FX 8120 Overclocking HELP!!!!!!

[melikepie]

I have a 8120 and i know these things are ment to be overclocked and i don't know what speeds to set it at and i don't wan't a dead pc beacause this one was a upgrade from a laptop the uses a intel atom and that was no fun for gaming!

I bought a hyper 212+ so i don't know how well i can get it, im worried of reducing the lifespan of the cpu since i don't plan on buying a new $200 part. Also what setting should i use for my ram, my ram is kingston hyperx blue 8gb it has heat spreaders not huge but good!

 

[akxpckwb]

Did you try reading our basic overclocking guide? Those aspects are covered there

 

[ahnilated]

You do realize that overclocking by its very nature can reduce the life of components? If you don't want to risk your equipment don't overclock.

 

[a_tractor]

if it aint slow dont overclock.

 

[tajisi]

Overclocking doesn't hurt as long as you keep an eye on the temperature and voltages. I have machines 5+ years old that have been pushed pretty hard and are still going strong.

 

[humphreybot]

the simplest OC would be to turn off turboboost. then set the multiplier to get the highest speed the turboost would have given you. effectivly running it as fast as it is rated all the time

 

[noob2222]

pretty much all you need about starting BD overclocks

http://www.overclock.net/t/1140459/bulldozer-overclocking-guide-performance-scaling-charts-max-ocs-ln2-results-coming

One thing that people often do is just start cranking the cpu voltage, not necessarily needed as there are several voltage options on the BD cpu itself. I have my 8120 running strong at 4.7 ghz with only 1.344V on the cpu core. In comparison, pretty much every article you read about how high power draw is has the voltage at 1.5V+, pretty much a no-brainer as to why their power draw is high.

 

[cbrunnem]

if it aint slow dont overclock.

But it is slow. Its inevitable that its going to be compared to an sandy bridge cpu in which case they are slow.

 

[a_tractor]

then overclock it.

 

[melikepie]

pretty much all you need about starting BD overclocks

http://www.overclock.net/t/1140459/bulldozer-overclocking-guide-performance-scaling-charts-max-ocs-ln2-results-coming

One thing that people often do is just start cranking the cpu voltage, not necessarily needed as there are several voltage options on the BD cpu itself. I have my 8120 running strong at 4.7 ghz with only 1.344V on the cpu core. In comparison, pretty much every article you read about how high power draw is has the voltage at 1.5V+, pretty much a no-brainer as to why their power draw is high.

well it's kinda going slow and it's advertised as an unlocked chip so it should be better, i mean like 4ghz which is about a 25% boost from 3.1ghz so if i get it right the voltage can be stock or 1.22V does that sound right for 4ghz? amd overdrive says 1.875V when it's not overclocked is that correct?

 

[rodpgfx]

I have a 8120 and i know these things are ment to be overclocked and i don't know what speeds to set it at and i don't wan't a dead pc beacause this one was a upgrade from a laptop the uses a intel atom and that was no fun for gaming!

I bought a hyper 212+ so i don't know how well i can get it, im worried of reducing the lifespan of the cpu since i don't plan on buying a new $200 part. Also what setting should i use for my ram, my ram is kingston hyperx blue 8gb it has heat spreaders not huge but good!

Guys, I don't know what I do wrong when I oc . But I can never get close to the speeds you guys get. I have the 8120 now, with formula V and H100 cooling, and I can't even get to 4! What is a good oc method, or is there one? I would lie to see 4gz at least without bsod! Lol. Anybody got close to my setup with a good oc going? Oh yeah, I have thermaltake cooler case, Kingston 250 hyper-X ssd, with ocd 1066 @ 7-7-7. 750 w thermaltake ps. I play with everything in bios, but can't get high. Even when I was running phenom II 1100t BE, I only got 4ghz if I raised vcore to 1.55v. I NEED OC HELP GUYS!

 

[noob2222]

well it's kinda going slow and it's advertised as an unlocked chip so it should be better, i mean like 4ghz which is about a 25% boost from 3.1ghz so if i get it right the voltage can be stock or 1.22V does that sound right for 4ghz? amd overdrive says 1.875V when it's not overclocked is that correct?

1.22 -1.3V would be a great 4.0 ghz voltage, anything below 1.35v is still good.

the voltage is highly variable on the fx chips. at stock idle it should be 0.875. At normal non turbo it ranges from I believe 1.18 to 1.25. I don't remember the C1E voltages but they were lower than that, probably ~1.05 to 1.125 range. Turbo maxed the voltage to 1.41V


Here comes the inherent problem with overclocking BD because of what I just stated. OC will work fine at 4.0 ghz at say 1.3v for example. In order to achieve 1.3v, you have to set the bios as offset mode to +0.05V. Say the variable voltage requests a lower power state, 1.18V, +0.05V you set in the bios, now its only 1.23V, but stable 4.0 ghz is 1.3v.

Each time the chip does this it enters a state where its doesn't have enough voltage to work properly, and may or may not crash right away. All too often, the result is to up the voltage to where the low voltage is the 1.3V, but now its +0.12V in the bios. high voltage is now 1.25+.12=1.37. It doesn't crash now but running more voltage than needed.

