Need help and tips for OCing my AMD FX-6100

[mohdzarif]

I am very new to overclocking. So I need to also make sure that what I am doing is correct. I need to learn more.

My specs:
CPU: AMD FX 6100 (Still experimenting with stable OC)
Mobo: ASUS M5A97 R2.0
Cooler: Corsair H80i

I'm currently running Prime95 Small FFTs at the time of writing this. My OC configurations are:
Frequency: 4.4GHz (22.0 X 200MHz)
VCore: 1.452V

I have CPU Load Line Calibration enabled. CPU-Z gives me 1.476V reading when Prime95 is running. It seems that Cool n Quiet and C1E are automatically disabled for me when I turned the voltage control to manual mode from offset mode. I let C6 still enabled. (Should I disable it too?)

I wanna tell a little of my story today. First, I tried OC'd to 4.5 GHz @ 1.44V, ran Prime95 after some minutes, Windows crashed with an error I forgot what it was, but it was not "clock watchdog timeout". Upped my VCore to 1.452V after that, ran Prime95 after a few minutes, Core #5 and #6 stopped working because of "maximum number of warnings exceeded". Error: Illegal Sumout. So I downclocked my CPU to 4.4GHz at the same VCore of 1.452V. This is my current configuration. After, 1 hour and 29 minutes of Prime95, Core #6 stopped working because of the same error. The same run is still running at the time of writing this, it is now close to 3 hours and all the other 5 cores are still running fine.

My questions are:
Am I in the right track right now? Is there anything wrong?
Errors in Prime95 are usually caused by wrong VCore isn't it?
Any suggestions for a noob like me?

Also, share your configurations. Give me helpful tips.

 

[FievelJ]

There's a lot of missing information here.
Cooling, type of cooling.
Case, and how much airflow your case has.
CPU cooling.
And all of yout temperatures.
If one core is stopping working, I would have to suggest slowing down a bit.

Also
CPU-Z for many readings as well.
Motherboard. SPD. Memory. CPU
Ahh. And wait until others reply, for more of what might be important there.

 

[mohdzarif]

Sorry for that.

I've mentioned though my cooler is Corsair H80i.
Case: Corsair Carbide SPEC-03, currently equipped with 2 stock intake fans in front and the fans of the radiator of my H80i for the exhaust fan.
CPU: AMD FX-6100
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 2 X 4GB
Mobo: ASUS M5A97 R2.0

Prime95 is currently stopped.

During the time of running Prime95:
Max socket temp: 72C
Max core temp: 56C
AMD OverDrive lowest Thermal Margin reading: 14C

CPU-Z:


BIOS:

 

[FievelJ]

If I were you, I would turn down a little yet. 72C is running pretty hot. I believe the thermal design for the cpu is a max of 65, which at least is doing pretty well. Might want to tone down cpu vcore a little too. If you are able to almost run stable, that's already one hell of an overclock, I would turn down a bit.

But lets wait to see what others think.
Also, it would be good to use HWMonitor. You can use snipping tool to capture the screen.

 

[mohdzarif]

If I were you, I would turn down a little yet. 72C is running pretty hot. I believe the thermal design for the cpu is a max of 65, which at least is doing pretty well. Might want to tone down cpu vcore a little too. If you are able to almost run stable, that's already one hell of an overclock, I would turn down a bit.

But lets wait to see what others think.
Also, it would be good to use HWMonitor. You can use snipping tool to capture the screen.

I've met with various opinions on this "socket temp" thing. Some say that it is not to be really wary at. Some say that the socket temp is usually very high.

I used HWMonitor for my reading. Someone recommended me using AMD OverDrive and said that I can solely rely on it. It just shows "Thermal Margin" and nothing else for the temperature, a very convenient reading. Basically it shows how much room for temperature I have before it reaches max. AMD OverDrive is said to be the most reliable and accurate for the recent AMD CPUs, AM3+ and etc.

