AMD 8150 OC problems.

[MQRamiro]

Hi, I'm having problems with my pc and maybe you guys can help.

 

Specs:

 

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
• M5A97 EVO (BIOS version 1604)
• AMD FX-8150
• Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600Mhz
• XFX HD7850 2GB
• Seagate Barracuda 2TB
• NZXT PSU 850W HALE82
• Corsair H100i (push-pull (4 fans))

 

I bought this pc about 3 years ago and never tried ocing it because it was the only one I had and had never tried it before so I didn't want to break anything. Out of curiosity one day I went into the "EZ" part of the UEFI BIOS and switched the profile from normal to "turbo", and effectively the pc started working a little bit faster while playing games and booting, but every time I went on Twitch and started a stream, it'd freeze. So I switched back to the default setting and that was that.

 

Yesterday, I formated my pc and started trying to get a hang of ocing. I watched Linus' video where he ocs a 8150, but since he's not using the same mb I was scared I'd screw something up and instead followed Jayztwocents' video but didn't dare to set things as high since my mb is not as good and the 8150 is not a 8350 basically.

 

As you can see on the images below, I used Prime95 to test the stability, and CPU-Z and HW Monitor to check if everything was ok, but for some reason I still don't understand, CPU-Z shows a "variable" multiplier. I also turned off manually the TPU and EPU switches on the motherboard to make sure I don't have stuff messing with the numbers I enter on the BIOS, but it still has that (7 - 21) to the right of the multiplier. And it's not that it's just there, as you can see on the other image, it does go down to x7.0 even though I set it to 20.0.

 

I would really appreciate it if you could help me with this, I might have a bad CPU, but maybe with your help I can find a solution. Please tell me if you need more information.

 

P.S: the only programs running while testing stability are: NetLimiter 3, AVG Free 2015, AMD Catalyst and a sound driver.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Ramiro.

 

 

 

[Johannes_Lazor]

Disable all of the weird stuff and do the overclock yourself, You usually simply up the multiplier to whatever you want as long as you dont need to overvolt it.

I think that lowers the regular clock and hightens the turbo clock so it both can be more nature-friendly and more powerful.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Johannes_Lazor

[MQRamiro]

As you can see on image 5, I disabled everything people say messes up with your oc, should I look somewhere else? I really have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, so I try to touch as little as possible.

[tmlhalo]

Dynamic frequency scaling, it is a feature that saves power / keep temps down by reducing the cpu's clock when idle or work isn't demanding. It doesn't really cost you any performance since it just ramps the clock back up to max once a work load comes in. My CPUz shows 8 - 41 because the lowest my cpu will go while idle is 800 MHz, and my overclock is up to 4.1 GHz. If you were to go to control panel, Hardware and sound, power options, and select balanced after it idles for a couple of seconds you'd see CPUz show the core speed as ~700 MHz. (down under clocks). If you select the high performance plan, you will see it stay at your OC constantly.

[MQRamiro]

It actually is on high performance, and it was when I tested the stability, but for reason, some options from inside the plan configuration have dissapeared (the ones that let you set the min and max load for the cpu). I wouldn't mind all this if it wasn't that while running Prime95 CPU-Z showed the cpu going to 1.4Ghz, and it doesn't show on any pictures from people ocing this cpu, and I'm more than sure that I disabled everything they do.

 

Thanks for answering by the way.

[ManWithBeard1990]

It actually is on high performance, and it was when I tested the stability, but for reason, some options from inside the plan configuration have dissapeared (the ones that let you set the min and max load for the cpu). I wouldn't mind all this if it wasn't that while running Prime95 CPU-Z showed the cpu going to 1.4Ghz, and it doesn't show on any pictures from people ocing this cpu, and I'm more than sure that I disabled everything they do.

Thanks for answering by the way.

Yeah, AMD CPUs tend to do that. You gotta keep them very cool to make them not throttle. In fact, my 7850K throttles at 60 degrees and it's not hard to hit that even with aftermarket cooling. Antother thing they have is APM, application power management. What it does is scale CPU performance to stay within its TDP rating. Realistically you're going to want to turn that off. You'll lose Turbo CORE, but overclocks will actually run at the speed you set them at.

[tmlhalo]

It actually is on high performance, and it was when I tested the stability, but for reason, some options from inside the plan configuration have dissapeared (the ones that let you set the min and max load for the cpu). I wouldn't mind all this if it wasn't that while running Prime95 CPU-Z showed the cpu going to 1.4Ghz, and it doesn't show on any pictures from people ocing this cpu, and I'm more than sure that I disabled everything they do.

 

Thanks for answering by the way.

Take a look for something in the BIOS called Cool'n'Quiet / Cool and Quiet. It may also have a software application side that allows you to adjust it within Windows.

Edit: Nevermind found it in one of the pictures. Though I'd still look to see if there is a software Windows side to it installed on your machine.

