Overclocking FX8320

[harrynowl]

What board was that?

 

I have seen boards put 1.55 volts to OCed CPUs and it resulted in very high temps, throttling, and one board even coil whined worse then any GPU I have ever heard.

I tried 1.6V on my FX8320 by accident (was putting 1.3 in and didn't realize I pressed 6...). It survived, got a bit of a shock when I checked CPU-Z and saw 1.596v reported!

[TechFan@ic]

I tried 1.6V on my FX8320 by accident (was putting 1.3 in and didn't realize I pressed 6...). It survived, got a bit of a shock when I checked CPU-Z and saw 1.596v reported!

Highest I've gone was 1.52 for a 5Ghz suicide run, my cooling couldn't handle it.

[Nomelas]

You're having EXACTLY the same issues I had with my Corsair memory modules.

It's specifically the last generation of Corsair Vengeance & Dominator that people have had stability issues with, including reviewers.

It sounded like you haven't set all the timings, set the command rate to 2T.

D.O.C.P was less stable in my personal experience than inputting the latencies manually.

Set the HT Link and NB manually to 2200.

Leave the voltage at auto, disable all power saving features, like C6 & APM.

Disable turbo, now set the clock speed to 4.2Ghz and test for stability, should be all stable for you.

Now you can try to push the clocks further up, the highest voltage I'd recommend on the Hyper 212 is up to 1.38v.

Giving this a try now. I think I did miss setting it to t2, also is row cycle time tRC important? What about all the other timings? Also what about cpu spread spectrum? Enabled or disabled? As well as the LLC settings on the M5a97 board.

[TechFan@ic]

Giving this a try now. I think I did miss setting it to t2, also is row cycle time tRC important? What about all the other timings? Also what about cpu spread spectrum? Enabled or disabled? As well as the LLC settings on the M5a97 board.

Set LLC to ultra high, tRC is actually important, I fail to remember how I set it though off the top of my head, I just remember it was somewhere in the 40s.

(I would check but I don't have access to that machine until next week).

leave spread spectrum off.

[Nomelas]

Set LLC to ultra high, tRC is actually important, I fail to remember how I set it though off the top of my head, I just remember it was somewhere in the 40s.

(I would check but I don't have access to that machine until next week).

leave spread spectrum off.

The xmp 'spd' has it at 41, I set it there. My board doesn't have those. Kinds of LLC settings, only auto, disabled and enabled or something.

[TechFan@ic]

The xmp 'spd' has it at 41, I set it there. My board doesn't have those. Kinds of LLC settings, only auto, disabled and enabled or something.

Make sure to use the timings for the 1600mhz frequency.

For my memory the 'SPD" timings are for 1333mhz.

Enable LLC.

[Nomelas]

Make sure to use the timings for the 1600mhz frequency.

For my memory the 'SPD" timings are for 1333mhz.

Enable LLC.

So enabling LLC shoots my vcore way up to 1.4+ volts.. Had to disable it or else my cpu would overheat.

[Nomelas]

Got it running steady at 4.2 (10 min test) but had to bump the voltage up to 1.35 and it would run at around 1.3v during prime95. My cpu did however heat up to 67 deg... So I'm not keeping it there. I guess I'm stuck at 4.1 after all...

[-rascal-]

Got it running steady at 4.2 (10 min test) but had to bump the voltage up to 1.35 and it would run at around 1.3v during prime95. My cpu did however heat up to 67 deg... So I'm not keeping it there. I guess I'm stuck at 4.1 after all...

 

Are you using JUST the multiplier to get your 4.2GHz (200 x 21) or are you adjusting the Core Clock (aka Base Clock or FSB) as well?

1.35V Core Voltage is perfectly fine, but 67*C is a little on the high side.

 

A Cooler Master Hyper 121 EVO should be absolutely capable of handling a FX-8320 at 4.2GHz and a mere 1.35V.

Make sure your CPU cooler is mounted correctly and securely, and the thermal paste is not "over spilling" onto the edge.

Too much OR too little thermal paste = bad

[Nomelas]

Are you using JUST the multiplier to get your 4.2GHz (200 x 21) or are you adjusting the Core Clock (aka Base Clock or FSB) as well?

1.35V Core Voltage is perfectly fine, but 67*C is a little on the high side.

A Cooler Master Hyper 121 EVO should be absolutely capable of handling a FX-8320 at 4.2GHz and a mere 1.35V.

Make sure your CPU cooler is mounted correctly and securely, and the thermal paste is not "over spilling" onto the edge.

Too much OR too little thermal paste = bad

Yeah, could be because I have the fan mounted on the other side of the heat sink pulling air instead of pushing.. Lol. I did this as a test because my ram is in the way. I'm going to need to take out some ram until I get more low profile dimms

[Coswar]

Yeah, could be because I have the fan mounted on the other side of the heat sink pulling air instead of pushing.. Lol. I did this as a test because my ram is in the way. I'm going to need to take out some ram until I get more low profile dimms

The location of the fan isn't the most important factor, make sure that your 212 is centered over the CPU- and that you have the right amount of thermal compound.

