FX-6100 Overclocking

[Shakaza]

So, I have some crappy, low-end Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 motherboard that has the 760G northbridge, but I wanna overclock my FX-6100, just for the heck of it. The CPU is cooled by some Thermaltake cooler that I've never seen or heard of before, and in an AIDA64 benchmark, the CPU never goes above 55 degrees Celsius. Now, I know this temperature won't allow much headroom, but I'm not overly concerned about that. What I'm worried about is my motherboard's TDP limit of 95 watts, and the quality and cooling of its VRMs. Should I give it a go, oh great LTT community? Or should I leave it at stock in case I royally screw up?

Note: I'd probably overclock it to 3600-3900 MHz or so.

[flibberdipper]

What's the TDP of your CPU?

[Shakaza]

What's the TDP of your CPU?

Since it's an FX-6100, it oughta be 95 watts, correct?

[Shakaza]

I'm not too sure you should risk overclocking.

Precisely what I was thinking, but I just wanted to make sure.

[flibberdipper]

Since it's an FX-6100, it oughta be 95 watts, correct?

I think so, not entirely sure. Can you look it up, since I'm on mobile now?

[Shakaza]

I think so, not entirely sure. Can you look it up, since I'm on mobile now?

I'm on mobile too, but sure. (Well, iPad, not phone.)

But, yes, the TDP is 95 watts.

[flibberdipper]

I'm on mobile too, but sure. (Well, iPad, not phone.)

I'm on phone. Gotta love 3G...

[Shakaza]

You could probably get 4-5K Mhz out of it. I've heard that the 6100 can reach 3.9 without any voltage changes. The only issue would probably be your cooling as all. 

 

The motherboard isn't really an issue, although it's not the best, it should be fine.

Well, I guess I'll give it a try. Wish me luck!

[flibberdipper]

Well, I guess I'll give it a try. Wish me luck!

Take it 100MHz at a time.

[D3MON]

So, I have some crappy, low-end Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 motherboard that has the 760G northbridge, but I wanna overclock my FX-6100, just for the heck of it. The CPU is cooled by some Thermaltake cooler that I've never seen or heard of before, and in an AIDA64 benchmark, the CPU never goes above 55 degrees Celsius. Now, I know this temperature won't allow much headroom, but I'm not overly concerned about that. What I'm worried about is my motherboard's TDP limit of 95 watts, and the quality and cooling of its VRMs. Should I give it a go, oh great LTT community? Or should I leave it at stock in case I royally screw up?

Note: I'd probably overclock it to 3600-3900 MHz or so.

use cpu-z and prime 95 blend and stress your cpu, look at cpu-z and see what its reported voltage is.

go into bios and find your voltage, set it to what cpu-z says (it usually under reads by 0.025 but whatever)

#so with your bios set to 1.3v or 1.35 or whatever it is boot into windows and download amd overdrive.

-find the cpu mutli slider and turn it up 1 half mutli at a time, 18...18.5.......19......19.5 testing each time with prime 5 blend for an hour untill it fails and then record that speed, then report back.

that board has a low end 4+1 vrm (doubt its even heatsinkd) just like mine. so theres a limit to how much power you can put through which limits your overclock, EVEN IF you reach the 98% power limit....you dont want to be running there. your liable to fry your board.

that said i take no responsability for your actions but i will guide you here as ive overclocked my phenom on a similar board.

the trick is to see how far your cpu will go on stock volts, that way your not overpowering the vrms.

on my phenom id get 4ghz on 1.4v but uin prime it would throttle to try and save the board, at 1.375v it wasnt throttling and was stable [enough votlage to be stable, not enough to throttle] that said you dont wanna run at 98% of the limit all the time hence i backed mine down to 3.7

if you can get 4ghz id leave it there and be happy.

what is throttling? when stressing with prime 95 watch the cpu load in task manager and the cpu clock speed and voltage kin xpu-z, if they drop for a fraction of a second the vrms are slowing down to prevent themselfs overheating-thats throttling. avoid it!

so yeah, just set it to stock volts (1.35ish) and keep bumping the multi till you 1-fail, 2-exceed 70*c (probably best not to go over 65), 3-start throttling.

and then back it down a bit, if you reach 3.8ghz back it down to 3.6...if you reach 4 back it down to 3.8, if you reach 4.3 back it down to 4. if you reach 4.5 back it down to 4.3.

its not worth going to the max and on the raggedy edge unless you mind taking the risk of buying a new board. also an overclock wont give you much benefits in games, but hey we're pc folk not consoles peasants, this is why we do this..