 

[Sbirstein]

What comes to me is why don't you add some extra voltage to the ram? It might help for more stability. And your temps are quite high indeed. And another thing - if I understand correctly, your current NB speed is 2000 MHz and the HT Link's is 2400. As far as I know the NB speed must be equal to or higher than the speed of the HT Link.

 

[FievelJ]

Well yes and no. I still would try to get socket temps down just a little. But you are not completely stable.
So the second thing there is almost out the window. It's not written in stone, how far you can get. But you will get further, the cooler you can keep things. Not saying take things to extremes. Sinking your board in Mineral Oil, and then build a Helium system on it. You might be able to stay more stable though on water.

Just a thought.

 

[FievelJ]

@Sbirstein
I like your answer better. Thanks.

 

[Sbirstein]

@FievelJ
@mohdzarif, what I mean when I say your temps are high is being a Phenom II guy, I found that when my core temps go above 50-55oC the CPU gets really clumsy. I don't know if it happens to FXs but...

 

[FievelJ]

Wow that's really hot.
The max temps for his cpu is 70c.
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=&f10=&f11=&f12=
So if he's got 56c, that is doing pretty well.
For some reason though, I still think he should turn down some. Although, I can not say exactly how far, as it's almost something he'll have to figure out on his own.

 

[mohdzarif]

What comes to me is why don't you add some extra voltage to the ram? It might help for more stability. And your temps are quite high indeed. And another thing - if I understand correctly, your current NB speed is 2000 MHz and the HT Link's is 2400. As far as I know the NB speed must be equal to or higher than the speed of the HT Link.

This is the RAM I'm having: http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9
It is rated at 1600MHz.

I have had it set at 1600MHz without tampering with anything just fine for more than a year without any problem.

Hear my story:
This RAM was bought quite a long time ago to replace previous 1600 MHz RAM that I had but a cheap brand, Super Talent. When I was using that RAM, all BIOS settings were set at default/auto. Here is what I got:

Current Memory Frequency: 1600 MHz
Current NB Frequency: 2000MHz
Current HT Link Speed: 2400MHz
That was at default settings.


After changing my RAM to this Corsair Vengeance, still with my BIOS settings at default/auto, here is what I got:

Current Memory Frequency: 1333 MHz
Current NB Frequency: 2000MHz
Current HT Link Speed: 2400MHz
I'm not sure why the frequency is "downclocked" to 1333MHz at default setting. Because the RAM is rated by Corsair to be 1600MHz, so I confidently changed the frequency to 1600MHz without tampering with anything else.


After setting it to 1600MHz, here is what I got:

Current Memory Frequency: 1600 MHz
Current NB Frequency: 2000MHz
Current HT Link Speed: 2000MHz
Now, the HT Link Speed was downclocked to 2000MHz and I have no idea why. Maybe someone can explain to me why is this. Why doesn't it fix to the old frequencies. But I wanted all these frequencies to be the same as when I was using my old RAM which is also a 1600MHz RAM. I don't understand why setting this Corsair Vengeance RAM to 1600MHz resulted in downclocking the HT Link Speed for the default HT Link Speed setting. I set the HT Link Speed back to its old 2400MHz frequency.


So I had this for more than a year:

CPU Speed: 3300MHz
Current Memory Frequency: 1600 MHz
Current NB Frequency: 2000MHz
Current HT Link Speed: 2400MHz
This is for more than a year with no problems, all settings were set at default/auto except for Memory Frequency and HT Link Speed.


I told this because I am a noob and doesn't really know (yet) what are NB and HT Link frequencies. I just wanted to make them set at the "original" frequencies they had when I first had my PC.

Maybe someone has any idea of what actually happened when I changed my RAM to this Corsair Vengeance.

