AMD FX - 8120 OCing/Tuning

[Black Mesa]

I am looking for information on the OCing capabilities and speed from a Gamers perspective on the AMD 8120 as I will be upgrading shortly to one from a Phenom II x4 B55. Let me know how it is playing games for you. Commenting about Intel will be ignored I have an AMD chipset and like AMD chips therefor an AMD upgrade will be happening.

 

[lehtv]

Upgrading to FX-8120 won't improve your gaming experience much if at all. It just increases the number of threads compared to your current CPU, the performance per core is still in the same ballpark. Games like performance per core, very few games actually benefit from more than four threads. The only one I can think of right now is Battlefield 3 multiplayer, and I vaguely remember hearing about Dirt 3, don't quote me on that one

List your full specs please and monitor resolution, and also how much you're willing to spend on an upgrade and where you're buying from

 

[Black Mesa]

Upgrading to FX-8120 won't improve your gaming experience much if at all. It just increases the number of threads compared to your current CPU, the performance per core is still in the same ballpark. Games like performance per core, very few games actually benefit from more than four threads. The only one I can think of right now is Battlefield 3 multiplayer, and I vaguely remember hearing about Dirt 3, don't quote me on that one

List your full specs please and monitor resolution, and also how much you're willing to spend on an upgrade and where you're buying from

Well thanx for the reply but I was hoping for the users of the 8120 would chime in and let me know how it in actuality play's all the games. That being said with the flash of the motherboard Bios on my Msi 870 G45 motherboard I can just drop in any FX chip into my mobo with full functionality albeit without record breaking Max OC potential but I am shooting for a 4Ghz OC on the 8120 for solid 24/7 operation. PSU is CM RS 460watt and GPU is GTX 560. A cool $160 for the 8120 will be a cheap upgrade and it will drop right in.

 

[lehtv]

Here are some experiences from users:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/07/27/amd-fx-8120-review/6
http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...k-edition-cpu-review-with-asus-m5a99x-evo/17/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8120-6100-4100_6.html#sect0

Your PSU is underpowered for safely overclocking an FX8120, and I would consider it underpowered for your current rig as well. It's only capable of clean output up to around 370W load, see hardwaresecrets review. You'll need to upgrade to a good quality 500-600W unit.

 

[Black Mesa]

Here are some experiences from users:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/07/27/amd-fx-8120-review/6
http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...k-edition-cpu-review-with-asus-m5a99x-evo/17/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8120-6100-4100_6.html#sect0

Your PSU is underpowered for safely overclocking an FX8120, and I would consider it underpowered for your current rig as well. It's only capable of clean output up to around 370W load, see hardwaresecrets review. You'll need to upgrade to a good quality 500-600W unit.

LOL it powers my modest rig with 3x HDD in RAID just fine "running problem free 24/7 for over a 1 1/2 years" most of which time was spent running a power thirsty GTX 275. What's with all the PSU Nazi's around now in day's LOL. But ya I will be getting an 80+ Platinum soon enough.

 

[ShintaiDK]

LOL it powers my modest rig with 3x HDD in RAID just fine "running problem free 24/7 for over a 1 1/2 years" most of which time was spent running a power thirsty GTX 275. What's with all the PSU Nazi's around now in day's LOL. But ya I will be getting an 80+ Platinum soon enough.

I would get a bigger PSU. Specially when OCing Bulldozer since its power consumption is so high. And GTX275 aint powerthirsty by todays standards. It was a 185W card. GTX560 is 150W.

Even at stock its very high:

 

[lehtv]

LOL it powers my modest rig with 3x HDD in RAID just fine "running problem free 24/7 for over a 1 1/2 years" most of which time was spent running a power thirsty GTX 275.

Hard disks consume very little power.

What's with all the PSU Nazi's around now in day's LOL.

Your PSU is a risk to your components, it can't regulate voltages and ripple levels within the limits set by the ATX specification. I'm not being a PSU nazi, I'm just giving you a hint that you're powering a set of power hungry components with a bad quality and not very powerful unit. Just because it works problem free for one and a half years doesn't mean there's no risk. A good PSU should run at near-zero risk for 5+ years when powering components designed to take advantage of the available connectors.

