M5A88V-evo Auto OC option in the BIOS

[trents]

One more very important thing needs to be added to the list. You need to lower the HT Link frequency to start with. Stock is 2000 mhz and this particular parameter is very unforgiving. It doesn't like to be overclocked much at all on the model CPU you have. The adjustment is typically a mulitplier and the frequency will be a multiple of the HT Reference. Since the HT Reference is 200 mhz at stock, that means the stock multiplier is 10x. Lower the multiplier to 9x to start with. At a stock HT Reference frequency of 200 mhz a 9x multiplier would give you an HT Link frequency of 1800 mhz. In you overclocking process, try to keep this frequency between 1800 and 2000 mhz.

For instance, with a 9x multiplier and the HT Ref. at 210 the HT Link frequency will be 210x9 or 1890 mhz. Get it? You can see how it will grow as the HT Reference increases.

Personally, I would set the starting ram speed at 1066 and work on eventually getting your HT Ref. to 250 mhz. That would give you the full 1333 mhz ram speed which is also what the ICM is rated for, though it will usually tolerate some overclocking.

 

[trents]

311, when you first fail the 20 minute Prime95 blend test (failing means blue screen, lock up, spontaneous restart or one or more core workers drops out) please post back with pics of the most recent HWMonitor display plus pics of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD. Then we will advise you further.

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

yeah! not sure if you're familiar with the Kingston Hyper X 8GB (2x4GB) i believe it's 1333 MHz with OC of 1600MHz

that value, 1.64v is what's detected by the BIOS. i also noticed that when i plugged in my cpu, it says 1.475v but it have it stable at 1.38125v for CPU Offset Voltage and 1.362 for Vcore (those values are undervolted values)

 

[trents]

The speed rating of the ram is not the limiting factor though. The limiting factor is the ICM (Integrated Memory Controller) of the CPU. It's rated for 1333 mhz and in that CPU family just will not handle 1600 mhz.

Concerning your CPU voltage, the only thing that matters is what it takes to have it stable at a given level of overclock while keeping core temps under control. Monitor the "CPU vcore" line in HWMonitor as you stress with Prime95. It will tell you what the net CPU voltage max, min and current is.

 

[trents]

So help me be clear on something. Is the computer you are overclocking at home or at work? And you don't have internet at home so you can only post pics when you are at work? So do you carry them from home on a thumb drive or something and then post them?

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

sir trents..sorry i can't comprehend that HT Link Freq..my nose is bleeding..lol you mean i have to lower it down to the next value from 2000MHz (currently it's in AUTO)

the system is at home and i don't have net there so the only way i can communicate with you guys is thru net here in the office but i have a flash drive so i'll try to figure out how to upload that. can't use a snipping tool to get screenshots of the BIOS right? may be i can use my phone...

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

oh by the way, for the record, any idea on how far did it go to OC an athlon X3 455 @ 3.3GHz sir trent?

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

so you mean aside from the table that i've posted above, i also need to drop the HT Link Speed to 1800MHz from AUTO instead of having it @Max of 2000MHz?

 

[RGone]

so you mean aside from the table that i've posted above, i also need to drop the HT Link Speed to 1800MHz from AUTO instead of having it @max of 2000MHz?

That is what 'trents' means.

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

got it sir

am i good to go? i will review this one more time before i go home today @ 12mn EST. by the way, do you guys have ym so i can ping you because everytime i look at your status here, most of the time, OFFLINE lol then all of a sudden you guys will reply

 

[trents]

Camera phone pics would be great. No, Snipping Tool would not be an option outside of windows.

So when you are in the office you seem to be attaching pics of the online owner's manual for the board, right? And when you are at home you make changes in the bios and can take pictures of things with your phone, right? And I assume you can transfer the pics from the phone to the office computer, right? I'm just trying to figure out how this is working. I'm starting to get the picture why our communication here on the form is well, out of phase.

