Overclocking issues FX-8350 (newbie)

[redbaret82]

Hello Guys,

I've just started overclocking and just bought a new cpu, the fx-8350 with motherboard gigabyte 970A-ud3. Cooler is a Corsair H80 water cooler kit. I tried some things, but don't seem to get a really stable overclock. I started with the multiplier and some fsb overclock. Whatever I do with the FSB, it seems that I cannot get it much higher then 205, so I left it to 200 mhz. Don't think it is worth tweaking it. I have tried the following with multipliers:
(y-cruncher is used for testing)
24x - 4800mhz, not stable and gives me hardware errors during test
23,5 - 4700 mhz, 55 degrees celcius, seems stable, but core frequency drop intermittently after a couple of minutes
22,5 - 4500 mhz, 52 degrees celcius, stable, but still some minimal frequency drops on full load.

I used cpu core voltages up to 1.51 in bios trying to prevent the frequency drops but that doesnt help. It runs now at 22,5x and 1.435 volts (fairly stable).

Bios setting changed:
load line control - extreme
amd c1e support - disabled
amd c6 support -disabled
virtualization - enabled (running VMWare)
amd k8 cool en quiet -disabled
amd apm master mode - disabled

core performance boost - disabled

Goal: try to get it stable at 4800 mhz

Got a couple of questions:
1. The frequency drops indicate that its not stable right? (y-cruncher runs fine without errors)
2. What am I doing wrong that causes me not getting it stable?
3. What temperature is the maximum for this processor to run safe? I have read low 60 degrees celcius, but is that true? Bulldozer was around 55 degrees I believe.
4. Does anyone have experience with this chip and what do you use for settings?
5. If not, what do you guru's advice me to do?

I have attached some screens.

 

[RGone]

1. to OCF.

2. If you look around you will see with full regularity that it takes getting on the same page to help. We walk the same walk time after time so the road can be understood.

3. Git R started like below.

These are the types of information that most users supply in order to be able to help them very much.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU CORE TEMPS fully visible.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.

In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.

 

[redbaret82]

Thanks for the quick reply, but I dont have the paperclip icon after clicking "go advanced". I would upload you a screen if i could so you can see it, but i cant . I only have "insert link" or "remove link". For "insert image" it asks me for a url.

 

[redbaret82]

Got it now!

 

[redbaret82]

And more screens like you asked

 

[trents]

My guess is that the reason your core (cores) start to intermittently drop out is that you are either hitting a temp threshold or a TDP threshold at 55c that is causing down-throttling. Now I know that you have disabled all the usual green, down-throttling stuff but the overclocking community has discovered that BD and PD CPUs have very complex power management schemes that seem to sometimes defy us no matter what we have done. This is especially true when less than top drawer motherboards like the Sabertooth and Crosshair are used. One thing you might try is taking a spare fan and directing it to blow in the CPU socket/VRM area. That often helps.

 

[RGone]

The Questions and the nutshell...

Got a couple of questions:
1. The frequency drops indicate that its not stable right? (y-cruncher runs fine without errors) << No that is not an indication of instability. It is possible that Win 7 power mode not set to "performance" is causing the cpu speed to drop back when not loaded. We use Prime 95 in Blend mode to determine stability.

2. What am I doing wrong that causes me not getting it stable? < If you think it is unstable because of speed drops then you may not be unstable. Speed dropping is the 'wrong' criteria for stability.

3. What temperature is the maximum for this processor to run safe? I have read low 60 degrees celcius, but is that true? Bulldozer was around 55 degrees I believe. < Don't care anything at all about Core Temp. Don't use it. Most/many of us and especially here in the AMD CPU forum section use HWMonitor freeware version from CPUID. Because it lists the CPU TEMP and the CPU CORE Temp. CPU Temp not to exceed 70c and CPU Core Temp not to exceed about 60c and this can vary from CPU to CPU.

4. Does anyone have experience with this chip and what do you use for settings? There are a number of threads in here of users with the FX-8350 and very few settings will swap from the same Mobo to even the same brand and type of Mobo.

5. If not, what do you guru's advice me to do? From my dealings with hundreds trying to overclock it is probably best to forget Y-cruncher since we are not familiar with it. So we don't know how it will act. Use Prime 95 Blend for at least an hour at the 4.5Ghz you have running. If you have no failures with the current settings at 4.5Ghz, then up speed to 4.6Ghz and test again for at least 20 mins. Do not at any point forget to monitor the temps. Leave HWMonitor open on desktop logging Min/Max Volts and Temps. If you pass 1 hour of P95 Blend at 4.5Ghz and then U move to 4.6Ghz and have P95 Blend failure and temps are STILL within the range mentioned above...then add some Vcore. The last little bit of speed will or should be a combination of some FSB added to a lower Multiplier and balancing the Vcore to Temps over a 2 hour run of P95 Blend. That it is the whole scene in a nutshell.

