fx8350 throttle at 38*C?

[mememaster69]

Hi, I guess.

After much profanity I think I've done the only sensible thing and turned this to an audience with greater computer knowledge.
As long as I can remember I've had similar issues of this kind. But only recently after tweaking with my gpu settings (VIA MSI AFTERBURNER & EVGAPRECISION X OC) it has started concern me.

As the graph show, my cpu is having a throtteling issue.

What i've noticed aswell is that the cpu tends to lower all of it's cores to ~1400MHz instead of the usual 4000MHz which is what is causing the dips in preformance but also temprature.

I can't see why this would occur since the chip is rated for over 50c and decided that I'll try and fix it once and for all.

I've tried swapping around fans to a couple of different positions with no luck.

 

Any and all help is greatly appretiated.

 

MYSPECS:
Mobo: M5A78L-M LX V2
GPU: GIGABYTE 970GTX Windforce 3x (Not G1) (Currently not oc'd)
CPU: AMD FX-8350 (Not oc'd)
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair Vengence CL9 
Drives: 1x500GB 5200rpm HDD 1x ~80GB Intel SSD

Case: FD Define R4 

FANS: 2x 140mm(1 pulling air from the front, 1 pulling airthrough the top)(included in case). 1x120mm Corsair SP(pushing through rad) 1x120mm Corsair AF(pulling in air from sidepanel)

[SkilledRebuilds]

Some Motherboards....have crap VRM temp thresholds.

VRM and chipset socket temps can throttle you, even if your CPU temp is cool as ice.

 

The chipset/heatsink - under your CPU cooler is the chipset, between the CPU and GPU - the metal block - the chipset is under that, and can get QUITE hot...

The VRM's are to the left of the CPU - both of these need airflow if they are throttling your CPU down to 1.4Ghz.

 

I came across this when OC'ing my mates FX8 (Watercooled)

4.7Ghz was fine, 4.8Ghz made his VRM temps go too high, hit the limit, declocked his CPU (only at 52*c loaded up) to 1.4Ghz for a second then back up..

But this was repeated, and gave bad performance in game. (Backed off to 4.7Ghz and his VRM voltage dropped to a level that didnt trigger a reduction.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Your graph is not showing throttling: it shows usage, not frequency. All we can see there is 100% CPU usage for a while, then all cores start idling, RAM usage is constant, GPU usage is always low. It looks like a CPU stress test for a while and then an idle CPU. 1400MHz is a normal idle frequency for FX chips: they are just lowering power consumption because there's nothing to do. That picture is perfectly consistent with no throttling at all.

 

An indicator of throttling would be temperatures going above 70C, CPU usage pinned at 100%, and clocks falling to 1400MHz or another low value.

 

I may be wrong, but in that case the missing context is relevant? Which dips in performance do you refer to? When do you observe these 1400MHz clocks (i.e., when stress-testing or some other full load task, or when idling)?  

[mememaster69]

3 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Your graph is not showing throttling: it shows usage, not frequency. All we can see there is 100% CPU usage for a while, then all cores start idling, RAM usage is constant, GPU usage is always low. It looks like a CPU stress test for a while and then an idle CPU. 1400MHz is a normal idle frequency for FX chips: they are just lowering power consumption because there's nothing to do. That picture is perfectly consistent with no throttling at all.

 

An indicator of throttling would be temperatures going above 70C, CPU usage pinned at 100%, and clocks falling to 1400MHz or another low value.

 

I may be wrong, but in that case the missing context is relevant? Which dips in performance do you refer to? When do you observe these 1400MHz clocks (i.e., when stress-testing or some other full load task, or when idling)?  

Sorry forgot to capture and include these pictures aswell.
I'm guessing it's the vrm i'll have to look into cooling more efficiently.

[mememaster69]

Also forgot to point out that graphs represents the "torture test" in prime95

[SpaceGhostC2C]

11 minutes ago, mememaster69 said:

Sorry forgot to capture and include these pictures aswell.
I'm guessing it's the vrm i'll have to look into cooling more efficiently.

