I overclocked my Fx-8120 and now I can't boot properly

onlythefreshness

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Jun 5, 2015
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I am new to overclocking CPUs and this is my first overclock. I'm using my personal rig for the overclocking which the specs are as follows:

Ga-78LMT-USB3 v4
FX-8120 (Unlocked)
(4x4) 16 Gb DDR3
Tri-OC R9-290
Sentey 850w 80plus Bronze
Cooler Master 212 Evo
Windows 10 Home

I followed poster "ingtar33" 's steps in an overclocking guide for this chip back in 2013
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1815595/amd-8120-overclocking.html
and all was working well when I was upping the CPU multiplier from stock 3.1 Ghz all the way to 4.0 Ghz, but when I upped the clock to 4.1 Ghz things went a bit crazy. I received a blue screen with an error message : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and it would not go away or fix itself. I did a forced reboot of my system and was welcomed by my PC telling me that my clock has been reset to stock values. Then I proceeded to boot normally on stock values and I couldn't post because it said it had some kind of error and I had to use xpressboot2 from my boards options or boot from pressing F1. Now I can't restart my system or shutdown;boot my system without the post error and the error about my clock values having to be reset. I went into my BIOS and everything is back on auto and the clock speed is back to stock 3100 Mhz.

I'm unsure if there is something I did wrong by following a poster's instructions or if I have damaged my MOBO and or my CPU.

If it helps, the last stable clock speed I had my CPU running at for over 10 mins was 4.0 Ghz
 
Solution


Haha :) Since you asked: First off, that motherboard is not good for overclocking. It has a barebones voltage regulation design that just squeaks-through AMD's minimum specs. However, if a person is willing to take a risk OCing with that board then I'd just keep the voltage fixed at or very close to default and see what I could get. As I recall when I did a multiplier OC on a friend's 8320 I got 4ghz at fixed default voltage before the chip needed more voltage. If you must increase the voltage then that is your choice.

I haven't...

onlythefreshness

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Thank you but would you happen to know if I did anything wrong when trying to overclock so I don't do it again? I assume i'm not going to try to boost past 4000 Hmz next time I try to overclock.
 
If you can get into the bios again.
Check the multiplier of the cpu is set back to the stock value.
Make sure where it states the memory bus it is set back to 200Mhz.

If the memory has an Xmp mode make sure it is enabled in the bios if you did a factory reset of the bios it`s self.
The default factory setting should have XMP memory mode disabled.

Check the core voltage of the cpu. 1.25v to 1.35v is fine for a manuall setting of the cpu core voltage at it`s stock frequency.

To the overclocking bit and why it may fail.

If you had while attempting to overclock the FX 8120 cpu the turbo boost feature still enabled in the bios of the motherboard.

The result will be the overclock often does not work due to a conflict in settings.
It must be disabled, along with the Amd cool and quiet options of the FX cpu settings in the bios.

Most FX based cpu`s will overclock on average about 800Mhz over the stock core frequency.
Above that value, your looking at a core voltage of about 1.40v to 1.45v.

It is important to keep the memory clock at 200Mhz.
Some boards start to add to this. setting the clock to 214 or 216Mhz.

And is the second reason why a board does not boot or post, it`s not that the cpu cannot take the new multiplier setting but the fact that small change pushes the memory speed to far.

Causing the actual none boot of the system on the next restart with the new settings applied.

So you have to keep a close eye on any frequency change over the default 200Mhz setting.
When manually overclocking all settings.

Currently I have a FX 4300, with a MA599X evo R 2.0 on a H60 Corsair water loop.
It helps alot.

With that setup you can get to about 4.9Ghz to 5.0 Ghz with a 1.5v cpu core voltage setting.
At 900Mhz to 1Ghz you start to run into problems, and need all of the power tweaking a bios can provide from a good motherboard.

The option there is set the frequency of the memory lower, then try again with the new cpu multiplier setting, and core voltage change.

It can be dependent on how good the motherboard is also though, the chip set used on the board, and how well it`s power phase is made on the board as to how stable and how high you can overclock a FX based cpu.

A Ga-78LMT-USB3 v4 motherboard is not the best for trying to overclock a FX based cpu to be honest.
The bios, and the options are limited.

So it can cause problems when trying to exceed the 800Mhz overclocking value, most Fx cpu`s with reach without a problem.
A small word of warning do not exceed a cpu core voltage of 1.6v if you have a poor, or a Stock Amd cpu cooler in your system.

You should be using a water loop, or a very good after market cpu air cooler at 1.5v to 1.6v with 1Ghz + overclock of the cpu core.

 

larkspur

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Haha :) Since you asked: First off, that motherboard is not good for overclocking. It has a barebones voltage regulation design that just squeaks-through AMD's minimum specs. However, if a person is willing to take a risk OCing with that board then I'd just keep the voltage fixed at or very close to default and see what I could get. As I recall when I did a multiplier OC on a friend's 8320 I got 4ghz at fixed default voltage before the chip needed more voltage. If you must increase the voltage then that is your choice.

I haven't read Ingtar's guide but you should definitely expect to have system crashes when you are exploring your chip's limits. Usually a good mobo will not do what yours did - usually if the OC is that unstable then it will revert to default and you can go back in and change your settings. But like I said - that mobo simply isn't designed for overclocking despite having the capability. Anyway, let us know if you've got any more questions and I hope it all works out for you.
 
Solution