amd CPU doesn't overclock at all on new motherboard.

[ket_maniac]

HI guys, wanted some help from all of you. I have a fairly old system which has been running like Black Beauty for the last 6.5 years. Recently, my motherboard went kaput so I got a new one. My issue is that no matter what I do, my overclock doesn't stay and BIOS gives an error saying "Incorrect BIOS settings", "Current CPU speed: 0.00Mhz" and asks me load fail-safe BIOS. Everything works fine on defaults. I can't even select my memory's XMP settings of 1600 MHz DDR3, let alone overclock the CPU. The thing that kicks me the most is that my old mobo which was lower-end than this ran my modest overclock of 3.6ghz for the last 6 years without any issues. So why shouldn't this better mobo do so? Temps cannot be an issue because I use a CLC.

 

System specs: 

AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE C3 3.2 GHz 125W

Old motherboard --- Gigabyte GA 880GM USB3L

New motherboard --- Gigabyte 970A DS3P FX

Corsair Vengeance 2*4GB DDR3 1600 MHz

Asus Strix 960 DCII OC

Deepcool Captain 240EX Cooler

Samsung 750 EVO 250gb

Seagate 500Gb HDD

Antec VP450P

Deepcool Dukase V2 White

[R3ep3r]

It is all about the silicone lottery buddy. Beside the fact that the motherboard influences your overclock a lot, the CPU plays an important role here. As Linus said multiple times, CPUs are very different. Not a single CPU is the same with another one. By that it means that maybe you lost the silicone lottery this time and you are not able to go past 3.6. Silicone lottery also applies to motherboards.

[NelizMastr]

Sounds like a BIOS bug. Did you update the BIOS to the latest version?

[DocSwag]

25 minutes ago, R3ep3r said:

It is all about the silicone lottery buddy. Beside the fact that the motherboard influences your overclock a lot, the CPU plays an important role here. As Linus said multiple times, CPUs are very different. Not a single CPU is the same with another one. By that it means that maybe you lost the silicone lottery this time and you are not able to go past 3.6. Silicone lottery also applies to motherboards.

While this can be true, usually the difference is much smaller than on cpus. And on a 970, you're unlikely to be unable to push as small an OC as that unless you put blankets on the vrms

 

To OP: I would try to update the bios first.

[ket_maniac]

On 2/27/2018 at 8:22 AM, R3ep3r said:

It is all about the silicone lottery buddy. Beside the fact that the motherboard influences your overclock a lot, the CPU plays an important role here. As Linus said multiple times, CPUs are very different. Not a single CPU is the same with another one. By that it means that maybe you lost the silicone lottery this time and you are not able to go past 3.6. Silicone lottery also applies to motherboards.

My dear friend, I said I was able to overclock with my old mobo but am unable to do so with my new mobo. As for silicon lottery, I was able to do 3.8 stable on it 24/7 but I chose 3.6 because of diminishing returns and extra heat. 

 

On 2/27/2018 at 8:22 AM, NelizMastr said:

Sounds like a BIOS bug. Did you update the BIOS to the latest version?

There is only a single BIOS on the Gigabyte website and the motherboard comes with that BIOS. Should I reflash it?

 

On 2/27/2018 at 8:49 AM, DocSwag said:

While this can be true, usually the difference is much smaller than on cpus. And on a 970, you're unlikely to be unable to push as small an OC as that unless you put blankets on the vrms

 

To OP: I would try to update the bios first.

Yup, I was able to 3.6 without any core voltage increase. And my old mobo didn't have heatsinks so I made DIY heatsinks. This new one does have heatsinks. I have been contemplating a BIOS bug as well but there is only a single BIOS available which the mobo comes out of box with. Do you think I should reflash the same BIOS again?

[NelizMastr]

32 minutes ago, ket_maniac said:

There is only a single BIOS on the Gigabyte website and the motherboard comes with that BIOS. Should I reflash it?

That won't help then. Seems to be a very late AM3+ board anyway. 

[ket_maniac]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

That won't help then. Seems to be a very late AM3+ board anyway. 

Still, do I try and do it, just in case the one that shipped out of the box was buggy in some way. Or do I wait(which is stupid since new BIOS release is out of question)? There is only a single BIOS, F1.  

[NelizMastr]

1 minute ago, ket_maniac said:

Still, do I try and do it, just in case the one that shipped out of the box was buggy in some way. Or do I wait(which is stupid since new BIOS release is out of question)? There is only a single BIOS, F1.  

Flashing a BIOS always has a risk of bricking the board. If it is a bug, then it's unlikely it's going to get fixed. You'd have to ask Gigabyte.

[ket_maniac]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

Flashing a BIOS always has a risk of bricking the board. If it is a bug, then it's unlikely it's going to get fixed. You'd have to ask Gigabyte.

I have updated BIOS's in the past. I'll try with a reflash. If it works, well and good. If it doesn't, am I able to approach Gigabyte saying that their BIOS doesn't let me overclock? I mean, overclocking ain't covered in warranty right? So are they going to help me?

[DocSwag]

3 hours ago, ket_maniac said:

Yup, I was able to 3.6 without any core voltage increase. And my old mobo didn't have heatsinks so I made DIY heatsinks. This new one does have heatsinks. I have been contemplating a BIOS bug as well but there is only a single BIOS available which the mobo comes out of box with. Do you think I should reflash the same BIOS again?

