PhenomII x6 1090T overclocking/cooling issues

[Da2K]

I bought my CPU and mobo combo last year with the intent on overclocking it to 4.0-4.2ghz. I cant seem to get my system stable at anything other than stock clocks and i've been pulling my hair out in frustration for months.
I'll list my specs below.

CPU: PhenomIIx6 1090T
COOLER: CORSAIR Hydro Series H60
MOBO: ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB DDR3 1600
VGA: XFX 6950 1gb x2/crossfire
PSU: Thermaltake 1000watt 80+silver

Any time I touch the multiplier I get BSODS or black screens under load. Ive tried FSB overclocks and setting ram to as low as 1066mhz. Nothing seems to change the outcome. Also, just a few minutes ago I set my multiplier to 20x (4.0ghz) with a vcore of 1.49. My temps at this setting is idle 36-40c and under prime95 I hit 60c in about 30seconds. I hear that 60c is the max u should ever run and should be able to run prime95 at 2hrs+ with no more than 55c under load. Other people with the very same cpu/cooler have reached 4.2 stable. Sorry for my long post. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. I can provide info or pictures to better explain things upon request. cheers.

-Just benched stock bios settings @3.2ghz and hit 55c in prime95 in under 5minutes.

 

[soulwatch5]

Well probably should move this thread into the amd sub forum since its not a benching issue per say. Anyways those temps are pretty high. 55c load at 3.2ghz is extremely high. There is 2 things i would probably do first. Make sure that case fans are setup correctly to produce a good air flow though the case. As for example i have my front and side fan blow air into the case while my top and back fans blow air out creating air pathway through the case. Yes you are using a semi-water cooled cpu cooler but air flow is still important. I would also check to make sure the the cpu cooler is mounted correctly with appropriate amount of thermal paste. Try re-seating the cooler to see if that helps. You need to find out why you are having such high temps before even thinking about overclocking.

 

[Seebs]

First of all... Welcome to OCF.

As for your 1090T issues.

Before we start overclocking; we need to do some testing at stock speeds.

- Go to your motherboard's BIOS and set everything to AUTO. Voltages, multipliers, FSB, RAM etc.

- Save that and boot into your OS.

- Download HWMonitor, CPUz, GPUz.

- Run HWmonitor, open three instances of CPUz (CPU Tab, Memory Tab and SPD Tab) and one instance of GPUz. Wait two or three minutes.

- Make a screenshot of your desktop with the programs open (Hit PrtScrn).

This is how the screenshot should look like when done.



- Leave all those programs running and start Prime95 Blend mode. Let it run for a couple minutes and make a second screenshot.


I think the problems that you're having are due to bad contact between the CPU and the cooler. And you're voltage is way too high for 3.2GHz.

Once we have all the information we need; we can guide you into getting that thing singing like it's meant to sing.



Seebs

 

[notJUSTguitar]

What Seebs said.

If it's getting to 60C, that'd be why you get BSOD.
It's the temperature that's limiting your overclock..You shouldn't need 1.49 volts to reach 4Ghz stable.

When I had my 1090T, it would crash/bsod if it got to around 55C or higher while overclocked.

And you definitely shouldn't be getting those temps at stock...either the program you're using is reporting wrong, the voltage is super high, or the cooler isn't making good contact with the CPU.


And yeah, this would be better in the AMD cpu subforum. Maybe a mod will move it.

 

[Da2K]

Yeah sorry new here. I created my profile for this issue. I can't take pictures right now because I'm at work but will later tonight. Seebs, I was running 4.9v at 4ghz during my test. At 3.2ghz I have it set to stock voltage along with all other CPU/voltage settings on default auto. At 3.2ghz stock volt i hit 55c in under 5minutes but doesn't seem to go any higher. I'll deffinently clean and reseat my cooler with some silver paste. Also I have about 6 thick 120mm fans in my case blowing from front/side to rear/top. The radiator has a push/pull fan setup as well and I'll post pictures of my case as well. Is it possible that my new H60 has a dead pump? Know any way to check for that?

Edit- I use CPUz, GPUz, and HWmonitor to monitor while benching with prime95.

 

[Seebs]

Yeah sorry new here. I created my profile for this issue. I can't take pictures right now because I'm at work but will later tonight. Seebs, I was running 4.9v at 4ghz during my test. At 3.2ghz I have it set to stock voltage along with all other CPU/voltage settings on default auto. At 3.2ghz stock volt i hit 55c in under 5minutes but doesn't seem to go any higher. I'll deffinently clean and reseat my cooler with some silver paste. Also I have about 6 thick 120mm fans in my case blowing from front/side to rear/top. The radiator has a push/pull fan setup as well and I'll post pictures of my case as well. Is it possible that my new H60 has a dead pump? Know any way to check for that?

