Asus M5A97 R2.0 Overcloking

[ifreestylin]

Can i get some pointers for overclocking with this Mobo?

Cpu - AMD FX 6300

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

That's a solid mobo with pretty accurate automatic settings in terms of conforming to whatever you put in as a fixed value. If you just up the multi by one digit at a time (don't have to start with .5's until you get close to topped out), you really can leave the rest to set itself for at least a few hundred mhz, if not more.

Turning off Cool N Quiet and any other engery saving features in the CPU settings screen details will help get a stable tune. You can set them back to on after you know you're good to keep things cooler. Spread Spectrum should be off, as well as load-line if the only options are "enable' or "disable" on your board (as I recall, they are). Set the RAM voltage manually to spec- the original M5A97 undervolted the ram to around 1.48 if left at auto. Try a bump up 200mhz first, then 400mhz and run some short OCCT tests to confirm the heat is okay before going into a long one for stability.

OCCT if you don't have it: http://www.ocbase.com/

Leave everything else and once you reach the limit with just that adjustment, you can start fine-tuning for more.

 

[ifreestylin]

Am currently running @ 4.2ghz (30 Mins of OCCT) with Vcore on auto expect the ram and all those feature disabled

I do have LLC enable and this is where my problem is. if i disable it i get massive Vdrops cant even get past 3min in OCCT

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

I do have LLC enable and this is where my problem is. if i disable it i get massive Vdrops cant even get past 3min in OCCT

That's just fine then with LLC on if you are okay in terms of thermals. If you were setting the voltages manually, I tend to favor leaving it off, but boards differ when it comes to whether or not their auto voltage is high enough without it. Also, higher-end boards come with degrees of LLC, not just the "on/off" setting, so it's harder for me to guess which would be better when there is no middle-ground... I'd say it sounds like all is good right now. What are the core and CPU temps now?

 

[ifreestylin]

All my core goes up to 47C and CPU temp About 55C

With LLC on my ideal Vcore is 1.368 and goes up to 1.380 under load {Stable At 4.2Ghz} Gonna try 4.3 (Vcore set to Auto)
Wiht LLC off ideal Vcore is 1.326-1.356 and under load it goes down to 1.286

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

55c is about the ceiling for where you want to stay steady at- it can touch 62c safely, but you want some breathing room. Still, OCCT is a pretty good stress test; you'd be unlikely to see that in the real world.

It sounds like LLC is probably a good idea to keep on- you can definitely try turning cool n' quiet and whatever other power saving features your chip offers in BIOS after you get a stable setting, and just see if the system is still stable with the added thermal benefit of dropping the frequency when not needed.

FYI, kicking up the NB speed one point (200mhz- not sure if it's 2000 or 2200 stock for you) can help with performance just as much as the CPU clock does. Shouldn't need to manually adjust any voltages for that little change. It may increase the temps or may not be noticeable.

If you get some instability, also try kicking up the NB (not CPU-NB) to 1.125 or even 1.15 from the 1.10 default on your board.

 

[ifreestylin]

Ok am it a shot and get back to you later

Update;
I have notice the C And Q option is not there anymore

If i set voltage to manual its not there but if i set voltage to offset its there

am a just mess around and see what i can do

 

[ifreestylin]

Best answer selected by iFreeStylin.

 

[Calidreamin_43]

i have the same mobo and chip...whats your setup in Bios ? i cant get my setup stable above 3.9 mhz a run down of whats on and off and voltages along with ram mhz would be awesome

 

[ifreestylin]

i have the same mobo and chip...whats your setup in Bios ? i cant get my setup stable above 3.9 mhz a run down of whats on and off and voltages along with ram mhz would be awesome

CPU @ 4.5Ghz (Stable) 1.43 voltage setting in manual mode
Ram @ 1600Mhz (timings 9-9-9-24) 1.5 voltage
CPU/NB @ 2200 (voltage @ Auto)
HT @ 2400 (voltage @ Auto)

Everything else on Auto

Everything under Advance CPU settings is disabled

I have LLC enable for both CPU and NB

These are my ideal results

when my CPU goes above 65% or so it goes up to 1.45 volts

 

[Calidreamin_43]

whats your cpu multiplier at ? cpu x multiplier im referring to ?

 

[ifreestylin]

Its at x 22.5. also disable spread spectrum

 

[Calidreamin_43]

ive done all the above and i cannot get above 4.1 stable not sure if i hit a wall or not...im also on water so its not temps

wonder if i can drop the multiplier and raise the fsb to achieve a higher Ghz i doubt it tho

 

[ifreestylin]

show me what you did in your bios, take pics of it

 

[Calidreamin_43]

will do...just print screen to capture the bios image ?

