[OC] Phenom II x6 1055T bottlenecks RX 560

[Firestorm1231]

Hello! I recently bought a new graphics card because my old one stopped working, so I bought a Radeon RX 560 OC 4GB, i was pretty excited until I started playing some games and having lower fps than I expected and should be expected on a card like that. In some games, sometimes i have more fps on high settings than on low settings [Like GTA V, on this game there is no FPS difference beetween low settings on 800x600 and high settings on full HD and FPS is like 30-40] So I started searching on the internet and found out that my CPU limits my GPU, and it makes sense, because i have an Phenom II x6 1055T.

So then i started searching about how i could solve this problem, because i cant buy another CPU because i dont have the money. I read some guides on how to overclock, i understood some things, doesnt seem to be that hard, but i need your help too. [Hoping that CPU OC can actually solve my performance loss]

Before we start let me show you my PC Configuration so you can tell me if i can easily overclock this CPU or i cant at all, i hope my PSU and motherboard will take it.

Configuration:
CPU: Phenom II x6 1055T
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 560 OC 4GB
PSU: Corsair TX650 [ 80 PLUS BRONZE]
Mobo: AsRock 970 Pro3 R2.0
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX
RAM: 16gb ddr3 1333Mhz

I want you to know that i've never overclocked a CPU before, and i would like to up this one to 3,5ghz if possible. The only thing i've done until now is that i went in BIOS and changed some settings but i've never saved them, i dont want to do something stupid, but there is something weird i've seen in the bios: if i change the FSB from 200 to 210 or 220 nothing else changes not even the frequency and also ive seen that i can change the multiplier, thing that shouldnt be possible on a 1055T because is not Black Edition(1090T). Here is a video of the BIOS.:

VIDEO:

CPU-Z:

https://imgur.com/a/rsatQ

[Photos were taken while CPU was under stress in Prime95]
CPU Temp Idle:

https://imgur.com/a/Z2FAU

CPU Temp after 20 mins Prime95 stress:

https://imgur.com/a/GCcCT

I know overclocking takes time and I hope someone here is willing to help me do this, and im willing to talk on facebook or discord so it will be easier to communicate. Also let me know if you need more info about my PC.

I will also record every BIOS change i make.

 

[Mr.Scott]

You just cycled through the multi's. You can select any one you want, but it will not be applied when you save it.
All locked AMD processors do this.

 

[Firestorm1231]

Translate this if you can, thanks. All i want to know for now is if the thing that i should change first is the one i changed in the video above.

 

[Mandrake4565]

The Phenom II 1055 has a locked multiplier the only way to overclock it is through the Fsb, "Cpu frequency" on your board. Read this thread, it should help.

 

[Firestorm1231]

I've read it already, have you seen my video? When i change the cpu frequency nothing else changed as it should change...the dram frequency and all that stuff..

 

[Mr.Scott]

F10 to save it and reboot to the bios. Did it change then?
Not all boards work exactly the same.
Asrock especially.

 

[Firestorm1231]

Ok so i raised the FSB by 10 and it looks like the frequency actually went up to 2900 also the nb as you can see in the video, what else should i check?Should I make a prime95 test of 20 mins?Should I go in bios and change any setting?Do you need any CPU-Z Photo?

VIDEO:

Skip windows loading phase [slow hdd]

UPDATE: it looks like it also changed my RAM timings
After: http://prntscr.com/i6idyb
Before: http://prntscr.com/i6iedo
Should I worry?Should I change them back?I'm waiting for your response.

 

[trents]

Hello! I recently bought a new graphics card because my old one stopped working, so I bought a Radeon RX 560 OC 4GB, i was pretty excited until I started playing some games and having lower fps than I expected and should be expected on a card like that. In some games, sometimes i have more fps on high settings than on low settings [Like GTA V, on this game there is no FPS difference beetween low settings on 800x600 and high settings on full HD and FPS is like 30-40] So I started searching on the internet and found out that my CPU limits my GPU, and it makes sense, because i have an Phenom II x6 1055T.

So then i started searching about how i could solve this problem, because i cant buy another CPU because i dont have the money. I read some guides on how to overclock, i understood some things, doesnt seem to be that hard, but i need your help too. [Hoping that CPU OC can actually solve my performance loss]

Before we start let me show you my PC Configuration so you can tell me if i can easily overclock this CPU or i cant at all, i hope my PSU and motherboard will take it.

