Asus M5A99fx Pro R2.0 with Vishera 8350

[Mandrake4565]

He's back....nice, glad you didn't give up. I was putting some thought into it and a agree with the decision of going to the multiplier at first. Reason being is using the FSB as a new overclocker can be confusing, frustrating and also harder to pin point what is causing instability. Finding stability through the multi then using the fsb is probably the best way to go. I have never seen a case where my Cpu was stable using the multi only and unstable at the same overclock mhz with everything else being constant or as close as possible. Unfortunately, we cannot get our fat fingers on your rig to help you along JJTraxx, so the onus is on you to do the work. Report back with screen shots and issues and we're more then happy to help.

 

[JJTraxx]

YES!... I'm back

Ok, when last I left you, I was gonna figure this out on my own. Of course, I know that it would be impossible without you all here to teach and support me. I believe I have a certain level of success to report. I was able to confirm the lack of luck at 4.6ghz on the 8350.Workers kept dropping even after bumping up CPU voltage.. I wound up doing a combination overclock with both the multiplier and FSB and achieved 4.5ghz 20 minute stable in Prime95 on Blend. I have yet to confirm it with a 2 hour test. I have the Kingston Beast running at 1845 on all 32 gigs with manual timings of 11, 11, 11, 30, 40 with 2T command rate. Trying to set the Beast RAM to the next step up (2145) resulted in no posting. My CPU/NB frequency is 2538.1 and my HT Link Speed is 2768.85. I am happy with these settings so far. My VCore is only at 1.368 with a slight Vdrop, and my max CPU temp after 20 minutes was 64c. I'm gonna let go for now and have a life and install my new AC router. I'll post back when I find the time to run the 2 hour Blend in Prime95. Thanks again.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Good to hear!

 

[RGone]

Good deal. You might be able to pull the HT Link speed back a hair and run a smidge cooler and it might let you get a tick more on the ram speed with the looser timings you are now using. But yes you did know where you were and when to say I need a router. Congrats.
RGone...

 

[JJTraxx]

What would happen if I try to tighten up the ram timing?

 

[RGone]

What would happen if I try to tighten up the ram timing?

No way to know really what "will" happen. If it were tightened too tight as in the first 3 numbers were made 'too' small, it probably just would not boot. But certainly would only make the numbers smaller by a single digit at a time.

IF the ram is rated to run the 'fast' numbers at 1.65V then I would make sure that the ram had at least that voltage instead of just the 1.5V.

My GSkill DDR3-2133 is rated to run the 2133 at 1.65V but the lesser speeds like DDR3-1600 is spec'd to do that speed at just 1.5V. So I almost always hedge my bets towards the greater ram voltage since I like to 'tighten' the ram up since that is where most AMD systems still get their performance and not so much yet from the ram speed.

You might try 10, 11, 10, 30, 40 with 2T and that first 10 which is the CAS rating, will almost certainly give more ooomph. Just don't get too carried away with huge numerical jumps since some of the later ram I have seen will not run lesser speed and tighter. Not sure what memory chips some of this later stuff is comprised of but it is wise to be gentle in manueveing ram timings and testing for maintaing the stability.
RGone...

PS: I mentioned lowering that HT Link speed from the 2700+ you have it at right now and I suggest that still is a good idea. Might be just what is needed to allow the ram to be tightened up a little more. Remember as you have seen...all of this overlcocking thing is a balancing act. A little here and a little there.

 

[Mandrake4565]

JJ, before you go messing with the ram I would do a couple of things, especially if this is an everyday machine.

Take good notes of all the BIOS settings and or pictures, you may even be able to save the BIOS profiles you created to a flash drive, IDK.

Back up your OS and anything else you value.

I have found when I'm messing with my RAM it is the number one culprit of me Borking the BIOS or the OS. Too many blue screens will do wonky things to both and prepare yourself before hand if you do bork the BIOS or OS.

I have also found on my 8350, in most cases it will give me better performance running my Ram near 2000 Mhz with tight timings vs running above that with looser timings. That said my chip doesn't seem to have the best IMC or maybe the user is just a knucklehead.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

My CPU/NB frequency is 2538.1

This NB freq is high. Drop it down before per pursuing more clocks.

