AMD X4 Phenom x64 OS Overclock Stablilty Testing/Troubleshooting

Many Phenom users are experiencing lesser overclocks and less stability on x64 OS's. This thread is being created to figure out why that is and how to fix the problem(s) so we can .

I encourage all AMD users to post their experiences with overclocking on x64 systems as not everyone experiences the above problem problems. It is just as important to point what does works as well as what doesn't work. The idea is to get AMD, motherboard manufacturers and M$ to address the issues.

Intel fanboys/AMD haters: this is the AMD section of the forum and we do not appreciate trolling and flaming. You can state your opinion somewhere else. This is not a vs. thread and we are only dealing with AMD and phenom here.

I will be installing Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on my system this week and I will post my experiences.

Thank-you.

P.S. It would be helpful to post your board and bios, cpu, ram, and other relative hardware so we can compare systems

I guess it makes no point for me writing again that there is no "problem" here and that all 64bit AMD processors have lower O/C margin (average 200MHz) under 64bit OS! :rolleyes:

From my point of view its pretty easy to see what the problem is.
Its most likely the higher cpu/register ALU/FPU utilization of the cores and the caches due to 64bit accsess.

THATS WHY AMD released the highest phenom with only 2.5GHz because a manufacturer has to make sure that his product is under all circumstances stable. If AMD would have had plans to release a windows 32Bit only processor we would have seen higher clocked phenoms to be released but thats impossible as everybody knows.

I'll start. XP64, DFI LP780FX-M2R, PCPNC 610, GP9850BE, Ninja cool with 3 fans and direct airflow.

2.78 suicide Max at 1.325V, chicken out on going higher VCore.
2.71 ran for a while but little problems kept happening with random crashes. Did manage to fold for a while.
2.65 ran good for longer but still noticed that occasional crash.
2.6 did better at 1.3V, got worse below that.
2.5 Stock but 1.29V, the occasional error right after login and a few app crashes.
2.5 Stock at 1.3V same as above, "maybe" a little less frequent.

I can run XP64 with a large number of apps at stock but there are these little crashes that haunt you. I looked at the log with several DCOM errors which may be server related. There was one event below that was an actual report of a system error but not much to go on but apparently XP recovers before going down in flames.

Error code 000000000000003b, parameter1 00000000c0000005, parameter2 fffff80001287f6b, parameter3 fffffadf906222d0, parameter4 0000000000000000.

I was the first who started this debate couple of months ago.

It is true what Nedjo said - EVERY CPU is affected (Intel and AMD). The problem with Phenom (especially B2) is that clock disparity between x32 and x64 is very big for most samples.
From my experience if your CPU is unstable at a certain frequency under x64 OS try to LOWER vCPU. It worked for me, but you can't gain to much out of this solution. Much better cooling might help as well.
A lot depends on BIOS support. Gigabyte DQ-6 is a good example. None of my Phenoms could go stable beyond certain frequency and my 9850 for instance would be unstable at around 2700MHz (5 min. stable @2760MHz) on BIOSes up to F4. With new F5c BIOS I can get it absolutely stable @2760MHz default vCore!

@xPliziT Very good point! I was thinking the same! Only future revisions can change this situation.

Good luck guys in yours x64 adventures!! :up:

good thread... :up:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

A lot depends on BIOS support. Gigabyte DQ-6 is a good example. None of my Phenoms could go stable beyond certain frequency and my 9850 for instance would be unstable at around 2700MHz (5 min. stable @2760MHz) on BIOSes up to F4. With new F5c BIOS I can get it absolutely stable @2760MHz default vCore!

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:banana::banana::banana::banana: me:eek:. This part pisses me a bit off though. How long has Phenom been around for now and why are the BIOS's still not working like they should. Such a shame.

Ill try the lower Vcore part, however did you leave Vnb default or did you lowered it with the Vcore as well?

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Originally Posted by Lightman

I was the first who started this debate couple of months ago.

