AMD FX OC'ers Club

[TRWOV]

I can select 2133 all right but it won't boot at that speed with the four RAM slots populated. Once it re-starts I get a screen saying that the board failed to boot and that default values will be used. At 1600 everything is peachy but, according to the RAM QVL, for >1866 I need to have only one DIMM per channel.

I'll try o OC the RAM by FSB.

 

[Johan45]

Which ram do you have in that the 4x4 kingston? If so I wouldn't be surprised if you need to bump the CPU-NB even higher. 16 Gb is tough enough but all four slots is even harder. I suggest you try pulling two stick out and start there. Then we'll see if we can get all four working together after that.

 

[TRWOV]

mmm, something else is amiss, even with just two DIMMs I can't boot at anything higher than >1600. Gonna try the memory on another board first.

 

[Johan45]

I do know kingston was causing some issues on ASUS boards don't know how it plays with Giga. I do have some ram sets at home that'll do the same thing when put into my FX board.

 

[TRWOV]

There are plenty of Kingston modules on the QVL but only 1 and 2GB modules

 

[Johan45]

I have read elsewhere that some rev. of the Giga boards won't run 4 sticks over 1600 so it really could be the board and not the ram. Since that little note was written on the site it's quite likely yours is one of those boards. If you can tighten the timings down decent you won't miss to much by not running 2133 or higher.

 

[TRWOV]

So far this board has been a disappointment. Can't keep the CPU stable at 4.2Ghz with stock voltage, can't make the RAM run at its supported speeds I can see why it was returned. I could return it but since it was a discontinued Open Box item the store only offers a 30 day warranty and, to tell the truth, there's really nothing wrong with it, it will run stable and all at stock settings it just sucks at overclocking. I could return it but I'd have to pay a re-stocking fee.

I guess I'll try my hand at under-volting; If I can't get more than stock performance at least I'd like it to be as efficient as possible. I'll pick up an 8370 down the line and see if the CPU has something to do with it.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

TRWOV have you tried running the mem in xmp mode?. On my giga boards with 1866 mem I have to select xmp profile 1 or it just acts crazy. I tried manual settings and still acted goofy. Used xmp and all is perfect. Also all three of my giga 990fxa ud3 boards are stable as a rock at 4.4.

 

[VulkanBros]

I do know kingston was causing some issues on ASUS boards don't know how it plays with Giga. I do have some ram sets at home that'll do the same thing when put into my FX board.

I am running with Kingston sticks on my ASUS board without any issues for a long time......
And they work with OC and overvolting .....

 

[TRWOV]

TRWOV have you tried running the mem in xmp mode?. On my giga boards with 1866 mem I have to select xmp profile 1 or it just acts crazy. I tried manual settings and still acted goofy. Used xmp and all is perfect. Also all three of my giga 990fxa ud3 boards are stable as a rock at 4.4.

Yes, I've used both profiles that my RAM has. Bad thing is that I don't have another board with >1833 support so I can't test them ATM. I have a Z77 board coming soon so I'll test them on that.

 

[suraswami]

So far this board has been a disappointment. Can't keep the CPU stable at 4.2Ghz with stock voltage, can't make the RAM run at its supported speeds I can see why it was returned. I could return it but since it was a discontinued Open Box item the store only offers a 30 day warranty and, to tell the truth, there's really nothing wrong with it, it will run stable and all at stock settings it just sucks at overclocking. I could return it but I'd have to pay a re-stocking fee.

I guess I'll try my hand at under-volting; If I can't get more than stock performance at least I'd like it to be as efficient as possible. I'll pick up an 8370 down the line and see if the CPU has something to do with it.

Leave the LLC setting at Auto, I have read few online posts complaining about these boards about the LLC. Whenever I change LLC other than Auto, I get Black Screen of Death after few cycles of sleep and wake. Left it at Auto and its been good for 2+ weeks no issues.

And oh I also stopped playing Origin games lol.

 

[TRWOV]

I haven't really touched anything. The only adjustments I've made is NB voltage and HT voltage as per Johan's instructions and then selecting the XMP profiles for the RAM. For the CPU OCing I just upped the multiplier to x21 (8350's rated Turbo) and ran with it but it doesn't even load Windows.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

@TRWOV i'll look at what I have mine set at this evening when if get home and let you know

 

[Johan45]

I am running with Kingston sticks on my ASUS board without any issues for a long time......
And they work with OC and overvolting .....

I wasn't saying they don't work but I have seen a lot of issues especially with the 16Gb trying to run at 2400 the rated speed. Have you had any luck with that?

 

[eidairaman1]

I have a Sabertooth r2.0 with a 8350, turbocore, c1e, c6, application power management, cnq off. HPC on, XMP Set for my Ripjaws x 2133 Ram. 200 Fsb Multi set at 21 and the vcore at 1.362.

 

[VulkanBros]

I wasn't saying they don't work but I have seen a lot of issues especially with the 16Gb trying to run at 2400 the rated speed. Have you had any luck with that?

