New to overclocking: Have some questions about my 6300

[Ben62884]

I am completely new to overclocking, but after doing some research on this website of CPU's that resemble mine here is what I was able to come up with:

So far I am stable at 4.1Ghz, with vCore set to 1.4v. All memory is clocked in correctly. When I try to go above 4.1 it takes an awful lot of vcore increase in order to get it stable, although my bios says that my CPU max voltage is 1.55v. I had it raised all the way to 1.43 or 1.44v and was still having cores drop out on Prime 95 after around 15 minutes or so. Temps are very stable and I have not seen anything higher than 52C as of yet. Would like some info on how I could possibly get to 4.2 or maybe even past that, but still be completely stable. Here is my setup:

CPU: AMD 6300
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo
PSU: Corsair CX500 (500 watt)
MOBO: ASRock 970 Extreme3
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 7850
SSD: OCZ 128GB
HDD: Seagate 1TB 7200 RPM
Optical: ASUS CD/DVD Burner
Case: Rosewill Challenger (2x 120mm fan, 1x 140mm fan)

My screenshots are attached, any help would really be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[Ben62884]

Some reason my screenshot of Prime95 with CPUZ and HWMonitor uploaded very small. Here is the cropped version so you can see the numbers better.

 

[Gibbs989]

Hmm I was able to keep a stable 4.5Ghz OC with 1.4 vcore it looks to me like you have big variance from you min and max voltages is there an option in your bios for cpu "LLC" if so set it to high and try running prime95 again. I know I had an issue with cores dropping off after a half an hour or so and found that changing the LLC setting didnt let the voltage droop so low and I was able to pass an 8 hour torture test. at 4.1 you should be able to drop your voltage down quite a lot from 1.4 but you need it to be a stable voltage. Im sure there will be many others that will come along to help you but this is one of the many things these forums helped me figure out.

 

[Ben62884]

Hmm I was able to keep a stable 4.5Ghz OC with 1.4 vcore it looks to me like you have big variance from you min and max voltages is there an option in your bios for cpu "LLC" if so set it to high and try running prime95 again. I know I had an issue with cores dropping off after a half an hour or so and found that changing the LLC setting didnt let the voltage droop so low and I was able to pass an 8 hour torture test. at 4.1 you should be able to drop your voltage down quite a lot from 1.4 but you need it to be a stable voltage. Im sure there will be many others that will come along to help you but this is one of the many things these forums helped me figure out.

Thank you for the quick response. I have found an option in my bios for the LLC you mentioned, although I do not have a "high" setting. The only settings there are "Auto", "Disabled", and "enabled".... right now it is set to Auto, and I think that is whats messing with the voltage fluctuation, but I do not know whether to set it to enabled, or disabled, in order to get the voltage stable. Any ideas?

 

[Gibbs989]

not entirely sure I am very new to this as well and I am only familiar with the bios on my Asus Mobo. I would simply enable it and do a p95 test watch HW monitor and see what the voltage does then try again with it disabled. basically you want to keep your voltage as constant as possible so you can truely dial in the exact amount of vcore needed for your desired clock speed. Also I forgot to mention in my previous post make sure that Cool and Quiet C1E Core C6 and turbo core are disabled.

 

[RGone]

Thank you for the quick response. I have found an option in my bios for the LLC you mentioned, although I do not have a "high" setting. The only settings there are "Auto", "Disabled", and "enabled".... right now it is set to Auto, and I think that is whats messing with the voltage fluctuation, but I do not know whether to set it to enabled, or disabled, in order to get the voltage stable. Any ideas?

How to put up Sig at OCF.

New Shortcut method for putting a Signature with your system information following your every post so people can know what is in the case that they are trying to assist with. You can use something like what is shown in my signature as a good template of needed information Thank you.

 

[Ben62884]

For some reason it is not displaying my signature, I cut and pasted the CPU info from my OP and it saved, but it is not displaying, is ther a reason why?

 

[RGone]

Cannot see a signature when posting from a phone for sure. Wish they would fix it so the forum put a note at the bottom saying 'from phone.

 

[ssjwizard]

Cannot see a signature when posting from a phone for sure. Wish they would fix it so the forum put a note at the bottom saying 'from phone.

It would be even nicer if they just fixed in so it posted your sig...

 

[Ben62884]

Cannot see a signature when posting from a phone for sure. Wish they would fix it so the forum put a note at the bottom saying 'from phone.