It is true what Nedjo said - EVERY CPU is affected (Intel and AMD). The problem with Phenom (especially B2) is that clock disparity between x32 and x64 is very big for most samples.
From my experience if your CPU is unstable at a certain frequency under x64 OS try to LOWER vCPU. It worked for me, but you can't gain to much out of this solution. Much better cooling might help as well.
A lot depends on BIOS support. Gigabyte DQ-6 is a good example. None of my Phenoms could go stable beyond certain frequency and my 9850 for instance would be unstable at around 2700MHz (5 min. stable @2760MHz) on BIOSes up to F4. With new F5c BIOS I can get it absolutely stable @2760MHz default vCore!

@xPliziT Very good point! I was thinking the same! Only future revisions can change this situation.

Good luck guys in yours x64 adventures!! :up:

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This is good to know, I hope it's true for the DQ6. I'm about ready to reawaken my DQ5.

Are you on X86 or X64?

I think the Primary concern here should be seeing if the pattern of lowering voltage from Default 1.30vcore @Stock 2500.mhz Clocks creates issues on 64bit OS:yepp:

I can live with lower clock frequency but to be honest these chips run hot and they are still going through growing pains and I myself due to those two reasons have reservations about the 1.30vcore with these Phenoms. Even at stock something is amiss and just seems off kilter like some form of incompatibility issue of some sort at least on XP64 any how.

I have to stick with what I've said in other threads. The power plane is already under strain pulling over 80 watts. Running these things up increases the wattage even at similar voltages. Run the ram at higher speeds, switch banking registers 64 guns at a time apposed to 32 causes major spikes. Not only are you using 64bit pathways, you also have 64 bit instruction queues and sideband operations. This would explain why I can run all the 32bit code full t*ts to the wind and not get slammed. I may just throw a full 64bit app at it spawning 4 threads to see if it smokes.

BTW, my 9500 is on Vista 64 at 1.200V :yepp:

no problem here either with 1.2v @ stock 2.5 on my 9850x4.

wich comes out in cpu-z to be 1.18v. on vista64. run stock 1.3v upto 2.9ghz.

but anything above that take a huge spike in voltage to get 3ghz.

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Originally Posted by Nedjo

I guess it makes no point for me writing again that there is no "problem" here and that all 64bit AMD processors have lower O/C margin (average 200MHz) under 64bit OS! :rolleyes:

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Not in my experience - My Brisbane 4000+ won't budge past 2.73GHz without failing prime. At this speed, it's Orthos 24h stable in Windows XP 32-bit and just as stable (mprime 24h stable) in 64-bit Linux...

Windy 5600X2 now in my DFI, no X64 issues. Threw clock to 212x14=2968G, eased up on ram timings a little, vcor at 1.382 ZERO issues so far. I think I'll go for just under 3.2G. Unless a breakthrough occurs the 5600 will stay put until the C0 steppings come out and I see them working.

In the mean time, I'll load the 9850BE into the GA780FX board on vista 32 and maybe Ubuntu 64.

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Originally Posted by SkullCracka

no problem here either with 1.2v @ stock 2.5 on my 9850x4.

wich comes out in cpu-z to be 1.18v. on vista64. run stock 1.3v upto 2.9ghz.

but anything above that take a huge spike in voltage to get 3ghz.

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Perhaps it might be helpful if you state which OS ....XP64 or Vista64??????

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Originally Posted by karbonkid

Not in my experience - My Brisbane 4000+ won't budge past 2.73GHz without failing prime. At this speed, it's Orthos 24h stable in Windows XP 32-bit and just as stable (mprime 24h stable) in 64-bit Linux...

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perhaps its dependent on which part of the cpu is limiting.. might be a part affected by 64bit os, might be not..

too, remember to use 64bit prime versions to test under 64bit environment.. (dont know about mprime..)

I've tried 3 different OS's with my current overclock, (see sig) Vista x64, WinXP x64 and Ubuntu 64bit. I had no issues or instabilities on any of them. I did have quite a bit of trouble installing XP x64 though, kept getting blue screens on install. I eventually got it stable by not using AHCI mode and using drivers from MSI's site not using ATI's drivers.