Nope .... around 21xx tops - they get highly unstable when trying with 2400 MHz - and I have to feed them with 1.6xx V to even get them running at all....
But taking 2 sticks out and only running with 8 GB they can run in 2400 MHz mode and around 1.640 V.....but why that is the case i dont quite understand....

 

[TRWOV]

Well, one thing is solved. I finally managed to keep 4.5 stable by setting LLC to high. I don't know why but on Auto it had a +100% reading on the bios and voltage would jump up and down when running IBT but on high it had almost no vdroop (1.296 vs 1.32). I didn't even had to push more voltage.

The bad thing is that the board throttles down to x17 (3.4Ghz) when on load. On CPU-Z I can see individual cores dropping down to 3.4Ghz for a momen, also manually setting LLC did something funny to IBT:

4Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on Auto:

4.5Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on High, notice the Results window. You can also see how the throttling gets worse as the run progresses.

 

[eidairaman1]

You shouldnt be throttling in a oc.

 

[Johan45]

Well, one thing is solved. I finally managed to keep 4.5 stable by setting LLC to high. I don't know why but on Auto it had a +100% reading on the bios and voltage would jump up and down when running IBT but on high it had almost no vdroop (1.296 vs 1.32). I didn't even had to push more voltage.

The bad thing is that the board throttles down to x17 (3.4Ghz) when on load. On CPU-Z I can see individual cores dropping down to 3.4Ghz for a momen, also manually setting LLC did something funny to IBT:

4Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on Auto:

4.5Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on High, notice the Results window. You can also see how the throttling gets worse as the run progresses.

Check your bios for HPC and APM mode. If you enable HPC it should stop the throttling, if not disable APM. Also when testing with IBTAVX you should be on high at the least or very high and only +3.xxx results are considered stable.

Nope .... around 21xx tops - they get highly unstable when trying with 2400 MHz - and I have to feed them with 1.6xx V to even get them running at all....
But taking 2 sticks out and only running with 8 GB they can run in 2400 MHz mode and around 1.640 V.....but why that is the case i dont quite understand....

I would imagine that the stock voltage for that ram at 2400 is already 1.65v and you will likely need 1.3-1.4 volts for the CPU_NB to accommodate that much ram at such a speed. I did some testin on a CHV-z and the BIOS ver. played a big part in how well 2400 memory would actually run.

 

[Random Murderer]

Nope .... around 21xx tops - they get highly unstable when trying with 2400 MHz - and I have to feed them with 1.6xx V to even get them running at all....
But taking 2 sticks out and only running with 8 GB they can run in 2400 MHz mode and around 1.640 V.....but why that is the case i dont quite understand....

I think that's just how it goes on these 990FX boards. If I'm running the G.Skill RAM in my specs(the Ripjaws, not the Tridents), they'll top out at about 2200 with about 1.62V. If I run two sticks of my Samsung Greens, they'll top out at about 2300 at about 1.5V. If I run all four sticks of my Sammy Greens, I'm lucky to see 1900, with voltage all the way up to 1.65V. Keep in mind that I had all four sticks of my Sammy Greens running ~2520, CAS 11, 1.55V on my old i7 3820, and they ran very happily at 2400 CAS 10 1T at 1.5V 24/7. In fact, I'm sure they have more headroom and were just capping my 3820's IMC. That being said, the issue (for me at least) is not the RAM, but the CPU and/or board, and I'm guessing that even with a cherry 8-core Vishera on a known-good board for clocking(like the Sabertooth or CHV/CHV-z), four sticks of RAM at 2133 or higher is still a tall order requiring a lot of patience and more voltage than should be used 24/7.

Tl;dr: If you want to push high speeds with RAM, go Intel. Otherwise, tighten the hell out of your timings and be happy. The AMD rig in my specs runs 2x 4GB at 2133, CAS 9 1T, and feels very zippy. It even felt pretty damn zippy at the stock speed of 1866 CAS 8. You won't lose much (noticeable) performance from running a lower speed with tighter timings, say 1866 CAS 7 or 8.

Well, one thing is solved. I finally managed to keep 4.5 stable by setting LLC to high. I don't know why but on Auto it had a +100% reading on the bios and voltage would jump up and down when running IBT but on high it had almost no vdroop (1.296 vs 1.32). I didn't even had to push more voltage.

The bad thing is that the board throttles down to x17 (3.4Ghz) when on load. On CPU-Z I can see individual cores dropping down to 3.4Ghz for a momen, also manually setting LLC did something funny to IBT:

4Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on Auto:

4.5Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on High, notice the Results window. You can also see how the throttling gets worse as the run progresses.

You shouldnt be throttling in a oc.

Check your bios for HPC and APM mode. If you enable HPC it should stop the throttling, if not disable APM. Also when testing with IBTAVX you should be on high at the least or very high and only +3.xxx results are considered stable.

