Help Needed Overclocking FX8350 on Asus Sabretooth 990FX R2.0

[Zorton_Maverick]

Evening All,
Well its just 23.58 here in magical, mystical Ireland.
Ran HWMonitor, CPU-Z, CoreTemp, CineBench and MaxMemm2 on Idle.
Then ran Prime95 for 15 minutes on Blend Test and recorded temps.

Ok, so first post consists of stats at idle as follows -->

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Next, the stats whilst running Prime95 on Blend for 15 minutes -->

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Final Post, CineBench Score on OPenGL and CPU.
Also, MaxMem2 score as follows -->

 

[Johan45]

Well it looks pretty stable. See how far you can get raising the multi a bit at a time and testing with prime if it's on auto you should get a good idea of volts and speed before it crashes.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Hey Johan,
Ok, so being silly, I ended up reading some of the threads on OCF and then watched the youtube video again and decided to make some of the necessary changes to attempt my 1st small OC.

Anyhow, went into the BIOS and changed the following -->
Under the "AI TWEAKER" Tab,
1. Ai Overclock Tuner from AUTO to "Manual"
2. CPU Ration from AUTO to "20"
3. AMD Turbo Core Technology from AUTO to "Disabled"
4. Memory Frequency from AUTO to "1333MHz" (don't know if this was correct to do??)
5. CPU/NB Frequency from AUTO to "2200MHz"
6. HT Link Speed from AUTO to "2600MHz"
7. CPU Spread Spetrum from AUTO to "Disabled"

Under DIGI + Pwer Control,
1. CPU Load Line Calibration from AUTO to "Ultra High"
2. CPU/NB Load Line Calibration from AUTO to "HIGH"
3. CPU Current Capability from AUTO to "130%"
4. CPU/NB Current Capability from AUTO to "130%"

Next, changed CPU+NB Voltage from Offset Mode to "Manual Mode"
Then changed,
- CPU Manual Voltage from AUTO to "1.381250"
- CPU/NB Manual Voltage from AUTO to "1.187500"

Finally, changed my "Multiplier" from "200" to "220"

Saved profile in BIOS to position 1 named "4400" and then rebooted.
First sceen shot is at idle and the 2nd is after 20 minutes running PRIME95 using the "BLEND" option.

Questions
1. What should I set my Memory Frequency to or does it matter at this early stage ?
2. Obivously when I increment my multipler number, it is also increasing my CPU/NB Frequency and HT Link Speed Frequency. Before I exited, I just reset them back to 2200MHz and 2600MHz respectively - is that the correct ?
3. When finished testing, should I set the BIOS back to default ? The reason I ask is that when I am in work all day tomorrow, my kids use the PC extensively for browsing the Net and playing games via STEAM. Thus, is it ok to leave the current setting and oc at 4.4GHz, or should I resort to Default settings.
4. There is an option called "Extreme Tweaker" in the Asus Rampage Motherboard. Does anyoen know if there is an equivalent on the Asus Sabertooth 990fx R2.0 Bios ?
5. Should I be using the "BLEND TEST" option or one of the other options provided ?

Ok, off to bed as it is now 2.30am.
Cheers mate - it has begun lol

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Morning,
Got up at 7am to have a quick fiddle on my OC before the kids got up to take over the PC for the day.
So next step was up'ing the CPU Bus Frequency again.
Changed it from 220 to 225.
This had the effect of changing the following -->
- CPU/NB Frequency changed from 2200 to 2250
- HTT Link Speed changed from 2640 to 2700
- Memory Frequency changed from 1466 to 1499
Saved as OC Profile 2 - and rebooted into Windows.
Ran Prime95 on 'BLEND' for 20 minutes with no failures..
Screenshots of Idle and during PRIME run.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Next, rebooted and back into BIOS.
Then I up'd the CPU Bus Frequency from 225 to 230.
This had the effect of changing the following -->
- CPU/NB Frequency changed from 2250 to 2300
- HTT Link Speed changed from 2700 to 2760
- Memory Frequency changed from 1499 to 1532
Saved as OC Profile 3 - and rebooted into Windows.
Ran Prime95 on 'BLEND' for 20 minutes and had failures on Workers 6 and 7.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Final Post -

Next, rebooted and back into BIOS.
Then I changed the CPU Manual Voltage from 1.381250 to 1.4v.
Ran Prime95 on 'BLEND' for 20 minutes and had failure on Worker 7.
Saved as OC Profile 3 and then reset to Default settings so the kids can use the PC for the day.

