is it overclockable?

[Duck1]

i3 540
foxconn h55mx-s
ddr3 1333mhz

i cant get it not even to 3.1ghz (23x137). (it wont boot)
in the BIOS i can change the clock , clock ratio,DRAM frequency and timing, but not the VCore .
should i give up OC with this mobo ? or its just me screwing up?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I thought only the P55-chipset boards would OC, I didn't think H55 did. I could be wrong though - I've never owned one of those boards.

 

[Duck1]

on the board (physically) its written p55mx/h55mx
but bios says just h55mx-s

 

[LTC8K6]

You could drop a 4 core chip in there:

http://starmicroinc.net/intel-core-i5-750-2-667ghz-oem-cpu-slblc-bv80605001911ap/

http://starmicroinc.net/intel-core-i7-860-2-8ghz-oem-cpu-slbjj-bv80605001908ak/

 

[DrMrLordX]

If you raise bclk without downclocking your memory, you are probably overclocking the memory too. That may be one of the things limiting your ability to overclock.

Try setting it to DDR3-800 (yech) and see where you can go from there.

edit: based on an old review:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3341/foxconn_h55mx_s_h55_express_micro_atx_motherboard/index4.html

I'd say you CAN overclock on that board, though the features are lacking.

 

[Duck1]

You could drop a 4 core chip in there:

http://starmicroinc.net/intel-core-i5-750-2-667ghz-oem-cpu-slblc-bv80605001911ap/

http://starmicroinc.net/intel-core-i7-860-2-8ghz-oem-cpu-slbjj-bv80605001908ak/

thing is the 540 is my second pc.
im going to buy a new video card for my pc1 (i3 3220 +gtx650) , something like a gtx960/r9 280 , the reason i want to OC the 540 is to make it have same or better performance than the 3220 , so i could use it on Pc1 , and then sell "pc2" with the 3220 to use its money to get a better gpu (im expecting cpu bottleneck with any)

but how does that i7 perform on newest games at stock speed? like the witcher 3 and AC unity etc , unfortunately the benchmarks on the web they dont use older stuff

 

[Duck1]

If you raise bclk without downclocking your memory, you are probably overclocking the memory too. That may be one of the things limiting your ability to overclock.

Try setting it to DDR3-800 (yech) and see where you can go from there.

edit: based on an old review:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3341/foxconn_h55mx_s_h55_express_micro_atx_motherboard/index4.html

I'd say you CAN overclock on that board, though the features are lacking.

yea i was setting memory to 800mhz , i tried with the settings on AUTO and it worked at 3.1ghz, but yes it overclocked the memory too.
it is dangerous for the memory if i go higher rigth ? my goal is 3.6
can you help me set the right memory settings ?
do i have to change those tCL,tRAS,tRP...stuff?

 

[DrMrLordX]

Before I weigh in:

1). http://www.overclockers.com/3-step-guide-overclock-core-i3-i5-i7/

Read that, it might help you. Focus on the Clarkdale sections.

2). I am not a Clarkdale OC expert.

That aside, you're looking at 3 things when you raise your bclk: CPU multi, uncore multi, and memory ratio. Overclocking the memory alone won't hurt it, but it can lead to instability. No boot/no recover situations are often due to memory problems (that depends on the board, but most of the boards I've dealt with over the past 5-6 years have been able to recover from unstable CPU settings to get you back to the BIOS . . . with unstable memory, sometimes this does not happen).

So I would start by setting your memory to DDR3-800 and loosening up all your primary timings. Maybe even some or all of your secondaries, if the board even lets you tweak those. As long as you stay at or below DDR3-1333, you should be okay. For example, the above-cited bclk of 137 with DDR3-800 memory ratio (1:8) only results in DDR3-1096 so that should be well within operating tolerances for the memory and IMC.

Before we go on, can you confirm that you have found the uncore multiplier setting? You may need to mess with that as well.

edit: also, let me know if there are any QPI multipliers separate from uncore and bclk settings.

