SOLVED Overclocking FX-4300 Specifically

[Holymartyr]

So to start out I've been searching forums and everywhere else since BEFORE I bought my FX-4300, and I still can't find any really good posts on overclocking this particular CPU. I've seen and read tons of 6300 and 83xx posts, and even more 41xx/61xx/81xx posts.

Part of this is certainly due to the Piledriver CPU's still being new, and part of this has other factors, but I would like to bring more attention to the FX-4300 specifically, and create a post that helps those of us (me included), who are either having issues, or just don't understand overclocking to its fullest potential.

Now to begin, my build is as follows:
PSU: XFX 850W (+3.3V@24A, +5V@30A, +12V@70A, [email protected], +5VSB@3A)
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3
CPU: AMD FX-4300
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB (2 x 4GB) (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce Edition
HDD: Raid 0 - 2 TB (1 TB 7200 HDD x 2)

Current clocks and voltage is as follows:
PSU: The same o.o
Mobo: CPU PLL - 2.500 V | DRAM - 1.510 V | NB Voltage - 1.125 V | HT Link - 1.225 V | NB/PCIE/PLL - 1.785 V | CPU NB VID - +0.125 V (1.3125 V) | CPU Voltage - +0.075 V (1.4500 V)
CPU: Core Speed - 4560 MHz @ x19.0 | FSB - 240 MHz | HT - 2400 MHz @ x10.0| NB - 2400 MHz @ x10.0
RAM: Frequency - 1599 MHz | 8-8-8-24-1T | Voltage - 1.51 V
GPU: Core - 1306 MHz | Mem - 3442 MHz | Voltage - 1.175 V
HDD: The same o.o

I have C1, C6, APM, Thermal Throttling and any other power saving features off.

This is my highest OC that I can achieve with semi-stability. What I mean by that is when I run Prime 95, after about 10 minutes my 2nd core fails, while all the rest keep running fine for quite a while.

My temperatures for my CPU are always below 50 degrees, my NB is the only thing that heats up a bit, and reaches a max of 55~ish. I have a large air cooler. (XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm) Going to a Corsair Hydro Series H60 within a few days.

Heres my CPU-z validation UNDER LOAD if that helps (http://valid.canardpc.com/2625743). If you need any more information, please let me know.

Now I would like to know what I can do to achieve a higher overclock, and what other people have reached. I've tried adjusting my FSB from 200 to I think the highest it would boot was around 265~ish. I've tried changing voltages non-stop EXCEPT for the CPU PLL.

And last but not least, a few questions:
What is considered a "safe" voltage? (I hear anything above 1.5v for the CPU degrades the CPU die)
What exactly does changing the CPU PLL do? (Biggest reason I haven't touched it)
Does slightly undervolting the NB/PCIE/PLL give better OC capability? (Read that somewhere as well)

 

[RGone]

Have seen the sum total of ZERO users posting in this forum section with an FX-4300. You can do search of this forum section and unearth any posts with FX-4300 that I might have missed but am here regular.

Don't think the FX-4300's were even on sale here in the Usa until maybe 2 weeks ago if my memory is accurate.

If workers or worker is failing; that is ~99% of the tme too little Vcore. Good luck man.

EDIT:
Well just be dipped. Found one I had forgotten about.
AMD FX-4300 overclock suggestions

By the way an FX PileDrive is still an FX-Piledriver no matter how many cores it has. Procedures for stability are the same for 4 cores as ti is for 8 cores.
END EDIT.

 

[Holymartyr]

I saw that thread, read every post, and didn't find any more information that what I already know.

As I said I know the FX-4300 is new, but I can't be the only person who has bought a FX-4300.

And yes I know if a worker is failing I need more CPU voltage...but one of my questions was what exactly considered a "safe voltage".

I'm not trying to shoot you down, or act like an a-hole, but I've been reading stuff for a long while, and I've searched extensively. The faster I can tell everyone what I know, and what I've done, the faster I can learn from ideas that I've never tried or heard of.

 

[RGone]

AMD works up a .pdf for their named platforms.

