Help with first OC AMD FX4100 & Asus M5a78L-M LX V2

[Danzar]

Hi folks

My GPU died but I don't plan on replacing it until later this year when I do a full upgrade. May I ask for some help with an OC of what I have to get the best performance I can for the next 6-12 months?

I have the following
CPU - AMD FX4100 (Zambezi). I've already set the multiplier to 21 so it runs at 4200. Prime95 test for 20 minutes saw the CPU reach 62 max and my board reach 71 max.
Board - Asus M5a78L-M LX V2 with latest bios. The onboard IPU is a Radeon HD3000.
RAM - G-Skill RipjawsX 8GB kit DDR3 1600
PSU - Antec VP 550w black
EDIT: all stock cooling. Case is very large - a Sonata (it was the only one that could fit my now dead GPU!)

I'm initially curious to know:

• whether I should have the IPU on specific BIOS settings?

• whether it's worth OC the RAM?

I have CPU-Z, Prime95 and HW monitor ready to go and I'm in the process of reading the Bulldozer OC guide so should.

Could you give me some advice on the above two questions and perhaps get me started on an OC of my machine?

Thanks gang!

Dan

 

[ssjwizard]

I will help give you some tips, but I have to say after owning one of those motherboards I find it highly unlikely that were going to get very far with it. The VRM is seriously lacking, and at 4.2Ghz your already at your pushing the temps pretty hard, and your board is probably already experiencing throttling issues behind the scenes.

Ok normally overclocking the RAM would be advised but in your case setting the 1866 multiplier forces the motherboard into single channel mode. We could get some more RAM speed out of the rig by increasing the base clock speed, but I have never been able to get my M5A78LX-M+ to post at anything past 206Mhz which is only going to give you about 48 Mhz more which isnt really worth pushing for.

You can probably overclock the onboard GPU I never bothered trying, but I expect you should be able to get an extra 10-20mhz out of it atleast. The onboard GPU has its own sub menu under the jumper free config page. Its very simple just push the GPU frequency up a little at a time and test with furmark or MSI kombustor for a few minutes to check if its artifacting.

 

[RGone]

@ Danzar. Just so you know that others have looked in on your thead, I will say that ssjwizard has tried everything physically possible to get some decent Ooomph out of that same mobo and it is just not there to get. For close to stock use, it is a cheap enough board. For those of us that tweak to the nth degree, it is just lacking.
RGone...

 

[Danzar]

Thanks to both of you. I had a feeling that may be the case. I've managed to stretch it to 4200. I'll now tweak it a bit for efficiency and close it off.

Would increasing the UMA frame buffer size on the BIOS help with the IPU? I have plenty of RAM for the purpose...?

Thanks again!

 

[ssjwizard]

The GPU isnt strong enough to need more than maybe 256 MB.

 

[DarthGrantius]

I will help give you some tips, but I have to say after owning one of those motherboards I find it highly unlikely that were going to get very far with it. The VRM is seriously lacking, and at 4.2Ghz your already at your pushing the temps pretty hard, and your board is probably already experiencing throttling issues behind the scenes.

Ok normally overclocking the RAM would be advised but in your case setting the 1866 multiplier forces the motherboard into single channel mode. We could get some more RAM speed out of the rig by increasing the base clock speed, but I have never been able to get my M5A78LX-M+ to post at anything past 206Mhz which is only going to give you about 48 Mhz more which isnt really worth pushing for.

You can probably overclock the onboard GPU I never bothered trying, but I expect you should be able to get an extra 10-20mhz out of it atleast. The onboard GPU has its own sub menu under the jumper free config page. Its very simple just push the GPU frequency up a little at a time and test with furmark or MSI kombustor for a few minutes to check if its artifacting.

Hi,

Where is the information about 1866 and single channel mode? I'm interested to read about that.

Thanks