 

[trents]

No, I don't use YM. I have done live phone conversations with one noob here a while back, however. I just got back from an evening walk. Sometimes I spend a long concentrated period of time on the forum and other times I check it now and then. Time zone and work schedule differences can also contribute to herky jerky forum communication.

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

sorry i'm noob sir trents, don't hate please

i will try to have a dongle so i can connect to the net while at home and upload all the photos. every results and inputs in the BIOS and windows. Thanks!

 

[trents]

In your pic in post #48 the HT Link speeds listed correspond to the multipliers I spoke of earlier. For instance in your bios, the 800 mhz HT Link frequency setting would imply a multiplier of 4x since 800 is four times the stock HT Ref of 200 mhz. 1000 would imply a 5x multiplier since 1000 is 5x200. Etc. etc. etc as Yule Brenner said in the King and I. Your bios just presents it in a different way than some others.

 

[trents]

When you get home, please run CPU-z and take a pic of these three tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD. There will be loads of info there and we can use it to refer back to.

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

this is for every test that i will be running right?

this is how it will look like right?

test1:

- HT Ref Clock = 205
- Vcore: 1.362v
- RAM voltage: 1.65v
- DRAM freq: 1200MHz or 1066MHz
- HT Link Speed: 1800MHz

and so on...

thanks!

 

[trents]

No, not every test. Just when you start to fail Prime95. If we can see those three CPU-z pics and a HWMonitor pic from the most recent run then it will likely tell us why you failed. It will either be a frequency, a voltage or a temp problem.

And to answer an earlier question, you can expect to get that CPU to 3.6-3.7 on air. The X3 445 is partially overclocked already from the factory so you won't get as much increase from stock as the lower binned members of that Athlon II X3 Rana core family. The reason you were surprised by the high stock vcore when you first installed the CPU is that it was already jacked up and overclocked some at the factory, as it were.

 

[YAMA187]

ive got the same board. and i had trouble with the overclock software. i see your doing it manually. listen to trents he knows best!! taught me what i know,

good luck!!!

 

[*cReed eRos*311]

i followed these settings:

- HT Ref Clock = 205
- Vcore: 1.362v
- RAM voltage: 1.65v
- DRAM freq: 1200MHz or 1066MHz
- HT Link Speed: 1800MHz

-after saving and exiting the BIOS, my system didn't post. i shut down the system and drained flea power so i can get to the BIOS again, got 2 options, F1 to run setup and F2 to load setup defaults, i chose F2 and got "checking NVRAM..."

forced the system to turn off and rebooted to get to the BIOS, received a message "Overclock Failed!"

so i loaded the defaults settings and ran prime95 for 20 minutes.

what i've noticed while configuring the BIOS is that i saw a message on top of the CPU Level Up - says Auto and above it, "This CPU doesn't support level up function" please see screenshot. Thanks!

 

[trents]

I don't know what the "CPU Level UP" function is about but what little I found on Google suggests to me its some kind of Automatic Overclocking Genie. I would disable it for sure for the time being.

Then I would make four adjustments if I were you:
1. Set your memory voltage to 1.55 instead of 1.65. It doesn't need 1.65 volts until you get into the 1600 mhz range and you are starting the memory way down at 1066. I think RGone suggested setting it to 1.55 in one of his posts yesterday but it must have slipped your mind. 1.65 is a lot of voltage for ram these days it may be "overdriving" a motherboard component or the CPU ICM. A lot of memory today will run 1600 at 1.5v and it would have been a better purchase for you to get that low voltage kind.
2. Set your CPU voltage to 1.425 in bios and see if it boots okay with a HT Ref of 205. You mentioned in an earlier post that you were surprised at the high stock voltage and you lowered it. I think you lowered it too much for starters when you also are overclocking the HT Ref.
3. Set your HT Linkd frequency to 1800 in bios
4. Increase your CPUNB voltage to 1.225.

Now see if it doesn't give better results at HT Ref of 205.