 

[Duck1]

couldn't find it , it should be here ?
http://postimg.org/image/sc9t5q0mz/
http://postimg.org/image/o5w5pa6e5/
http://postimg.org/image/4qh8w6d87/

 

[Burpo]

Try 21 X 167, or 22 X 160 & take Dram Frequency off auto & drop it to keep it close to 1333..

 

[Duck1]

Try 21 X 167, or 22 X 160 & take Dram Frequency off auto & drop it to keep it close to 1333..

got no video , either at 800mhz or auto

change something in " memory timing by spd " could be useful ?

 

[LTC8K6]

thing is the 540 is my second pc.
im going to buy a new video card for my pc1 (i3 3220 +gtx650) , something like a gtx960/r9 280 , the reason i want to OC the 540 is to make it have same or better performance than the 3220 , so i could use it on Pc1 , and then sell "pc2" with the 3220 to use its money to get a better gpu (im expecting cpu bottleneck with any)

but how does that i7 perform on newest games at stock speed? like the witcher 3 and AC unity etc , unfortunately the benchmarks on the web they dont use older stuff

Well, you can overclock the 860, too.

 

[DrMrLordX]

couldn't find it , it should be here ?
http://postimg.org/image/sc9t5q0mz/
http://postimg.org/image/o5w5pa6e5/
http://postimg.org/image/4qh8w6d87/

Okay, I'm just gonna throw out two possibilities.

One of them is that your BIOS has no option to downclock the uncore, so you're pushing the uncore and/or the QPI link between the two modules of your Clarkdale far enough out of spec that it's unstable.

The other is that you have no option to downclock your iGPU if that's enabled (is it?), so raising bclk is pushing that far enough out of spec that it is unstable.

Have you tried overclocking via software instead of using the BIOS? You have very few options there.

 

[Blastman]

You should probably start out by resetting your BIOS in case some of the memory timings were set out of standard spec.

What is your CPU vcore reading?

Even without upping vcore, Clarkdale i3 (i3-530, i3-540) should generally have no problem running in the 3.6 - 3.7Ghz range at stock vcore ( ~ 1.175v). Although, some of the really crappy motherboards may have trouble overclocking much at all. Both H55/P55 M/B's overclocked well.

Your memory multiplier is set to auto in that picture. You want to set it at 8x. (standard is 10x)

With the memory set a 8x you should be able to up the BCLK frequency upwards from the stock 133.

You also may want to check and see if there is a later BIOS version for your motherboard on the manufacturers website. Sometimes the BIOS updates fixed issues with overclocking.

 

[Blastman]

One of them is that your BIOS has no option to downclock the uncore, so you're pushing the uncore and/or the QPI link between the two modules of your Clarkdale far enough out of spec that it's unstable.

The other is that you have no option to downclock your iGPU if that's enabled (is it?), so raising bclk is pushing that far enough out of spec that it is unstable.

^ These are both good suggestions/possibilities after you've reset BIOS and tried upping the BCLK without success.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Looking back at the Tweaktown review for this board, the reviewers there had almost no luck overclocking via the BIOS. They resorted to the Fox ONE software included with the board for their final OC. Have you tried using that yet?

 

[Duck1]

Okay, I'm just gonna throw out two possibilities.

One of them is that your BIOS has no option to downclock the uncore, so you're pushing the uncore and/or the QPI link between the two modules of your Clarkdale far enough out of spec that it's unstable.

The other is that you have no option to downclock your iGPU if that's enabled (is it?), so raising bclk is pushing that far enough out of spec that it is unstable.

Have you tried overclocking via software instead of using the BIOS? You have very few options there.

yes i've tried that software , there's basically the same options(voltage is greyed , i cant change).
igpu is enabled,for now.

about that, increasing the bclock will affect the pci-express ? like kind of Overcloking the VGA? i've read somewhere that i have to lock the pci-ex , is that true ?

 

[Duck1]

You should probably start out by resetting your BIOS in case some of the memory timings were set out of standard spec.