[Shakaza]

use cpu-z and prime 95 blend and stress your cpu, look at cpu-z and see what its reported voltage is.

go into bios and find your voltage, set it to what cpu-z says (it usually under reads by 0.025 but whatever)

#so with your bios set to 1.3v or 1.35 or whatever it is boot into windows and download amd overdrive.

-find the cpu mutli slider and turn it up 1 half mutli at a time, 18...18.5.......19......19.5 testing each time with prime 5 blend for an hour untill it fails and then record that speed, then report back.

that board has a low end 4+1 vrm (doubt its even heatsinkd) just like mine. so theres a limit to how much power you can put through which limits your overclock, EVEN IF you reach the 98% power limit....you dont want to be running there. your liable to fry your board.

that said i take no responsability for your actions but i will guide you here as ive overclocked my phenom on a similar board.

the trick is to see how far your cpu will go on stock volts, that way your not overpowering the vrms.

on my phenom id get 4ghz on 1.4v but uin prime it would throttle to try and save the board, at 1.375v it wasnt throttling and was stable [enough votlage to be stable, not enough to throttle] that said you dont wanna run at 98% of the limit all the time hence i backed mine down to 3.7

if you can get 4ghz id leave it there and be happy.

what is throttling? when stressing with prime 95 watch the cpu load in task manager and the cpu clock speed and voltage kin xpu-z, if they drop for a fraction of a second the vrms are slowing down to prevent themselfs overheating-thats throttling. avoid it!

so yeah, just set it to stock volts (1.35ish) and keep bumping the multi till you 1-fail, 2-exceed 70*c (probably best not to go over 65), 3-start throttling.

and then back it down a bit, if you reach 3.8ghz back it down to 3.6...if you reach 4 back it down to 3.8, if you reach 4.3 back it down to 4. if you reach 4.5 back it down to 4.3.

its not worth going to the max and on the raggedy edge unless you mind taking the risk of buying a new board. also an overclock wont give you much benefits in games, but hey we're pc folk not consoles peasants, this is why we do this..

So...I overclocked it to 3.4 GHz, and even then, the core speed goes down to 3.0 GHz for a split second. I assume that's throttling?

[flibberdipper]

So...I overclocked it to 3.4 GHz, and even then, the core speed goes down to 3.0 GHz for a split second. I assume that's throttling?

Or idle. If you're using Windows Vista or newer, go into Control Panel, find the Power options setting, and change it to maximum performance (or something like that).

[Shakaza]

Or idle. If you're using Windows Vista or newer, go into Control Panel, find the Power options setting, and change it to maximum performance (or something like that).

Oh, sorry, I didn't specify that I was doing a Prime95 test at the time.

Edit: Even at stock, some of the cores go down to 3.0 GHz while doing Prime95.

[flibberdipper]

Oh, sorry, I didn't specify that I was doing a Prime95 test at the time.

Edit: Even at stock, some of the cores go down to 3.0 GHz while doing Prime95.

How are you cooling it?

[Shakaza]

How are you cooling it?

It's just some Thermaltake fan. I'm not sure what model it is, but the fan is black and has the Thermaltake logo on it, and the heatsink is silver-colored. Maybe I just need to dust out my PC...I haven't done that in a while.

[harrynowl]

It's just some Thermaltake fan. I'm not sure what model it is, but the fan is black and has the Thermaltake logo on it, and the heatsink is silver-colored. Maybe I just need to dust out my PC...I haven't done that in a while.

It sounds like throttling, the board can hardly take 95W CPUs let alone overclocking them. You could get a new board (M5A97 R2.0 or something) but for the sake of OC it might not be worth it if you're doing it for the heck of it.