FX4170 new to overclocking

[officedemon]

I want to get 5.1Ghz out of it, i'm willing to buy a better CPU cooler any ideas for a good cooler for my Antec 300 mid case?

MOBO: Asus Sabertooth 990FX (BIOS 0901)
CPU: AMD FX 4170 @4.2 GHz (not over clocked) 1.368V~
Cooler: AMD stock cooler
RAM:4x4 Gskill sniper @1866Mhz 1.5v (16GB DDR3)
PSU: 850W Thermaltake black widow (Modular)
GPU: 2 cross fired ATI Radeon HD 5670's (@750MHz 1GB GDDR5 each)
Display:: 40" TV (1080P) + 19" Monitor
SSD: OCZ agility 3 240GB SATA III 6GB/s
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB SATA III 6GB/s 7200 RPM 64MB cache
CASE: Antec 300 Mid ATX 5/5 system fans (4 120mm and 1 140mm fans)
OS: windows 7 64bit
Drive: Blue ray/DVD burner


Ran Prime95 for 45mins cores maxed out at 46c and the CPU at 55c using HWMonitor
using Asus Thermal Radar my "V-core 1"(North bride? VRM?) ran just as hot as my CPU (ran all system fans as max, no change) how hot can that get if I OC? and how hot can the cores get? I hear 70c or is that the CPU?

 

[RGone]

There is you a cpu validation of 5.1Ghz on FX-4170. You can see his cpu volts.

That is from this thread >> http://www.overclock.net/t/1235479/...-ghz-to-5-1-ghz-using-the-stock-cooler-stable

 

[officedemon]

CPU @1.172v -1.64V
Multiplier x FSB 25.5 x 200.1 MHz

looks like i'm off to a good start, he said he was going to water cooling not sure if i can do that with my case.

 

[trents]

Yes, he can do it with the Antec 300 but not with a twin fan radiator system like the Corsair H100 which would need two 120mm fan holes in the top panel. A Corsair H80 would work great.

CPU socket temp max for stability: about 65-70c
CPU core temp max for stability: about 50-55c (The are calibrated on the cool side).

For an air cooler, the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ Evo would be a good ticket.

 

[Jagged_Steel]

CPU @1.172v -1.64V
Multiplier x FSB 25.5 x 200.1 MHz

looks like i'm off to a good start, he said he was going to water cooling not sure if i can do that with my case.

I have an FX-4170 and an ASUS M5A97 EVO. I can get up to 4.97Ghz with all auto voltages , CnQ ON,- etc, and the stubborn thing won't budge above that, even when I manually up the voltages and turn off all the power saving stuff. I am also in the same boat as far as watercooling. I have a CoolerMaster Praetorian all aluminum case of ~2002 vintage that has a dual 80 mm fan setup in the rear, and nothing on the top. I decided to go with a W/C and a new mobo (building a second rig for the wife with the spares) , and rather than cut up this pristine antique case I ordered a NZXT one along with a Thermaltake W2 Pro W/C. It actually arrived today, I couldn't believe it- 2 days since I ordered the stuff. I went with a CHV from Geeks. I have full confidence that this mobo will get me well above 5 Ghz. I am leery of refurbished stuff, but a year along into this mobo series they have had loads of RMAs and plenty of time to get a system down to sort out the PEBKAC returns and fix the actual problem boards, so I have high expectations of getting a good usable Crosshair V for $149 for the full retail box kit. The new case, fan controller , TT W2 PRO W/C, and a 40" LCD TV/monitor arrived from Egg today. I am not expecting to see the CHV until monday, but I am sure digging having this big four oh on my desk until it moves into the bedroom to become the new TV/wife's rig monitor in there.

 

[Tyerker]

I'd be careful with 1.6V on a Bulldozer. I had my FX-4100 to 5 GHz @ 1.52V and it ended up dying on me. I have no idea what I did wrong, because the temps only ever hit 58C, but it's completely dead. Ended up being able to RMA it through AMD, though, so I have a replacement on the way soon.

I would just be very gradual with the voltage increases, and make sure you stress test and check temperatures with every voltage increase, just to constantly monitor it and not let anything get damaged.

 

[RGone]

I had my FX-4100 to 5 GHz @ 1.52V and it ended up dying on me. I have no idea what I did wrong, because the temps only ever hit 58C, but it's completely dead. Ended up being able to RMA it through AMD, though, so I have a replacement on the way soon.