Wich is also why turning off turbo is a MUST. 1.41V +0.12V = 1.53V

To help rodpgfx here also:

To compensate there is a bios option that must be turned up. Load Line Calibration, or LLC. Set that to its highest setting. This alters the variable voltages for each state, instead of 1.18V to 1.25v, its just 1.18V to 1.19V (it still varies slightly even on maxed setting) so now your offset will put 1.3V when you want 1.3V

Also, for stability, bump the other voltages slightly, specifically CPU NB, CPU HT ~+0.01V to +0.03V This seems to help considerably without bumping the cpu voltage.

Never let the cpu NB bus exceed 2600 mhz, it will never be stable. Sometimes a slightly higher voltage to the memory itself will help.

 

[rodpgfx]

Hey noob, thanks for the explanation, but I have all that done already. I don't use offset though, I use menial, and I've got it set to one stepping under 1.35v. My llc and all the settings on that page of the bios is all extreme, with manual adjustment of phase, being set to 520. Even with the phenom II 1100t BE I had, I had to set vcore to 1.55, where everybody else's was getting 4ghz on 1.4v. That's why I think I'm missing something here with voltage setup for everything else. I've got nb 1.3, cpu/nb at 1.325, ram at 1.7, and all other ones on auto. Switch.g freq for ram is 2x, and mb freq is running good at 265, with nb bumped to 2650. When I get logged in on my comp, i'll do a snapshot of bios for you guys to look over, see what's going on.
Thanks again for the fast response and time.

 

[noob2222]

NB at 2650 will be unstable, drop the multiplier on it. My cpu NB is only 1.231V and HT at 1.225V Don't push those 2 very far, seems too much isn't helpful either.

 

[rodpgfx]

Thanks again. I'll get some bios images on here later. Thanks noob.

 

[rodpgfx]

Ok guys, I got some pics for you guys to tear apart. First, I'll tell you the specs of my gear.
- Thermaltake Case = V6 BlacX Edition with Docking Station (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1390&ID=1974)
- Thermaltake PS = ToughPower Grand 750 (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1264&ID=1962#Tab0)
- Kingston ssd drive = 250gb hyperX ssd (http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/hyperx)
- OCZ Ram = 4gb twin pack, 1066mhz 7-7-7-20 (http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-ddr3-pc3-8500-low-voltage-value-series.html)
- Formula V MB (http://ca.asus.com/en////Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/)
- bulldozer CPU fx-8120 (http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/amdfx/Pages/amdfx-product-brief.aspx)
- nvidia graphics card gtx-580 (http://us.msi.com/product/vga/N580GTX-Lightning.html)



I have my mb oc'ed to 265, my ram is 1412 @ 8-8-8-23-28 with 1.75v. I have my graphics card left for now.

Pics are in next post, after this one

 

[rodpgfx]

Here are my bios pics:

 

[rodpgfx]

You guys helped me a lot! Thanks A LOT guys!




http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2308748

 

[cbrunnem]

You guys helped me a lot! Thanks A LOT guys!




http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2308748

why did you change the base clock. that cpu has an unlocked multiplier?

 

[rodpgfx]

I read on some forums that the bulldozer reacts better to a oc'ed board. Plus, I wanted to get my ram to 1400 mhz

 

[cbrunnem]

I read on some forums that the bulldozer reacts better to a oc'ed board. Plus, I wanted to get my ram to 1400 mhz

you will not see the benefits to faster ram plus there should be an option to overclock your ram without changing the base clock.

 

[rodpgfx]

i tried bd with 200 mhz on mb, got to 4.3
with 265 mhz, got to 4.7

Maybe it's something else i got done that's changing it.
I can get to 4.8 on 1.35 volt, but temp go to 58. Too high for me, so I'm gonna stick to my 4.5 on 1.3.
Thanks for the info though cbrunnem. I need all the help, and explanations I can get. Only started oc'ed last summer.

 

[cbrunnem]

i tried bd with 200 mhz on mb, got to 4.3
with 265 mhz, got to 4.7

Maybe it's something else i got done that's changing it.
I can get to 4.8 on 1.35 volt, but temp go to 58. Too high for me, so I'm gonna stick to my 4.5 on 1.3.
Thanks for the info though cbrunnem. I need all the help, and explanations I can get. Only started oc'ed last summer.

58 isnt hot at ALLL.

 

[noob2222]

i tried bd with 200 mhz on mb, got to 4.3
with 265 mhz, got to 4.7

Maybe it's something else i got done that's changing it.
I can get to 4.8 on 1.35 volt, but temp go to 58. Too high for me, so I'm gonna stick to my 4.5 on 1.3.
Thanks for the info though cbrunnem. I need all the help, and explanations I can get. Only started oc'ed last summer.

nice oc, almost mirrors where I am.

4.7 ghz @268mhz, 2133 memory @1.344V. and yes there are programs that love faster ram on BD. Im on WC with the raystorm block so my max temp is 42C.

 

[rodpgfx]

If I can get it tweaked around 4.7, but without the temp, i'll leave it. 61 is the max allowed on it. And I was core temp (highest temp per processor).

i'm gonna put my mb freq back too, and play with ram some more. but not tonight! lol