I'm starting to see the final endpoint in finding a stable overclock of my current computer so I am going to use the OP to make an overview of what happened.
My Build.
AMD Athlon X4 860K
Gigabyte FM2A88XM-D3H
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 1GB
8GB of DDR3 RAM (1333MHz-2400MHz)
Corsair H100i (4 fan, push/pull)
Cooler Master N200 Case
7X 120MM fans, 1X ~60/70mm fan
- I tried OCing initially by raising the BLCK and then again with just CPU Multipliers
- Highest OC to boot to OS = 4.7GHz, but never was stable even with 1.55v. All sorts of stress programs crashed quickly
- Highest OC to be stable is 4.5/4.6GHz
- Idle temps were 50C+ in the BIOS, Room Ambient Temperature is around 20C
- Corsair Link would not detect the H100i nor it's fans so the fans spun at a low RPM, I got this issue fixed later
- Stock paste of the H100i was used so I reinstalled the cooler (Remove, Clean, Repaste, Reinstall) and the temps dropped significantly almost 10C+. That shows I had bad contact between the cooler and CPU.
- The initial OC was done with RAM running at the stock 1333MHz speeds. I later overclocked the RAM to 1866MHz and 2133MHz. 2133MHz wasn't stable so I decided to use 1866MHz.
- Adding a small 70mm fan to spot cool the VRMs helped drop the temp times, with the addition of curing time for the Ceramique 2 Thermal compound that was used. The FM2A88XM-D3H has no heatsinks on the VRM so I installed my own.
- GSkill 2 x 4GB Ripjaws Z 2400MHz was bought for $64
- Computer would not work at the previously stable 4.5GHz OC at 2400MHz RAM speeds, so CPU was underclocked to 4.2GHz
- Prime95 tests still failed in Blend tests which stress a decent amount of RAM. So I did my overclocks again but this time used Small FFT so I could first find the stable overclock speeds without stressing RAM. Conclusion 4.5GHz with 1.464v.
- I ran Memtest86+ and got nearly 200+ errors very quickly. The 2400MHz RAM has default timings of 10-12-12-31. Seeing that AMD's 2400MHz RAM have CAS 11-12-12-31 I lowered the CAS 10 to 11. Running Memtest86+ for 5 passes and there are 0 errors. Very surprising one number makes that much of a difference in stability.
Stable OC Settings for my PC build.
4.1GHz (1.344v [+0.054])
4.2GHz (1.368v [+0.078])
4.3GHz (1.368v [+0.078])
4.4GHz (1.452v [+0.162])
4.5GHz (1.464v [+0.180])
I will be sticking with 4.5GHz with this build as it was the highest-stable OC through several tries. I will stick with 2400MHz for the RAM and stick with the 11-12-12-31 timings as they are stable in Memtest86 unlike 10-12-12-31 which causes a lot of errors. With those out of the way I am now going to look into overclocking my IMC/NB as that seems to boost memory performances a bit for the 860K. 1800MHz is the default speed 2000MHz should be pretty easy with little to no voltage increases to the NB.
.:edit:.
These voltages are no longer accurate. With F7 BIOS things have changed. +0.180 use to be 1.464v but now is 1.512v. +0,138 will be 1.464v now. Temps are now running higher than before. So far 4.6GHz is lasting longer i Prime95 but still failing at some point. Good news is I might be able to get 4.5GHz at a lower voltage. Lots of more stability testing to do now to find the newest highest stable clock.
.:edit:.
I have made a conclusion for myself that the best Temp reading for my 860K on my FM2A88XM-D3H motherboard is the CPU temps from the Super I/O Controller (ITE IT8620E) and the CPU 0 Temps are the closest for Core Temps. Both of these temps can be found on HWiNFO64. My reasonings is that the numbers from the Super I/O Controller seems to match well with the Thermal Margin given by AMD Overdrive. With my 860K overclocked to 4.7GHz with 1.548 (1.55V) I get average CPU Temps of low 50Cs to low 60Cs. Core Temps are 40-50C. Additionally when AIDA64 shows the same numbers from the Super I/O Controller. If the Maximum Operating Temperature for a 7850K is ~72.4C then a 860K (7850K minus IGP) should be about the same. If I am getting a Thermal Margin from 15-30C (15-30C of Thermal headroom) then that should match with the fact that the 50-60C as there is 10-20C of headroom until it hits ~72.4C. I could be wrong but I won't know until my CPU dies a premature death.