[Nomelas]

The location of the fan isn't the most important factor, make sure that your 212 is centered over the CPU- and that you have the right amount of thermal compound.

I've applied thermal paste a few times now, I'm using Arctic silver 5. The first time I installed the cpu I put way too much on but I removed it and the second time around I put far less, not enough to have any squeeze out the sides. I did notice the cooler isn't quite centred on the cpu when I installed it though but I didn't think that would be an issue.

[Coswar]

I've applied thermal paste a few times now, I'm using Arctic silver 5. The first time I installed the cpu I put way too much on but I removed it and the second time around I put far less, not enough to have any squeeze out the sides. I did notice the cooler isn't quite centred on the cpu when I installed it though but I didn't think that would be an issue.

As long as it's not more than a few millimeters it should be fine. Arctic Silver 5 is good, and a "pea sized drop" is the recommended amount.

[Nomelas]

As long as it's not more than a few millimeters it should be fine. Arctic Silver 5 is good, and a "pea sized drop" is the recommended amount.

Pea sized drop is like.. Huge I don't know what kinda peas you guys have but that's like at least 5 mm diameter Lol.

[Coswar]

Pea sized drop is like.. Huge I don't know what kinda peas you guys have but that's like at least 5 mm diameter Lol.

Yes, thats what you need- any less and the contact won't be good enough. 

[Nomelas]

When I did that it seemed out the sides and down the cpu!

[Coswar]

When I did that it seemed out the sides and down the cpu!

That's ok! A little out the sides doesn't matter

[Nomelas]

That's ok! A little out the sides doesn't matter

I was under the impression that too much can have the reverse effect and the idea for the thermal compound is to just fill in the gaps between the cpu and heatsink. The compound doesn't transfer the heat as well as copper making it important to have good to contact between cpu and heatsink without a thick layer between of the thermal paste.

[Aniallation]

Unless you're lucky like me

 

My friend got a FX8320 and it couldn't run past 3.7GHz. I got a feeling his craptastic board (N68C-GS FX) was a bigger issue, we had to disable turbo to prevent bluescreenies.

lol that supports 8-Core?!?!?! (sarcasm)

 

With AMD usually the board will be okay though. I've run a 1090t at 3.7GHz stable on a GA-78LMT-USB3.

[Coswar]

I was under the impression that too much can have the reverse effect and the idea for the thermal compound is to just fill in the gaps between the cpu and heatsink. The compound doesn't transfer the heat as well as copper making it important to have good to contact between cpu and heatsink without a thick layer between of the thermal paste.

I realize that, but a pea sized drop is the right amount. Using too little and too much has the same effect.

Watch this from Linus

[Nomelas]

I realize that, but a pea sized drop is the right amount. Using too little and too much has the same effect.

http-~~-//youtu.be/Q2p6Hk4IfqI

Watch this from Linus

So running prime95 at small FFTs my cpu socket goes up to 62+ degrees but with the AMD stability test it's only at 54 degrees.

[Coswar]

So running prime95 at small FFTs my cpu socket goes up to 62+ degrees but with the AMD stability test it's only at 54 degrees.

Prime is a harder test- 62 is a little high, but how long did you test for? If that is after a couple hours then it's ok, but if its after 10 mins, then something is going wrong. Perhaps you'll have to bring it down a little.

[Nomelas]

Prime is a harder test- 62 is a little high, but how long did you test for? If that is after a couple hours then it's ok, but if its after 10 mins, then something is going wrong. Perhaps you'll have to bring it down a little.

Yeah I'm not sure, it's after like 10 min, it heats up really quick. That's stock voltages with 4100mhz.

What I did do since I'm using the heat sink as pull only is I removed my rear case Fan and put it on the side as intake, seems to have cooled it a bit more, especially at idle. 32 degrees.

[Coswar]

Yeah I'm not sure, it's after like 10 min, it heats up really quick. That's stock voltages with 4100mhz.

What I did do since I'm using the heat sink as pull only is I removed my rear case Fan and put it on the side as intake, seems to have cooled it a bit more, especially at idle. 32 degrees.

Ok, well try it for an hour at least and then report back the temps, 62 is high, but if it stays around that you might be able to leave it at 4.1Ghz. If it gets much higher, then you're getting into dangerous territory and I would advise you to drop the multiplier back down.

[Coswar]

I really don't think that you're gonna get much more out of this CPU, because if it's already at 62 , then you can't really push the voltages any higher- that will only raise the temperature. Your best hope is that it is stable at 4.1 and doesn't get too hot