Looking for help with first CPU overclock (FX-4170).

[Obsidus]

One thing you probably should look at is the ram timing. Unfortunately, CPU-z sometimes gives wrong info in the SPD tab about the mfg.'s recommendations. There's a bug in it, or some versions of it, that causes it not to read the mfg.'s info correctly from the ram module. So, go to your ram manfuacturer's website and check the timings and voltage recommendations of the ram. Then go into bios and put that menu option for DRAM timing on Manual so you can check what the current timings are set to. Compare them with what the mfg recmmends. In bios, you will see a ton of different timings but the only ones you need to be concerned with are the ones that show in CPU-z. The ones that don't show up in CPU-z are not very important and you can leave them on Auto.

Check and see what the DRAM voltage is set to as well.

If you find the terminology in CPU-z for some of the timings isn't the same as it is in bios and get confused, take a digital camera pic of that section of the bios and I'll try to help you sort it out. You can often tell just by the magnitude of the numbers what lines up with what when the terminology isn't the same.

Ok my manufacturer says that my ram should be: 9-9-9-24-2N with 1.5v tested. This is what CPU-Z says, and my bios says this as well, except it is saying the voltage is 1.506. I also ran a memory test for shiggles, and it passed. On a side note, even though my ram is 1600 ram, it is still listed in the bios as running at 1333, this is normal right? Last time I fiddled with that and changed it to 1600 I lost my out of the box overclock. >.>

 

[trents]

Did you mean 9-9-9-24-2T instead of 2N?

Please post the CPU-z Memroy tab pic. You should be running that ream at 1600 mhz. The FX CPUs will handle that easily.

 

[trents]

Looks like from post #23 you had been running your ram at 1600 mhz. CPU-z reports the ram speed at half of what you would expect because it's reporting not the DDRx (Double Data Ratex) but the ram bus speed. So in CPU-z 800 is really 1600. Did you lower it since then to 667/1333?

 

[Obsidus]

Did you mean 9-9-9-24-2T instead of 2N?

Please post the CPU-z Memroy tab pic. You should be running that ream at 1600 mhz. The FX CPUs will handle that easily.

Here is the link to my memory on the G.Skill website: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=239

Says 2N.

Here are the shots for CPU-Z.

 

[Obsidus]

Looks like from post #23 you had been running your ram at 1600 mhz. CPU-z reports the ram speed at half of what you would expect because it's reporting not the DDRx (Double Data Ratex) but the ram bus speed. So in CPU-z 800 is really 1600. Did you lower it since then to 667/1333?

If I did it was not intentionally. I got myself into this whole issue to begin with by adjusting from a manual profile to D.O.C.P in the bios, but then later back again to manual to make sure I can fiddle with it all. It seems to jump between 1333-1437 and 1600 depending on what I do with the CPU, but none of it (aside from the first time) is me forcing it to do it intentionally.

 

[trents]

Does your bios have an "XPM" setting for the DRAM frequency? If so, choose that so we can get the ram running at 1600.

In not, Go into your bios and manually set the DRAM frequency to 1600 and the timings to what you see in the XMP-1600 column of the CPU-z SPD tab in post #84. Also, bump the ram voltage up to 1.525 or if the increments are not that fine, to 1.55. If the terminology in bios for he timigs differes from that used by CPU-z, make a small tentative change, boot back into Windows and check your changes in CPU-z.

Post back with a pic of the CPU-z memory tab.

 

[Obsidus]

Does your bios have an "XPM" setting for the DRAM frequency? If so, choose that so we can get the ram running at 1600.

In not, Go into your bios and manually set the DRAM frequency to 1600 and the timings to what you see in the XMP-1600 column of the CPU-z SPD tab in post #84. Also, bump the ram voltage up to 1.525 or if the increments are not that fine, to 1.55. If the terminology in bios for he timigs differes from that used by CPU-z, make a small tentative change, boot back into Windows and check your changes in CPU-z.

Post back with a pic of the CPU-z memory tab.