But I am not posting from phone, i am posting from PC. I added a sig but its not being displayed. Anyways, I'm more concerned about getting help for my OC, lol. I disabled the LLC and ran a prime test at 4.2ghz and the voltage was all over the place, anywhere from 1.38 all the way up to 1.45, and in my BIOS it was set to 1.40. So I lowered it in my BIOS to 1.375 and it booted up at 4.2ghz and prime ran for about 5 minutes but voltages were still all over the place. So I decided to enable LLC and it wouldnt not boot up, just stuck at the ASRock screen, so I upped the voltage to 1.4v and it still would not boot. Does anyone know why it would not boot when I enabeled LLC? I even tried disabling it again and still no boot, so I had to reset BIOS to default before I could boot into Windows. I can load my stable 4.1ghz settings, but I would like to go up a bit from 4.1, and would also like to get my voltage situation strait. I still dont know whether to enable or disable LLC, but from what I know if it is disabled then the voltage will constantly be going up and down. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ssjwizard]

The vCore should fluctuate somewhat. LLC enabled is the best plan its quite possible to have it stable at a lower voltage while idling than it takes to be stable while loaded down. Lets try just getting to the point here rather than a million miles of guess and check. Go ahead and bump the CPU voltage to the highest that your comfortable with running. Id say 1.45v + LLC enabled is a good starting place, but this is up to you. Step two boot into windows do 5 mins of P95, reboot and raise clockspeed 100Mhz. When you get to your target speed(4.5Ghz?) stop there. Step 3 Now do a 15 min stability test to verify its working well and to make sure your temps are in line. Step 4 Reboot drop the CPU voltage one notch and repeat until you get a failed worker in P95. Step 5 bump the vCore one notch higher and be happy.

 

[Ben62884]

The vCore should fluctuate somewhat. LLC enabled is the best plan its quite possible to have it stable at a lower voltage while idling than it takes to be stable while loaded down. Lets try just getting to the point here rather than a million miles of guess and check. Go ahead and bump the CPU voltage to the highest that your comfortable with running. Id say 1.45v + LLC enabled is a good starting place, but this is up to you. Step two boot into windows do 5 mins of P95, reboot and raise clockspeed 100Mhz. When you get to your target speed(4.5Ghz?) stop there. Step 3 Now do a 15 min stability test to verify its working well and to make sure your temps are in line. Step 4 Reboot drop the CPU voltage one notch and repeat until you get a failed worker in P95. Step 5 bump the vCore one notch higher and be happy.

I tried what you said, I raised vcore to 1.45, set cpu multiplier to 4.3ghz and set LLC to enabled, and again, I couldnt get past the boot screen. It gets stuck at the BIOS logo and will go no further. Had to enter bios setup and reset defaults again in order to enter windows. Any ideas why this keeps happening everytime I try to enable LLC? Only times ive ever gotten stuck at bios boot was after turning LLC to enabled.

 

[ssjwizard]

Have you tried updating your motherboard bios version? If setting it to enabled messes it up just leave it on auto, which should basically mean enabled.

 

[RGone]

After I posted about sig so would not have to go first page...

...I spent the rest of that time trying to get a line on the LLC on that mobo which honestly I would not have for an 8 core cpu for sure.

Nothing but hale with LLC on the EXT3 and EXT4. In fact one of the Asrock techs two days ago reported 'she' would have Asrock engineering look into a 5 page thread at tweaktown about the EXT4 failing prime 95 at stock speeds with FX-8350. No overclock. Not a lot of difference between EXT3 and EXT4 except maybe a bios defect.

I copied this from the internet where one user described how his LLC worked on HIS >>970 EXT3.
I have this board, the extreme3 it's not bad at all, but there are a few things anyone who would be purchasing should know

-my max oc on this board with my fx-6100 is 4.5ghz at 1.45v, any higher on voltage and the vrm will throttle, so it does have vrm protection.
-It has loadline calibration however, the setting for am3 to am3+ is somewhat hard to figure out at first it says in the bios "disabled for am3+" this simply means, disabled=on for am3+ cpu. The 3 llc options and your only options are Auto-Enabled-Disabled, Auto and Enabled on am3+ cpu do nothing, disabled will take your voltage about .5v higher then your set voltage, mine is set to 1.4v stock, and under load it will go up to 1.45v. With auto or enabled at 1.4v my voltage will droop down to about 1.33v under load...

Hope this info helps anyone who buys this board and overclocks with it.

That is the first description of LLC characteristics that describe what most see with Vcore on that EXT3 mobo. Never really seen anyone sit down and write how LLC actually acts when FX processor is in the cpu socket.