I'm dual booting with Vista x64 and Ubuntu, everything runs beautifully. I have not had one crash, blue screen, 100% stability. I probably have a really good X4 though, but I would have been more than happy with 3Ghz.

I don't know if some peoples problem is releated to the B2 stepping, immature BIOS etc. but I've been very very happy with my system. I would like to try running @stock frequency and lowering the CPU voltage, but BIOS 1.4 doesn't support lowering CPU voltage from stock for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Oese

good thread... :up:

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Thanks!:D

Been very busy I'll post my results after this weekend hopefully on Vista Ultimate x64 on the new build.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rammsteiner

:banana::banana::banana::banana: me:eek:. This part pisses me a bit off though. How long has Phenom been around for now and why are the BIOS's still not working like they should. Such a shame.

Ill try the lower Vcore part, however did you leave Vnb default or did you lowered it with the Vcore as well?

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Yes! It's ridicules!

Regarding vNB I'm leaving it at default because it's overclocked to 2.33GHz ATM.
I haven't tried every possible voltage and multiplier combination yet, too many of them :D.

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Originally Posted by AlabamaCajun

This is good to know, I hope it's true for the DQ6. I'm about ready to reawaken my DQ5.

Are you on X86 or X64?

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I'm only running x64 OSes. Vista Business x64 SP1 and XP Pro x64 currently. Also SuSe 10.3 x64 will be added shortly to that list.
Somewhere in my drawer I've got HDD with Win XP MCE x32 but I'm too lazy to dig it up and do some more benchmarks at higher clocks :p:.

PS. What is funny is that all above OSes are fully licensed... I wouldn't expect that from me 4 years ago!

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Originally Posted by Brother Esau

Perhaps it might be helpful if you state which OS ....XP64 or Vista64??????

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oh sry vista 64 ulti. :shrug:

Thanks M8:)

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Originally Posted by Nedjo

I guess it makes no point for me writing again that there is no "problem" here and that all 64bit AMD processors have lower O/C margin (average 200MHz) under 64bit OS! :rolleyes:

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My Opteron 165's, or my 3700+ have no issue overclocking in 64bit OS (Vista, Linux)...
The Optys and 3700+ were run on Ultra D's and an eVGA NF-41

Just my Phenom, the best I could do is 2.7...

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Originally Posted by Slagathor

My Opteron 165's, or my 3700+ have no issue overclocking in 64bit OS (Vista, Linux)...
The Optys and 3700+ were run on Ultra D's and an eVGA NF-41

Just my Phenom, the best I could do is 2.7...

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and how much under 32bit Vista?

Oops.....tee hee


Normally run it at 2.9...

Right now though it's 2.8, not sure the extra heat is worth the 100mhz....

here you go. vista 64 2.9ghz @ 1.335v will boot at stock 1.3 but stable is 1.335. xpPro32 3.1ghz 1.3v will boot but same as vista 1.375 is the magic stability voltage.

this is on air cooling. xp shows slightly higher benchmark scores but the vista 64 bit shows more fps in games and has faster speed in opening aps.
even at the lower clock speed.

now this could be due to more then just 32bit vs 64. since when running vista64 im using 15gb raptors in raid0 vs ide 80 for the xp.also 4gb ram in vista vs 2gb ram in xp.

either way the vista64 set up is better all around.

Edit: dual booting now and running both @ the 2.9 1.335 to do some further testing at the same clock speeds.

The relevant question here from me to you is there a issue dropping below Stock 1.3vcore even at defaults with Vist64??

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Originally Posted by Brother Esau

The relevant question here from me to you is there a issue dropping below Stock 1.3vcore even at defaults with Vist64??

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nope that is not an issue. i can run 1.2v on cpu and NB the asus m3a32-mvp. at all stock defualt settings in vista 64. 1.2v actualy shows 1.18v in amd overdrive and in cpu-z.