I would just be very gradual with the voltage increases, and make sure you stress test and check temperatures with every voltage increase, just to constantly monitor it and not let anything get damaged.

You ask what you did wrong. Nothing! Your cpu could not withstand the voltage and speed. No way to tell which cpus can take what speed and voltage.

That is why when the posters by the 1000's ask what is max voltage and people blithely give an X number for the voltage it makes me cringe. We can go for months believing that X max voltage is a good number and then comes the poster whose cpu died at X voltage.

I would suggest that max voltages are little more than educated guesses based on what we believe having seen others use a certain voltage and get by with it.

I would suggest that the FX-4100 you get in return will not likely die at the same place your other one did. Just too much differences in each cpu and system setup to think that another FX-4100 would die for you when so many claim to be whaling the crap out of their FX-series processors.

 

[Tyerker]

That was my thought, too. The temperatures were fine, and I had seen so many people push more volts and have no problems. This next CPU I intend to keep in the 1.4-1.45V Range, and whatever OC that gets me is good enough. If I only end up with 4.5GHz or so, that's plenty fast to keep up with the rest of my system.

Does anyone still really use FSB OCing, or do most people just stick to multiplier increases? I was running mine at 234 x 21.5 because the 9.33x RAM multiplier didn't want to boot properly, so I dropped it back to 8x and upped the FSB to run close to 1866.

Here's my CPU-Z Validation, just as a potential suggestion to OP of what can be done.

 

[RGone]

That was my thought, too.

This next CPU I intend to keep in the 1.4-1.45V Range, and whatever OC that gets me is good enough. If I only end up with 4.5GHz or so, that's plenty fast to keep up with the rest of my system.

Does anyone still really use FSB OCing, or do most people just stick to multiplier increases? I was running mine at 234 x 21.5 because the 9.33x RAM multiplier didn't want to boot properly, so I dropped it back to 8x and upped the FSB to run close to 1866.

Here's my CPU-Z Validation, just as a potential suggestion to OP of what can be done.

Keeping the next cpu to a max of 1.475 Vcore will likely put a lot less strain on your entire system. Less heat. Less strain on the motherboard. And as you said, whatever speed you get at a reduced voltage is likely going to be plenty anyway.

Over the last half year or so it began to crop up that often once the max multiplier was found, to then drop it back a little, and final tweak cpu speed with a little FSB could in some instances reduce the amount of Vcore needed for roughly the same Mhz.

Of course like anything else, it seemed to work for some and for others it did little if any good. You know how that stuff goes.

If your ram multi did not work, then of course adjust ram speed with FSB was not a bad idea at all.

Good luck with new FX-4100 when it comes. Maybe you will get lucky and they are out of 4100's and send you an FX-4170. One can hope.

 

[Tyerker]

Keeping the next cpu to a max of 1.475 Vcore will likely put a lot less strain on your entire system. Less heat. Less strain on the motherboard. And as you said, whatever speed you get at a reduced voltage is likely going to be plenty anyway.

Over the last half year or so it began to crop up that often once the max multiplier was found, to then drop it back a little, and final tweak cpu speed with a little FSB could in some instances reduce the amount of Vcore needed for roughly the same Mhz.

Of course like anything else, it seemed to work for some and for others it did little if any good. You know how that stuff goes.

If your ram multi did not work, then of course adjust ram speed with FSB was not a bad idea at all.

Good luck with new FX-4100 when it comes. Maybe you will get lucky and they are out of 4100's and send you an FX-4170. One can hope.

If something like that happened... Oh happy day. I got this FX-4100 for $90, so getting a $90 4170 would be the best deal in the history of deals, methinks.

 

[RGone]

I hear that man.

 

[officedemon]

do I need to overclock my Ram when i OC my CPU?
also i hear of a hot fix in windows 7 for the FX processor? do i need to do anything or will windows 7 update its self?

 

[Tyerker]

do I need to overclock my Ram when i OC my CPU?
also i hear of a hot fix in windows 7 for the FX processor? do i need to do anything or will windows 7 update its self?

You will only need to overclock the RAM if you raise the FSB. If you overclock your processor by increasing the multiplier (which is the easier and more popular way) the base frequency will not change, meaning the RAM won't change speeds.

