Sabretooth 990FX R2.0 + FX-8320 - starting with OC / heat issues

[SAP_Pete]

Hi Guys,
just joined, but read up a good bit through the stickies and other posts. I just put together a new midsize desktop, not specifically with OC in mind, but I would like to get a little performance boost. Just started playing Warcraft again (and understand there are some limitations with WoW and AMD), but the performance (fps in raids) was just horrendous.

Here's what I have:
Case: Older Coolermax (not sure of the model) 140mm intake fan front, 140mm exhaust fan back. PSU up top, no space for more fans unless I hack open the case somewhere.
MB: Asus Sabretooth 990FX R2.0, bios 2301
CPU: AMD FX-8320
Cooler: Enermax Black Twister
Mem: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 Dual Channel (2 x 8GB)
PSU: Corsair AX 860
Graphics: Asus R9 290 4GB DC2OC
HD: Samsung Evo 250GB SSD + WD 4 TB green
OS: Win 7 64bit

It's kind of warm in my office, I'd say around 25c.
Disabled C'n'Q, C1E, C6, Turbo
Ran prime blend on 200 x 17.5 = 3500 mhz for 30 minutes. CPU socket 47c, CPU core 35c. Asus ThermalRadar reported VCORE-1 VRM at 57c, which I thought was a bit high.

Ran prime blend on 200 x 20 = 4000 mhz for 30 minutes. Temperatures were up about 10c across the board:


Next step, if I got it correctly, was to set VCORE to 1.4v, and CPU LLC and CPU/NB LLC to High.
Loaded Windows and idled happily, and as soon as I kicked off prime blend (within seconds), the CPU socket and core temps went through the roof (see circled max values):


Was setting 1.4v the wrong thing to do ? Is the cooler just not up to it ? Does the case suck and need more airflow to begin with ? All of the above ?

 

[Bishoff]

The very basics when starting are to increase the clock until it throws errors, then ever so slightly bump up the voltage until it's stable. Rinse, repeat. These 8 cores are furnaces and need exceptional cooling and airflow across the vrms to be stable. I would reset your voltages back down to stock, then begin, and monitor your temps as you go.

 

[Mandrake4565]

The very basics when starting are to increase the clock until it throws errors, then ever so slightly bump up the voltage until it's stable. Rinse, repeat. These 8 cores are furnaces and need exceptional cooling and airflow across the vrms to be stable. I would reset your voltages back down to stock, then begin, and monitor your temps as you go.

This^^^^^

 

[SAP_Pete]

Thanks, guys, I guess I read too many guides.
I already set the voltage back down, and work on bumping the clock and VRM cooling.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Patience is a virtue when overclocking, taking small steps makes life a lot easier. As Bishoff stated, raise the mutliplier, test and add voltage accordingly when you fail.

 

[SAP_Pete]

Added a fan to blow across VRM, and not only did the VRM temp stay the same, the CPU core and socket temps went up ! The new fan is not in the way of the airflow from the intake fan to the CPU cooler / fan, but I guess it's messing up airflow somehow. ;(

Voltage was set back to auto and is down, so I guess I'll try to manually lower it and see if I get better results.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Only reason I can see the Vrm temps going up with a fan mounted on it is the ambient temps went up. You can also put a fan on the rear of the motherboard.

 

[RGone]

Only reason I can see the Vrm temps going up with a fan mounted on it is the ambient temps went up. You can also put a fan on the rear of the motherboard.

Sounds very freeken strange for certain. Only thing I can 'dream' of happening is some odd mounting of fan blowing onto VRM that was actually picking up even hotter air to blow across the VRM which would much like ambients rising. You might need to take some pics of inside of your case so we can get visual clues to what is what.
RGone...ster.

 

[bob4933]

57c is fine... especially with your office being that warm. Wheres the issue here?

edit: set LLC to "high" as well, sabertooth's LLC is quite exceptional from my experience (locked voltage).