The Bulldozer week/batch thread...

[BeepBeep2]

You are expecting too much out of your hypers 2000 7-7-7 is already stretching it on most kits for full stability. Also depends on your CPU's IMC.

Just some guesses...
The Corsair 2000 C7 and STT C7 kits should do 2050-2100 CL7, GTX2 will do 2100-2200 I think...
The ADATA, Patriot, Corsair 2000 C8 and STT 2133/2200 C8 kits will fall short, maybe about 2000 under 1.7v...

If you have a super IMC, 2250 8-8-8 might be doable for full stability, all the way up to 2400 8-8-7 benchable.

[tbone8ty]

How do I check CPU vid? Which value is it? For now I have everything on auto on Crosshair V bios 1102.

[BeepBeep2]

How do I check CPU vid? Which value is it? For now I have everything on auto on Crosshair V bios 1102.

I really wouldn't run auto as it often sets 1.4v CPUNB

CoreTemp or CPU-Z text dump will show VID.

[Daveburt714]

How do I check CPU vid? Which value is it? For now I have everything on auto on Crosshair V bios 1102.

Hey tbone...

The easiest way to tell your vids on the C5F is to do a cmos reset (save profile 1st if needed), then just look at the resulting votages in Turbo Evo.
The bios does a good job of detecting what was set for the chip by AMD, and this method will give you the vid of the CPU and the IMC.

I agree with beep, don't use "auto" voltages when overclocking, it tends to set them too high (especially the IMC)!

The other options are:

1) Core Temp (only shows CPU vid)
2) Aida64 (shows both), but may cost you some money...

Heres a SS showing the vids after a reset, as you can see Turbo Evo does a good job of giving you the correct vids.

[FlanK3r]

Dave, do u have Turbo down for VID? Because with turbo ON I have 1.4V CPU VID :-)...

[BeepBeep2]

Dave, do u have Turbo down for VID? Because with turbo ON I have 1.4V CPU VID :-)...

If you do a CPU-Z .txt log dump by going to the validation tab and open it with Notepad, it will show VID for all P-states. Some programs only show VID for the highest P-state, which is why that happens.

[TheBreezyBB]

I have a question, I'm not sure if i should get an FX8150 or not yet, it only depends if i'll see any noticeable improvement over my 1090T@ 4.0-4.1GHz?

I game every now and then, and i edit videos and photos a lot more.

[BeepBeep2]

I have a question, I'm not sure if i should get an FX8150 or not yet, it only depends if i'll see any noticeable improvement over my 1090T@ 4.0-4.1GHz?

I game every now and then, and i edit videos and photos a lot more.

In games, no...

In photo and video editing it largely depends on the program.

[tbone8ty]

so looks like CPU VID is 1.3v though cpu-z says 1.284v

CPU-NB is 1.225v

this is with voltage on auto in bios and turbo core disabled

[TheBreezyBB]

In games, no...

In photo and video editing it largely depends on the program.

Lightroom and Sony Vegas. But, i'm bummed i can't get any performance gains with BD!! I think i'll wait to see what PD have in store for us.

[bynext]

I have a fx 8150 But i'll keep my old 1090t !!! my 1090t does (4.2ghz with cpu/nb 3000mhz) easily watercooled. i'll wait for BD 2

[wez]

Lightroom and Sony Vegas. But, i'm bummed i can't get any performance gains with BD!! I think i'll wait to see what PD have in store for us.

If you load all six cores atm, then two more could do some good I guess


Shame the 3200 Opterons doesn't run on 9xx boards. Would be Interesting to see how good/bad that silicon is OC vise...

[tbone8ty]

just a heads up HWmonitor 1.19 shows new temps.....like SB and NB



edit: hmm doesn't seem to always work for SB,NB temps

[tbone8ty]

just getting a feel for bulldozer, a very different beast...

this is what i have so far on my whimpy push/pull xigmatek gaia (eventually ill have to upgrade to a more capable cooler was thinking about getting the Antec KUHLER H2O 920, but if i can find an air cooler thats just as good id rather stick to air)

some settings:
CPU spectrum is set on auto (haven't figured this setting out yet..seems to like it on auto or disabled)
CPU LLC is set at high 120%
CPU-NB LLC is set at regular 110%

for now keeping CPU-NB freq. and HT freq. the same at 2500mhz


whats best for testing bulldozer using Prime95: blend, large FFTs, or small FFTs?

right now cpu volts are set at 1.41875v in bios @ 4375mhz and seems stable for quick 30 min i ran on prime95...

what volts do I have to reach to break into the 4.5-4.8 range? 1.45v+?

[Daveburt714]

Hi tbone,

I've had a few beers, but I'll try to give ya decent advice...

1) Cooling is VERY important on FX chips! I like to keep my load temps <65 but they seem to do ok all the way up to ~70c.
I've been on water so long, I can't really offer any good advice for air coolers, but if your going to make the leap to water don't mess around with the all in one packages...
Buy yourself a Swiftec x3 rad, a decent pump and a nice block (the Swiftec HD is a good choice).

