Newb to OC'ing and Watercooling

[Stoneysilence]

Just built my new system a week ago. This last weekend I messed around with OC'ing for the first time in my life. My only previous OC'ing experience was with my R9 280x for Bitcoin mining and it didn't OC much (1070 to 1200 GPU and Mem from 1550 to 1600 (anything over 1600 seemed to degrade performance but that is another thread)).

Anyway My build:
MB: Asus TUF Sabertooth 990FX
CPU: FX-8370
RAM: Kingston HyperX 1600 DDR3
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540

EDIT:
PSU: EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 Gold 80+

Originally I bought a Arctic Freezer 13 CO for the CPU cooler, but even at only 4.3ghz it was overheating the CPU at 61 Celsius. So I am returning it and bought a Corsair Hydro 100i GTX. I KNOW I don't have this ideally setup since my radiator had to fit at the top of my case blowing up and out. I really wanted it on the front in a push/pull config but my MB and my GPU would have run into it.

Any obvious issues with my HW?

Now to the OC'ing. Originally I used my Asus MB built in OC tool to OC my CPU to about 4.3ghz (basically the Turbo speed). Then I found in the CCC Amd's version of it and had it give a whirl. It locked up at 4.7ghz. So for a few days I ran uneventfully at 4.6ghz using AMD's tool.

But then I watched Jayz2cents video on OC'ing the 8370 (or 8350 don't remember). I went through and followed his advice and set everything manually like he said. Right now I am running at 4.6ghz pretty stable:
This pics are from when I was running at 4.5ghz.


HWMonitor Text File (from my 4.6ghz run)

To me from what I have read it sounds like I am doing ok. But before I try to work my way up to 5ghz I want to make sure I am not missing something obvious. So far my CPU is only at 1.31v which from my understanding is quite low.

One thing I am concerned about is as I bump up my CPU Ghz it is bumping up my Ram, NB and HT numbers as well. Am I supposed to drop those down closer to their original numbers of 1600 (ram) and 2200 and 2200 for NB and HT?

Also where is my VRM temp being reported in HWMonitor?

I might be able to drop my temps by a few degrees by doing some better cable management, right now it's pretty messy.

Anyway, I am open to any and all suggestions/help/comments or more info if you need.

Thanks,
Stoneysilence

 

[Stoneysilence]

Well just an update, got my OC up to 4.7ghz but a core or two would always crash when using Prime95. Kinda ran out of time to slowly up the voltage (I maxed it out at 1.34). But it's time to hit the sack, so I dropped it back to 4.6ghz and the voltage back to 1.32 which was stable.

 

[Waza]

You would be better off using the CPU multiplier to OC FX processor. 23x200 brings your speed to 4.6GHz.
Also I am fairly sure that you will not reach 5GHz and that your system is currently unstable @4.6GHz 1.31V

"Also where is my VRM temp being reported in HWMonitor?"
HWmonitor does not report VRM temp of sabertooth. You need the Asus thermal radar software to do that.

You should leave the voltage section of HWmonitor visible. Bios reports voltage usually differently than what full load voltage really is when using LLC.

 

[Stoneysilence]

You would be better off using the CPU multiplier to OC FX processor. 23x200 brings your speed to 4.6GHz.
Also I am fairly sure that you will not reach 5GHz and that your system is currently unstable @4.6GHz 1.31V

"Also where is my VRM temp being reported in HWMonitor?"
HWmonitor does not report VRM temp of sabertooth. You need the Asus thermal radar software to do that.

You should leave the voltage section of HWmonitor visible. Bios reports voltage usually differently than what full load voltage really is when using LLC.

I used JayzTwoCents method of 20x230.

What is the difference between 23x200 vs 20x230?

I am running BOINC 24/7 and it has been stable so far at the 4.6ghz without any crashes, and PRIME95 has not crashed while at 4.6ghz at the above voltage. Anything higher than 4.6ghz I start getting crashes. According to Jayz video once you hit the cap using the 20x230 method then you need to up the voltage to go higher using the 20x240 or 20x250. So that was what I was thinking.

EDIT: Added my PSU to my OP.

 

[bassnut]

We have found Youtube Videos to be unreliable in the past. Doesn't mean the one you linked is bad and I don't have allot of time right now to check it. Below are two links to Overclocking your FX CPU ...... take a gander there is a ton of useful info especially in the second one. Although 4.5GHZ is 4.5GHZ regardless of which method you use to get there, multy or by FSB it is highly recommended you first use the multiplier as you are not disturbing other busses and speed of your ram. There may come a point in your OC where using some FSB to get the most from your CPU Overclock.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...ormance-Scaling-Charts-max-OCs)LN2-Results-co

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...s-gt-gt-Using-the-AMD-FX-Bulldozer-Piledriver

 

[trents]

Yeah, as someone else said just use the multiplier to overclock the FX series. They don't respond well to messing with the system bus frequency like previous generations of AMD CPUs did. So there's no particular advantage in doing so. Your main issue is the vcore being too low I believe. You have plenty of temp room left so jack it up. Package temp max is about 60-65c and you are well short of that now. And that motherboard has very beefy VRM components and great cooling so no fear there within reason.