 

[deftone]

^ +1, Oh and If you want to go pass 4.6 up ++++ I'd consider my self getting a new cooler, a custom water cooling kit perhaps.. Trust me this things gets really hot >.<

 

[redbaret82]

Just a quick question, i'll reply the whole thread tonight when I have more time and after I've used my mobile airco to cool the xxx down and test some stuff. Where can I find the CPU TEMP and CPU CORE TEMP? I can only see Core#x in hwmon.

 

[RGone]

Not labeled...

Most likely temp on that Giga Board.

 

[redbaret82]

Hi there RGone,

Thanks, but still a question. You mean that the TMPIN2 is the CPUCORE TEMP or the CPU TEMP?

 

[Dlaw]

RGone is refering to CPU (socket) temp, CPU core temps are labled core #1-core #however many cores you have, down in the CPU section of HWM (For you should be labeled AMD FX 8350 or something similar).

 

[redbaret82]

Thank you all for replying! I will now answer your questions as well RGone.

1. Ok, thats clear. I am now testing with prime95.
2. Ok
3. I will keep these temps in mind.
4. I was afraid of that. Even with the same mobo it seems that people have different settings indeed. Ok.
5. I have followed your guidelines and did some testing:

First thing I did was looking for the drops in speed and found a setting "Hardware termal control" in another menu in the bios then the other power management settings. It made my system clock back above a certain temperature. So that was solved. Next thing was installing prime95 and run a test with the 4,5 Ghz setting I described in my previous post (22,5x multiplier and 1,45 core voltage. This failed after 1 minute with the error: Illegal SUMOUT. Looking up the error I found out that I should use more core voltage. So I souped it up to 1,47 and ran prime95 test again. Now stable for 1 hour. The temps were going up to 57 cpucore temp and 68 core temp maximum. That is a little hot and against the edge. I wanted to try the 4,6 ghz next to see what the temps would do, but wanted to test something else first.

During the test I saw that the vcore was fluxuating between 1,45 core and 1,50 core voltage and the temperatures were fluxuating liniar to that, going from 36 degrees to 55/57 degrees constantly. I did some research and found out that that was probably due to load line calibration/ vdroop? (read something about vdroop etc.) I did not have the option to turn the LLC of, but set it from extreme to regular. So I did nothing to any other setting. I ran the test again and it failed almost instantly. Since I am not the guru and dont want to blow up my system , I want to ask you guys what you would do next and why. I think I set the LLC back to extreme and then try another test to see what the 4,6 ghz does with the temps?

 

[RGone]

The actual truth is you get temps too high when trying to get 4.6Ghz stable. The cpu needs more voltage to run 4.6Ghz but the temps rise too much. That is it. The board has to have LLC applying extra voltage to get stable at 4.5Ghz and that too seems it. That is how the parts are acting. They don't change how they act. The only thing that really can change is how we react. 4.6Ghz seems out of the question due to voltage needed brings on too high heat.

 

[redbaret82]

Ok, so that sounds logical. Bad news for me, but I think that I have to be satisfied with the 4,5 ghz for now. The only thing that would help is watercooling probably? I have the corsair h80, but that is still not good enough seems to be... Thanks for you advice so far!

 

[RGone]

I cannot remember the huge variance between cpus in years. One FX will do one thing and the next one you get will do otherwise. Crap you could sell that cpu and get another and it might run faster with less voltage. But that is a giant crap-shoot. Like I said, I just don't remember the differnce or let me say apparent difference from one cpu to the next.

If they did not put off so much heat things would be different. But they do put off heat and managing it is costly. Good luck and 4.5Ghz is not a slouchy speed. I run my 8120 at 4.5Ghz and have found that 4.3Ghz is just about as 'stout' and gaining 200Mhz to 4.5Ghz is only worth about 2 maybe 3% increase in bench performance but that little bit is surely not seen surfing the web and typing into this forum here. Hehehe. Right.

 

[redbaret82]

Hmm... well that is crap. Anyway, i have to be satisfied with this now. I had the 8120 before and the 8350 proc gives me 1 point extra in Cinebench (7,71, cant compare it to intel systems in cinebench, good score?) , so it is a difference that makes sense. Muchos gratias for your help. Really learned some good things! I think i'll do some more overclocking, but on cheaper hardware, just to practice. See if we can blow it up.

 

[RGone]

I would have to go back thru my captures but I think my 8120 gives 7.35 CPU in Cinebench 11.5 @4.5Ghz.

 

[Mandrake4565]

red what do you have the cpu-nb volts set at?

 

[redbaret82]

I've got it set at 1.15 volts. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? . Secondly, I ran a test with prime last evening. It ran for 2,5 hours stable and then 1 of the cores failed with a illegal sumout error. All other cores were ok for the next 6 hours. I have set the multiplier back to 22x so the core speed is now set to 4400 mhz. I will try to run a new test tonight. @RGone, I just sold my 8120. Maybe I should have kept it....