I have fallen in love with the b-Gears Blasters. The 120's put out over 100 cfm at 3.0 pressure and the 140s do about the same cfm with about 3.5 pressure. and they are fairly quiet (35 -6) db. These guys are about 7 bucks online, but about 13 locally. But no, they are a circus ornament and don't light up.

 

[RGone]

Well that case and it's possible isssues may be a non-issue if I remember correctly what G_M posted earlier. Something about a secret santa that was going to visit him with another case that was already modded.

So his situation is what it is. He cannot get his K920 to cool as well as he would like and has tried a great number of different things to get cooler cpu temps. It just is not happening so he waits for the secret santa to appear. About it today.

RGone...ster.

 

[caddi daddi]

did I miss somthing? in his last screenshots i see 50c peak core temps...where do you c 65c?

and you will never, ever build pressure in a case, the things seal like a caddy northstar engine, they are just like a screen door.

 

[bulldog1963]

did I miss somthing? in his last screenshots i see 50c peak core temps...

you need to add 15c to the core temps of FX-series CPUs due to reporting inaccuracies. At least that is what AMD is saying.

They may be lying to us though because they are on cahoots with the water cooling makers to drive up business LOL I've really only seen 2 citings for this and they weren't directly from AMD. They were relayed from THEM to US, the people. It makes sense, though. If you look at his core numbers at idle and at lowest, they are considerably colder than his ambient air. Adding the 15 puts them right in line.

 

[caddi daddi]

I have heard the same on the temp correction also, from Mr. Trents and i will take his word as fact.

i am posting three ways of running 4.4 please review them in detail.
this is 1 of four 8120's i kept.

 

[GamerMagnet]

From what I've always figured, even with my athlon II x3 455 my core temps were always lower than ambient. Once some load was put on them the more accurate the temps look and I think that is the same with these FX cpu's. I have my computer set to give me a warning or throttle at 60c, which it hasn't happened yet so I take my core temps under load are pretty accurate.

I mounted the Kuhler 920 as Intake and Exhaust..Intake is giving me better temps.

Now, about an hour ago I removed 1 of my graphics cards as well as mounted the push pull config different. 1 fan is on the outside of my case, then the radiator against the exhaust vent, then the pull fan and it's still as an Intake. Reason I did this was from what Rgone was saying. My VRM heatsink is directly behind the side of the radiator. Well, now it's not with the way I mounted it. Temps are still the same at 4.2ghz.

But I do seem to be having an issue. With it being cooler today, I still have a good 8c to overclock with. So I set the multi to 21.5 to give me a clock of 4.3ghz. HT Link and NB was set to 2400 and RAM set to 1600mhz. I couldn't even go 10 seconds without getting an "Illegal Sumout" error.

LLC set to max, 2400mhz HT Link, 2400mhz Northbrige, 1600mhz RAM.

4.2ghz I have my vcore set to 1.275. Runs it around 1.31v Prime95 runs fine.
4.3ghz I tried with vcore 1.275 but failed in 10 seconds. Bumped it up to 1.3v and yet again Illegal Sumout error. Bumped it to 1.325v and another Illegal Sumout error.

I've been researching it and others have had this happen with the Bulldozer chips and stated that's usually a sign of CPU/NB or NB. I've never changed the voltage on a NB before and kinda unsure where to go from here and also not sure what one to increase. CPU VID NB or just NB? and how much should I increase those?

Yep, secret santa's case should def give me better temps and I'll also be able to put the Ultra Kaze fans as the push/pull config. Not sure how much Static Pressure they have but I'm sure it's more than the slipstreams. I still have my Antec fans. I even tried putting those back on to see if temps would come down but nothing although I will say that the 1st day I had my 2nd K920, the fans were so much louder. I did this early today, but the fans were barely louder than a 92mm cooler master TX3 fan.

But, if I must admit defeat and not be able to get to my goal of 4.5ghz then i'm still happy. I paid $150 for an Eight-Core 4.2ghz processor, not to shabby in my books. It just ticks me off I paid $100 for 200mhz more. When i had my TX3 on there I thought I had a very solid cpu. Just reading forums and looking at SS where most FX-8120's needed a good 1.35v+ to get up in the 4ghz range. So I was a little over zealous with it and thought if my Hyper TX3 was taking it to 4ghz who knows what I might get out of the K920.

 

[GamerMagnet]

@caddi daddi

there is no way I could cool 1.35v.

 

[RGone]

So I was a little over zealous with it and thought if my Hyper TX3 was taking it to 4ghz who knows what I might get out of the K920. <<= that general type of statement has cost me more in time and money than I am able to or even want to calculate.

IF and IF then but, has been a real booty biter more than once.

 

[caddi daddi]

one dollar per mhz???? my last upgrade was 3 dollar pr mgz and my next will be 5 dollars per mhz. your not doing to bad....


look at the other numbers!!!!!!!!!!! not just vcore, many ways to skin a cat buddy.
your still at the level of multi and vcore.
read ALL the settings in the screenshots., try a few things.

we tweak the cpu/nb, it should be listed this way, leave the n/b alone.

 

[RGone]

@caddi daddi

there is no way I could cool 1.35v.

Then your are not going to get a massive overclock either. They get to where they will have voltage or they will fail or have workers dropping in P95 and when the voltage comes on...the temps go up. The tale of the FX-series processors.