 

[mohdzarif]

Well yes and no. I still would try to get socket temps down just a little. But you are not completely stable.
So the second thing there is almost out the window. It's not written in stone, how far you can get. But you will get further, the cooler you can keep things. Not saying take things to extremes. Sinking your board in Mineral Oil, and then build a Helium system on it. You might be able to stay more stable though on water.

Just a thought.

Thanks for your input, and I really appreciate it, but I will experiment and asking other people too to really be sure.

Wow that's really hot.
The max temps for his cpu is 70c.
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=&f10=&f11=&f12=
So if he's got 56c, that is doing pretty well.
For some reason though, I still think he should turn down some. Although, I can not say exactly how far, as it's almost something he'll have to figure out on his own.

Yeah, I know the "max temp" for this CPU is 70C and some people told me that it is referring to the core temp. My HWMonitor and AMD OverDrive thermal margin readings agree with what AMD claimed and what those people said to me.

HWMonitor showed me my max core temp to be at 56C while AMD OverDrive showed me the lowest thermal margin of 14C. 56 + 14 = 70.

 

[Sbirstein]

"Now, the HT Link Speed was downclocked to 2000MHz and I have no idea why."
Because it has to be this way Adjust the NB freq to say 2400-2600-2800 MHz and leave the HT Link as it is and see the difference. Once you get your machine stable, try some ram latency tweaking. But keep a wary eye on your temps.
I believe your CPU can go even further but you'll need an adequate cooling, the one you use right now will not suffice.

 

[mohdzarif]

"Now, the HT Link Speed was downclocked to 2000MHz and I have no idea why."
Because it has to be this way Adjust the NB freq to say 2400-2600-2800 MHz and leave the HT Link as it is and see the difference. Once you get your machine stable, try some ram latency tweaking. But keep a wary eye on your temps.
I believe your CPU can go even further but you'll need an adequate cooling, the one you use right now will not suffice.

Thanks for your kind reply but do you know what is this NB freq and how it's working and how exactly it is related to HT Link Speed? Sorry if I have too many questions LOL.

I think I won't tamper with RAM at all at least for the time being. I need to learn more, slowly but surely. I will touch the NB frequency and HT Link Speed when I have enough confidence. Right now, I am still blurry.



Also, just to make sure that you notice me replying to your other post above in case you didn't notice it.

 

[caddi daddi]

a little on your temps, the socket temp is taken to be the power section, it's at 72c.
that is the max temp we like to see for that.
when you installed the pump/waterblock on the motherboard you took airflow away from that area, it's between the cpu socket and the io plate, get all the airflow you can to that area.

the package, or core temp is in the cpu, that we limit to 62c.

 

[mohdzarif]

I learned something more today.

There are two different speeds, latency, voltage: SPD and tested. For my RAM: http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9

Basically, SPD settings are "default settings". The user should manually configure the RAM to achieve the tested settings.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/325952-30-speed
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110428163611AA6ZWOm

 

[Sbirstein]

 

[mohdzarif]

a little on your temps, the socket temp is taken to be the power section, it's at 72c.
that is the max temp we like to see for that.
when you installed the pump/waterblock on the motherboard you took airflow away from that area, it's between the cpu socket and the io plate, get all the airflow you can to that area.

the package, or core temp is in the cpu, that we limit to 62c.

"when you installed the pump/waterblock on the motherboard you took airflow away from that area, it's between the cpu socket and the io plate, get all the airflow you can to that area."

You mean putting side panel fans blowing to the CPU?

Also, the AMD official max temp for my CPU is 70C.
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-FX-Series FX-6100.html
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=&f10=&f11=&f12=

What do you mean limit it to 62C, is it the recommended max core temp just to be safer?

So I can't let my socket temp higher than 72C? I still can't find any "official confirmation" for this.

 

[caddi daddi]

here is a little "light" reading http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/731320-Just-Putzen-Round you'll find my time with a 4170 on that board in the fist 10 or 20 pages.

 

[caddi daddi]

please trust us, they get unstable over 62c on the cores.