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A10-7870K OC with no voltage increase

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Quintencenshel

New Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
I am OC'ing my stock air-cooled PC. I do not want to have to go to liquid cooling so I am trying to do it without increasing voltage. Basically multiplier changes and LLC adjustments. Here is what I have done so far: (There is some explanation on the images.)
Render Test 1.jpg Render Test 2.jpg Render Test 3.jpg

Please help me make further adjustments or comment on my current adjustments.
SYSTEM:
CASE: Apevia XQpack3
MB: ASUS A88XM-A
APU: A10-7870K (stock cooler)
RAM: Adata AX3U2400W8G11-DMV 8Gbx2 running DOCP @ 2400
Graphics: XFX Radeon R7 250X R7-250X-ZNJ4 1GB
Power: Deepcool DQ550ST
Spare Fan: StarTech FAN12025PWM 120mm

I have Windows 10 running on 256Gb SSD but software drive is 7200RPM 2Tb HDD. The windows pagefile and working folders for installed software are on SSD.
 
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I mean, what can we say? Your limit is your limit if you are not going to increase voltage. That said, increasing voltage doesn't automatically mean you need to run on water. I am sure you can get away with a small voltage increase and overclock, even on the factory heatsink.
 
Well, AMD Overdrive ran Auto Clock up to 4700Mhz stable at current voltage, but my Thermal Margin was down to 18.5C (average). What is the lowest and safest Thermal Margin I can run under high loads. I'm willing to push it a bit, but I don't want to burn up my APU. AMD doesn't really cover the high thermal limits of the chip and my case is a bit cramped for Liquid. I tried a Silverstone T03D Lite and it (barely) fit, but was DOA on the pump. Also it was twice as loud as my machine currently runs peaked out. AMD Overdrive did not increase the voltage simply because I didn't check voltage boost. But is a voltage increase really required? Am I going to get more performance out of 4700Mhz by adding voltage? AMD Overdrive allows for multipliers up to 65x on this this chip. I applied 60x to see if it would set and it did, but I did not stability check it and returned it to 44x. I want to go higher and after I RMA the Silverstone would like suggestions on a good 120mm radiator system, but how high should I try? I've never OC'd until now and even reading the guides there really isn't any limitations except that it runs stable and it doesn't overheat? Is that all?
 
Well AMD states the thermal margin. So just go by that anything on the negative side is pushing it. You are going over the "stock" voltage . When left on auto in the BIOS the voltage will adjust accordingly to try and keep the CPU stable that's why your thermal margin goes down. I wouldn't bother with a 120mm AIO cooler. Big air cooler would likely do better or go at least to a 240.
Welcome to OCF BTW
 
Thanks for the welcome. I understand about the voltage, but wouldn't it show in AMD Overdrive? As you can see from the screenshot it is constant at 1.4875V. If I check 'boost voltage' then it goes up to 1.55V when overclocking but it tends to be less stable over 4500Mhz. On the Auto Clock it will report back stable at 4800Mhz @ 1.4875V but that's all I've let it run too. I guess I'll just have to let it run and screenshot it's results.
I hope this doesn't come across as confrontational, I've just never overclocked.
 
I wouldn't trust AMDOD's stress test to demonstrate stability. It's pretty wimpy. Also, why don't you get a second opinion on the voltage like checking it in CPU-z at idle and under load.
 
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