Is it a Contender?

[bassnut]

I hear ya there C_D .....

The last timeI pushed my luck running the creek at 70 mph all I didnt evensee the flip flop that caught me up side of the head as she ducked under the passenger console ..... not sure if it was that the creek was only 20' wide or 3' deep or if it was the chips on the top of the windscreen from when it clipped the bridge as we went under it ..... but she was not impressed. Seems that Mud Lake is out of bounds even if she isnt with me.

 

[vanibanez]

Sweet run RGone, wish I had the testicular fortitude to run way higher voltages to get stable above 4GHz on my rig.

 

[caddi daddi]

we all have to learn, when the she-devil in with you best BEHAVE!!!!!!

 

[Mandrake4565]

by goodness that little battle axe would cave my skull in.......

LOL isn't that what wives are for, otherwise we would just be fools all the time!

 

[RGone]

LOL isn't that what wives are for, otherwise we would just be fools all the time!

Eyeppers, me was a full-on fool till I got this one.
RGone...

 

[caddi daddi]

Rgone' I find the voltage scaleing to be interesting as compared to mine.

 

[RGone]

All I ever set out to do...

...set out to do was see if there was a 'real' motherboard less costly than the CHV series of motherboards. There are some features on the CHV and now CHV-z that many are likely to never use. So if a board was cheaper but able to handle the late AMD FX processors as well or even 'very nearly' so, then some could get performance and save some coins.

I beat up on the Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX PRO motherboard with a loaner FX-6300 processor along with the loaner Asrock board. Even went to so far as to push 1.71Vcore thru the FX-6300 just to get a 5.5Ghz CPUz validation. Then ran the Fatal1ty and FX-6300 thru the tests I use myself to see what and how things held up to what I knew of my own CHV motherboard. Plenty of graphs and captures of benchmarks have littered this thread. Hehehe.

Then I swapped in my own FX-8350 and shipped the FX-6300 to its' home. More benches and captures with the FX-8350 followed. Even Lin-X'd the FX-6300 and my own FX-8350 at 4.8Ghz and posted the captures.

Then I had a brain-faht. Been suffering from the Flu, it feels like and been just "blah" for a few weeks. Decided to run 5.0Ghz Lin-X at 5.0Ghz and wound up beating my head on the wall. Could not get beyond 47 Runs of Lin-X and then like a sick idiot went all over the map and decided after ram tests and bios flashing...well the dang cpu had just lost a 'step'. Shett shett.

So I put the FX-8350 back into my CHV and just captured what you see below. Lower voltages than I had tried with the Fatal1ty mobo. If I had just slapped myself and come into this thread I would have seen how low the Vcore should have been. Numbness comes to us all. Now to see if I have the nerve to make a swap back or get on with some other stuff I need to do.

Of course it is only one sample of a mobo, but I was and am impressed by my only CHV, so I can say for a little less than even the Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 mobo the Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional board has got to be up in the top 4 or 5 boards that regularly can handle high overclocks with an AMD FX-series processor.
RGone...

 

[Mandrake4565]

Thanks Rgone, as always it is an interesting read. I have also found that my 8350 doesn't like brute force and I also can lose my way very easily with it. It really took me a lot of time, good notes and patience to try and reach high O/C's with it. If I just stand on it's neck and feed it V Core, it can be a very frustrating experience. Glad you're feeling better and thanks again.

 

[RGone]

Thanks Rgone, as always it is an interesting read. I have also found that my 8350 doesn't like brute force and I also can lose my way very easily with it. It really took me a lot of time, good notes and patience to try and reach high O/C's with it. If I just stand on it's neck and feed it V Core, it can be a very frustrating experience. Glad you're feeling better and thanks again.

I hear you man. The FX-8120 seemed okay with brute force and the FX-6300 sort of put me off with the large increase in Vcore that the FX-6300 seemed to need just to run benches, much less run stability testing when really pushed. All of this contributed to my near fatal brain-faht and going back to the basics. Slow and steady would have probably done the deed, but no, heck no I had to get a bigger hammer and cause myself some headaches. Just glad I had enough sense left to test everything and 'then' back to the baseline. Now all seems rosey again.
RGone...

 

[Mandrake4565]

I had to get a bigger hammer and cause myself some headaches.

Sometimes I think were better off hitting ourselves with the hammer, to wake ourselves up, then to hit the processor with it. Oh and well have less of a headache.

 

[d1nky]

This is about the 3rd time ive read this thread, did so when I first got the mobo and now as a member. If I may add to the thread..

Having owned it for about 8 months and spent everyday with it, I have become fond of it! Sometimes I do think about buying a CHVF to see the difference, or see what else it has to offer.

A few issues I have with this mobo are;

1. No decent fan control - settings are basically all or nothing
2. LLC is 'backwards' compared to every other mobo (you mentioned) but disabled seems to be like 'extreme' LLC on other mobos.
3. The bios gets stuck sometimes on a loop lock - reflashing fixes it or if youre lucky clear cmos button (this is rare but reported often)
4. with 12 phases on the cpu, I wonder if a single 8 pin connector was enough.

Some problems that occurs when ocing, I appear to hit some kind of OCP or OVP, over current/over volt protection. When at full load, anything that stresses all 8 cores too much the mobo shuts off/hardlocks and needs power cut to restart (error 00)

this happens when above a certain voltage and the frequency has a minor impact.

example, single core benches allow me to bench upto 1.75v,
Prime95 has a limit of 1.53v,
cinebench 1.65v,
3dmark physics 1.61v

I haven't got 5ghz prime stable as it locks up, the most without locking up is 4.9ghz, no matter how low I drop volts, LLC or whatever I try

maybe its the cpu, possibly psu or temps. (but temps are good)


but on the positives, its absolutely given its all in benching. I know the cpu has to take a lot of credit, but its beaten and shamed CHVF's

the latest 1.95A bios is a physics god, about 10% better compared to any before.

its been crunching weeks solid without bsod, crashes or heat issues (usually at 4.875ghz added more vcore to eliminate errors)

the VRMs are more solid than anything I know, ability to turn on thermal throttle and it still not throttle... they stay cool at stock speeds, but when modded with a fan, literally any speed they stay cool.

It can handle a decent RAM speed (max ive has is about 2650mhz benching)

can add cpu VDDA and PCIE VDDA. allowing better stability for benching

and it handles xfire extremely well

great article Rgone.

(I just got to work out that damn hardlock problem, maybe soon itll be subzero for the first time on the net)

 

[Mandrake4565]

1. No decent fan control - settings are basically all or nothing

I have an Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 w a 2500k on it. I find the fans settings the same as you D1nky it's all or nothing. The settings are definitely not as tunable as on my Asus CHV and Maximus Hero.