You would get equal gaming performance with a FX-6100 at 4GHz as you would with an FX-8120 at 4GHz, and the difference in cost could be put to a new PSU. However since you don't seem shy to spend plenty of cash on your PC, you'd be better off upgrading to i5-3570K than a Bulldozer, it's on another level in terms of performance per core.

Also, given the current graphics card, I would first determine whether if there is CPU bottlenecking before upgrading the CPU. You can test for a CPU bottleneck by lowering your gaming resolution. If your FPS doesn't increase in the particular situation you're testing, you're CPU bottlenecked. Otherwise, you're GPU bottlenecked and it may be a better idea to upgrade the GPU first.

But ya I will be getting an 80+ Platinum soon enough.

Efficiency doesn't determine PSU quality, it's just efficiency. In most cases, a rating higher than 80+ Bronze isn't worth the cost.

 

[Black Mesa]

I would get a bigger PSU. Specially when OCing Bulldozer since its power consumption is so high.

Even at stock its very high:

It would even still work on my PSU OCed 8120 to 3.6Ghz because that's about the total power it was sucking back when I was running my Phenom II x4 B55 160watt TDP CPU OCed to 3.6Ghz and a GTX 275 with 2x HDD in RAID it was all 24/7 stable in every game except Metro 2033 on maxed out settings. Now in days I am running a much more power efficient GPU than the GTX 275 so I have some wiggle room but no matter I will be getting an 80+ Platinum PSU anyways. PSU Nazi's LOL.

 

[lehtv]

Wait a second. Your old setup wasn't stable in Metro 2033? How is that justification for continuing to use the same PSU? That's an argument against it.

PSU Nazi's LOL.

Just a hint - you should consider the fact that we're trying to help you out the best we can. Show some appreciation for that, OK?

 

[Black Mesa]

Hard disks consume very little power.



Your PSU is a risk to your components, it can't regulate voltages and ripple levels within the limits set by the ATX specification. I'm not being a PSU nazi, I'm just giving you a hint that you're powering a set of power hungry components with a bad quality and not very powerful unit. Just because it works problem free for one and a half years doesn't mean there's no risk. A good PSU should run at near-zero risk for 5+ years.

You would get equal gaming performance with a FX-6100 at 4GHz as you would with an FX-8120 at 4GHz, and the difference in cost could be put to a new PSU. However since you don't seem shy to spend plenty lot of cash on your PC, you'd be better off upgrading to i5-3570K than a Bulldozer, it's on another level in terms of performance per core.

Also, given your current graphics card, I would first determine whether if there is CPU bottlenecking before upgrading the CPU. You can test for a CPU bottleneck by lowering your gaming resolution. If your FPS doesn't increase in the particular situation you're testing, you're CPU bottlenecked. Otherwise, you're GPU bottlenecked and it may be a better idea to upgrade the GPU first.



Efficiency doesn't determine PSU quality, it's just efficiency. In most cases, a rating higher than 80+ Bronze isn't worth the cost.

I want to pull less energy from the wall by way of it being extremely efficiently (80+ Platinum) converted into clean and stable electricity for my PC components all the while with out it the electrical energy being converting into the unwanted waste electrical energy by product caused by resistance which is heat which could have went to cleanly and more importantly "Safely" powering up that OCed 8120 FX and other PC components which is why I bought an 80+ Platinum certified PSU to begin with.

 

[Black Mesa]

Wait a second. Your old setup wasn't stable in Metro 2033? How is that justification for continuing to use the same PSU? That's an argument against it.


Just a hint - you should consider the fact that we're trying to help you out the best we can. Show some appreciation for that, OK?

GTX 275 pulled to much power from my PSU under max gaming load when running "Metro 2033" and so it shut down my PC not because it's a bad PSU rather it's a good PSU and it did it's job and even went above and beyond it's "Call of Duty" Pun intended haha by engaging at the right time it's built in Over Current protection. I am running a far more power efficient GPU now in day's so it has been good to go even in Metro 2033 in DX11 maxed. Thanx for you're concern and it is appreciated but I have a pretty decent understanding of the basic fundamentals of electricity and PSUs and I am still learning always always learning my friend computers are amazing machines I think. Also this thread is about AMD FX - 8120 and how it performs so let's try and keep it more on that topic please and I will cross the bride of PSU upgrading when the time comes and will start another thread about it when I cross that bridge.