Ok, I'll try. If I recall correctly my bios does not have XPM, I went looking for that before to set my ram to 1600, and all it has is manual, D.O.C.P and something else, but it isn't XPM. It also has a series of preset choices, and will even let me take it to 1736ish and 1800 etc. I'll go look now to be sure and report back.

 

[Obsidus]

Ok I set the ram to 1600 and then upped the voltage to 1.525 and saved. Rebooted and this time it didn't mess with my CPU overclock and these are the new CPU-Z screenies:

 

[Obsidus]

Should I try Prime95 again now? Or would these changes have no effect on it continuing to give me that 0.5 - 0.4 error?

 

[trents]

What do you mean by, "This time it didn't mess with my CPU overclock?"

 

[Obsidus]

What do you mean by, "This time it didn't mess with my CPU overclock?"

Well, like I said, when I first put this computer together the CPU came out of the box OC'ed to 4.55 or 4.6, without me doing anything. But about 4 days ago, I noticed in the bios (after updating my bios) that my ram was running at 1437 when it's listed as being 1600 ram. So I looked up how to fix that, and I did it by changing the setting in the bios from auto to D.O.C.P and changed it to 1600. Doing this is what screwed me in the first place and reset my CPU back to 4.2; hence why I came here.

THIS time when I set it to 1600, my OC stayed the same. I'm pretty sure before it was due to my ignorance, and all the automatic setting garbage in the bios was still on, before you helped me turn it all off.

 

[trents]

Okay.

Back to the XMP thing. Was there an XMP setting in bios or did you manually configure the timings?

 

[Obsidus]

Okay.

Back to the XMP thing. Was there an XMP setting in bios or did you manually configure the timings?

I left the timings alone, they were all what you said they should be, so I just focused on changing the voltage, and setting it to 1600. I looked all over and didn't see any way to change the whole "2T / 2N" thing.

 

[trents]

Looks like the tRAS and the tRC are different. And there has got to be a way to change those. Again, look for Auto that needs to be changed to Manual. And again, the terminology may vary between your bios and CPU-z.

 

[Jagged_Steel]

I suggest trying the following procedure before randomly changing things in the BIOS.

Step 1: Click this button.


This is the Crosshair V AI Suite and is red, otherwise it is the same as the Sabertooth one. I have used both within the last few days.


Step 2 : Be patient. Let the program do what it needs to. It will try various combinations of settings, and will test them to see if they are stable. Sometimes it will go through 4 or 5 boots testing. I write down the combos it is trying, to explore them further later. If you get a Windows Boot Prompt (black screen white text) always select "Start Windows Normally". Don't interrupt after boots. Wait until it tells you the process is complete. You will see this message:



Here is what the ASUS AI suite Auto-Tune gave me for an OC. 4.888 Ghz with one click of the mouse. This is a bit higher than I got with the Sabertooth which was 4.86 Ghz, it chose 202 instead of the 203 that the CHV likes. The max auto-OC on my M5A97 EVO was around 4.7 Ghz. The Auto-tune chose 1.41 for the Core Voltage. This is 100% stable. Cool and Quiet and all other power saving features (Plus Turbo Core) are ON.



Step 3: Optional, depending on your memory and whether the auto-tune set it at good settings. You may want to increase your memory speed + tighten up the memory timings and increase your NB to the maximum it will run stable at, in my case it is around 2600 Mhz. These Samsungs will run at speeds and settings most RAM will crash at. The auto-tune has no idea that this 30 nm RAM will do things most RAM will not, so it doesn't attempt higher settings. When I was using Corsair XMP RAM, the auto - OC was pretty close to the maximum memory speeds I could get manually tuning it.
Here is the MaxxMEM after tightening up the throughput manually:



After you get the auto-oc, save the settings in the UEFI (It's the tab all the way to the right, on bottom), so you have the voltages and whatnot the AI chose as a base to explore further. Also, you may want to first go into UEFI and hit "F5", and then "YES" to load default settings before you run the AI Suite Auto-OC.

I don't know what you "read on the internet" about using the ASUS AI Suite, but I can assure you that it works great.