What is your CPU vcore reading?

Even without upping vcore, Clarkdale i3 (i3-530, i3-540) should generally have no problem running in the 3.6 - 3.7Ghz range at stock vcore ( ~ 1.175v). Although, some of the really crappy motherboards may have trouble overclocking much at all. Both H55/P55 M/B's overclocked well.

Your memory multiplier is set to auto in that picture. You want to set it at 8x. (standard is 10x)

With the memory set a 8x you should be able to up the BCLK frequency upwards from the stock 133.

You also may want to check and see if there is a later BIOS version for your motherboard on the manufacturers website. Sometimes the BIOS updates fixed issues with overclocking.

vcore is 1.200 on cpu-z

i couldn't find an option to change the memory multiplier alone, but setting the frequency to 1066 seems to work fine

i got it working at 3680ghz
23*160
temps around 45 idle , avg 66 with 69 peak when using superPi
with 23*165 superPi crashed once ,tried again and got a BSOD , seems thats my the limit , since mobo wont boot with memory set to 800mhz , even with stock 23*133

i will do more tests to see if it's really stable and report back

 

[sm625]

Your BIOS needs an option to downclock the iGPU. If it does not have it, then raising the BCLK will overclock the iGPU which you dont want to do. I dont know what will happen if you try doing this with an actual graphics card installed, but it is worth a shot.

 

[DrMrLordX]

yes i've tried that software , there's basically the same options(voltage is greyed , i cant change).
igpu is enabled,for now.

Okay, so it doesn't sound like it improves your options by much. I'd disable the iGPU and use a dGPU if possible since the iGPUs in those old Clarkdales aren't much use anyway. Unless, you know, you're happy with it and it works (see below).

about that, increasing the bclock will affect the pci-express ? like kind of Overcloking the VGA? i've read somewhere that i have to lock the pci-ex , is that true ?

Not 100% sure on that, but both Lynnfield and Clarkdale were a little funny about how they handled PCIe. If you CAN lock down your PCIe bus to the default clockspeed, do so.

vcore is 1.200 on cpu-z

i couldn't find an option to change the memory multiplier alone, but setting the frequency to 1066 seems to work fine

i got it working at 3680ghz
23*160
temps around 45 idle , avg 66 with 69 peak when using superPi
with 23*165 superPi crashed once ,tried again and got a BSOD , seems thats my the limit , since mobo wont boot with memory set to 800mhz , even with stock 23*133

i will do more tests to see if it's really stable and report back

Now that's interesting! I'm surprised that the DDR3-800 ratio died on you like that. 1066 it is. Your temps seem kinda high though. SuperPi is not going to push your processor that hard. You tried Prime95 or Linpack/IBT yet?

 

[Duck1]

Now that's interesting! I'm surprised that the DDR3-800 ratio died on you like that. 1066 it is. Your temps seem kinda high though. SuperPi is not going to push your processor that hard. You tried Prime95 or Linpack/IBT yet?

though i can choose from 800 to 1600 in the bios , this mobo according to foxconn only supports 1066/1333

i tried prime95 for a short time and got no errors , i was about to try this IBT you suggested with some new games , but then a new issue came up : this pc2 only have 2gb ram (as you know is not enough for gaming) , so i was to move my 2x4gb from pc1 +vga to it , but then it wouldn't load windows with those sticks, keeps reseting on " starting windows" screen(with stock 23*133).
All sticks are 1333mhz A-Data , i've tried only 1 stick at a time ... same result
changing channel...same
reseting bios...same

looking for similar problems i found that clarkdale+h55 may have some issues with 4gb single-sided ram ,and i dont think is worth buying new RAM for it just to get a small improvement (if any) over the 3220.
i should have checked it before but never heard of such thing until now

anyway , at least i learned stuff
Thank you guys for your help and attention

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah RAM compatibility is a pita. 4Gb DIMMs from that era were more likely to be dual-rank/double-sided. It's hard(er) to find RAM like that nowadays.