2) Set all the "Spread Spectrum" stuff to disabled. AFAIK, that setting helps contol random radio frequencies for sloppy builds.
Unless you have wires all over the place it shouldn't be a consern.

3) Prime Blend (max mem) is a good test for stability but don't worry about getting it to run for hours on end...
If you can get it stable for 20-30 minutes you should be good for normal use.

4) As far as voltages go, every chip I have is different. As long as you can keep temps under control (<70c load) you should be good all the way up to ~1.55v CPU/1.35 IMC.
Just take your time, and run the lowest V's possible.

5) I set the CPU to 130% and the IMC to 120%, but as mentioned above all chips are differnt.

6) All my chips like CPU LLC @ "Ultra High" for the cores and "normal" for the IMC (still working on this "high IMC"may help )...

Hope this helps a little bro...
Keep us posted on your experiences.

[wez]

I would also leave the IMC at stock while testing core clocks. While the cores can take a certain temperature, the IMC might not

[bynext]

I use 1.37v on cpu/nb at 2800mhz and 1.5v to cpu 5000mhz !!! but as Daveburt714 said to you ''use a good watercooler''.
I can´t use more than 2200mhz 8-8-8 on memory if my cpu/nb is in 2800mhz.

[BeepBeep2]

Hi tbone,

I've had a few beers, but I'll try to give ya decent advice...

1) Cooling is VERY important on FX chips! I like to keep my load temps <65 but they seem to do ok all the way up to ~70c.
I've been on water so long, I can't really offer any good advice for air coolers, but if your going to make the leap to water don't mess around with the all in one packages...
Buy yourself a Swiftec x3 rad, a decent pump and a nice block (the Swiftec HD is a good choice).

2) Set all the "Spread Spectrum" stuff to disabled. AFAIK, that setting helps contol random radio frequencies for sloppy builds.
Unless you have wires all over the place it shouldn't be a consern.

3) Prime Blend (max mem) is a good test for stability but don't worry about getting it to run for hours on end...
If you can get it stable for 20-30 minutes you should be good for normal use.

4) As far as voltages go, every chip I have is different. As long as you can keep temps under control (<70c load) you should be good all the way up to ~1.55v CPU/1.35 IMC.
Just take your time, and run the lowest V's possible.

5) I set the CPU to 130% and the IMC to 120%, but as mentioned above all chips are differnt.

6) All my chips like CPU LLC @ "Ultra High" for the cores and "normal" for the IMC (still working on this "high IMC"may help )...

Hope this helps a little bro...
Keep us posted on your experiences.

Dave has pretty much covered everything, but I wanted to add in my opinion too

1. Dave is spot on. I wouldn't let FX hit 75c. If you are a little over 70c and maintaining stability, you should be okay though. As far as air coolers, you will have to go with giant ones like the Thermalright/Cogage Silver Arrow or Noctua NH-D14. I'd rather recommend something like a Corsair H80 if your case is tight on room.

2.

Spread spectrum clocking works by continuously modulating the clock signal around a particular frequency. This "spreads out" the power output and "flattens" the spikes of signal waveform, keeping them below the FCC limit.

This BIOS feature controls spread spectrum clocking of the processor's front side bus (also known as the FSB or processor bus). It usually offers two levels of modulation - 0.5% or 1.0%. The greater the modulation, the greater the reduction of EMI. Therefore, if you need to significantly reduce EMI, a modulation of 1.0% is recommended.

Generally, frequency modulation through spread spectrum clocking should not cause any problems. However, system stability may be compromised if you are overclocking the front side bus. Therefore, it is recommended that you disable this feature if you are overclocking the front side bus. Of course, if EMI reduction is still important to you, enable this feature by all means, but you may have to reduce the front side bus frequency a little to provide a margin of safety.

...for the most part, Dave is right. However, it doesn't have much to do with sloppy builds, but more about reducing Electromagnetic Interference. Ever plugged a pair of headphones in the front output of a computer and "heard the CPU"?...that would be EMI, and it is specifically why I've had to use the back output (which is shielded a lot better) to listen to music since I've gotten my FX CPU.

3. What Dave means is to select Blend in Prime95 and enter about the same amount as your current free ram. I would run it 2 or even 4-8 hours if you care about stability. I know that if I'm only going to do a 20-30 minute run I'd rather run Large FFT if we aren't testing ram/CPUNB.

4. I don't think so. I would stop at the very most 1.5v/1.3v, and that is rather high in my book. A lot of heat gets created quickly the higher you push voltages. To be real, CPUs are dying on LN2 on 1.75-1.9v and Phenom II could take those and 1.6v on air all day. To be really realistic, no matter what your cooling or CPU is I doubt you will be able to run any stability test at 1.55v/1.35v for any amount of time...

5. I just disable OCP all together for the CPU and leave 130% on CPUNB

6. I've measured with a DMM and Ultra High is definitely the best choice for LLC on CHVF. I run "Regular" on CPUNB, it still overvolts a bit.