The FX series is called the Scorpius platform. They usually post a graph of speeds and voltages for great air cooling and also for LN2 type uses.

This graphic is what AMD shows for the Vcore and CPU_NB and so on. AMD themselves say no warranty when overclocking but go on to show a 1.5Vcore for FX processor. I would not like to use more than 1.525 Vcore 24/7 and see that number thrown around very regular in these and other forums.

 

[RGone]

CPU PLL and the rest..


Voltages in motherboard bioses.
Broken down for AMD and Intel type motherboards.

 

[Holymartyr]

Ok so 1.5 seems to be the stopping point for 24/7 use. I've found that PDF on AMD's site, and was wondering if there was any difference between the 'bulldozer' and the 'piledriver' in terms of overclocking. It seems the bulldozer series overclocks further but hotter, where as the piledriver series cannot =/ (just what I've come to the conclusion from what I've read)

I know what CPU PLL means in terms of dictionary use, but in terms of overclocking, what does it do?

Do I want to increase or decrease it? I've seen one post to increase it to 2.695, and others that say not to touch it.

Another thing I've just thought of. Do I want to keep the FSB at 200? Or mess with how high it can go, or even find a happy medium?

When I tried bumping my NB from its stock 2000 MHz just by changing the multi, my Windows 7 would boot with transparency and all the other aero effects off. IT was not something else causeing this, as when I adjusted the NB back down to stock 2000 MHz, it went away.

Now the interesting thing is when I adjusted my FSB to 240 (from 200), and adjusted the NB multi to x10.0, windows booted just fine (areo worked).

So why does windows think my system to either be unstable, or actually unstable with just a multi OC over a FSB OC?

 

[RGone]

Been sitting here answering threads off and on all afternoon and NOW the wife says I will help her take some food across town. Yes dear. Will try and answer your points in post #6 above when I return. There are though others that know about PileDriver.

Something that might help you move to the idea that Vishera/PD is actually more muscular than BD. Here is a link to one post where I have begun testing my FX-8350 and what sort of amazed me.

Starting with FX-8350

 

[ssjwizard]

FX series chips benefit greatly from increased HTT speed. I personally run both of my FX's @ 220 HTT. I run my 8320 220x20 for 4.4Ghz and 2.4Ghz CPU-NB/HT speeds. 1.5V is no issue for the Vishera chips provided you have sufficient cooling. Being only a dual module chip its headload is quite a bit more manageable than the quad module chips.

While BD can overclock to higher frequencies than Vishera on ambient cooling it doesn't put down performance to match so who cares. I can beat my 8120s benchmark scores done at 5.45Ghz with my 8320 @ 5.0Ghz, and by beat I mean by a large margin(up to 10%).

As for the CPU-PLL question I have no idea if it helps. I have seen reports from 1 or 2 people saying that upping it on Vishera helped stability when lowering the vCore on heavily overclocked CPUs. I have no need to test it since my vCore is set to 1.5v after LLC kicks in fully and my chip sits at a relaxing 46C while loaded or ~58-60C if the GPUs are also loaded fully.

 

[Holymartyr]

Do you run your computer 24/7?

AKA Is it safe to run at 1.5 24/7? When LLC kicks in, I run just over 1.475v ATM (you can see my CPU-Z), and in bios I only have it set to run at 1.450v. So if I up it one more step (to 1.475v), it will run at just around 1.500v.

When I say 24/7 I literally mean I have my computer on 24/7. Utorrent (with lower CPU priority), a few chat programs, and a server. I only restart my computer when it seems my computer has slowed down for some reason (usually doesn't happen at all), I recieve an update that needs to reboot, or something of that nature.

I did boost my Vcore to 1.500v when I was testing how high I could take it, but I don't think I achieved much higher overclock. Nontheless it is something I will try IF I can safely run my FX-4300 at 1.500v 24/7.

I do plan on getting a better CPU in the future, but no where in the near future. Hopefully if/when AMD comes out with a line of CPU's that kicks intels butt =P Or is reasonably better. So I'd say I need my CPU to last at LEAST 3/4 to 1 full year.