Images attached -
- Temps on Idle (4.6GHz at 1.4v)
- Temps with PRIMNE95 running (4.6GHz at 1.4v)
- Failure on Worker 7 details.

Will continue tonight for an hour or so.
Any advise appreciated.
Please advise if I am omitting any information or screenshots needed ?
Also, is there a better way to present the Screenshots ?? Currently cropping images and saving into MS PAINT as Jpeg and then attaching via Advanced here ?? Don't like the way they are presented or the order.
Many thanks guys.

 

[bob4933]

Some things for a mild over clock like this


Keep cpu NB under 2400

Set your ram to auto before tweaking that, saber keeps it prettybstable

Set llc to high, rest of it keep on auto, don't need over current yet.


tweak 4.5 before going higher. These chips hit a plateau, appears yours might be 4.5 if it failed at 1.4v at 4.6.

temps look REALLY good so far

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Hey Bob,
Cheers for the tips. Have just reloaded that profile (4.6 @ 1.4) and changed Mem Frequency back to AUTO.
Also, decided to run PRIME95 again but this time using Small FFT's option thus excluding RAM. Want to see if it fails again at the same time if RAM is not included ?
Reason I am attemoting a 2nd test witH FFTs instead of BLEND is from reading through other OC threads where fails occurred when going from testing on Large and Small FFTs to BLEND.
PS- Temps seem to be holding up well - thankfully..Off to work in 30 minutes..

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Ok,
Well that worked.
2 things I noticed -
1. On the Small FFTs test as opposed to the BLEND test, my Temps increased by 6 deg on both the Core and the socket going from 44 to 50 and 54 to 60/61.
2. This time, the test was still successfully running after 25 minutes and Worker 7 continued successfully past the point at which it had Failed on the BLEND test.

One final test before going to work, going to run BLEND again with MEM Freq changed to AUTO being the only difference to last time.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Last post, well running BLEND Test failed miserably.
By changing the MEM Frequency to AUTO, the test for Worker 7 failed almost instantly.
So, when the MEM Freq was set by using the Multipler effect, Worker 7 failed after 15 minutes on the 2nd run of testing. Set to AUTO, fails on the 1st test.

At this stage I have only increased CPU Manual Voltage from Stock Base of 1.381250 to 1.4. Should I increase again by 0.0125 to 1.4125 and rerun the test ?

Off to work so will be back online for 23.30 tonight - but may need some sleep

 

[RGone]

I have to go to work myself...

...so I am going to write this and then will be a few hours before I can check back.

1. As an FYI, we have been seeing Kingston brand ram not play so well with FX systems of late.

2. As an FYI, sometimes the later bios is not doing so well setting up ram on AUTO but MUST be setup by hand or manually. Yours certainly seems so.

3. I would adjust so that ram speed more closely reaches approx DDR3-1866 or slightly greater.

4. I would set ram voltage to about 1.55V which is 0.05 Volts above default and PERFECTLY fine for 1000's of users so far.

5. I would set ram timings to 11, 12, 11, 29, 38(maybe 40) and CAS 2.

6. I would adjust so that HT is not 2700Mhz but more like 2600Mhz OR LESS. Also adjust so that CPU_NB Freq is about the same as the HT Freq. So HT Freq down and CPU_NB up slightly. I usually run them in lock-step speed and around 2600Mhz as more will not do much at your slower speeds with single video card.

Oh yes we can tweak everything up high, higher and higher still but to NO real value at the speeds you have to run daily.

7. 4.6Ghz with ALL the green stuff on BUT C6 and TurboCore AND using Offset Vcore with Windows Power Manager set to Balanced mode will be far 'better' to leave the system set to for kids to use daily.

What this will do is allow system to drop back to about 1400Mhz unloaded with lesser voltages on cpu and then go to 4.6Ghz when loaded and voltage to cpu to rise for the load of 4.6Ghz.