You could try that. If that doesn't work maybe see how it cooperates with Overdrive.

[ket_maniac]

On 2/28/2018 at 12:49 AM, DocSwag said:

You could try that. If that doesn't work maybe see how it cooperates with Overdrive.

Hey everyone, an update.

I tried re-flashing the same BIOS. No luck. Same thing happens. So tried my luck with Overdrive. And it overclocks well. Just like before. Temps are reasonable at 52C in a 30C ambient. The only issue is I can't change memory and NB clocks. Needed those to go higher than 3.6GHz but I will stick to 3.6 on the stock voltage for now. Looks like the the bios is buggy after all. Thanks for your help guys. Will keep you posted on any improvements or updates.

[DocSwag]

8 hours ago, ket_maniac said:

Hey everyone, an update.

I tried re-flashing the same BIOS. No luck. Same thing happens. So tried my luck with Overdrive. And it overclocks well. Just like before. Temps are reasonable at 52C in a 30C ambient. The only issue is I can't change memory and NB clocks. Needed those to go higher than 3.6GHz but I will stick to 3.6 on the stock voltage for now. Looks like the the bios is buggy after all. Thanks for your help guys. Will keep you posted on any improvements or updates.

If you want, you could try contacting gigabyte customer support on this one, since I really am not sure what's happening here.

[ket_maniac]

56 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

If you want, you could try contacting gigabyte customer support on this one, since I really am not sure what's happening here.

New update: When I tried to restart my PC after selecting the "Keep settings on reboot" option in Overdrive, the same thing happened. BIOS locked up with the "CPU Speed=0.00 MHz" error. Had to reset BIOS to boot in Windows since it was a software overclock. It seems as if the AM3+ socket and 990FX chipset don't love my old Phenom II which is strange since my old mobo was an AM3+ as well. It does not like overclocking at all. Period. Makes me wonder why I invested in a good 990FX board at all. Might as well have gotten a cheap 760G chipset motherboard. It is a 7 year old system after all. Just wanted my old Phenom to have a good new home.  I am thinking of getting hold of a FX 6000 or 8000 series processor just to be sure that it is the motherboard after all and not my processor acting strange in a 990FX board(which I know is unheard of since it overclocks in Windows just fine and runs stable on AIDA64 and Prime95). Will contact Gigabyte after that, but how do I approach them?

[DocSwag]

25 minutes ago, ket_maniac said:

New update: When I tried to restart my PC after selecting the "Keep settings on reboot" option in Overdrive, the same thing happened. BIOS locked up with the "CPU Speed=0.00 MHz" error. Had to reset BIOS to boot in Windows since it was a software overclock. It seems as if the AM3+ socket and 990FX chipset don't love my old Phenom II which is strange since my old mobo was an AM3+ as well. It does not like overclocking at all. Period. Makes me wonder why I invested in a good 990FX board at all. Might as well have gotten a cheap 760G chipset motherboard. It is a 7 year old system after all. Just wanted my old Phenom to have a good new home.  I am thinking of getting hold of a FX 6000 or 8000 series processor just to be sure that it is the motherboard after all and not my processor acting strange in a 990FX board(which I know is unheard of since it overclocks in Windows just fine and runs stable on AIDA64 and Prime95). Will contact Gigabyte after that, but how do I approach them?

You could contact them here

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Technical-Support

 

As for how exactly to approach them... Idk. Gigabyte might say overclocking is not technically covered... So you may be out of luck . If you wanted maybe you could try flashing an older bios to the board? Maybe the newer ones are screwed up.

[NelizMastr]

On 3-3-2018 at 4:58 PM, DocSwag said:

You could contact them here

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Technical-Support

 

As for how exactly to approach them... Idk. Gigabyte might say overclocking is not technically covered... So you may be out of luck . If you wanted maybe you could try flashing an older bios to the board? Maybe the newer ones are screwed up.

This board literally has one BIOS version hah  so yeah, I'm afraid if Gigabyte doesn't do anything, he's SOL.

[ket_maniac]

6 hours ago, NelizMastr said:

This board literally has one BIOS version hah  so yeah, I'm afraid if Gigabyte doesn't do anything, he's SOL.

 Thanks everyone. This is a relatively new board. It came out last year so "I guess" there will be BIOS updates in the future. As for OCing, currently I am running stock and whenever I feel like I need some boost while gaming or video editing and work, I just open Overdrive and set multiplier to 18x. 

I sent a ticket to Gigabyte on their website and they are as clueless as I am. And taking apart the whole system which I rebuilt just a couple of days ago is way too tiresome. So I will wait for about a year or so for new BIOS. If they come, well and good. If they don't, I'll make good use of the 3 year warranty.

[MR Men]

Waking the Thread as same motherboard and near identical issues. 

This system sat unused for years due to bios issues. 

V1board was swapped under warranty for V2

Latest bios to date. 

The default auto voltage too low for Fx8320 1.425 min or slightly higher- much higher and cooks on stock cooler. 

Bios bug if bios memory extreme profile 1 not set or bios crash, weird power on power off start-reset bios to fix. 

Fx8320 4.2ghz OC

My issue is corsair vengeance 16gb 2 sticks overclock, 4 sticks 32gb won't. 

 

Now this board is notorious, I wonder if a limitation of board VRM I have two win power 500w supplies so unless underperforming power supply model, I'm confused.