 

[ssjwizard]

The last few weeks my system(CPU and both GPU) have been on 24/7 fully loaded without issues. I have rebooted a few times for various reasons, but otherwise its been cranking full blast.

 

[Holymartyr]

Well that's after only 1 week of 24/7 lol. I know I won't get a result with an FX-4300 thats been on 24/7/365 because they haven't been out, but how have similiar CPU's performed under those circumstances (such as a Phenom II x4 965 @ 4.4 GHz or something like that - do they degrade exponentially faster at 1.500v vs 1.450v?) Just trying to figure out what is considered un-safe voltage - not due to cooling - but due to physical limitations (die degradation from overvoltage)

 

[ssjwizard]

Every architecture id different in terms of damage from electron migration because of the differences in transistor size, distance between, size of interconnects etc. I have had my Vishera since launch day running these clocks 24/7 except when I crank it up higher for benchmarking. Most days it runs F@H CPU/GPU and every day it transcodes hours of HD video, not counting the actual work I do from my PC. I ran my 8120 at the same speeds for well over a year and its still alive and kicking just as strong as ever today.

 

[Holymartyr]

Alright, so say I start running at 1.500v. What do you suggest with my current clocks/voltages/multis?

I know you don't have the same CPU, but as I've said I can only get to 4.6~ish, and thats with no NB OC (running at stock 2000 MHz, and HT running at 2600 MHz)

 

[Holymartyr]

Shameless bump...

 

[trents]

I wonder if your CPUNB voltage at 1.3125 is excessive.

Please post back with attached pics of CPU-z tabs: "CPU", "Memory" and "SPD". Please directly attach images with posts rather than linking them to a website. To attach images with posts, click in Go Advanced at the bottom of any new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool when the advanced post window appears. This will open the file browser/upload tool.

That I can see, you never mention what you are cooling the CPU with.

 

[Holymartyr]

My temperatures for my CPU are always below 50 degrees, my NB is the only thing that heats up a bit, and reaches a max of 55~ish. I have a large air cooler. (XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm) Going to a Corsair Hydro Series H60 within a few days.

There's my cooler, and the requested SS is attached.

Edit: Also wanted to say I that on my Xigmatek cooler, I have 2 fans, a push pull setup on it atm. But as I said on thursday I will have the Corsair H60 closed loop cooler coming in.

Also would like to add I have two 120mm fans pulling air through the front of my case (intake), a 140mm and a 120mm fan for exhaust on the top and back respectively, a 120mm (more powerful, not sure, but very high RPM fan) on the side of my case almost directly across from my GTX 670. And of course the 2 fans on my current CPU cooler. There is no dust in my case, I have dust filters and clean them regularly.

 

[trents]

Compare the CPU-z "Memory" tab values (which show your current memory bios settings) with the "SPD" tab XMP-1600 column values (which show the memory manufacturer's recommendations). Looks like you should change the trC from 33 to 34 and the CR from 1T to 2T.

I would certainly encourage you to add those extra case fans. Good ventilation is important to good overclocking.

 

[Holymartyr]

I'll change the ram, but I'm not sure how that impacts my CPU's stability. I mean I know the CPU and ram are connected, but I've tested with both 1T and 2T and both seem to make no difference. The 34 trC I will change, that I know nothing about and I'm pretty sure is set like that due to an 'Auto' setting rather than a 'Manual' setting.

And your second answer, 'add those extra case fans', what do you mean? I have tons of ventilation atm. As I said heat doesn't seem to be a factor here. With the new case I just got (waiting for my Corsair cooler first before I switch my system), I'll have even more ventilation. New case is the Ultra Rogue M925.

Edit - Update: Changed ram settings to 2T and 34 trC.

 

[trents]

Sorry, I misread your earlier post to say that you wanted to add those fans. Sorry, when I read it again I see you say those are already installed. Good. If you are satisfied that the ram is stable at 1T then don't mess with it. If you increase the FSB anymore, the ram frequency will increase and the 1T may be too agressive. Just keep that in mind.

 

[trents]

People are saying the FX CPUs really benefit from increasing the CPU PLL. Do you have such a setting?