First things first, how good is the airflow over your MOSFET heatsink? Very important on these boards when running 8 cores and/or Vishera. Also, like Johan mentioned, enable HPC, then, if needed, disable APM.
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but what revision is that board, TRWOV? I have a bad feeling you're on the dreaded Rev.3.0. I may have asked this before, my apologies if so.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Well, one thing is solved. I finally managed to keep 4.5 stable by setting LLC to high. I don't know why but on Auto it had a +100% reading on the bios and voltage would jump up and down when running IBT but on high it had almost no vdroop (1.296 vs 1.32). I didn't even had to push more voltage.

The bad thing is that the board throttles down to x17 (3.4Ghz) when on load. On CPU-Z I can see individual cores dropping down to 3.4Ghz for a momen, also manually setting LLC did something funny to IBT:

4Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on Auto:

4.5Ghz run, stock voltage, LLC on High, notice the Results window. You can also see how the throttling gets worse as the run progresses.

I also had that problem with it throttling down. The is a setting in the bios I toggled and it stopped doing that. I forgot to look at my bios settings last night but will do so tonight. I just can't remember what it was. But it did stabilize the whole system and has been running that way for months oc'd and crunching.

 

[Johan45]

@Random Murderer
Don't know if I have mentioned this but there's a way to disable APM on your Rev3 with AMD OD.

 

[TRWOV]

@Random Murderer, yes rev 3

I increased Vcore +0.05 (the +0.5v on the screenshots is a typo) and set LLC to Extreme, that got rid of the buggy IBT results. Anything lower gave me the bogus results.

Enabling HPC got rid of the throttling:

Next up, RAM.


BTW, I found this while looking for OC guides, don't know if it has been posted: http://sites.amd.com/us/Documents/AMD_FX_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf

 

[eidairaman1]

I think that's just how it goes on these 990FX boards. If I'm running the G.Skill RAM in my specs(the Ripjaws, not the Tridents), they'll top out at about 2200 with about 1.62V. If I run two sticks of my Samsung Greens, they'll top out at about 2300 at about 1.5V. If I run all four sticks of my Sammy Greens, I'm lucky to see 1900, with voltage all the way up to 1.65V. Keep in mind that I had all four sticks of my Sammy Greens running ~2520, CAS 11, 1.55V on my old i7 3820, and they ran very happily at 2400 CAS 10 1T at 1.5V 24/7. In fact, I'm sure they have more headroom and were just capping my 3820's IMC. That being said, the issue (for me at least) is not the RAM, but the CPU and/or board, and I'm guessing that even with a cherry 8-core Vishera on a known-good board for clocking(like the Sabertooth or CHV/CHV-z), four sticks of RAM at 2133 or higher is still a tall order requiring a lot of patience and more voltage than should be used 24/7.

Tl;dr: If you want to push high speeds with RAM, go Intel. Otherwise, tighten the hell out of your timings and be happy. The AMD rig in my specs runs 2x 4GB at 2133, CAS 9 1T, and feels very zippy. It even felt pretty damn zippy at the stock speed of 1866 CAS 8. You won't lose much (noticeable) performance from running a lower speed with tighter timings, say 1866 CAS 7 or 8.



First things first, how good is the airflow over your MOSFET heatsink? Very important on these boards when running 8 cores and/or Vishera. Also, like Johan mentioned, enable HPC, then, if needed, disable APM.
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but what revision is that board, TRWOV? I have a bad feeling you're on the dreaded Rev.3.0. I may have asked this before, my apologies if so.

Ive got my ram on XMP 2133 Profile.
Who woild of thought HPC should be enabled and Application power management should be disabled, heck i turned off cnq, c6 and c1e power states.

 

[Random Murderer]

@Random Murderer
Don't know if I have mentioned this but there's a way to disable APM on your Rev3 with AMD OD.

There's a way to disable it in the BIOS, too. I've tried both, doesn't help. MOSFETs aren't overheating, PSU is good, and the CPU cooler has plenty of headroom. The damn board just won't cooperate, and after a bit of searching when I initially got the board and was having issues, turns out it's just that Giga dropped the ball when converting to UEFI. If it were my PC, I would've already replaced it with a better board and drop-kicked this POS into oblivion.

@Random Murderer, yes rev 3

I increased Vcore +0.05 (the +0.5v on the screenshots is a typo) and set LLC to Extreme, that got rid of the buggy IBT results. Anything lower gave me the bogus results.

Enabling HPC got rid of the throttling:

Next up, RAM.


BTW, I found this while looking for OC guides, don't know if it has been posted: http://sites.amd.com/us/Documents/AMD_FX_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf

Maybe the UD7 isn't affected, then? Anything above 4.4 on mine causes throttling, and I've played with BIOS options countless times, even tried the beta BIOS, all to no avail.
Glad you're having better luck, and thanks for posting that guide. I'll give it a look and see if it can't help my situation a bit as well.