Help me Overclock my FX-8370

[Frohteloss]

Ok I've managed to get my cables under control, the majority of the sata and molex connectors are bundled together sitting on top of the psu which doesn't block any airflow whatsoever and the atx cable is now running up the back side of the case behind the motherboard. The only cables I can't do much about are a few fan cables and the liquid tubes for my H115i Pro, but those are all pretty small so hopefully don't affect airflow much. My case also has a central internal fan slot on the side of the hd cage so i installed a 140mm there to try and help move the air from the bottom/front to the middle/top of my case. I also took a can of air and blew out the whole case top to bottom. I know idle temps don't say a whole lot but those have gone down a few degrees on average. I haven't had time to run another stress test to see how much this helps my temps yet but i should have time in the next couple of days.

I'm also going to try backing off the voltage if the stress test is successful since my temps should hopefully be better. If that works at 4.6, I'll try pushing the OC further.

Again, thanks for the help.

~Frohteloss

 

[Mandrake4565]

Frohteloss, don't pay any attention to idle temps. The Fx "temp senors" algorithm isn't accurate unless it's under load and above 40c. Mine idles at 6c in a 22c room with ambient cooling, magic of the algorithm.

 

[Frohteloss]

Yeah I've read through my research about that. That's why I said idle temps don't say a whole lot, though I guess they really don't say much at all if the temp algorithm isn't accurate until above 40c. Ok thanks! I'll run another stress test tonight or tomorrow and get back here with the results and see if I'm ready to push the OC any after the latest adjustments to my case's airflow.

Thanks!
~Frohteloss

 

[Mandrake4565]

If you have the time, have a read through here. RGone spent a lot of time working on this post.

 

[Frohteloss]

That was a great post! I'm sure it'll help me out in my endeavors to a higher OC. One of the things I got out of it was that maybe I should be using offset voltages? I'm currently just running manual. Would that make any difference or would that just affect my idle voltages?

I definitely am hoping I didn't end up with a bad chip as I should definitely be able to OC to more than 4.6 with ~1.464 vcore and a slightly bumped CPU-NB voltage as well (forgot the exact number I have it set at). The house fan with the side panel off trick dropped my temps a fair amount, so I'm hoping the changes I made to my case helps out the airflow enough to allow me to progress.

I've also been using HWInfo64 as some people elsewhere recommended it to me but I'll go back to using HWMonitor (as I originally had been using) as that seems to be the standard on this forum.

Once again, I really appreciate everyone's support!

~Frohteloss

 

[Mandrake4565]

I personally use offset. When Overclocking I will usually use manual voltage until I find a stable Oc for the clockspeed I want. Then I'll figure out the voltage I've added to the Stock VID and set the "offset" voltage. One of us can show you how I do it when you need.

As far as your chip. I wouldn't sweat whether it's a good chip. From the numerous Fx 8xxx chips I've seen come through here I do not recall seeing many that were "duds". The latter chips such as yours tend to "leak less" as the silicon process matured. Most issues with these chips overclocking, will be caused by two things. Heat and lack of clean power coming from the VRM. I know Johan did a review of your board with his Fx 9370 on it and didn't have much issue getting it to 5.0 Ghz. Therefore, I do not think you're going to have an issue with the VRM section of that board.

HWMonitor and Hw Info are the 2 programs I use for monitoring temps. Either is fine, as stated earlier take temps with a grain of salt when not under load.

 

[Frohteloss]

Ok I ran another stress test using OCCT for about an hour and my temps were a little better and even seemed to peak and then come down from there mid-test. I'm going to push it up to 4.7 and keep the voltages the same and see if its stable and keeps the same temperature levels.

 

[Mr.Scott]

You should be able to. You're already turbo'ing to almost 4.8.
You turn that off when you overclock FX BTW. It can make your OC unstable.
Turn off Core Boost and C&Q.
You may be better off than you think.

 

[Frohteloss]

Weird, turning turbo off was one of the first things i did. Not sure how clock is registering as that. It should be 4.6 max. I can't remember if i turned off C&Q though. How much does that affect things?

 

[Kenrou]

Don't forget bus clock fluctuations - mine's 4.7ghz 24/7 and it likes to spike between 4.8ghz/4.9ghz - 200mhz-207mhz.