 

[Ben62884]

...I spent the rest of that time trying to get a line on the LLC on that mobo which honestly I would not have for an 8 core cpu for sure.

Nothing but hale with LLC on the EXT3 and EXT4. In fact one of the Asrock techs two days ago reported 'she' would have Asrock engineering look into a 5 page thread at tweaktown about the EXT4 failing prime 95 at stock speeds with FX-8350. No overclock. Not a lot of difference between EXT3 and EXT4 except maybe a bios defect.

This is for the EXT3.
I have this board, the extreme3 it's not bad at all, but there are a few things anyone who would be purchasing should know

-my max oc on this board with my fx-6100 is 4.5ghz at 1.45v, any higher on voltage and the vrm will throttle, so it does have vrm protection.
-It has loadline calibration however, the setting for am3 to am3+ is somewhat hard to figure out at first it says in the bios "disabled for am3+" this simply means, disabled=on for am3+ cpu. The 3 llc options and your only options are Auto-Enabled-Disabled, Auto and Enabled on am3+ cpu do nothing, disabled will take your voltage about .5v higher then your set voltage, mine is set to 1.4v stock, and under load it will go up to 1.45v. With auto or enabled at 1.4v my voltage will droop down to about 1.33v under load...

Hope this info helps anyone who buys this board and overclocks with it.

That is the first description of LLC characteristics that describe what most see with Vcore on that EXT3 mobo. Never really seen anyone sit down and write how LLC actually acts when FX processor is in the cpu socket.

Thank you so much for all the info. So do you suggest I set llc to disabled? I definitely saw the extra .5 during load, I thought maybe it shouldn't be going to 1.45, I wasn't sure. Your vcore is set to 1.45? So under load it can spike to 1.5? Is that safe? I would like to try shooting for a stable 4.5 if I can. I see my CPU is can go up to 1.55 but is it safe to have it up that high, even if it is just a spike from being under load?

 

[caddi daddi]

on my asrock fatlady board the llc works as it is supposed to, it only reduces vcore and must be disabled to overclock.

I have tried all the bios versions and they all keep llc this way.

 

[RGone]

How I see some LLC work...

History maybe. Intel seemed to have the idea of vdoop first. They had a spec that called for a voltage drop under load in order to keep the cpu from suffering damage as the VRM circuit added voltage to the power circuit of the cpu. Said in other words. CPU loaded = vdroop or voltage drop before adding voltage to cpu to allow room for voltage spikes from the VRM circuit to the cpu.

Then the big ruckus because the vdroop under load meant the user had to set Vcore higher to allow cpu to run X voltage when overclocked to stay stable.

Enter LLC or Load Line Calibration. Still speaking of Intel who first spoke of vdroop and even made it a specification. Motherboard engineers brought forth LLC, which is nothing more than a circuit to closely monitor or calibrate the cpu voltage and quickly respond to "keep" or calibrate the Vcore to the voltage set in bios.

In that description we understand that calibrate means to measure one item against another and set the measured item equal to a standard. In this case cpu Vcore equal to the Vcore "standard" set in bios under load.

Now that was the idea behind LLC or Load Line Calibration.

Take that to actual practice as we see it on AMD motherboards with the feature and the user can see very different results from one board manufacturer to another and even within models from the 'same' manufacturer. It seems to depend on how cheap is the board as to how LLC works overall. Cheap boards equal a wonky LLC operation or so it seems when users describe how LLC works for them.

So according to how I understand the general idea behind LLC, I am more than happy to see my Asus Crosshair Five motherboard give me 5 settings for LLC and I can use one of the 5 settings to generally keep my Vcore voltage to the cpu roughly equal to the cpu voltage I have set in the bios menu or a working LLC. Now that is how " I " use LLC on my top of the line CHV offering from Asus.

Okay enter what " I " consider wonky LLC, there is a way to use it. Takes a little more work but can be made to work within the abilities of the actual VRM circuit strength of the motherboard in use. However to use it you have to know how your particular LLC works AND it must be determined how much Vcore is needed to allow the cpu to perform without error at an overclocked setting. THIS actual needed Vcore to remain stable within the limits of temperature on the cpu is not so easily found if DISABLING LLC does not really disable LLC is I understand it. But the real Vcore needed can be determined.

Take the LLC on the Asrock 970 EXT3. If you set LLC to Enabled and begin to overclock with voltage to the cpu set to 1.375V in bios. We also set 4.2Ghz as the cpu speed and then we load with Prime 95 Blend mode. We monitor Vcore before beginning AND during P95 blend with HWMonitor and see three numbers for Vcore. Value - Min - Max. Okay the number I want to look at in HWMon is the Min Vcore number.

