Looking for help with first CPU overclock (FX-4170).

[trents]

Okay one more thing first. Please run Cpu-z and attach pics of these three tabs: CPU, Memory (displays your current settings) and SPD (displays mfg.'s recommendations for voltages and timings at different standard frequencies). That will give us a snapshot of where things are at baseline so that we can make sure "Auto" settings are appropriate.

 

[Obsidus]

Okay one more thing first. Please run Cpu-z and attach pics of these three tabs: CPU, Memory (displays your current settings) and SPD (displays mfg.'s recommendations for voltages and timings at different standard frequencies). That will give us a snapshot of where things are at baseline so that we can make sure "Auto" settings are appropriate.

The SPD menu was blank and greyed out, it had a drop down menu for different selections, but it was all blank.

 

[Obsidus]

Whoops, I'm dumb, it was going by slot. Here are the SPD screenies.

 

[Obsidus]

Bah. Uploaded two of the same pick. Here is the CPU.

 

[trents]

Okay. Open go into bios and find the CPU multiplier. It may be called "CPU ratio" or something like that. At stock it's set to 21x. Increase it to 21.5x and then go into Windows and load HWMonitor and Prime95. Run the Prime95 blend test for 20 minutes. If you pass (no blue screen, no lockups, none of the four Prime core workers drop out) then go back into bios and increase the multiplier to 22x. Repeat the cycle until you fail the test, then add .025 vcore and retest. You should pass the first couple test rounds without having to increse the vcore.

Always keep an eye on core temps.

 

[Obsidus]

Okay. Open go into bios and find the CPU multiplier. It may be called "CPU ratio" or something like that. At stock it's set to 21x. Increase it to 21.5x and then go into Windows and load HWMonitor and Prime95. Run the Prime95 blend test for 20 minutes. If you pass (no blue screen, no lockups, none of the four Prime core workers drop out) then go back into bios and increase the multiplier to 22x. Repeat the cycle until you fail the test, then add .025 vcore and retest. You should pass the first couple test rounds without having to increse the vcore.

Always keep an eye on core temps.

Ok doing it. What temp should I stop the test on? Just to be completely sure.

 

[trents]

If it doesn't stop you because of an instability crash, stop it yourself if the core temp exceeds 60c or the CPU temp exceeds 70c

 

[Obsidus]

If it doesn't stop you because of an instability crash, stop it yourself if the core temp exceeds 60c or the CPU temp exceeds 70c

Gotcha. Will do it as far as I can and report back. Thanks so much for this, it's really nice of you. It's nice to get all this info direct, instead of being uncertain piecing things together from various sources on my own.

 

[Obsidus]

So with the cpu fan speed is there any reason or way to force it to run at higher speeds to keep temperatures down? Like with a GPU forcing the fan to run at 70% etc. Or will it just take care of all that by itself?

 

[Obsidus]

Hmm. It doesn't seem to be letting me change the core multiplier. I enter 22.0 then hit f10 to save and exit, but if I then go back into the bios it still says 21.0. CPU-Z is saying it's staying at 21.0 as well.

 

[Obsidus]

Tried changing it from D.O.C.P to manual and attempted to change it again....no change.

 

[trents]

Most likely, there is some setting that is still on Auto, some main overclocking mode setting that until it is put on Manual the sub fields will be grayed out and unavailable. With some bioses you need to use the "+" and "-" keys to change settings and values. I you are still struggling with this, take a digital camera picture of the appropriate section of the bios and attach it with a post and I'll try to help you sort it out.

 

[Obsidus]

Found another option called EPU power saver, shut it off, still won't save my core multiplier changes.

 

[Obsidus]

Most likely, there is some setting that is still on Auto, some main overclocking mode setting that until it is put on Manual the sub fields will be grayed out and unavailable. With some bioses you need to use the "+" and "-" keys to change settings and values. I you are still struggling with this, take a digital camera picture of the appropriate section of the bios and attach it with a post and I'll try to help you sort it out.

Ok.

 

[Obsidus]

Got it, you were right, I couldn't just click the field an enter the values, I HAD to use the plus and minus keys. Resuming tests.

 

[Obsidus]

Ok I've run into my first problem. I've got the multiplier up to 23.0 now (4.6 what it was when it came out of the box when I first got it as described in the OP), I haven't added any voltage yet. But this time, when I start the blend test, all 4 cores instantly jump to like 55c while the CPU itself stays at like 44, so I stopped it immediately. That seems really strange....

 

[Obsidus]

I'm sitting here watching HWmonitor, and the temps on the cores are jumping all over the place and I'm not even doing anything. It'll sit at 22c and then suddenly jump to 29, then 34, then back down to 20, all while I'm not doing anything at all. The fan RPM isn't changing while this is going on, and the CPU temp isn't really changing either.

 

[trents]

So I'm not clear on what the stock multiplier is. In post #24 CPU-z says its 21x but you indicate in post #36 that it must have been 23x stock out of the box (which would give 4.6 ghz). Did that quick jump up in core temp to 55c only happen at 23x? If you let it run for a bit does that temp drop back? What is your cooler's fan speed when you are testing? HWMonitor should display that.

 

[trents]

I would rely on the core temp then. They are usually the most accurate. And keep in mind you will encounter instability well before you do any harm to components as long as you go about it gradually.

 

[Obsidus]

So I'm not clear on what the stock multiplier is. In post #24 CPU-z says its 21x but you indicate in post #36 that it must have been 23x stock out of the box (which would give 4.6 ghz). Did that quick jump up in core temp to 55c only happen at 23x? If you let it run for a bit does that temp drop back? What is your cooler's fan speed when you are testing? HWMonitor should display that.

The CPU is listed on Newegg as being a 4.2 with 4.3 turbo boost. Yet for some reason, when I first put this computer together and looked at the Windows experience index and also at the bios, it was saying I had either a 4.6 or a 4.55 processor. I thought it was strange, but just assumed it was factory overclocked. But I changed my RAM setting from 1437 to 1600 in the BIOS the other day, (by changing my profile from manual to D.O.C.P) and when I restarted my computer it said it was back down to 4.2. So I dunno about that. And yes the quick jump in core temps ONLY happened at 23.0, at 22.5 it went up slowly and never got any higher than 44.

If I just leave it the temp gets to 61c before I stop it again, so I don't think it is going to go down. And the max the fan got when it hit 61c was 1047 RPM.