1845 on all 32 gigs with manual timings of 11, 11, 11, 30, 40 with 2T command rate

This is actually pretty good. If you had decent Ram, Cas 10 like RGone said, I'd be looking for Cas 9 at this low memory frequency.

 

[RGone]

Knowing the bios settings so one can go back to them when encountering an issue is the very best idea. And saving a profile to bios is often not enough since a bios flash or REflash can wipe the profile on most Asus boards today.

Mandrake is not the only one finding DDR3-2000ish with tight timings is a good sweet spot for ram to run with FX processor.
RGone...

 

[JJTraxx]

I can't seem to figure out how to save the oc profile to my thumb drive.

 

[Mandrake4565]

I'm not sure if you can save the actually profiles and yes as the Gonester said they will be erased if you have to flash the BIOS. You can save screen shots of the settings though.

 

[JJTraxx]

Ok. I will take screen shots of all of the bios screens and if I have to flash, I can refer to those. I dropped the HT link down a notch and after 25 minutes in Prime blend, the cpu temp is down 2 to a max of 62. I'm going to drop the cpu/nb frequency down a step and shoot for my 2 hour Prime then. Off to start cleaning up my yard and mow my lawn for thefirst time. Going to be a couple hours easy. After I get a 2 hour pass in Prime, I'll save the profile and take a million screen shots of the bios before I touch the ram. Just a thought though... What if I put in on the xmp-1600 settings of 9 9 9 27 36? I would gain the efficiency of the CAS of 9 even though the ram frequency will drop. Thoughts?

 

[RGone]

U could look at what XMP profile says it is but set it manually by hand since many times XMP sets things that are not doable by mobo since XMP is mostly Intel. AMP is AMD and hardly any memory company uses that. Yes 1600 at 9 probably would be better than 1800 at 11.
RGone...

 

[JJTraxx]

I. Know it's set to manual. I put it there. Lol. If you look at the spd cpu screen shot, it shows 2 xmp profiles. Xmp 2 is a slower frequency, but a cas of 9. If I set 9, 9, and 9, then what should I set the last 2 numbers to? I'm currently at 11, 11, 11 but the last 2 numbers are not those of the xmp1.

 

[RGone]

XMP 1600 shows 9, 9, 9, 27, 36 at 1.6V. And I would imagine it is 2T CMD rate.
RGone...

 

[JJTraxx]

Passed 2 Hour Prime95

Ok, so where I have it now I have totally happy with. It didn't get too hot and passed Prime95 with no issues. I will save this over my previously saved 4.5 bios profile and take every screen shot I can in the bios as well incase I wind up have to re-flash it. I have my notes of all of my current settings as well. I have to back up my OS still, so I'm going to do that before I attempt setting the ram at 9,9,9,27,36, with 2T CMD rate. I'm hoping to be able to achieve 1600mhz with the lower CAS. I think that that's all I could possibly expect from what I have to work with. I will repost either later today or tomorrow with the results. If I can boot with the new RAM settings, I'll run another 2 hour Prime session and overwrite my 4.5 ghz bios profile with that. I hope I don't break the bios, but we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Looks good, now that you have a known stable OC it makes it easier when you play with it. Just a suggestion, only change one thing at a time. It will make it easier to pin point what is causing the issue. So if you're going to tighten the timings just start with one, such as the Cl drop it one and test, rinse and repeat. Here is a review that one of our memory experts did on Kingson Hyper Beast 2400's not the same kit and it's also on an Intel platform but it may give you ball park figures of what you can expect.

 

[JJTraxx]

Mandrake, I didn't see a link to that review. Yeah, one thing at a time here for me. After I save the profile ans take all of my screen shots, first I will change the ram frequency to 1600 roughly and reboot. I was planning on trying the xmp2 profile specs all at once after setting the frequency back. You're saying that I should set the frequency back, reboot, then just tray changing the CAS? It would still be at 1.65 volts ( over volts for the called for 1.6 in the spd profile xmp2).

 

[Mandrake4565]

I would everything where it stands now, knowing it's stable here then just try tightening one timing at a time.

Here's the link again it works for me...http://funkykit.com/reviews/memory/...emory-kit-review/performance-and-overclocking

 

[JJTraxx]

Nice review, at least on an intel board. So you think I should just least the ram set like it is now? Not even just try to set the CAS to 10? I'm only about halfway through my OS backup and disk image. I'm actually glad I was told to do it, because I forgot.