 

Yes, now I can see it in the first picture (the second one is what you should have in the absence of problems). ANd obviously it isn't the CPU temp, so I agree with you and @SkilledRebuilds: must be the VRM. I payed more attention to your motherboard, and it marginally supports the FX-8xxx, I'm not surprise it doesn't really tolerate a Prime95 run on one of those. At least it's good to know the overheating/overcurrent protections are working, instead of just keep going and eventually catch fire.

If you could add some cooling on the VRM, it would certainly help, but even then don't push it too far. For the time being, i would suggest you use less demanding benchmarks for everyday stability tests, and you'll probably be fine at stock clocks for normal use, gaming, etc. I don't think overclocking is an option in that board, unless you disable several cores: worst case scenario you would end up melting the VRMs or the 4-pin connector, best case scenario it would just throttle down like it's doing now.

[mememaster69]

1 hour ago, Strike105X said:

I can say for sure, the throttling is because of your motherboard, the  M5A78L-M LX V2  has low quality VRM's with a 3+1 power phase design, i wouldn't use that with anything more then Athlon's or an FX4300 at max.

I see, after reading around on forums this feels like a dead giveaway, I was thinking of going all in and swapping board and cpu to one that fits the 6600k and run that instead. Or if i wanna be cheap grab a better optimized am3+ board. Any suggestions that'l fit my current build? (Budget: ~150$)

[mememaster69]

1 hour ago, Strike105X said:

I can say for sure, the throttling is because of your motherboard, the  M5A78L-M LX V2  has low quality VRM's with a 3+1 power phase design, i wouldn't use that with anything more then Athlon's or an FX4300 at max.

Also, could lowering the clockspeed of 8350 to ~3.7GHz spare me the random framedrops due to vrm's not (overheating?)?

[mememaster69]

Just now, Strike105X said:

I'll let others more familiar with Intel's prices do you intel configs, so i'll just settle for AM3 motherboards recommendations, The question is, do you want to overclock your FX ?

Overclocking would be nice since I think my CPU is about to restrict my system (along with my RAM), Currently I'm using a CM Seidon 120M and getting temps of around 20*C at idle and up to 50*C during heavy load.

[8-Bit Ninja]

18 minutes ago, mememaster69 said:

I see, after reading around on forums this feels like a dead giveaway, I was thinking of going all in and swapping board and cpu to one that fits the 6600k and run that instead. Or if i wanna be cheap grab a better optimized am3+ board. Any suggestions that'l fit my current build? (Budget: ~150$)

am3+ is a dieing platform, i wouldn't spend anymore money unless you can find a decent board for cheap 

[mememaster69]

2 minutes ago, Strike105X said:

@mememaster69: For an efficient overclock i recommend an ASUS 970FX Gaming Aura, leaving aside the fancy lights it has very good quality VRM's and phases, giving an energy efficient OC and stability.

 

https://www.komplett.se/product/875096/datorutrustning/moderkort/amd-socket/asus-970-pro-gamingaura-socket-am3#

Looks great, and definatly at an affordable price!
 

[mememaster69]

2 minutes ago, 8-Bit Ninja said:

am3+ is a dieing platform, i wouldn't spend anymore money unless you can find a decent board for cheap 

dieing platform?, Game and driver not supported ? please describe! Am I making a mistake upgrading my board?

[TubsAlwaysWins]

@mememaster69

If you can go in the BIOS and turn off Turbo Boost. (If I am correct) this disables its ability to downclock to 1400Mhz. I have it set on my MSI board (Not sure what the feature is called)

[TubsAlwaysWins]

8 minutes ago, mememaster69 said:

https://www.komplett.se/product/875096/datorutrustning/moderkort/amd-socket/asus-970-pro-gamingaura-socket-am3#

Looks great, and definatly at an affordable price!
 

If you want crazy slightly higher OC's you will want a 990FX board

[mememaster69]

tried using AMD Overdrive to disable the turboclock feature with no luck

[incarnate]

5 minutes ago, mememaster69 said:

dieing platform?, Game and driver not supported ? please describe! Am I making a mistake upgrading my board?

Nothing will be released on am3+ anymore. It's a dead socket. They will be releasing am4 soon.

