help with overclocking my amd fx 6100

[TwoTabs]

hello i am pretty new to overclocking, and im really unsure what all this **** means in the bios. i get the general ****. if there is anyone out there who would be willing to help me overclock my cpu i would greatly appreciate it.

here is my setup

CPU: AMD FX-6100 Six-Core
Motherboard: Gigabyte 970A-D3
Ram: 16 gigs of Corsair Vengeance DDR3
CPU cooler: thermaltake contac 30 with dual fans
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 6770
PSU: Corsair TX 750
HD's: 2 Crucial M4 ssd's in raid0 + 1 500 gb storage drive
Case: Thermaltake ArmorVa8000B
Bios Revision F8e


i know tryign to explain to someoen on a forum how to overclock is prolly not easy. i can upload photos if needed of my amd overdrive and cpu id


thanks in advance

 

[trents]

There are some preliminary steps to take.

First, gather the software reporting, monitoring and stress testing tools: "CPU-z", "HWMonitor" and "Prime95". Install them.

Open HWMonitor on the desktop and leave it open while you run the Prime95 "torture" blend test for 20 minutes to check for maximum "core" temps and CPU temps (which are actually the motherboard CPU socket temps). This will tell us if you're cooler is seated properly and the thermal pastes is applied correctly and if so, how much overclock headroom you are likely to have from a temperature standpoint. Overclocking drives up temperatures and we pretty much know where the limits of that are as far as stability of the system is concerned.

Go ahead and do that and report back to us what max core and max CPU temps turn out to be.

 

[TwoTabs]

just a quick question i should be disabling my core performance boost options in my bios before running the test right?

 

[trents]

Disable all the green stuff like Cool N Quiet, Turbo, C1E to start with in bios. Then go into Windows Control Panel Power Options and configure to High Performance. I think that will get you well on the way to disabling the green throttle downers but I think there may be some others with the FX that I'm not familiar with, things they call advanced "P" states I believe. These things cause unpredictable fluctuations in frequencies and voltages play havoc with overclocking. Anyway, what I have given is a good start. Make sure no core unlocking stuff is enabled 'cause that plays havoc with core temp readings.

 

[TwoTabs]

here are my results. my core temps stayed at 36/37c almost the whole time while testing. i tested for almost 30 min just to be sure. what do you think?

 

[trents]

Your temps are really good but only one core worker is showing in Prime95. You may need to either adjust the settings or adjust the view pain to uncover the other five cores. You'd best run that again to make sure you were stressing all of the cores. There should be one pane for each core. One of those lines in the TMPIN0, TIMPIN1, TIMPIN2 section will be the CPU socket temp, also comes in handy sometimes. Plenty of headroom to overclock.

Now, load CPU-z and attach some pics of these tabs: "Memory" and "SPD". This will give lots of info about your system and bios settings. You only gave the "CPU" tab in post #5. When you post pics of CPU-z always post all three together.

Its bed time for me. I'll check this tomorrow.

 

[TwoTabs]

the test showed 6 workers while running. i just uploaded one of them to show you the results. if i had 6 windows that means it was testing all cores right?

 

[Twiggz]

Yes it does, it will open a windows for each worker.

 

[trents]

Okay, just wanted to be sure the temps were reflecting activity on all six cores. Be aware that one or more cores can "drop out" when stress testing with Prime and that is one kind of test failure. There can also be crashes, spontaneous restarts, BSOd, and lockups.

 

[TwoTabs]

yeah none of that happened. every worker window finsihed the tests without error. getting ready to post pics of my cpu z

 

[TwoTabs]

do i need to show you all slots in my spd?

 

[trents]

do i need to show you all slots in my spd?

No, unless you have mixed makes and values of ram. If all the sticks are the same then any of the "populated" slots will report the same numbers.

 

[trents]

Is the FX 6100 an "unlocked multiplier" CPU? Can you increase the CPU core speed multiplier or only decrease it from its stock value?

 

[TwoTabs]

its an unlocked multiplier

 

[trents]

Waiting for those "Memory" and "SPD" pics.

 

[TwoTabs]

 

[TwoTabs]

i really wonder why my ram is rated at 1600mhz but only posts as 1333

 

[trents]

1600 is the "XMP" or "eXtended memory profile". It's kind of what the memory is capable of when pushed to the limit and usually involves adding more voltage and/or relaxing the timings.This is the case with most memory rated at 1600. It's really 1333 memory that will do 1600 when pushed with a little extra voltage or compromised just a little from a performance perspective with more relaxed timings. If you want your memory to run at 1600 you will have to manually change the "divider" and relax the tRC and the Command Rate (CR) in bios. In CPU-z the "Memory" tab displays the current frequency and timings you are using. The "SPD" tab gives the manufacturer's recommended voltage and timings for your ram at various standard frequencies. Those standard frequencies reflect "dividers" that can be used to alter the starting frequency of the memory in bios, especially handy when you don't have an unlocked multiplier CPU and must rely on the front side bus to overclock.

 

[TwoTabs]

so what does this mean since my cpu does have unlocked multipliers?

 

[trents]

It means you will not have to be concerned with the changes that raising the fsb makes to other frequencies like the ram frequency, the HT Link frequency and the CPUNB frequency. These are all linked to the fsb and when you increase the fsb those other things grow right along with it and any one of them can become the source of instability. When overclocking the fsb you are constantly having to manipulate those other frequencies manually to prevent that. It means that your overclocking will be more simple. It means these other frequencies will stay put unless you choose to change them.