Edit- I use CPUz, GPUz, and HWmonitor to monitor while benching with prime95.

My guess is that you had a typo on that one there... 4.9V would have turned your CPU into a flaming pile of molten metal in no time.

Still; we need to figure out what the issue is here. Your cpu should not be getting that hot while at stock settings.

If you can; please download and run CoreTemp too... It doesn't need to run all the time, but it shows the VID for your CPU and that is a good piece of information to know what you'll need to do in order to get it working how you want it.



The VID is the voltage that your CPU is set to work at (from the factory) when all settings are left in AUTO. Not all CPUs have the same VID. Some will come out of the factory with VID of 1.3V, some will come out with 1.4V... Depending what the VID is; we need to adjust in order to get your CPU singing in tune.

If you look at the example screenshots I posted, I also run a 1090T and mine does 3.8GHz with 1.425V... I could bring it up to 4GHz and raise the voltage a little bit, but I have no need for the extra "ooomph" at the moment so I leave it at the lower speed/voltage.

 

[Da2K]

My guess is that you had a typo on that one there... 4.9V would have turned your CPU into a flaming pile of molten metal in no time. .

Yeah forgive my retardedness LOL! I meant 1.49v, When I got home from work I pulled my cooler and cleaned the copper pad and CPU with isopropyl alchohol and put new paste on, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! still at stock settings my CPU idles at 21-24c.

and with Prime95 for about 10minutes it appears to be topping off at 46/47c with max hitting 48c


Coretemp-

 

[Seebs]

Dang.... See the VID on that last image? 1.475V I've never seen a chip with such high VID... From what I know high VID chips are low leakage and run cooler than chips with low VID.

Now that you have the cooler re-seated... I'd start by overclocking just the CPU (don't mess with FSB)... Raise the CPU multi one by one and test... if it hold Prime95 for five mins, raise it one more... rinse and repeat until it won't hold... Then raise VCore one tick and start continue. Once you've found the sweetspot for the CPU; you then worry about RAM and CPUNB.

 

[Da2K]

Ill start that now. I have a question on the vcore setting though. my mobo doesnt have "ticks" just auto or whatever you manually set. is there a safe margin to start with that you know of? like .05v increments?

 

[Seebs]

Ill start that now. I have a question on the vcore setting though. my mobo doesnt have "ticks" just auto or whatever you manually set. is there a safe margin to start with that you know of? like .05v increments?

I'm not familiar with your motherboard's BIOS, but short answer is Yes.

I would start with VCore at 1.30V and the rest at AUTO. See if it will hold at stock clocks with that voltage... (even though the VID is 1.475V... most Phenom/Thuban chips will do stock settings with 1.3V) and go up from there in the smallest increments your BIOS allows. What you're looking for is the least voltage needed to get the clock speed desired.

 

[Da2K]

Seebs. im at 200x20=4000mhz, voltage on auto, prime95 for 10minutes stable at 50-55c. My voltage appears to be raising and lowering itsself based on the load it has on it. I have turbo core and cool'n'quiet disabled and it stays at 4ghz but the voltage atm with prime95 blend running is at 1.524v according to CPUz, and CoreTemp says CPU VID is 1.425v now?

EDIT: 15-20minutes in prime95 it froze. I was watching the temps at the time and they were at 53c, could it be voltage? or limitations on the 2000mhz NB frequency?

EDIT2: Idle voltage is 1.488v according to CPUz and VID is still saying 1.4250v in coretemp

 

[Seebs]

That's weird that the VID changed.

Word of advise though... Don't rush into things man. Take the time to go at it slowly and set the voltages manually. Most motherboards will supply more voltage than is needed for the CPU to run at the set speed.

I suggest you go over the motherboard's manual and find where in the BIOS the power saving features are so that you can disable them.... Same thing with LLC (Load Line Calibration)... All those things need to be disabled if you're going to do manual overclocking. You don't want the motherboard controlling any of the voltages that you set manually.