 

[Calidreamin_43]

also im looking at your cpu-z its reporting as a "zambezi" core i just checked my reciept i purchased a "vishera core" is there such a thing as a FX-6300 Zambezi ? i thought it was a Vishera

 

[ifreestylin]

it is Vishera dont know why it says Zambezi, and yes get a flash drive and just hit F12 in bios

 

[Calidreamin_43]

i just downloaded the new cpu-z and yes its a vishera..weird so here is what you requested :


http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215235705_zps50dba410.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231859_zps97c88196.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231800_zps4cfe9112.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231741_zps26f2e6d8.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231720_zps1b3a4a7d.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231701_zpsecbd8f8f.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231644_zps842f64d1.png

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/screenshotcpuz_zpsceff93b7.jpg

 

[ifreestylin]

My CPU-Z i got from Asus website and its older that yours so maybe that's why, but try to Enable CPU Load Line Calibration And also For CPU/NB its on auto see here where you send me

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag153/Joe_Addario/130215231644_zps842f64d1.png

After that, set your voltage to 1.43, then save you settings and go back to bios. It should report 1.440 it bios and also in CPU-Z when you boot to windows.
Thats because with LLC enable it gets rid of Vdrop which is a lot on this board

set your CPU speed to about 4300 and run OCCt for 30mins and tell me if it fails or not.

Note that your voltage should go up to 1.52 when your CPU usages goes above about 65%

 

[Calidreamin_43]

Well I found out I can hit 4300 and more but my temps hit 65c+ with occt running more then 5 minutes, my antec kuhler died had to resort back to stock cooling,just curious cooling solution are you using ? I just ordered dark knight II will be here Tuesday will report back...nvm I see it..does that cooler cover any memory slots ?

 

[ifreestylin]

Yeah it does cover one but i only need 8GB ram for now, i can take a pic of inside my case if you like.

what voltage you use to get at 4300?

Also 30mins of OCCT and my temps are CPU @59C And Core@55C. but from what i read core temps is whats really important, dont let core temp get above 64C.

 

[Calidreamin_43]

I currently run all slots populated so that cooler wouldn't work I hit 68c when my Kuhler died and volts were 1.43 but reported in cpu-z 1.44 volts on stock air I'm running 36c idle and 59 c full load @1.41 volts and 3.8 ghz I need better cooling I ordered a Dark Knight II from newegg last night should be here Tuesday I'll push it back up after that

 

[ifreestylin]

I can use all my ram channels if i just move the Heat Sink fan up a little bit, and you should be able to get 4.1Ghz with voltage set on auto.

add me on skype j-dazzle44, i'll walk you through this better

 

[T1geR86]

I have this board as well, and will point out the wall I hit comes due to the lack of a VRM (voltage regulator module) heat sink or any kind of thermal solution. In case you aren't sure wth those are or where they are. They do what they sound like they do. They are part of the power delivery system for the CPU. They are located behind the long line of squares sticking up 1/4 inch or so (these are MOSFETS) like in the direction of the IO shield area. When these get hot which they will with any voltage increase they like most other parts that get too hot cause throttle down (safe guard that cuts voltage way down, and decreases CPU multiplier) From what I can see your OC is hitting a wall with those maybe? Well i think its super likely, because other high end and otherwise OCing boards have VRM cooling.

 

[ifreestylin]

Okay this is the best thing to do, and let me tell you why also.

Usually the thing to do is increase the 'multiplier' and the voltage -- and maybe couple of other tweaks.

I have done that with this motherboard and it's a fine thing to do -- but -- increasing the CPU voltage manually will remove the option of turning on the "cool 'n' quiet" CPU setting. Don't ask me why but maybe a future bios update will allow manual CPU voltage + cool 'n' quiet.

So if you want to run your CPU at max frequency all the time (even at idle), go ahead and increase the voltage with a manual setting. Your CPU will run hotter and it could effect performance after an hour or so.

What I suggest is:
1) increase your multiplier as you normally would.
2) increase your NB frequency by about 400 MHz. (this will give you about 10% more FPS in games.)
3) increase your NB voltage to the "notch" just before the numbers are turning yellow.
4) any other tweaks you'd like.

Now....
Here's the kicker.

Go into the Advanced tab >> and then go into CPU configuration. Enabled both HPC Mode and APM Master Mode. The key is APM Master Mode. The reason you need this is because a CPU with an increased multiplier but normal voltage is unstable and will stop with stress testing at 100%. i.e. Prime95

So APM Master Mode will actually downclock your CPU for slip seconds while still processing at top speed. You'll actually see the CPU frequency raise and lower while stress testing in CPU-Z.

Conclusion:
So you have an overclocked computer with stability and you're still maintaining the cool 'n' quiet function.

The great thing is, I've found in real program application the CPU frequency is not forced to downclock often at all; it's very 'few and far between'.
Cheers.

Can i get some pointers for overclocking with this Mobo?

Cpu - AMD FX 6300

i already figure out how to OC with this Mobo. i used this guide
http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard
Also if you used offset voltage you will have all the option such as CNQ which am using ATM.