 

I would say yes, it would be a mistake to upgrade your mobo unless you're gonna use your fx cpu for a couple more years.

[mememaster69]

1 minute ago, Strike105X said:

Yup that's the one.

No, not that, he means that there will be no more CPU's coming to the AM3+ socket. With the launch of Zen AMD wont be making anything else for this socket, but its not like you wont be able to use it anymore, the FX has all the needed instruction sets to survive for a long time and while it may not have the best performance per core being an 8 core helps. Of course if you got the budget and want something more powerful you can opt to change to an i5 CPU and new mobo, but it will be costly (not worth it going from an FX8350 CPU to an i3 imho). Its all up to you and how much you want to invest in this.

definatly stick to amd for the time being if the issue can be resolved by simply upgrading my board

[mememaster69]

Thank you all for dedicating time to my problem

I'll make sure to get on here again when I've gotten with my 970 mobo

Again. thanks

[SpaceGhostC2C]

10 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

@mememaster69

If you can go in the BIOS and turn off Turbo Boost. (If I am correct) this disables its ability to downclock to 1400Mhz. I have it set on my MSI board (Not sure what the feature is called)

I don't think disabling turbo can do much, since it drives the 4.0 to 4.3 increase when a few cores are loaded. But his motherboard won't suffer from single core stress, it's the 8x4.0GHz Prime95 that it can't handle. The only way for him to improve there is to downclock and undervolt.

 

(Also, turbo is for the higher clocks; downclocking when idle is controlled by the power saving states, which are set separately. But even disabling those won't prevent his board from throttling down to prevent burnouts).

[SkilledRebuilds]

Turbo or not...

His VRMS are choking his CPU clocks due to VRM temps, not CPU temps.(Even when his CPU is cool, the VRMS are not)

Some 970 boards are still shit overclockers.

[mememaster69]

2 minutes ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

Turbo or not...

His VRMS are choking his CPU clocks due to VRM temps, not CPU temps.(Even when his CPU is cool, the VRMS are not)

Some 970 boards are still shit overclockers.

do you think the board mentioned earlier would be a good addition to my current system?

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

18 minutes ago, mememaster69 said:

do you think the board mentioned earlier would be a good addition to my current system?

 

It is good, among the best in its price range. It won't sweat at stock clocks, and it will allow you to overclock quite a bit.

 

If the idea is to have a cheap upgrade to enjoy your 8350 calmly, you can't miss. If anything, the question would be if you could still be happy while spending less on another 970 board.

[mememaster69]

1 minute ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

It is good, among the best in its price range. It won't sweat at stock clocks, and it will allow you to overclock quite a bit.

 

If the idea is to have a cheap upgrade to enjoy your 8350 calmly, you can't miss. If anything, the question would be if you could still be happy while spending less on another 970 board.

I already ordered it and it will arive on wednesday at 14.00

[mememaster69]

Thanks guys I've found the solution to my problem!

@SpaceGhostC2C

@Strike105X

@SkilledRebuilds

 

Turns out I had trash VRM's not capable of harnessing the power of my 8350.

1. Ordered a ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura, Socket-AM3+ motherboard.
2. Board and d14 cooling paste arrived 1 day later...
3. Struggled through configuring all the parts in my case (risers, liquidcooler, etc).
4. Plugging in all the wires where they should be plugged in.
5. Wait one second to admire a decent cablejob: 
6. Flip case upright, put sidepanels on and plug her into the wall.
7. Turns power on ("fingers crossed").
8. All systems check, seems to boot just fine.
9. Laughs happily all the way to the ("bank???") when I see this:

[SpaceGhostC2C]

4 hours ago, mememaster69 said:

Thanks guys I've found the solution to my problem!

@SpaceGhostC2C

@Strike105X

@SkilledRebuilds

Thanks for reporting back, in case someone with a similar issue finds this thread (unfortunately, the forum messed up the mentions, it does that sometimes).

Also, I see you got yourself some overclock there (8 cores at 4.3GHz, max individual core speeds 4.45? )

I hope temps remain at bay, and enjoy!