Configuration:
CPU: Phenom II x6 1055T
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 560 OC 4GB
PSU: Corsair TX650 [ 80 PLUS BRONZE]
Mobo: AsRock 970 Pro3 R2.0
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX
RAM: 16gb ddr3 1333Mhz

I want you to know that i've never overclocked a CPU before, and i would like to up this one to 3,5ghz if possible. The only thing i've done until now is that i went in BIOS and changed some settings but i've never saved them, i dont want to do something stupid, but there is something weird i've seen in the bios: if i change the FSB from 200 to 210 or 220 nothing else changes not even the frequency and also ive seen that i can change the multiplier, thing that shouldnt be possible on a 1055T because is not Black Edition(1090T). Here is a video of the BIOS.:

VIDEO:

CPU-Z:

https://imgur.com/a/rsatQ

[Photos were taken while CPU was under stress in Prime95]
CPU Temp Idle:

https://imgur.com/a/Z2FAU

CPU Temp after 20 mins Prime95 stress:

https://imgur.com/a/GCcCT

I know overclocking takes time and I hope someone here is willing to help me do this, and im willing to talk on facebook or discord so it will be easier to communicate. Also let me know if you need more info about my PC.

I will also record every BIOS change i make.

If you don't save the settings you change then you have no way of knowing if other settings change as you expect. Give the FSB a small bump, say from 200 to 210, save changes and reboot into bios and check other things that should have also changed automatically with the change in the FSB such as the memory frequency, the CPU-NB and the HT Link frequency. Make changes in only that one setting (FSB) to start with to get a feel of how the other dependent bus frequencies change in response.. Going from 200 to 210 FSB is a small enough change to not cause any problems with booting. You may have to take things off of "Auto" to see the changes.

Depending on how much stronger the gpu is than the CPU, overclocking the CPU still may not totally eliminate the bottleneck. With good cooling and a capable motherboard you may be able to speed up the CPU processing by 25-30%.

 

[Alaric]

You want to lower RAM timings when raising the FSB until your CPU is where you want it, and stable. Then go in and work on getting your memory speed higher. You don't want your OC to fail and not know which component quit on you.

 

[trents]

Looks like you beat me to it before I was able to finish my post.

 

[Firestorm1231]

After i changed FSB from 200 to 210 i booted in windows not in bios, and i made a prime95 test of exactly 10 minutes, results are here: http://prntscr.com/i6ikjl
Now im going in bios to see changes, im coming back with another video soon.

 

[trents]

What Alaric said. If you don't lower the memory frequency to the next lower divider to start with it will quickly become the source of instability in the system. Memory doesn't overclock as well as CPUs do.

 

[Alaric]

After i changed FSB from 200 to 210 i booted in windows not in bios, and i made a prime95 test of exactly 10 minutes, results are here: http://prntscr.com/i6ikjl
Now im going in bios to see changes, im coming back with another video soon.

CPU-Z, Prime95 and HWMonitor. Along with screenshots embedded in your posts, will make it a lot easier for folks to help here.

Looks like you beat me to it before I was able to finish my post.

Mr. Scott just did that to me in another thread, so I feel your pain! LOL

 

[Firestorm1231]

CPU-Z, Prime95 and HWMonitor. Along with screenshots embedded in your posts, will make it a lot easier for folks to help here.

So there is what changed in the bios after upping the fsb from 200 to 210, are they ok?should i change something to another value?

Video:

Alaric, i will download HWMonitor now, and i will embed screenshots from now.

Thank you guys for your help you are offering me!

- - - Updated - - -



HWMonitor on Idle, FSB 210.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, is there any feature that i should disable? Like cool'n'quiet, turbo etc..?

 

[trents]

More helpful at this point both to you and to us would be attached images of CPU-z tabs "CPU," "Memory," and "SPD". Pleased download and install CPU-z. Fire it up and attache images of those three tabs. That will show you and us the changes in all the frequencies you need to keep track of.

Another part of this is stress testing (Prime95) to test for the stability of the system when changes are made in the frequencies and voltages. HWMonitor is mainly used for monitoring temps during the stress testing part of overclocking.

 

[Alaric]

Disable Cool & Quiet, C1, APM. Here is a good read for what to disable http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/ever...ow-about-the-cpu-c-states-power-saving-modes/ You won't have all of them, but you have some. Basically, you want to disable anything that messes with voltage or frequency in the name of saving energy. You can turn them back on after you get your OC so that you don't run your CPU screaming 24/7, but it will ramp up when needed.

edit: And trents got me back for sniping. LOL

 

[Firestorm1231]

- - - Updated - - -

Ok now im going to disbale those features.

 

[Firestorm1231]

Ok, I went to search some of those features I only found Cool'n'quet:

What's that AMD I0 C-state support should i disable it?
Also is that "Enhanced Hait State(CIE)" that C1 you were talking about? (min 0:30 on youtube)
I couldn't find APM

At the end i accidentaly exit BIOS, didnt mean to

 

[Alaric]

Another good reference to have https://www.amd.com/Documents/AMD_Dragon_AM3_AM2_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf Download the .pdf, and if possible, put it on another rig so you can refer to it while you're in your BIOS.

edit: Disable CE1.

 

[Firestorm1231]

Unfortunately I can't put the .pdf on another rig, because I dont have one, im on a pretty low budget here. What should be my next step now?

edit: Should I raise the FSB to 215?

edit: Ok, now I'm going to sleep because it's almost 2 A.M here, we will continue tomorrow, I hope, thank you very much for your help you offered me by now.