AMD a8-7650K - Turbo Core not working properly.

[JCLDJB]

Hi all,

AMD A8-7650K - 3.3Ghz (can go up to 3.8Ghz with Turbo Core, normally).
MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Motherboard
2x8Gb Crucial DDR3 1866Mhz (OC).
No GPU yet, using the APU/iGPU (clock speed 720Mhz, OC to 960Mhz stable).

Brand new PSU - Corsair CX600w (upgrade from 250w PSU - lol).

My question is, I have (Enabled) the AMD Turbo Core option, I do not have access in the BIOS to CPU Voltage, the NB Frequency is set to (Auto) at 1,800Mhz.
Disabled: C6 state & AMD Cool'n'Quiet & P-State Limit (P-state disabled/enabled made no difference)
I should be able to get 3.8Ghz with enabling AMD Turbo Core, but it doesn't go any higher than 3.6Ghz. (In the Bios is says, Turbo Frequencies, 3800mhz, 3600Mhz, 3500Mhz as an FYI/cannot be amended/chosen manually).
I wondered if it was a PSU problem at first, hence the upgrade to 600w quality PSU (future proofing for a dedicated GPU in the coming weeks/months), but this hasn't made a difference.
Still maxing out at 3600Mhz in MSI Command Center.

Any idea on what can be done, please, to get this feature?

Reason why I ask it Total War: Warhammer, when using AMD Turbo Core, has a stuttering (even with V-Sync enabled) but when I disable Turbo Core and leave CPU at clock speed, I do not experience this.

Is it worth enabling Turbo Core or do you think I may have a problem with my CPU? Maybe the fact I cannot manually increase the voltage means I am limited in the Turbo Core Frequency range? (which seems like a joke and a bit misleading if they advertise the CPU as 3.3Ghz {Turbo to 3.8Ghz} if you can't actually get that clock speed.

Thanks in advance for your replies. AWESOME WEBSITE & COMMUNITY!

Jo

 

[Herobrine]

TurboCore is what dynamically overclocks the CPU. You nees to enable it. Also get A88X motherboard. A88X is designed for A10 and A8 and overclocking

 

[Herobrine]

Oh to get the 3.8Ghz you need singlethreaded workload aka one core used. Or the APU won't get enough power. Also the dynamic part of TurboCore can cripple the performance sometimes cause frequency goes up and down aka doesn't keep the frequency stable, adds power when needed, not constantly. And that stuttering should be microstutter. It can't be fixed easily

 

[JCLDJB]

66537]Oh to get the 3.8Ghz you need singlethreaded workload aka one core used. Or the APU won't get enough power. Also the dynamic part of TurboCore can cripple the performance sometimes cause frequency goes up and down aka doesn't keep the frequency stable, adds power when needed, not constantly. And that stuttering should be microstutter. It can't be fixed easily

[/code]
Thanks for your reply, Herobrine, and the recommendations on replacing the motherboard.
Althought I believe this motherboard to be not too bad, compare to some.

You're absolutely right about the Turbo Core fluctuating, because I noticed it constantly changes the voltage.

Installing AMD Overdrive solved some of my issues.

I just bought & installed the CoolerMaster 212 Evo everyone's been recommending - it's awesome compare to the stock cooler!

I get 3 P-states when Turbo Core is enabled, in AMD Overdrive:
0 (3.8ghz with 1.45v)
1 (3.6ghz with less voltage)
2 (3.5ghz I believe)
But whenever I select one, it doesn't seem to work, like I press OK, get the AMD Disclaimer Warning and press OK but no change (P-State Limit changed from AUTO to ENABLED)

So, I took this as (1.45-ish volts max).

But then I used Auto Tune with Turbo Voltage (1.4875v) and it went all the way up to 4.4ghz.
Then tweaked it manually & got a stable connection with:

1.45v - 4.2Ghz - 46C - too high voltage for that frequency? Bearing in mind the clock speed is 3.3ghz at 1.35v.

Also the 212 Evo CPU cooler (first time I fit one, too much Thermal Paste 1st time, 2nd time PERFECT {I think...hehe})
was only showing 46C temps!!!!, Stable & Awesome! - whereas I'm sure I'd be doing 60C or more with AMD's original, tiny, cooler.

Back to the game...I noticed the stuttering in the game campaign map is almost completely gone, might be a game/driver issue.

But one weird thing is:

In Total War: Warhammer under Graphics there is a Benchmark test - before I got a stable line, with a few frames difference, now it's completely jagged - almost like a CPU throttling issue, but I do not notice any lag AT ALL in the game's battles and there is no noticeable HANG of the system doing anything else - is there anything you would suggest about this potential throttling? Oh, and this was with AMD Turbo off.
I was thinking Northbridge frequency, it's set to Auto (1,800Mhz) with 1.1375v, but when I overclock the CPU, it automatically adjusts the voltage to 1.3v, I can set the Northbridge in the BIOS up to 3,200Mhz (and I will buy one of those 3 sq. cm. fans, maybe new heatsink, specifically for the Northbridge, any ideas on what setting would be best on my overclock settings?

Thanks again for your replies much appreciated.

Cheers

oh & one more question, what would you recommend to monitor throttling? I don't really want to use a PC Game's own benchmark test to observe FPS to see throttling, any specialised apps you'd recommend or have experience with?

 

[Herobrine]

Use MSI Afterburner to monitor your system (GPU, CPU usage, time, fan speed and temperature, and RAM and Pagefile usage +bonus overclocks GPUs).
And why are you overclocking the Northbridge? Can't you change the multiplier? BLCK overclocking is not just the CPU overclocking, that's the entire motherboard and anything connected to it. Use the CPU multiplier instead. (A88X can do it, A68H can't I think).
On the benchmark these spikes are tiny delays while processing (microstutter). It's not possible to get rid of it, but it's not noticed easily.

 

[JCLDJB]

Use MSI Afterburner to monitor your system (GPU, CPU usage, time, fan speed and temperature, and RAM and Pagefile usage +bonus overclocks GPUs).
And why are you overclocking the Northbridge? Can't you change the multiplier? BLCK overclocking is not just the CPU overclocking, that's the entire motherboard and anything connected to it. Use the CPU multiplier instead. (A88X can do it, A68H can't I think).
On the benchmark these spikes are tiny delays while processing (microstutter). It's not possible to get rid of it, but it's not noticed easily.

I am using MSI Afterburner to monitor the system - will keep a closer watch on this.

You're right, BCLK is not available on A68H.

The reason why I tried to overclock the Northbridge was because I read somewhere that for stability, you need to increase the Northbridge frequency when overclocking CPU; however I did also read that NB is comms between CPU <-> RAM.

Thanks for explaining the (microstutter), this is reassuring.

So, final question, avoid touching Northbridge and consider getting an A88X for BCLK overclocking?

At the moment, stable at 4.2Ghz and all this with the integrated GPU, able to play steady 30FPS on high settings.

So happy !!! Loving AMD.

 

[Herobrine]

A88X is designed with overclocking in mind so you might get some more MHz.
This should explain some about BCLK overclocking << that's the pretty much the same on AMD (I haven't overclocked Intel CPUs, just old Sempron 3200+ and 3600+ no multiplier OC, just BLCK and voltage).
On the systems I have overclocked, FSB didn't do much. Better stay with multiplier, increase FSB if you want
tl;dr 40x100=4000 32x125=4000
Overclock however you want, just make it stable.