Fm2 Overclocking help

[justin4pack]

Board: Asrock FM2a55m-dgs
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 8G 1600 cl9
CPU: A6-5400k

So there are 3 things i would like to be able to do
1. Get the memory to run at 1600 or even 1866.
2. Like to get the CPU to 4.2Ghz stable.
3. Run the GPU at around 1000mhz or so

This bios is is new to me and its been a while since i did any overclocking. Last time was a intel setup.

Timings on RAM and voltages are not something i am very familiar with. Any help would be great.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I doubt you'll have much problem reaching those goals.
It's really just a matter of time and setting/testing different options in the bios.

I'd recommend only raising voltages as an absolute last resort (you likely won't need to at all). Just change 1 thing at a time so you know why something works or don't work, otherwise you'll be guessing.

I see you have a K series, so i'd recommend leaving the bclk at default and just raising the mult. You'll likely have options in the bios to change the memory dividor/multiplier for 1066 to 2133. Clocking the GPU at 1000 might be the toughest peice of the puzzle, i'd suggest tackling that last.

good luck

 

[justin4pack]

I doubt you'll have much problem reaching those goals.
It's really just a matter of time and setting/testing different options in the bios.

I'd recommend only raising voltages as an absolute last resort (you likely won't need to at all). Just change 1 thing at a time so you know why something works or don't work, otherwise you'll be guessing.

I see you have a K series, so i'd recommend leaving the bclk at default and just raising the mult. You'll likely have options in the bios to change the memory dividor/multiplier for 1066 to 2133. Clocking the GPU at 1000 might be the toughest peice of the puzzle, i'd suggest tackling that last.

good luck

Thanks for the info, any helps.
When in bios i see xmp profile options. And options to set timings but im not sure what im looking for to change it from 1333 to 1600 or 1866.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Can you take pictures of your bios ?
I have experience with the asrock fm1 board, but it's impossible to know what's in your bios.
If there is an "advanced" mode set that.
xmp profiles are almost always unstable with AMD in my experience, it's best to manually set everything.

Most people that overclock fm2 won't buy an a55 board, so you're unlikely to find anyone with that exact motherboard on these forums.

 

[justin4pack]

This is what I'm seeing. Thanks again

 

[Soulkeeper]

Looks like you have asrock's newest bios version.
The one from the fm1 asrock looked more like this:

Those are tight timings and likely to fail above 1600
try manual 1866 10-10-10-25
The secondary timings will also be important ie: write recovery, rrd, rct, etc.
If those are stable you can dial things in from there.

Burn a memtest86+ cd for testing
Do a complete pass before attempting to boot the os or changing anything else.

I'd keep the cpu at default speed untill you can settle on a good stable mem speed at 1866.
2 sticks of memory ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148660
Is this them ?
Every memory is a little different (i'm using the samsung low voltage stuff).

Another thing worth noting is your motherboard has a 3+1 vrm setup, this will likely be the limiter of your cpu overclocks in the end (65W A6 should work in your favor).

 

[justin4pack]

Looks like you have asrock's newest bios version.
Those are tight timings and likely to fail above 1600
try manual 1866 10-10-10-25
The secondary timings will also be important ie: write recovery, rrd, rct, etc.
If those are stable you can dial things in from there.

Burn a memtest86+ cd for testing
Do a complete pass before attempting to boot the os or changing anything else.

I'd keep the cpu at default speed untill you can settle on a good stable mem speed at 1866.
2 sticks of memory ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148660
Is this them ?
Every memory is a little different (i'm using the samsung low voltage stuff).

Another thing worth noting is your motherboard has a 3+1 vrm setup, this will likely be the limiter of your cpu overclocks in the end (65W A6 should work in your favor).

So the RAM i am useing is a single stick bls8g3d1609es2lx0

Right as the moment the GPU is running at 950Mhz and the RAM is running at 1600, the Cpu is stable at 4.0Ghz. when i up the Multy, to put it at 4.2Ghz the system reboots. I will see what options there are for timings to see if i can run the Ram at 1866.
This is what i see

 

[Soulkeeper]

If the system is rebooting you might be hitting OCP or UVP for either the psu or motherboard.

What PSU are you using ?
are the VRMs on the motherboard really hot ?
My asrock motherboard gets really hot VRMs if I push the oc (hot enough to nearly burn you), then it reboots, I don't oc that system. It's also a 3+1 setup

 

[Soulkeeper]

Also 950MHz for the GPU is pretty high, it might be wanting more voltage.

I've tried several FM1 motherboards some tie the GPU to the PCIE voltage.
I doubt your fm2 is doing that, just something to keep in mind.

You might try ~1.18 for the NB/GFX voltage
I had to push around 1.22v with my fm1 GPUs to get over 800MHz
The fm2 ones clock a bit better from what i've seen, but 1.10 might be too low.

Your memory timings look ok, if not a bit conservative/safe on the secondaries.
You'd get much more gaming performance from adding another memory stick for dual channel than you'll get from overclocking the GPU.

I just noticed your NB freq is at 1600MHz in that pic above, try lowering that to 800 or so. This really don't need to be high and might be a stability problem.