[tbone8ty]

CPU LLC at ultra high and 130% seems to help out alot.
CPU-NB LLC at regular and 120%

disabled Cpu and Pcie spread spectrum's

also have VRM freq set at 450khz from 300(auto)

i feel like i can run same clocks but lower cpu volts now (to compensate for vdroop)

im getting about ~66-68C max on the cpu sensor and about ~58C on all the cores with 1.4v and 4.325ghz on the xigmatek gaia push/pull

thanks guys i will continue my testing....

[Daveburt714]

4. I don't think so. I would stop at the very most 1.5v/1.3v, and that is rather high in my book. A lot of heat gets created quickly the higher you push voltages. To be real, CPUs are dying on LN2 on 1.75-1.9v and Phenom II could take those and 1.6v on air all day. To be really realistic, no matter what your cooling or CPU is I doubt you will be able to run any stability test at 1.55v/1.35v for any amount of time...

Yeah.... 1.5/1.3 is probably a better choice for the upper voltage limits.
If you would've asked me when I just had the one low vid chip (1.235) I would have argued that 1.425/1.2 was more than enough.

This new 8120 is a voltage hog though (1.35 vid), the advantage is that it runs MUCH cooler than the low vid chip.
Time will tell if the voltage actually degrades the chip or not, but temps are pretty managable @ 1.5v (floats up to 1.5125 under load).
This SS was run @ 24c ambient BTW:



The low vid chip would've hit the thermal trip at this voltage!!


Thanks for the info on EMI
Knew I had the general idea, now I know a little more!
BTW: Maybe you should move the wire that goes to the front headphone jack...

[BeepBeep2]

yeah.... 1.5/1.3 is probably a better choice for the upper voltage limits.
If you would've asked me when i just had the one low vid chip (1.235) i would have argued that 1.425/1.2 was more than enough.

this new 8120 is a voltage hog though (1.35 vid), the advantage is that it runs much cooler than the low vid chip.
Time will tell if the voltage actually degrades the chip or not, but temps are pretty managable @ 1.5v (floats up to 1.5125 under load).
This ss was run @ 24c ambient btw:



the low vid chip would've hit the thermal trip at this voltage!!


Thanks for the info on emi
Knew i had the general idea, now i know a little more!
Btw: Maybe you should move the wire that goes to the front headphone jack...

...
It gets picked up by the board more than over air, I can't move the traces that are on the board

EDIT:
Dave, you should see what my chip does at 1.5v CPU and 1.3125v CPU/NB set...in reality that is 1.513v / ~1.35v
I believe the motherboard claims "84c", with CPU at 4807 / 2598 and DDR3-2079 7-7-6-19-26 90ns 1T lol

I have my 1100T as an emergency backup and if times get really rough, an nforce 590 AM2 board and 5600+ soo...

[tbone8ty]

here the havik 140 lapped with some 2000 grit and touched up with some mothers polish



took awhile with the 400grit to get down to a good starting point, was quite bowed out of the box.

will be installing later tonight, hopefully this will pay off

havik 140 is huuuge!








hits ram slightly


occt temps after 30 min running large data set...temps went down compared to my xigmatek gaia push/pull but not as much as i hoped but i guess its ok since i added more volts for higher OC. (look @ max)


hopefully u guys can see, maybe ill zoom in or make it bigger


FX-8120 stock VID is 1.3v
250 x 18 = 4.5ghz @ 1.425v
CPU/NB @ 2250mhz @ 1.23125v (pretty much left NB freq. and HT freq. clocks on auto for now while i search for stable cpu OC clock)
DRAM @ 1.6875v

max cpu temp was 61C and ~53-54 on each of the individual cores....thinking i can definitely go higher, but ill need more volts on cpu, im gonna try 4.75ghz next...it will probably need 1.45v u think?

[BeepBeep2]

You can push up to 70c on motherboard CPU temp, just watch CPU core temps don't go over ~55c.

Should be about 15-20c difference in CPU/motherboard sensors.

[Daveburt714]

tbone: Those temps look really good for air cooling, and nice job on the lapping...

IMC voltage looks a little high for 2.25 though, you could try lowering it and it might bring temps down a little more.

Did you knock those raised corners off the CPU as well?
I've thought about doing that myself...

[tbone8ty]

tbone: Those temps look really good for air cooling, and nice job on the lapping...

IMC voltage looks a little high for 2.25 though, you could try lowering it and it might bring temps down a little more.

Did you knock those raised corners off the CPU as well?
I've thought about doing that myself...

yah i didn't lap the bulldozer cpu yet, for fear if i need to warranty it lol

but the lapped heatsink seems to help alot, sits flush with the cpu alot better then it was stock (rocked back and forth stock)

i cant seem to go past 4625mhz-4750mhz with out huge voltage increase (1.48v-1.5v)and by then temps just get out of control so im thinking thats why it crashes...prime95 blend crashes always core 7 or 8.

i have CPU/NB @ 2500mhz what should i have HT link at? i was thinking leaving it the same as cpu/nb clocks.

no im gonna try and mess with FSB see if i can OC the memory a bit past 1000mhz or maybe tweak timings