That is basically how my system runs all day every day, all the time.
RGone...

PS: It takes about 2 hours or a little more of P95 Blend mode to pass without any issues before I declare any stabilty to my system.
RGone...Again.

 

[Johan45]

I would also suggest upping the CPU_NB volts to say 1.25 for now. I have found that's one thing that can help with the Kingston Ram as well.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Just settling into work for the day ...unfortunately
That said, don't mind too much as the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it's lashing out of the Heavens out there !!

@RGone -
Cheers mate for the informative response. Should be home for 23.30 and will apply those changes you recommended.
Pity about both the Kingston RAM and latest BIOS issues as it so happens, I just flashed to the latest BIOS last week in anticipation of trying to do some Overclocking and I only bought the Kingston RAM over the last few weeks.
Based on your comment regarding Stability testing on PRIME95, do you recommend that each test I run should be a min of 2 hrs (obviously on the basis that it doesn't fail before hand) ?
Also, the ASUS Rampage boards have an "Extreme Overclocking" option which is changed from Disabled to Enabled to allow for OCing on that board.
On reading through the various threads, I recall you posting the equivalent option on the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX board but can't remember where it was or what thread it was in - do you know off the top of your head ?
On point 7, you mentioned "Windows Power Manager", I am not familiar with that but will look into it now via the power of the web
Many Thanks..

@Johan45 - Thanks Johan, I will make that change also.

Note - Plan on creating a spreadsheet via Excel with all the options in the motherboard (one's amended), their base setting and the various changes I have made whilst trying to overclock.
Do you think this would be helpful for others in the future and if yes, what would be the best way to attach or reference (link) the said spreadsheet ?

Best get back to work before I get into trouble lol

 

[Johan45]

When moving up in the speed of an OC I typically test for about 20 minutes. Although it wouldn't hurt at some point to do a longer test of a couple hours so you have a "good" setting to fall back on if things get a bit messed up . Then you just load the profile and start from a known good clock.
Not sure where you got the idea of extreme OC but AFIK it's not in the Sabertooth bios. On my CHV thats the title of the OC section, equivalent to your AI section. I have extreme overvoltage and a few other settings you won't see in the Sabertooth.

Power manager is located in control panel/ power options set to performance.
The spread sheet might be useful for yourself but to others setting are very seldom the same.

 

[RGone]

I think Johan filled in all the blanks about Ext OC and all you had asked.

My posting was about being stable at X speed that seemed advisable for 24-7 use and be able to boot the computer and use it. Kids included. Since setting Vcore by Offset method and setting Windows Power Manager to Balanced mode for daily use is easier on system and you do not have to swap settings in bios everyday before the kids could use the puter,

Heck even 4.4Ghz stable overclock is far more than necessary for kids to do emails and surf the web. 4.0Ghz is stock speed for that cpu and upclock on NO more than 1/2 the number of cores. BUT when we set cpu multiplier and turn off TurboCore...we get ALL 8 cores on all the time when loaded. That is a h*ll of a load compared to standard system setup and considerably more powerful and able to do work.

I can overclock my FX system anytime I wish since NO one uses the rig but me. If it fails I do not have to worry about needing it up and running so the "kids" can use it while I am away. So there are real differences in how I would setup your rig versus how I might use my own or even PLAY with my own. Just my $0.02 monies. Hehehe.
RGone...ster.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

@RGone and Johan45 -
Late in from work and very tired so not going to attempt anything tonight/this morning.
Just wanted to post to say thank you for the info and help.
Will change settings, tweak and test for a couple of hours tomorrow night ...
Cheers guys,
(Exhausted) zzzzzz

 

[RGone]

No rest will create errors, so take some time for getting some rest.
RGone...ster.

 

[Johan45]

@RGone and Johan45 -
Late in from work and very tired so not going to attempt anything tonight/this morning.
Just wanted to post to say thank you for the info and help.
Will change settings, tweak and test for a couple of hours tomorrow night ...
Cheers guys,
(Exhausted) zzzzzz

Ya work sucks but someone has to pay bills. We've been 6 days a week for about 5 yrs now. It gets old real quick I can tell you.