 

[EarthDog]

Bus clock fluctuates that much? I've seen maybe 50 mhz before... never up to 200. Wow!

100-200 mhz, especially the latter is insane for spread spectrumto cause.

 

[Frohteloss]

Yeah I've noticed some bus fluctuations as well. Wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I also don't think he meant a 200-207 fluctuation from normal i think he means it fluctuates between 200-207 total. Mine behaves similarly as well but it sometimes drops below 200 at times as well as above.

I ran a couple more stress tests last night at 4.6 and they all came out about the same. Though weirdly, I thought I upped my multiplier to 23.5 to get 4.7 and yet when i check hwmonitor and even amd overdrive it says target is 4.6. When I get home tonight I'm gonna take another peek at my bios. While I'm in there, should i disable C&Q if it's not? What effect does that have on my overclock? And should i bump my CPUNB voltage any? Did you Kenrou on yours to get 4.7 24/7? My original goal was to hit 4.7 for a 24/7 OC (and any more past that would just be nice).

Thanks for the help,
~Frohteloss

 

[Kenrou]

@E_D - mine spikes (not bumps) to 4.8ghz (204mhz ?) whenever i put heavy load on it but the 4.9ghz (207mhz) spike is extremely rare. BIOS settings possibly ?

@Frohteloss - I disabled everything energy-efficiency related and tweaked some options in Digi+ that helped with stability (i never really cared about the light bill ). My CPU/NB is currently at 1.35v which will bump up slightly with LLC. Rule of thumb if memory serves is to disable everything while you're tuning your OC and then turn some/all of them back on when you have it running 100% ?

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[Frohteloss]

Thanks for those screenshots of your bios! I really appreciate them. I'll see what I need to change to match as closely as I can what you have and see where that gets me.

 

[Kenrou]

Don't touch memory/DRAM settings if you're running stock, i got mine overclocked

 

[Frohteloss]

So I bumped up to 4.7 and increased my CPUNB a little bit and ran for about 30 mins or so. It seemed stable for that short of a run, but my temps were too high. My package/core was mostly in the mid 50s but my socket hit 71 =(

I increased my LLC and a couple other digi+ settings as per Kenrou's post and I backed off my vcore to 1.44 but for some reason hwmonitor is showing it as hitting 1.5. Is there a setting i need turned on/off so it doesn't shoot my vcore up so high? If it wasn't for that I think I would be fine since that's making my temps skyrocket. It seems like I'm at a point where I'm stable... but the temps are just still too high.



I may as a last resort try reseating my cooler with some fresh thermal paste as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, but I wouldn't think it would need it as the cooler has only been on there a few weeks. Maybe I messed it up while installing it or something? Any other suggestions for getting my temps under control? Or should I just back off to 4.6 and be happy with it?

Thanks all,

~Frohteloss

 

[Mandrake4565]

Gap in temperature between the socket and "core" is still pretty big. I feel this needs to be addressed, you should be closer to a 10c difference. You also need to dial in the LLC, that is way too difference between your voltage under load and not. A little fluctuation is ok but that's pretty drastic. Ideal is having the Vcore stay exactly where it is set in the BIOS, "not always obtainable". I see spikes up to 4.9? Post a SS of Cpu-Z Cpu, Spd and Memory tabs pls.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Pics of your bios settings also. You still have boost and other green stuff enabled. That's why you're seeing bumps over 4.9

 

[Frohteloss]

Here's a few screen shots. I realize I still have C&Q and a few other things on that probably shouldn't be. Which should I turn off or change to help with my temps and over voltaging?














Thanks again,
~Frohteloss

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Unless you can gain 200Mhz on the current OC, I'd just assume not push it more. The OC looks good. You're running FX-9590 clocks. And from here overclocking it gets harder. The warmer they get, the more they leak. The more they leak, the more voltage you need to use. The more voltage you use, the lower the temps should go, IE: Larger cooler (more rads), Bucket of Ice water and a mini sub pump, or maybe even SS and colder.

EDIT:

Max Boost P-state voltage on my late 9590 @ 5Ghz was 1.5250v fyi