 

[tungureanu]

just found this on the amd forums about temps:

Concerning your question regarding the temperatures with your processor. (1090) the maximum temperature threshold is 62 Celsius which set for the internal die (core) temperature of the chip. The core temperatures have an equational offset to determine temperature which equalizes at about 45 Celsius thus giving you more accurate readings at peak temperatures. The hindrance in this is the sub ambient idle temperature readings you speak of.

The silicon and adhesives used in manufacturing these processors has a peak temperature rating of 97+ Celsius before any form of degradation will take place. The processor also has a thermal shut off safe guard in place that shuts the processor down at 90 Celsius.

The Cpu temperature is read form a sensor embedded within the socket of your motherboard causing about a 7-10 Celsius variance form the actual Cpu temperature, which may be what you are reading about on the net.
I hope I was able to answer your questions, If you have any more inquiries don't hesitate to contact us.

You can use an application called AMD overdrive, that will allow you to monitor your temperatures accurately.

As long as your core temperature has not exceeded the high side of the 60 degree mark for extended periods of time you should be ok. 62 degrees holds a generous safety net to begin with.


Thank You

Alex Cromwell
Senior Technology Director
Advanced Micro Devices
Fort Collins, Colorado
2950 East Harmony Road
Suite 300
Fort Collins, CO
80528-9558

 

[GamerMagnet]

From what earthdog stated about Ambient temps affecting my temps it's looking very accurate. 1c:1c. Last night max temp was 54c at Ambient 31c. Early today same clock max temp was 50c at ambient 27c. So that seems pretty legit.



@bulldog:
How would you mount the fans I have and my Kuhler 920 if you don't mind. Also, i took 1 of my gpu's out so the room isn't heating up as much as before.

Vents:
Front: 120mm
Side: 120mm (directly infront of my gpu's)
Rear:120mm
x2 Top:120mm/140mm (can only mount the front)

Fans I have:
Slipstream x2 120mm (60 cfm)
Ultra Kaze x2 120mm (100 cfm,can't mount as k920 push/pull yet)
Antec Fans x2 120mm (not sure, fans that came with k920)
Delta 80mm (72 cfm, have this blowing directly onto the VRM heatsink)
Thermaltake 120mm x2 (53 cfm)
Thermaltake 140mm x1 (42 cfm)
NZXT Fans x2 (not sure, but they don't move much)
Cooler Master 92mm x2 (3.2k RPM, not sure of cfm, but there loud)

I don't have all these fans in my case, but I just listed the ones I have. I should probably ditch that crappy 140mm fan as my top exhaust and stick one of the Antec 120mm fans there. Moves tons more air.

 

[tungureanu]

suggestion

 

[bassnut]

In Order for you to get any higher of an OC you will need more VCore. Like I have said a few times when a worker drops off your OC is very close, just add a bit more VCore usually settles things down till you get into bigger OC's which you won'tt need to worry about with your setup.

As far as how you have your fans set up Caddi daddi is right if you have tried it both ways intake and exhaust keep it how you have it as long as that gives you your best temps. Once you have your new case you will have no shortage of airflow through yopur case.

I am just home and probably missed something as this thread has covered alot today ..... gotta eat as all I ahve had was a couple of muffins today, Will be back and re read what all has been covered.

 

[bulldog1963]

First, I would put the 2 fans back on the 920 that came with it. They are a good match for the rad and seems most people have great success with them. Plus, they are designed to be controlled PWM, that way they run only as fast as they need to (or as fast as you want them to). Put 1 fan on the outside as an EXHAUST PULL and then put the Rad and PUSH fan inside. Hopefully, it will free up the top for the other two exhausts.

Then, I would put the 2 Slipsteams on top as EXHAUST.

Finally, Put 1 UltraKaze in the front for INTAKE and 1 UltraKaze on the side as an INTAKE (blowing right on the graphics card.)

This will give you 200 CFM INTAKE and roughly 230 (at max rad fan speeds) EXHAUST. Nothing wrong with a little negative pressure. I only ran a computer once that way, but it was heavily negative pressure, and it accumulated dust in the case like a vacuum. just give that a try. I assume the Kuhler Fans are 3 pin and plug into the block and a separate wire runs to the cpu fan header - thus, giving you PWM capabilities. The supplied Kuhler fans top out at 110 cfm and max rpm (but they are on the mid-range loudness scale to me 43 dB


The rule generally goes (but some dont follow these): INTAKE: front, side, and bottom. EXHAUST: Top and rear. This allows air to flow in its natural way. Remember, hot air rises so it goes that the exhausts are near the top and the cooler air comes in from the bottom.

Give it a go and see what you get. Also, I didn't get a great look at the case, but make sure you bundle/hide cables and wires in a way the flow isn't impeded. that can be really important.

 

[bassnut]

This NZXT M59 has an H-50 in it and I cannot tell for sure but looks like two fans in some type of push-pull. The heat coming off the VRMs is going straight onto the radiator in the picture I uploaded.

Thats right RGone except the K920 is 3" thick with 2 fans on, the rad alone is 2" thick. Even with 1 fan on the outside it is 2 3/4" thick which will cover up the VRM's pretty good I think.

 

[caddi daddi]

it is very thick.
here is a pic of it installed in my coolermaster 334 mid tower case.