Remember what Socrates said to Plato : "Just because somebody on the internet said they failed when trying to use the ASUS AI SUite Auto-OC feature, it does not mean that it was the software's fault. There is always the possibility of PEBKAC".

 

[trents]

Obsidus, I'll be gone for several hours. Try Jagged's suggestion. We seem not to be getting anywhere fast with manual settings.

 

[Obsidus]

I found the DRAM command and changed it manually to 2T (it was either at auto or 1T). Here is a screenshot of the DRAM screen in the BIOS, I'm unsure about the whole tRAS and tRC settings.

 

[Obsidus]

Obsidus, I'll be gone for several hours. Try Jagged's suggestion. We seem not to be getting anywhere fast with manual settings.

Ok, I'll try 1 more Prime95 test now that the memory issue is sorted out; and if I fail it I'll look into messing with AI Suite instead. Either way I cannot express how much I appreciate the effort and time you have put into showing me how to do this; it has been very helpfyl and actually really fun. Thank you sincerely!

 

[Obsidus]

I suggest trying the following procedure before randomly changing things in the BIOS.

Step 1: Click this button.

View attachment 114612
This is the Crosshair V AI Suite and is red, otherwise it is the same as the Sabertooth one. I have used both within the last few days.


Step 2 : Be patient. Let the program do what it needs to. It will try various combinations of settings, and will test them to see if they are stable. Sometimes it will go through 4 or 5 boots testing. I write down the combos it is trying, to explore them further later. If you get a Windows Boot Prompt (black screen white text) always select "Start Windows Normally". Don't interrupt after boots. Wait until it tells you the process is complete. You will see this message:

View attachment 114617

Here is what the ASUS AI suite Auto-Tune gave me for an OC. 4.888 Ghz with one click of the mouse. This is a bit higher than I got with the Sabertooth which was 4.86 Ghz, it chose 202 instead of the 203 that the CHV likes. The max auto-OC on my M5A97 EVO was around 4.7 Ghz. The Auto-tune chose 1.41 for the Core Voltage. This is 100% stable. Cool and Quiet and all other power saving features (Plus Turbo Core) are ON.

View attachment 114614

Step 3: Optional, depending on your memory and whether the auto-tune set it at good settings. You may want to increase your memory speed + tighten up the memory timings and increase your NB to the maximum it will run stable at, in my case it is around 2600 Mhz. These Samsungs will run at speeds and settings most RAM will crash at. The auto-tune has no idea that this 30 nm RAM will do things most RAM will not, so it doesn't attempt higher settings. When I was using Corsair XMP RAM, the auto - OC was pretty close to the maximum memory speeds I could get manually tuning it.
Here is the MaxxMEM after tightening up the throughput manually:

View attachment 114613

After you get the auto-oc, save the settings in the UEFI (It's the tab all the way to the right, on bottom), so you have the voltages and whatnot the AI chose as a base to explore further. Also, you may want to first go into UEFI and hit "F5", and then "YES" to load default settings before you run the AI Suite Auto-OC.

I don't know what you "read on the internet" about using the ASUS AI Suite, but I can assure you that it works great.

View attachment 114624

Remember what Socrates said to Plato : "Just because somebody on the internet said they failed when trying to use the ASUS AI SUite Auto-OC feature, it does not mean that it was the software's fault. There is always the possibility of PEBKAC".

I'll definitely give it a shot in a little bit. Question is, since I've been manually adjusting a whole bunch of stuff in BIOS, do I have to reset it all back to a base setting before attempting to use AI suite? Or can I just go with what I have at the moment and AI suite will do it's thing anyhow?

In regards to what I've read; it hasn't been anything specific. Just a consistent "don't use AI programs to OC a processor, it's always better to do it manually in the bios". No explanation, just that simple.

 

[Obsidus]

Looks like the tRAS and the tRC are different. And there has got to be a way to change those. Again, look for Auto that needs to be changed to Manual. And again, the terminology may vary between your bios and CPU-z.

One last thing with this. If I figure it out, should I change the setting on the SPD window to be 33 trc, or should it be 39 trc like in the memory window?