Planning to overclock, always falling back to square #1

[ColtxX8]

Greetings to All!

I'm new to the forums, English is not my native language, so please go easy on me.
I think of myself as an advanced user, read a few reviews and guides, and I like to dig up everything before I do/buy something to/for my PC build. First of all, my rig specs:

• MOBO: Asrock 970 Extreme 3
• CPU: AMD FX-6300 (stock clocks) w Scythe Grand Kama Cross 2 cooler
• GPU: ASUS 7950 3 GB (stock clocks)
• RAM: Kingmax 2*4 GB DDR3@1600 Mhz
• HDD1: Kingston SSDNow V300 ( w Windows 8.1)
• HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 320 GB
• PSU: FSP Raider 550W 80+ Bronze (newest part of the rig)
• CASE: Thermaltake Versa 2 w Arctic Cooling F12 case coolers ( Front in, Top ex, Back ex)

Tried to overclock my CPU many times, I did serious amounts of stability testing, watching the heat levels, the vcore and everything, but I always ended up weird lockups, crashes even with Windows 7 and 8.1 too, after a time.
The "usual" stuff was done by me, C1E off, CNQ off, etc. in the BIOS.

I have the measurement table here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...xpN01jWEVHUXgyOU9CVkFSUXc&usp=drive_web#gid=1
As you can see, the mobo's LLC setting is a real pain in the a... With "LLC ENABLE" state, the vcore did heavy drops under stress, with "DISABLED" state the mobo pushed the vcore over the BIOS setting.

What am I missing?

Another (hypothetic) question:
If I succesfully OC my CPU, AND my GPU (for example to the 1050/1500 Core/Mem region with a little voltage tweak) is it possible that is my PSU will not be sufficient for the task?

 

[Yuriman]

I expect a FSP 550w to be sufficient for your needs, even overclocked.

Although you might already have, my first advice is to try for a lower clock before shooting for 4700MHz. My Ivy, for instance, is rock stable at 4.8GHz but no amount of voltage will make it stable at 4.9. Maybe 4.4?

 

[ColtxX8]

Thank you for your answer! OK, I accept your suggestion, I shoot for 4.4.

What about the LLC setting issue? Should I let the system to overvolt itself, be setting the LLC disabled?

 

[KingFatty]

That is odd, the LLC I think is designed to counteract the vdroop? See here for someone in a similar situation but with an FX 6100: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2220036

But another issue might be, is that your motherboard could be doing some self-protection and trying to prevent its power delivery from getting too hot. It might be that the voltage drop is from that? As a test, you could try getting a fan to blow across the motherboard VRMs, they should be near the CPU socket and have a passive heatsink.

Anyway, a good approach is to try a lower frequency, and increase each time you confirm stability. So you mentioned trying for 4.4, good. If that is also unstable, then you know there is some other problem.

 

[ColtxX8]

That is odd, the LLC I think is designed to counteract the vdroop? See here for someone in a similar situation but with an FX 6100: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2220036

But another issue might be, is that your motherboard could be doing some self-protection and trying to prevent its power delivery from getting too hot. It might be that the voltage drop is from that? As a test, you could try getting a fan to blow across the motherboard VRMs, they should be near the CPU socket and have a passive heatsink.

Anyway, a good approach is to try a lower frequency, and increase each time you confirm stability. So you mentioned trying for 4.4, good. If that is also unstable, then you know there is some other problem.

The board have a passive heatsink on the IMC, (and the NB I think) and I positioned my case airflow to exhaust as much heat as possible from the CPU and IMC area. The CPU Cooler:

As you can see the cooler blows air with a 14 cm diam. fan right in the face of the IMC. So I don't think the motherboard warming is the real deal here.

Doing some tests, and I posting the results, stay tuned!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The board have a passive heatsink on the IMC, (and the NB I think) and I positioned my case airflow to exhaust as much heat as possible from the CPU and IMC area. The CPU Cooler:

As you can see the cooler blows air with a 14 cm diam. fan right in the face of the IMC. So I don't think the motherboard warming is the real deal here.

Doing some tests, and I posting the results, stay tuned!

That's an interesting heatpipe cooler design, and I hadn't seen it before. If someone mentioned "Scythe," I'd assumed it was one of their tower models.

Tweaktown's comparison review puts it almost equal to the Noctua NH-U14S, but I had seen somewhere that that Noctua model was bested by the ol' NH-D14 cooler. Howsoever that may be, we're talking about a couple C-degrees difference. And I mean "couple" as in "2."

 

[ColtxX8]

I bought it because it is a good heatsink for the money, in my opinion. However, mounting this beast in place is another (and hard to complete, but not impossible) story.

Overclocking results in the coming days.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I bought it because it is a good heatsink for the money, in my opinion. However, mounting this beast in place is another (and hard to complete, but not impossible) story.

Overclocking results in the coming days.

Always the drawback with large HP coolers, but not significant if you're interested in performance.

Even so. To give an example, everyone swears by the CM 212, "+" and EVO. Yes -- it is a great bang for the buck. But the bucks on heatpipe coolers are all in the range $30 to $100. For me, paying top-dollar in that range is worth the extra margin. Here, I'm just commenting on your remark -- not about your cooler.

It may not be "THE" best, but it holds up . . .

 

[KingFatty]

This guy shows the conditions under which the same motherboard as yours will throttle, but it doesn't look unstable, just underperforming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myK83nBHj_w

Also, might want to confirm at the mobo's website whether any newer BIOSes are available, and make sure to install the latest BIOS.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This guy shows the conditions under which the same motherboard as yours will throttle, but it doesn't look unstable, just underperforming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myK83nBHj_w

Also, might want to confirm at the mobo's website whether any newer BIOSes are available, and make sure to install the latest BIOS.

[It's the Bob DeNiro "Taxi-Driver" line: "You talkin' . .. to ME?! . . " ]

I'm inclined to think you're addressing the OP? If that's so, then +1 to that . . .

On the LLC issue. I just posted to another thread about that. I think it's a good idea -- if you plan to use LLC at all -- to set it so that it just leaves 20 or 30 mV of vDroop . . .

 

[tweakboy]

Just make sure your room is 74F ,,,,,,,,,,,, or turn on AC or open window.. gl

 

[ColtxX8]

KingFatty: Thank you for the video, the latest BIOS installed, I test my build for the shown issue.

BonzaiDuck: I didn't mean to be rude, thank you for your comment!

 

[ColtxX8]

Hi All!

Started testing. First state:

1. LLC Disabled (vcore can go higher then BIOS setting)
   1. CPU @ 4400 Mhz; Vcore @ 1,225; NB @ 2000 Mhz (1,1625v) (default)
      1. OCCT Linpack (Linx does not started) - 90% Mem, 6 threads, 64 bit
         1. Vcore 1,27-1,28; Temps: 43°C core/60°C TIN

#UPDATE 1: Test failed after 15 mins. The "Drop down to 1400 Mhz" issue is showed up, after a couple minutes the test failed.
#UPDATE 2: Upped the vcore one notch, failed after 7 mins. The 1400 Mhz drop is still happening, after I set CPU TThrottling to disabled.

Maybe I continue overclocking the CPU after I bought a new mobo.

Thanks for everyone!

To the GPU clocking then...

 

[cytoSiN]

Sounds to me like you have a minor voltage issue. I would play around with your offset and LLC to correct for potential vdroop issues. There are tons of articles on that on AT and elsewhere. I'm an Intel guy with very limited AMD experience, so I'm not sure what else could be going on, but I would definitely adjust vcore, offset, and LLC to see if you can find the sweet spot before you give up.