 

[Stoneysilence]

In the video Jayz said to basically underclock the HT and NB and RAM as you up the multiplyer. My defaults is DDR3 1600 (running at like 1533 right now) and the HT and NB are default of 2200 and are at 21xx something.

 

[trents]

Well, you have different advice from different sources now so you will have to make some decisions. In my mind, with the FX series there is little or nothing to be gained by involving the FSB in the overclock and it makes it more complicated.

 

[Stoneysilence]

When I get off work tonight I will switch it to your way. It does make more sense than underclocking the other areas to make up for the over lock. However in that one thread posted here they do eventually oc the HT and those areas to reach the max oc. But I can see why you do it last rather than first.

 

[Kenrou]

I saw the video, JayZ is a good source but you should also know that no 2 computers have the exact same settings with the exact same stability, he's video is a starting point, just like this forum. Don't just copy/paste the settings, you might royally "bork" your computer. Start from scratch and learn your way into this, and like Waza and Trents said, start with multiplier only if nothing else to find you max stable OC.

I'm running perfect at 4.8ghz with 24 x 200 - CPU 1.440v - CPU/NB 1.3v - CPU/VDDA 2.5V - BUT i know exactly what my hardware can take and even then i am very near my limit (and i never got a FSB overclock so high).

 

[caddi daddi]

we, here go for the cpu first because everything else goes through the cpu, cpu is KING!
next is the memory, it is the grand vizer.
next is cpu/nb, it's the little, ignored princess.
next and last is the ht link, this is the stable boy.

 

[chrisjames61]

In the video Jayz said to basically underclock the HT and NB and RAM as you up the multiplyer. My defaults is DDR3 1600 (running at like 1533 right now) and the HT and NB are default of 2200 and are at 21xx something.

Forget what JayZ said. He is a poseur as far as overclocking goes. There is no good reason to mess with the BCLK if you have an unlocked cpu. Especially just starting out. It just adds complexity and problems you don't need.

 

[Stoneysilence]

Well so far this evening I have been running about an hour or so (with Prime95 for about 10 mins and BOINC for an hour) at the 4.6ghz via 23x200 and things appear to be stable. I think to hit 4.7 or higher I am going to have to star messing with CPU Voltage. It appears to me from what I have read that 4.6ghz at stock voltage is pretty darn good, most things I have read said things get wonky after 4.5ghz.

What is the maximum voltage I can/should attempt? Or should I just bump it up 0.1 and then test until I get no core fails in Prime95? Is that the best way?

 

[caddi daddi]

once you start getting unstable is when you have to start adding to stock voltage.
I add voltage with 4 ckicks of the + key when needed and reduce that as I can.

 

[Kenrou]

Don't forget to set your CPU/NB to 1.3v, helps stabilize high overclocks.

 

[DNRDustin]

Well so far this evening I have been running about an hour or so (with Prime95 for about 10 mins and BOINC for an hour) at the 4.6ghz via 23x200 and things appear to be stable. I think to hit 4.7 or higher I am going to have to star messing with CPU Voltage. It appears to me from what I have read that 4.6ghz at stock voltage is pretty darn good, most things I have read said things get wonky after 4.5ghz.

What is the maximum voltage I can/should attempt? Or should I just bump it up 0.1 and then test until I get no core fails in Prime95? Is that the best way?

I'm not sure what boinc is, but why don't you just run a prime95 blend for an hour?

EDIT: OK thats pretty cool. Still though, make sure your computer is stable with p95. Wouldn't want it to crash while it's curing diseases or cataloging new galaxies.

 

[Kenrou]

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

I used to run the SETI@Home many many years ago on my Compaq AMD 200mhz. Decodes radio packets that supposedly SETI and NASA receive from space, newer version uses CPU and GPU at full load 24/7 if you let it running on the background.

 

[DNRDustin]

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

I used to run the SETI@Home many many years ago on my Compaq AMD 200mhz. Decodes radio packets that supposedly SETI and NASA receive from space, newer version uses CPU and GPU at full load 24/7 if you let it running on the background.

That's freakin' sweet, and I wish I was aware of it sooner. Folding right now as a result of me chiming in on this thread.

 

[Stoneysilence]

Well had my first BSOD just a few mins ago. Got a Windows Service Exception error in the Win32kbase.sys.

Just dropped my OC to 4.5Ghz and will see how things go for now. From a quick google search it could be a HW error (like RAM). May need to run Memtest but don't have time to do that right now. Will need to wait till tomorrow night or this weekend.

On BOINC I run World Community Grid which is more focused on Cancer, AIDS and other such disease research.

 

[Johan45]

What are your current settings can you post some pics or give details to
CPU speed/voltage/LLC
CPU-NB same
Ram speed timings voltage