Help with FX-6300 Overclock

[Wipeout]

On my Gigabyte 970 I have board revision 1.1. I have noticed that on some board revisions and bios updates, they are excluding some important overclocking features.(ie) Like taking load line calibration out of the mix. I had mine set to extreme to compensate for v-droop, but still had one major issue. The vrm control on 970 boards is jumpy. It always fluctuates back and forth. Fluctuation is normal, but these boards have poor vrm control. No big deal. I fixed that problem by using a fixed voltage at 1.27v on stock settings, and of course my overclock is set at a fixed voltage. Every motherboard is different, along with the cpu, so results will vary. Overall case cooling is very important imo. I have good airflow across the motherboard, which is a must for higher overclocks. How are your north-bridge temps ? On stock mine stay around 30c or below. Prime testing will increase that to 60C - 65C. Why the big increase ? The NB heatsink is pretty dinky for the job it has to do on these boards. You'll notice alot of hard core overclockers are using better motherboards to push there cpu's.The Asus Crosshair, ROG boards, ect... One advantage with the 6300 is its rated at 95 watts vs 125watts. Follow the advice of some of the older members here.They have overclocking AMD cpu's down to a science.

 

[RGone]

Finally found the thread I was looking for...

.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=728750

Move to Giga 990FXA UD3 Rev 3.0 with FX=8350. Thread is three pages long.

I knew "tungureanu" had made a thread about his problems with the Giga UD3 Rev 3.0 but I had forgotten it began with his Asus EVO water leak problem. Anyway I finally found the thread and in it he lists 9 problems with his Rev 3.0 motherboard and then adds issue #10 before he finishes the thread. A pretty fair description of the issues we have seen with users and the Giga UD3 Rev 3.0 motherboards.

In another thread "tungureanu" makes a note and download location for the Giga 990FXA UD3 Rev 3.0 board and a beta bios that has the option in it to Disable APM and he says it works since he uses it on his own Giga 990FXA UD3 Rev 3.0 board.


http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=733867

GOOD Bios screenshot pictures as well. Good pics since most don't show bios pics in a post.
990FXA UD3 R3 users rejoice << thread by "tungureanu"
I have played around the interweb and found a bios for the UD3 R3 that has APM option present.

Bios in attachment and do not forget this is BETA, but it`s better than nothing, and it needs to be flashed with Q-Flash from the BIOS.

 

[CerebralEdge]

RGone, thanks for the heads up!

I downloaded it, gonna flash it tonight. I flashed from FA to FC no problem, should go smoothly.

I'll play around some more and see how it does!

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Your OC at post #34 looks really nice.

But 9-9-9 for 800mhz is pretty loose. I would go with the note that AMD responds really well to tight timings and run at loosest 800mhz Cas 8. Something like 8-8-8-24-32 1or2T which ever give best stability. Shouldn't need more than stock 1.5v unless you feel comfy with that .05 bump which won't hurt a darn thing.

From the site, similar sticks to yours 8 gig set up.

Product Description

High-performance 8GB Vengeance Dual Channel Kit, 1600MHz, 8-8-8-24, 1.5V

Nice setup BTW.

 

[CerebralEdge]

I managed to squeeze out some extra performance out of the FX-6300!

I updated my motherboard BIOS as suggested by RGone, however I don't think it has helped too much; I barely managed to increase my frequency at all. I also tightened up my RAM timings to 8-8-8-24 as suggested by ShrimpBrine.

I nudged frequency up to 4.44GHz, just shy of 4.5, but not bad for this GB mobo. I was able to keep it stable for 20 runs of intel burn test on high, and it held up gaming, which is perfectly fine in my books.

It seems that the cooler is the biggest thing holding me back; I'm able to hit 1.464-1.476v before temps get out of control.

I definitely learned a lot about this processor along the way though, which is great experience in overclocking!

I'll probably tinker around here and there with some settings, but for the most part I'm pleased with the results: FX-6300 @ 4.44Ghz = 5.7 on cinebench!