[MQRamiro]

But how do I know it's throttling? HW Monitor shows 40°C on the chip, and wouldn't it lower a bit, not all the way down to 7 if it was throttling? I'm not challenging what you are saying, I'm just asking because that's how I think it works, but I'm no expert, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

[MQRamiro]

Take a look for something in the BIOS called Cool'n'Quiet / Cool and Quiet. It may also have a software application side that allows you to adjust it within Windows.

As you can see on picture 5, it's "disabled by cpu", I set it like that and not just "disabled" because that's what Jayztwocents did, should I change it?

[tmlhalo]

As you can see on picture 5, it's "disabled by cpu", I set it like that and not just "disabled" because that's what Jayztwocents did, should I change it?

I would try disabled and also check for software related to it once back in Windows. 

[MQRamiro]

Well, I changed the "Cool and Quiet" to "Always Disabled" and it still shows the "(7 - 21)" to the right of the multiplier. I'm going to test for stability anyway and see what happens. But what should I do if it freezes again, up the "CPU Manual Voltage" or the "CPU/NB Manual Voltage"? Or maybe both?

[tmlhalo]

Well, I changed the "Cool and Quiet" to "Always Disabled" and it still shows the "(7 - 21)" to the right of the multiplier. I'm going to test for stability anyway and see what happens. But what should I do if it freezes again, up the "CPU Manual Voltage" or the "CPU/NB Manual Voltage"? Or maybe both?

Usually best to do voltages one at a time so if it goes away you know which one needed it. Try CPU voltage first.

[MQRamiro]

As you can see here, Core Temp shows 5 of the 8 cores at 100% load but 1404.3 Mhz. Is that normal?

 

Another thing, core 5 is taking about 1 minute more to complete the tests than the other cores, is that normal too?

 

[MQRamiro]

As you can see here (around 40 minutes after starting the test) core 5 is taking more than 3 minutes more than the rest to complete the tests. And the cpu clock is still going crazy on Core Temp and on CPU-Z (not showing at the moment but it varies all the time).

 

 

[tmlhalo]

As you can see here, Core Temp shows 5 of the 8 cores at 100% load but 1404.3 Mhz. Is that normal?

 

Another thing, core 5 is taking about 1 minute more to complete the tests than the other cores, is that normal too?

To be honest, I am not as familiar with AMD hardware as much. I know each module shares certain parts and depending on the instruction type it can result in the shared parts not being able to supply both cores per module. Maybe even thread count in Prime95? Can you set it to 8? Though if this is anything beyond an anomaly when synthetic testing with Prime95 or even is what it could be is past my experience. Sorry, I couldn't help more. 

[tmlhalo]

Here seems to be an option to add more threads unless you already set it to 8.

http://superuser.com/questions/119843/is-prime95-a-dual-core-tool

[helping]

It looks like you're doing some partial throttling to keep temps down (it cycles downclock through each module)

but your temps are really high for what you're doing, are you using stock?
 

With my old 8150 and Phanteks cooler I would get like 50c max temp with a 4Ghz overclock and undervolted.

 

You have tons of room to work with in terms of voltage, but your processor looks to be running pretty warm.

[MQRamiro]

Here seems to be an option to add more threads unless you already set it to 8.

http://superuser.com/questions/119843/is-prime95-a-dual-core-tool

Yeah, I checked and it tests all 8 cores, as you can see in the pictures.

 

 

It looks like you're doing some partial throttling to keep temps down (it cycles downclock through each module)

but your temps are really high for what you're doing, are you using stock?

 

With my old 8150 and Phanteks cooler I would get like 50c max temp with a 4Ghz overclock and undervolted.

 

You have tons of room to work with in terms of voltage, but your processor looks to be running pretty warm.

 

As the thread name says, yes, I'm OCing. I'm too at 4Ghz, and at around 40°C, is it really too much at 100% load? Room temperature is about 24°C, it's summer down here, and all 4 fans on the H100i are set to 1000-1100 so they are almost silent.

[helping]

Yeah, I checked and it tests all 8 cores, as you can see in the pictures.

 

 

 

As the thread name says, yes, I'm OCing. I'm too at 4Ghz, and at around 40°C, is it really too much at 100% load? Room temperature is about 24°C, it's summer down here, and all 4 fans on the H100i are set to 1000-1100 so they are almost silent.

I must have read something wrong, I thought I saw a reporting of 63c somewhere.

[MQRamiro]

Yeah, those are the temps that HW Monitor shows inside the motherboard part, but I dont think they are correct since the one on the chip part and on Core Temp are around 40°C.

[MQRamiro]

Well, it passed about 40 mins of Prime95 (even though some cores are slower than others -dont know if that's normal-), but that weird thing on the multiplier still shows, it still goes down to x7 sometimes and the whole pc stutters from time to time.

 

If anyone knows what to do, I'll really appreciate it.