 

[lehtv]

I want to pull less energy from the wall by way of it being extremely efficiently (80+ Platinum) converted into clean and stable electricity for my PC components all the while with out it the electrical energy being converting into the unwanted waste electrical energy by product caused by resistance which is heat which could have went to cleanly and more importantly "Safely" powering up that OCed 8120 FX and other PC components which is why I bought an 80+ Platinum certified PSU to begin with.

You already bought a Platinum unit?

Yes, highly efficient units will create waste heat, but the difference in waste heat between an 85% (bronze) and a 90% (platinum) efficient unit isn't enough to make much of a difference to reliability. The main thing you want to ensure when overclocking is that the PSU is powerful enough.

As for the power bill, it'll take a very long time for the more efficient unit to pay back the difference in cost, probably longer than the time you will be using the unit.

GTX 275 pulled to much power from my PSU under max gaming load when running "Metro 2033" and so it shut down my PC not because it's a bad PSU rather it's a good PSU and it did it's job and even went above and beyond it's "Call of Duty" Pun intended haha by engaging at the right time it's built in Over Current protection. I am running a far more power efficient GPU now in day's so it has been good to go even in Metro 2033 in DX11 maxed.

I doubt even GTX285 would push the PSU to its rated wattage, so when it shut down it probably did so before reaching its rated wattage which shows it's not capable of what it claims to be. On the other hand, if your setup exceeded the rated wattage, it was already feeding bad voltages to your components well before that, as shown by the review I posted.

 

[Black Mesa]

You already bought a Platinum unit?

Yes, highly efficient units will create waste heat, but the difference in waste heat between an 85% (bronze) and a 90% (platinum) efficient unit isn't enough to make much of a difference to reliability. The main thing you want to ensure when overclocking is that the PSU is powerful enough.

As for the power bill, it'll take a very long time for the more efficient unit to pay back the difference in cost, probably longer than the time you will be using the unit.



How is it a good PSU? The review I posted clearly shows it's not. Before it shut down due to OCP or OPP, it was already putting out out-of-spec voltages which shows its overvoltage protections weren't set properly.

I said good PSU not grate lets hear what Hardware Secrets . com has to say about it here - "Even though this power supply can’t deliver its labeled power, it isn’t a bad product for its price tag and targeted audience. Its real power is close to its labeled power (430 W) and its efficiency isn’t bad for a low-end product. Plus it has all its protections up and running, a thing sometimes hard to find on cheap power supplies." As an owner of this PSU I can confirm with what Hardware Secrets said "that it has all its protections up and running" and that "it isn’t a bad product for its price tag and targeted audience. Its real power is close to its labeled power (430 W) and "its efficiency isn’t bad for a low-end product." Also just because it is over rated wattage by a whopping 30watts meh just think of it as a 430 watt PSU not a 460watt as labeled and it is a decent PSU not great by any means but along the lines of a Corsair CX 430. Also thanx for Derailing my thread LOL Oh well.

 

[Black Mesa]

Ok back on topic of AMD BD FX - 8120 and how it performs.

 

[Puppies04]

If you want a better gaming chip than your current setup, buy an intel.

If you want a more power efficient setup than your current setup or an oc'd 8120, buy an intel.

If you want to know the difference between a phenom II X4 and an 8120 here is a link to a good website to find than information.

www.google.com

If you are looking for someone who is going to tell you the 8120 is a good chip for gaming then keep walking.

If you actually want some solid advice then upgrade your GPU and PSU before you even think about upgrading your CPU because that is where your bottleneck will be most of the time.

 

[joshhedge]

To save the OP some hassle, enclosed is a link for Anandtech CPU Bench i5 2500k vs FX-8150.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/434?vs=288

 

[Black Mesa]

If you want a better gaming chip than your current setup, buy an intel.

If you want a more power efficient setup than your current setup or an oc'd 8120, buy an intel.

If you want to know the difference between a phenom II X4 and an 8120 here is a link to a good website to find than information.

www.google.com

If you are looking for someone who is going to tell you the 8120 is a good chip for gaming then keep walking.

