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Overclocking FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core

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Monkey D. Luffy

Registered
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to overclocking and have never done it before. I don't usually dab into BIOS either so i'm new there but after reading some guides it seems doable. It would be nice to get some hands on help from this forum though so I don't mess up my computer. I want to overclock my FX-4100 to most stable highest settings. Appreciate anyone who helps me :thup:

Specs:

CPU: Amd fx-4100 @ 3.6 stock

Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 5750 1gb 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x6 HDCP

Hard Drive: WD Caviar Blue 250gb 7200 SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

PSU: 500w Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US ATX12v v2.3

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Case: Logisys Computer CS309Bk Black Atx

<-- Shows image of my entire Computer Specs Newegg format
 
First off, go into bios and disable Turbo, c1e, speed spectrum, c6, APM, thermal throttle... Some of these maybe be in different tabs in the bios and/or that board may not even have some of these options. Disable them all.

Leave cpu/nb frequency and HT Link to 2000mhz for now (deal with this later)
Leave RAM at 1333mhz or 1600mhz for now (deal with this later as well) set your rated timings for the ram manually and set the voltage rated for them manually as well.

I would start out raising the cpu multiplier to 20x. Giving you 4ghz. Boot into windows and rune prime95 for a few hours. I say a few because anytime i get an error in P95, if its not within 20mins, its usually after 1 hr, sometimes 2.5hrs. I have never gotten an hours after 2.5hrs before. So i like to run it at least 3-4 hours to be safe. Alot of people recommend 8-12hrs and I used to do that as well but I think that is overkill. I never do more than 6-8hrs anymore.

If 4ghz is stable, raise the cpu multiplier some more, after this you might have to make increasing in the cpu voltage but I like to see how high i can go on the stock voltage.

Let me know what your default/stock voltage for the cpu is as well. Also I would need to know your idle voltage and your load voltage as well to give you an idea where to set your LLC if your board has that option, im sure it does.
 
Welcome. AMD isnt my thing, however in my signature is a link that will help you overclock your Bulldozer... check it out!
 
Keep a close eye on the temp.
That stock aluminum block heatsink is junk for OC'ing with.
 
I don't see it in his post so I didn't know.
I have had my 4100 up to 4.8Ghz on a 212 EVO at decent temps, but had to fall back because it has a crappy MB to OC with.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, I will attempt to overclock using your methods soon (Maybe a week). I just recently bought all these computer parts so i'm going to let it run for a couple days to see if there are any hardware problems before i start overclocking.

Again, thanks for the fast replies
 
Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to overclocking and have never done it before. I don't usually dab into BIOS either so i'm new there but after reading some guides it seems doable. It would be nice to get some hands on help from this forum though so I don't mess up my computer. I want to overclock my FX-4100 to most stable highest settings. Appreciate anyone who helps me :thup:

My rather low-spec motherboard and CoolerMaster (for overclocking purposes, that is) still getting 4.5G stable with margin and a little overclock to the memory too. Just make sure to stability test before declaring victory, then set it back a notch or two for margin.
 
First off, go into bios and disable Turbo, c1e, speed spectrum, c6, APM, thermal throttle... Some of these maybe be in different tabs in the bios and/or that board may not even have some of these options. Disable them all.

Leave cpu/nb frequency and HT Link to 2000mhz for now (deal with this later)
Leave RAM at 1333mhz or 1600mhz for now (deal with this later as well) set your rated timings for the ram manually and set the voltage rated for them manually as well.

I would start out raising the cpu multiplier to 20x. Giving you 4ghz. Boot into windows and rune prime95 for a few hours. I say a few because anytime i get an error in P95, if its not within 20mins, its usually after 1 hr, sometimes 2.5hrs. I have never gotten an hours after 2.5hrs before. So i like to run it at least 3-4 hours to be safe. Alot of people recommend 8-12hrs and I used to do that as well but I think that is overkill. I never do more than 6-8hrs anymore.

If 4ghz is stable, raise the cpu multiplier some more, after this you might have to make increasing in the cpu voltage but I like to see how high i can go on the stock voltage.

Let me know what your default/stock voltage for the cpu is as well. Also I would need to know your idle voltage and your load voltage as well to give you an idea where to set your LLC if your board has that option, im sure it does.

Okay following your instructions, I've done this so far. ( I also took pictures of my BIOS so you can see if I did anything wrong )

- Disabled Turbo, Spread Spectum, c6, APM, Thermal Throttle.
- Could not find C1e
- No clue what you mean by "Leave cpu/nb freq and HT Link @ 2000 mhz
- No clue what you mean by "Leave ram @ 1333 / 1600 mhz
- No clue what you mean by "set rated timings for ram manually"
- No clue what you mean by "set voltage rated for them manuaully"
- No clue what you mean by "raising cpu multiplier to 20x"
- Don't know where to find my stock voltage / idle voltage / load voltage


BIOS pictures:
 
Okay following your instructions, I've done this so far. ( I also took pictures of my BIOS so you can see if I did anything wrong )

- Disabled Turbo, Spread Spectum, c6, APM, Thermal Throttle.
- Could not find C1e
- No clue what you mean by "Leave cpu/nb freq and HT Link @ 2000 mhz
- No clue what you mean by "Leave ram @ 1333 / 1600 mhz
- No clue what you mean by "set rated timings for ram manually"
- No clue what you mean by "set voltage rated for them manuaully"
- No clue what you mean by "raising cpu multiplier to 20x"
- Don't know where to find my stock voltage / idle voltage / load voltage


BIOS pictures:

the overclocking option is set to auto, change to manual and a set of options should come up but i might be mistaken and the multiplyer/voltage option should be set to manual and turn the multiplier to x20 and follow their instructions, hope it helps *asrock for you* xD
 
Where it say CPU load line calibration, turn it to 100%
Where it says DRAM Voltage change it to 1.5v
Where it says DRAM Frequency 1600 "auto" change it to 1600.
Where it says Load Profile settings, leave it on auto
Where it says DRAM Timing control, go into it and set timings on auto. It should already be on auto but just double check.
 
Where it say CPU load line calibration, turn it to 100%
Where it says DRAM Voltage change it to 1.5v
Where it says DRAM Frequency 1600 "auto" change it to 1600.
Where it says Load Profile settings, leave it on auto
Where it says DRAM Timing control, go into it and set timings on auto. It should already be on auto but just double check.

Alright will do this
Edit: I've done all this now
question though, in the DRAM Timing control where it says DRAM Slot: DDR3_A1, but my Ram sticks are in A2 + B2...dunno if that matters

------------

I've disabled Cool N Quiet, Secure Virtual Machine
As for the overclock mode / multiplier/volt change, other than the x20 what should the other ones be? I took a picture for you guys to see

 
Last edited:
You dont have to. But I do. Its allows you to run multiple OS's. If you aren't then might as well disable it.
It allows VT instructions to be used, allowing a virtual machine, no effect on performance or power consumption...

Just, disabling it, and then someday downloading VMWare or such to run a Virtual OS, without knowing, someone might wonder why it won't work.

@op
Leave PCI-e frequency at 100. HT Ref Clock leave at 200 too for now.
 
Alright will do this
Edit: I've done all this now
question though, in the DRAM Timing control where it says DRAM Slot: DDR3_A1, but my Ram sticks are in A2 + B2...dunno if that matters

------------

I've disabled Cool N Quiet, Secure Virtual Machine
As for the overclock mode / multiplier/volt change, other than the x20 what should the other ones be? I took a picture for you guys to see


Does not matter. That just shows you what is in that slot. Its not a setting or anything
 
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