AMD FX 4350: the definitive build

[storm-chaser]

Changed things up a little bit.
-Swapped in the FX to a Biostar TA880GZ mainboard
-Swapped in a 60GB mushkin SSD
-Case had an Antec 400W PSU
-Switched from liquid to air cooling (Hyper 212)
-Sweet spot is now 4.9Ghz with NB running 2600Mhz (1.535 vcore)

No screenshots right now as my internet connection is pretty weak

 

[Kenrou]

Try to keep vcore below 1.5v to avoid degradation

 

[storm-chaser]

Try to keep vcore below 1.5v to avoid degradation

I think my voltage ceiling is partially dependent on cooling. Since my temps are under control (for the most part) my line of thinking is that I can get away with 1.535 volts or thereabouts.

I know its a little high, but this CPU isn't going to be a main rig for me. Just a test bed for tweaking and tuning. So the processor wont be run under heavy loads for extended periods of time.

 

[storm-chaser]

I had to dial it down a little bit for the Cinebench extreme benchmark. At 4.9Ghz it would get about half way through and just shut down.
So, 4.9Ghz is daily driver mode and 4.8Ghz for benching (under air cooling).
Max Clock setting

Cinebench Extreme:

CPUz Bench

Benching settings:

 

[Alaric]

Interesting results. So far I think AMD would have been better off pursuing an octo core Thuban and fine tuning that rather than Bulldozer. LOL

 

[Kenrou]

I think my voltage ceiling is partially dependent on cooling. Since my temps are under control (for the most part) my line of thinking is that I can get away with 1.535 volts or thereabouts.

It's almost completely dependant on cooling, but AMD still says stay under 1.5v unless it's under water and even then don't push it. You switched the AIO for a 212 right? My testing was with a NH-D15 which is far better and it was capping at ~1.45v (just over my 5ghz) in Prime95 blend AVX 1 in a well ventilated case. Even @4.8ghz (assuming 1.49v ?) would be over the top for your 212, did i misread or miss something in you post? How are you keeping it below 62c in a stress test?

 

[storm-chaser]

It's almost completely dependant on cooling, but AMD still says stay under 1.5v unless it's under water and even then don't push it. You switched the AIO for a 212 right? My testing was with a NH-D15 which is far better and it was capping at ~1.45v (just over my 5ghz) in Prime95 blend AVX 1 in a well ventilated case. Even @4.8ghz (assuming 1.49v ?) would be over the top for your 212, did i misread or miss something in you post? How are you keeping it below 62c in a stress test?

I have it dialed down to 1.500 vcore at 4.840ghz. That's the only way I could get through Cinebench extreme without the system shutting down. During the 4.9 run, temps leveled off at 150*F.

So, I dropped it down to 4.840Ghz and it's stable at 1.500v and that improved temps and seems like a much better configuration for benching.
Temps during this run topped out at 143*F.

 

[Kenrou]

Heh right on the edge. How's the VRM's handling it ?

 

[Mandrake4565]

How sad with the Cinebench results 960 vs 4350 I always said, with the 8350. I wish it were an eight core PIII.

 

[Alaric]

How sad with the Cinebench results 960 vs 4350 I always said, with the 8350. I wish it were an eight core PIII.

Yup. I have a borrowed 1100T that just rocks anything I throw at it. Is it "behind the times" benching? Sure. Does it do everything normally done with a PC in 2019? Yup. A 1200T? 8 cores, 4.5 GHz? Would have been a monster.

 

[storm-chaser]

Yup. I have a borrowed 1100T that just rocks anything I throw at it. Is it "behind the times" benching? Sure. Does it do everything normally done with a PC in 2019? Yup. A 1200T? 8 cores, 4.5 GHz? Would have been a monster.

Right! I like your idea. AMD would have done better with a Phenom III design with improved memory support and 8 cores would have made for a beast of a processor. Instead they stepped backwards for a couple years there. What a loss!

EDIT: My next processor is going to be a Phenom II 1090 or 1100T, I just want 6 cores that I don't have to unlock anything, no fuss just ready for action.
Since I have my water cooling system I'm hoping to push 4.2Ghz +

 

[storm-chaser]

Heh right on the edge. How's the VRM's handling it ?

VRMs are really fighting for their life. When benchmarking the Cinebench extreme edition, they are almost to hot to touch, despite the fact I have an additional Hyper 212 fan pulling cold air in pointed directly on them.

Under normal use however, they seem fine. 4.9Ghz for most tasks they don't seem to have any trouble. Just when I push it to the limit is where I have to be careful. Also note, this
motherboard has a 3+1 power phase. That means I'm pushing more than 150w through a board only rated at 125W. On top of that, this is all being done with an antiquated Antec SL-4
400 PSU. Nothing has gone boom yet *Holds breath*!!!

Also I'm finding the Biostar A880GZ is a far superior piece than my Biostar TA970. That board is junk, slow and all around delivers lackluster performance. Definitely going to be looking for a new AM3+ Motherboard soon for my next project. Stay way from the TA970! That's my advice.

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

Made a little "progress" with this build. Got the memory running at DDR3 1866Mhz, CL7 (memory is a DDR3 1600 piece) benchmarks to follow...
View attachment 204179

 

[storm-chaser]

A little further tweaking and this is our end result - 100% stable on the memory side of things. DDR3 1600 to 1866Mhz (still on CL7)

 

[Kenrou]

AMD would have done better with a Phenom III design with improved memory support and 8 cores would have made for a beast of a processor.

They have, it's called Ryzen - high IPC and low overclock potential [emoji6]

 

[storm-chaser]

They have, it's called Ryzen - high IPC and low overclock potential [emoji6]

True that, but they needed Ryzen a few years back, AMD literally regressed with the release of the FX iine. A major step backwards from your flagship CPU, also known as the Phenom II? How can this even be explained. How could AMD fail so miserably?

I don't know if we'll ever be able to answer that question. Food for thought. I guess it's in the past now so it's out of mind for most.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Storm I noticed the comment about the VRM's "hot to the touch". I experienced the same with my Asus M5A99X Evo, the VRM/Nb heatsink would get hot like that with the Fx 8350 on board. It is amazing how much power these things start drawing when pushed. You should get a watt meter and see what the rig is drawing from the wall. I bet you'd be shocked.

 

[storm-chaser]

Storm I noticed the comment about the VRM's "hot to the touch". I experienced the same with my Asus M5A99X Evo, the VRM/Nb heatsink would get hot like that with the Fx 8350 on board. It is amazing how much power these things start drawing when pushed. You should get a watt meter and see what the rig is drawing from the wall. I bet you'd be shocked.

The lights definitely dim when I turn the system on. lol. Also note - My guess is I'm pulling at least 150W TDP with this CPU through a 400 watt PSU. The antiquated Antec is still holding up to the challenge.

I remember back in the day when I used to run my Athlon XP system off a 100 watt inverter in the car ( when my dad and I traveled out west together). Had to disconnect all extraneous devices and hardware in order to get the thing to power up. That was fun, felt a little like the astronauts in Apollo 13 when they try to get their onboard computer system to run at a much lower power setting than originally designed. Good times!