If you actually want some solid advice then upgrade your GPU and PSU before you even think about upgrading your CPU because that is where your bottleneck will be most of the time.

Need a good CPU to help make my games look good and to be able to record real time game play's in which the 8 cores will come in handy or should at leased. I already own to many AMD chipsets and that's why i will stay with AMD plus I will support them with my dollars. OCed 8120 beats an i5 2500K and i7 2600K I have seen it but stock clock they suck I also seen it. Now I want to here from FX - 8120 owners not intel fan boy's. Thanx for you input but read my post i said don't bother talking Intel with me.

 

[joshhedge]

Get a phenomII x6.

 

[lehtv]

Also thanx for Derailing my thread LOL Oh well.

Now I want to here from FX - 8120 owners not intel fan boy's.

If your attitude is that ungrateful, childish and uncooperative, I'm out of this thread. :thumbsdown:

 

[Black Mesa]

Get a phenomII x6.

Per core Deneb was better than Thuban or Zosma. It would not be worth swapping to any of those chips though reaching potentially 4Ghz would be a nice novelty that Thuban seems to be able to routinely attain. AMD FX - 4170 is the top AMD gaming CPU right now so in theory an 8120/8150 same chip should be able to clock even higher for superior results.

 

[Akantus]

AMD FX - 4170 is the top AMD gaming CPU right now so in theory an 8120/8150 same chip should be able to clock even higher for superior results.

How should it be able OC higher? Overclocking is always luck of the draw, that said, generally less cores/modules active = higher oc.

And the only thing OCed bulldozer slams OCed 2500k at is multithreaded apps ( and OCed 2600k should win even in them, or tie)... oh and power consumption of course :sneaky:
...unless you meant OCed BD and stock Intel processors...

If your attitude is that ungrateful, childish and uncooperative, I'm out of this thread.

And I agree with this, if you want help from someone you should be more polite :\

 

[Black Mesa]

How should it be able OC higher? Overclocking is always luck of the draw, that said, generally less cores/modules active = higher oc.

And the only thing OCed bulldozer slams OCed 2500k at is multithreaded apps ( and OCed 2600k should win even in them, or tie)... oh and power consumption of course :sneaky:
...unless you meant OCed BD and stock Intel processors...



And I agree with this, if you want help from someone you should be more polite :\

"And I agree with this, if you want help from someone you should be more polite"
He derailed my thread :\ which was about "OCing capabilities and speed from a Gamers perspective on the AMD 8120 Let me know how it is playing games for you." so back on topic of FX 8120 BD and how well it plays games ect preferable from the standpoint of an FX - 8120 owner and gamer.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I went from a 3.6GHz Deneb to a 4.03GHz Thuban. In truth, the upgrade wasn't worth the money for me, but I wanted to get something new at the time. I think a Phenom 955 to BD 8120 will be a similar type of upgrade... unless you have use for the cores (most games do not) you won't see much difference one way or another. If you are dead set on keeping your AMD system and want to upgrade, I'd look for a Thuban before a BD, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Black Mesa]

How should it be able OC higher? Overclocking is always luck of the draw, that said, generally less cores/modules active = higher oc.

And the only thing OCed bulldozer slams OCed 2500k at is multithreaded apps ( and OCed 2600k should win even in them, or tie)... oh and power consumption of course :sneaky:
...unless you meant OCed BD and stock Intel processors...



And I agree with this, if you want help from someone you should be more polite :\

And I agree with this, if you want help from someone you should be more polite

He derailed my thread here man :\ don't make me out to be the bad guy please. Back on topic of "I am looking for information on the OCing capabilities and speed from a Gamers perspective on the AMD 8120" I will add that preferably the information is from an FX - 8120 owners and gamers standpoint

 

[Black Mesa]

I went from a 3.6GHz Deneb to a 4.03GHz Thuban. In truth, the upgrade wasn't worth the money for me, but I wanted to get something new at the time. I think a Phenom 955 to BD 8120 will be a similar type of upgrade... unless you have use for the cores (most games do not) you won't see much difference one way or another. If you are dead set on keeping your AMD system and want to upgrade, I'd look for a Thuban before a BD, but that's just my opinion.

Did you have to disable some cores to break the 4Ghz barrier on your Thuban ?