 

[trents]

Actually, you may need to underclock the ram of you use the fsb to overclock the CPU because the ram will speed up. If it's already at max speed then you may need to start it lower to keep it stable.

 

[Jagged_Steel]

do I need to overclock my Ram when i OC my CPU?
also i hear of a hot fix in windows 7 for the FX processor? do i need to do anything or will windows 7 update its self?

When you are actively exploring different OC's it is best to leave the memory on either "Auto" or very loose settings while searching for your best CPU OC. After you have that, you can then start tuning the memory- usually by testing to see what the highest stable memory speed you can run at is, and then gradually tightening the timings until you have the best throughput possible. This process also involves finding your highest NB setting, mine is around 2700Mhzwith this chip. My best truly stable NB that I have found thus far is around 2630 Mhz, which is what I am running right now.

Here is how I score on MaxxMEM with my FX-4170 and 16 GB of Samsung 30 nm RAM.



Pretty close to a 13 GB/s score with MaxxMEM. MaxxMEM of course has a funk score for AMD CPUs but it seems to be consistently low for them all. I score around 19 GB/s using SISoft Sandra .

About the FX patch: I wish I could attach files, it is tiny and I have it. It consists of two patches, one about 10x the size of the other although they are both pretty small. You run the larger one first.

 

[Tyerker]

I've heard of some guys actually hitting 3 GHz on their NB. Jagged does make a good point, though, that if your RAM is running at its default speed you may want to take the memory link multiplier down one notch if you start messing with your FSB. I took mine down from the 9.33x to the 8x memory link in order to tweak the FSB while keeping it below 1866.

If you set your RAM timings to 10-10-10-30 and 1.5-1.675V (whichever you feel comfortable with, my Patriot RAM defaults at 1.65V) you can see how high you can get the frequency. Chances are most high-performance RAM can get above 1866 with those loose timings and 1.6V+, regardless of the default settings.

Take the Patriot Gamer 2 Div 4 RAM I bought. The 4GB sticks come in a few different flavors:
1333 9-9-9-24 1.5V
1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V
1866 9-11-9-27 1.65V

Chances are most of them are really the same sticks, and if you bought the 1333 RAM and gave it the same settings as the 1866 RAM, it could probably hit the same speeds. The main advantage of buying the RAM labeled as 1866 is it was most likely tested by Patriot at that speed.

 

[bburrill2012]

do I need to overclock my Ram when i OC my CPU?
also i hear of a hot fix in windows 7 for the FX processor? do i need to do anything or will windows 7 update its self?

I never got the updates through windows update. You have to update them manually. They "hotfixes" dont do much at all if anything. And unfortunately Win 8 wont help hardly either.

But here is the updates.

http://www.techpowerup.com/158534/New-Windows-7-Bulldozer-Patches-Available..html

 

[Tyerker]

I never got the updates through windows update. You have to update them manually. They "hotfixes" dont do much at all if anything. And unfortunately Win 8 wont help hardly either.

But here is the updates.

http://www.techpowerup.com/158534/New-Windows-7-Bulldozer-Patches-Available..html

I've noticed no real performance issues with Windows 8 while I was using my 4100. Is the hotfix just for additional optimization or have people actually had problems with Bulldozer support?

Answered my own question. OP check this out, it has download links for the hotfixes in the article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5448/the-bulldozer-scheduling-patch-tested

 

[bburrill2012]

I've noticed no real performance issues with Windows 8 while I was using my 4100. Is the hotfix just for additional optimization or have people actually had problems with Bulldozer support?

Answered my own question. OP check this out, it has download links for the hotfixes in the article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5448/the-bulldozer-scheduling-patch-tested

Not saying there will be performance issues. There was a hype about win8 optimizing fx chips more, but there really isnt much difference between win7 or 8 from what I've seen. I however haven't used win8 yet so I don't know this from experience.

 

[Tyerker]

Not saying there will be performance issues. There was a hype about win8 optimizing fx chips more, but there really isnt much difference between win7 or 8 from what I've seen. I however haven't used win8 yet so I don't know this from experience.

The very biggest boost I've seen in Windows 8 is boot time, especially when you set the boot to utilize all CPU cores. Mine boots in about 9 seconds now. I wonder if there's a scheduling update to make it even faster...