One more thing; and maybe I should have suggested this from the beginning... Spend a few minutes and read this guide. It is for the Phenom chips, but the rules are the same for Thubans. I can't tell you how much I learned from reading that thread, Dolk is one of the most knowledgeable guys we have here when it comes to AMD CPUs and how to overclock them. Trust me; you'll do much better if you go at it slow (from stock clocks ---> To overclocked in little baby steps). I know you see 4GHz now and you think "why would I bother doing all that work when I'm already at 4GHz?"... It's quite simple; you may not need 1.525V to get there... Only way to find out is by going at it the long way.

Example: If you look at my screenshots; you'll notice that I run my 1090T at 1.425V (goes up/down 0.01V) for 3.8GHz. This is not random, or by accident... I did hours and hours of testing and came to the conclusion that the chip I have will happily do those speeds with that voltage and run very cool, but if I raise the clock speeds just a bit; it will start asking for HUGE increases in voltage and run hot as hell. The goal of the "long process" is finding the sweetspot for your CPU where it will do the most clock speed while using the least voltage.

 

[Da2K]

Ok, sounds like I have a lot of work on my hands here. I will do as sugested and start over and take my time. I really appreciate your guys' imput especially on the cooler! If you lived close to me I would buy you a beer! I'll mark this as solved for now and eventually PM you with my progess. thanks guys!

 

[Seebs]

We can do the beer thing some time in the future...

As far as closing this down, or marking it as solved... No can do that Sr. We'll ask one of the mods here (I am not a mod... even though my info on the left says I "front" as one here) to move the thread to the AMD CPUs section and you can continue to update it with progress. That way we can continue the back-n-forth on the thread instead of using PMs... Some other guy may come to the site looking for help and your thread may give him the answers he needs, so it's best to keep it all public.

It really is not a lot of work... It is a bit tedious because of all the rebooting -> Changing BIOS settings -> Testing -> Rebooting again -> You get the drill... But once you get the settings dialed in; you're done.

 

[Da2K]

Stable at 3.8ghz atm. Just ordered a Rosewill Blackhawk fulltower case to get better cable management and airflow before I try for 4ghz.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147157

Would a combination of multiplier + bus overclock be better than just multiplier? Also disabling all power saving features including Vcore monitoring, LLC, and specifically setting Vcore in bios, my voltage being reported in CPUz is still jumping around from 1.425-1.512v. any ideas why? just a refresher my mobo is an ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3.

 

[Seebs]

Stable at 3.8ghz atm. Just ordered a Rosewill Blackhawk fulltower case to get better cable management and airflow before I try for 4ghz.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147157

Would a combination of multiplier + bus overclock be better than just multiplier? Also disabling all power saving features including Vcore monitoring, LLC, and specifically setting Vcore in bios, my voltage being reported in CPUz is still jumping around from 1.425-1.512v. any ideas why? just a refresher my mobo is an ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3.

That case should give you plenty of space/airflow.


About the voltage issues... Are you setting the voltage manually? There is an option in your BIOS that allows you to set the desired voltage.



Only other thing I can think of is maybe you set the voltage manually, but forgot to disable one of the offset options... Or maybe there is another LLC that hasn't been disabled. The only ASUS boards that I had were for older intel CPUs (socket 775) and those BIOSes are not even close to being similar to what you have on this board... Sorry I can't be of more help.

Seebs

 

[Da2K]

for voltage settings I have offset or manual. I set manual which allows me to manually imput my own settings like 1.3v 1.4v 1.425 and so on. I have 2 LLC settings one is CPU LLC and one is CPUNB LLC. Both are disabled. Under system/power options I have Vcore monitor disabled (read somewhere that it can cause the mobo to try to stabilize Vcore voltage). On a side note newegg screwed up and double charged me and shipped me 2 cases.
EDIT: I also have all cool'n'quiets disabled, ASUS core unlocker disabled along with turbo mode, and CPU/PCIE speed spec disabled.

 

[Seebs]

LOL on the cases... But just contact them and they'll take one back and refund you the money.

As for why the voltages are still changing that much... I'm not sure man; I've never ran Asus boards for AMD so I'm not familiar with how they work.

 

[Da2K]

Ive been at 3.8ghz stable for about 2 weeks. My new case is enormous! I have no luck hitting anything higher than 3.8ghz stable. HT is at 2600mhz and CPUNB at 2800mhz, factory ram timings. Any ideas on what to look at to hit 4ghz? It will post and boot into windows but 15-20minutes into games or benchmarks causes BSOD or freeze. My temp rarely goes above 30c. Ill post pictures of my old case vs new when I pull them off my phone.

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[hokiealumnus]

Moved to AMD CPUs for you.