My Build.
AMD Athlon X4 860K
Gigabyte FM2A88XM-D3H
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 1GB
8GB of DDR3 RAM (1333MHz-2400MHz)
Corsair H100i (4 fan, push/pull)
Cooler Master N200 Case
7X 120MM fans, 1X ~60/70mm fan
- I tried OCing initially by raising the BLCK and then again with just CPU Multipliers
- Highest OC to boot to OS = 4.7GHz, but never was stable even with 1.55v. All sorts of stress programs crashed quickly
- Highest OC to be stable is 4.5/4.6GHz
- Idle temps were 50C+ in the BIOS, Room Ambient Temperature is around 20C
- Corsair Link would not detect the H100i nor it's fans so the fans spun at a low RPM, I got this issue fixed later
- Stock paste of the H100i was used so I reinstalled the cooler (Remove, Clean, Repaste, Reinstall) and the temps dropped significantly almost 10C+. That shows I had bad contact between the cooler and CPU.
- The initial OC was done with RAM running at the stock 1333MHz speeds. I later overclocked the RAM to 1866MHz and 2133MHz. 2133MHz wasn't stable so I decided to use 1866MHz.
- Adding a small 70mm fan to spot cool the VRMs helped drop the temp times, with the addition of curing time for the Ceramique 2 Thermal compound that was used. The FM2A88XM-D3H has no heatsinks on the VRM so I installed my own.
- GSkill 2 x 4GB Ripjaws Z 2400MHz was bought for $64
- Computer would not work at the previously stable 4.5GHz OC at 2400MHz RAM speeds, so CPU was underclocked to 4.2GHz
- Prime95 tests still failed in Blend tests which stress a decent amount of RAM. So I did my overclocks again but this time used Small FFT so I could first find the stable overclock speeds without stressing RAM. Conclusion 4.5GHz with 1.464v.
- I ran Memtest86+ and got nearly 200+ errors very quickly. The 2400MHz RAM has default timings of 10-12-12-31. Seeing that AMD's 2400MHz RAM have CAS 11-12-12-31 I lowered the CAS 10 to 11. Running Memtest86+ for 5 passes and there are 0 errors. Very surprising one number makes that much of a difference in stability.
Stable OC Settings for my PC build.
4.1GHz (1.344v [+0.054])
4.2GHz (1.368v [+0.078])
4.3GHz (1.368v [+0.078])
4.4GHz (1.452v [+0.162])
4.5GHz (1.464v [+0.180])
I will be sticking with 4.5GHz with this build as it was the highest-stable OC through several tries. I will stick with 2400MHz for the RAM and stick with the 11-12-12-31 timings as they are stable in Memtest86 unlike 10-12-12-31 which causes a lot of errors. With those out of the way I am now going to look into overclocking my IMC/NB as that seems to boost memory performances a bit for the 860K. 1800MHz is the default speed 2000MHz should be pretty easy with little to no voltage increases to the NB.
.:edit:.
These voltages are no longer accurate. With F7 BIOS things have changed. +0.180 use to be 1.464v but now is 1.512v. +0,138 will be 1.464v now. Temps are now running higher than before. So far 4.6GHz is lasting longer i Prime95 but still failing at some point. Good news is I might be able to get 4.5GHz at a lower voltage. Lots of more stability testing to do now to find the newest highest stable clock.
.:edit:.
I have made a conclusion for myself that the best Temp reading for my 860K on my FM2A88XM-D3H motherboard is the CPU temps from the Super I/O Controller (ITE IT8620E) and the CPU 0 Temps are the closest for Core Temps. Both of these temps can be found on HWiNFO64. My reasonings is that the numbers from the Super I/O Controller seems to match well with the Thermal Margin given by AMD Overdrive. With my 860K overclocked to 4.7GHz with 1.548 (1.55V) I get average CPU Temps of low 50Cs to low 60Cs. Core Temps are 40-50C. Additionally when AIDA64 shows the same numbers from the Super I/O Controller. If the Maximum Operating Temperature for a 7850K is ~72.4C then a 860K (7850K minus IGP) should be about the same. If I am getting a Thermal Margin from 15-30C (15-30C of Thermal headroom) then that should match with the fact that the 50-60C as there is 10-20C of headroom until it hits ~72.4C. I could be wrong but I won't know until my CPU dies a premature death.
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