That Min Vcore number is supposedly the LEAST Vcore that the cpu can have applied to it and NOT fail in P95 Blend mode. IF P95 Blend mode has failed then the Min voltage number was not enough. So I raise the Vcore setting in bios and LLC is still enabled on the Asrock 970EXT3. I now begin P95 Blend with HWMon open before and during the P95 Blend mode testing.

Okay now I see a higher Min number for Cpu Voltage in HWMon. Does testing of P95 Blend mode fail or pass? Fail = rounding errors, computer restarts itself or P95 may just freeze. Any of those is a fail. Did P95 pass?

Okay it passed. What now? I have to write a lot more of IF and OR here or cut to the chase as I have seen it. Min voltage to CPU in HWMonitor is supposed to be the very LEAST Vcore the cpu can have to run stable. Max voltage shows the Max voltage applied to the cpu during the P95 Blend mode test. Here I am going to assign some numbers just out of the blue and not what might be the real numbers seen so I can attempt to show what I would do with LLC on the Asrock EXT3.

So P95 passed with a manual Vcore setting of 1.375 and LLC enabled with an FX processor in the cpu socket. I see Min voltage to the cpu dropped to 1.305v and I glance and see that the Max Vcore had increased to 1.45V. So what to do?

I would set manual Vcore in bios to 1.4V and turn LLC to DISABLED. What will happen now? Vcore will remain at approximately 1.4V with no load on the cpu or nearly no load on the cpu. The Vcore will only rise to about 1.45V when fully loaded and P95 Blend mode should pass at the 4.2Ghz we set to test back a few paragraphs ago. Now I don't have to guess what sort of voltage the cpu is getting and I can know what to do when I increase the cpu speed and need to apply more Vcore to be stable at a higher cpu speed. By keeping that ratio of actual setting in bios for Vcore to the approximate rise when LLC is disabled which is how I will run LLC, I can now just raise the CPU Vcore in bios and not have to worry greatly about what LLC is doing. It is disabled.

Now I have passed P95 Blend with the settings I used only as a guide above and want to go up beyond 4.2Ghz. I would begin P95 at say 4.4Ghz and P95 fails in some way. I know I am at 1.4Vcore set manually in bios. I know LLC is now off since I set it that way above. I adjust bios to 1.42V and retest P95. ALL this time I have been also monitoring temperatures. I have not let CPU Temp exceed 70c and I have not let the CPU Core/"package" temps exceed 60c. If the "example" 1.42V to cpu in bios now passes P95 Blend mode. Job done.

Using the procedure above I have found that I can run a lesser voltage to the cpu when not loaded and with LLC disabled expect about a 0.05 increase in Voltage to the cpu in order to keep the cpu stable.

Others may have other ideas. This is how I would set LLC on a board I consider to have wonky LLC and one I would not intentionally spend my money for. You could say if you thought about it that the wonky LLC is actually allowing setting a lower Vcore and when needed the Vcore is raised to allow for stability. Yes you could think of the LLC as working that way and may see it as a plus. YMMV. But if you do not disable LLC on the Asrock EXT3 "after" finding the Min Max values, one generally is just shooting in the dark. Sort of wandering around in the dark.

RGone...

 

[ssjwizard]

RGone thanks for picking up one of those boards. I would have never guesed that a major manufacturer would REVERSE the accepted / standard method of labeling a major feature like LLC. This should be useful to us in the future as the Asrock 970 boards are particularly popular, and usually on sale.

@op
Try setting LLC to disabled and follow the same process as we discussed before and I think you will find the overclock you were looking for.

 

[RGone]

@ "ssjwizard", I hope I did not infer I had actually purchased a 970EXT3, since I have not and likely will not, but I just wanted to put forth what I gleaned from hours of trying to figure out LLC on some of these boards that act oddly. I do see a number of these cheap boards out there. So knowing something that may take the guesswork out of some settings may be a bonus. One thing I would certainly remember is that the person that wrote on the net and I got my clues from made a statement about the VRM thottling on the 970EXT when pushed over 1.45V I think it was. However with LLC disabled in bios and Vcore in bios to 1.45V that would should give 1.5Vcore to the cpu and that is pretty stout especially on air cooling or CLCL water systems. So I would guess one cold still get a fair overclock. Maybe not a max overclock but that should be attempted with better parts anyway.

RGone...

 

[ssjwizard]

@RGone, well either way thank you for looking into the matter for us.