AMD FX 8320 Clocking Issue

[josherino]

I just got my new CPU and installed it. I noticed a few problems such as crashes and no better performance then my old AMD 8100 CPU. So when installed I was told to look at CPU-Z because DxDiag said it was clocked at 2.8Ghz. CPU-Z Indeed says it is clocked at 2.9Ghz. The default clocking for the 8320 is 3.5Ghz. Can anyone help me fix this issue?

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

What you have describes sounds like normal operation. Your chip is designed to clock up and down based on usage. You have to go out of your way to disable this feature, which will only result in the CPU running excessively hot while performing no work, and will yield no perceivable performance improvements. It is normal for the CPU to be running at a frequency other than what is quoted on the box. That frequency simply means, the highest frequency the chip will perform at under full loading. When under light loading, the chip can actually run faster for brief periods of time to perform single threaded tasks more quickly. CPU-Z should show the chip speed going both up and down. With CPU-Z open and visible, you should try launching a few applications and using them. You should see the CPU speed going up and down with the workload.

 

[josherino]

What you have describes sounds like normal operation. Your chip is designed to clock up and down based on usage. You have to go out of your way to disable this feature, which will only result in the CPU running excessively hot while performing no work, and will yield no perceivable performance improvements. It is normal for the CPU to be running at a frequency other than what is quoted on the box. That frequency simply means, the highest frequency the chip will perform at under full loading. When under light loading, the chip can actually run faster for brief periods of time to perform single threaded tasks more quickly. CPU-Z should show the chip speed going both up and down. With CPU-Z open and visible, you should try launching a few applications and using them. You should see the CPU speed going up and down with the workload.

Well, I was wondering why I was getting no better performance then I was with my old CPU ( AMD 8100 8 Core 2.8Ghz) and this seems to be the issue. Here is the speed with these programs open: Counter Strike:Global Offensive, Google Chrome, Skype, Spotify, Steam, PVP.net Client, CPU-Z, and Sony Vegas Pro 12.0. The speeds are just not changing as described. Picture link http://gyazo.com/05f8fdc0f6d6380efc0a9fc90bdd2fef

 

[josherino]

I then closed Counter Strike and opened Arma 3, Origin, and Photoshop and still nothing changing. The only way at all I saw the Core Speeds changing were from 2912.30 MHz to 2912.82 MHz Constantly changing back and forth from those 2 speeds.

 

[slyu9213]

One thing you should try is to go to your power options in Windows and select the High-Performance option. That will set your CPU to stay at the highest clock possible on all cores. If it still stays at 2.9GHz most of the time you're going to have to check your BIOS.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

The CPU should be clocked correctly and automatically in BIOS during the boot process. This could easily be the result of somebody changing the BIOS to not auto detect the correct CPU speed but instead forced a manual setting.

Setting Windows to use the High Performance power profile can cause the loss of power saving features, so it isn't recommended to run the High Performance profile unless you have a good reason to. After trouble-shooting, I recommend switching back to the Balanced power profile to reduce heat generation and power consumption, and possibly reduce fan noise.

Something else to consider is that the 8100 and 8320 are two different architecture revisions and a BIOS update may be necessary to get full or proper functionality of your new CPU. You will need to know the make / model of motherboard and the motherboard's revision to check whether a BIOS update exists.

 

[slyu9213]

The CPU should be clocked correctly and automatically in BIOS during the boot process. This could easily be the result of somebody changing the BIOS to not auto detect the correct CPU speed but instead forced a manual setting.

Setting Windows to use the High Performance power profile can cause the loss of power saving features, so it isn't recommended to run the High Performance profile unless you have a good reason to. After trouble-shooting, I recommend switching back to the Balanced power profile to reduce heat generation and power consumption, and possibly reduce fan noise.

Yeah I only suggested that to the OP to see if there was an odd reason (physical) that kept the CPU from going to it's normal stock speeds. Should have told OP to turn it back I guess.

 

[josherino]

The CPU should be clocked correctly and automatically in BIOS during the boot process. This could easily be the result of somebody changing the BIOS to not auto detect the correct CPU speed but instead forced a manual setting.

Setting Windows to use the High Performance power profile can cause the loss of power saving features, so it isn't recommended to run the High Performance profile unless you have a good reason to. After trouble-shooting, I recommend switching back to the Balanced power profile to reduce heat generation and power consumption, and possibly reduce fan noise.

Something else to consider is that the 8100 and 8320 are two different architecture revisions and a BIOS update may be necessary to get full or proper functionality of your new CPU. You will need to know the make / model of motherboard and the motherboard's revision to check whether a BIOS update exists.

Ok my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2. I don't know what BIOS update is but you are welcome to guide me through it

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/2/4643/8233_big.jpg

If you look on the top left corner of the picture, you will see a tiny, silk screened "Rev:1.2"

That is the only model of your motherboard that actually lists support for the 8320 CPU, but at that, it only lists support for the 8320-E which happens to be a special, lower-power version. All models seem to have had updated CPU support as a function of their BIOS updates. You will want to look carefully at your motherboard, in the same location as on the picture I provided a link to, and determine which revision you have. Next you will want to select the proper revision on the Gigabyte website here:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4643#ov

The versions are shown as small links, to the right of the make / model of motherboard.

Click Support & Downloads, then from the download type choose BIOS.

Even if your motherboard doesn't officially support your CPU, you may be able to use it just fine, but you run the risk of damaging the power feed if you run the system at 100% load for an extended period of time. What I noticed while looking through the CPU support list for that board is that the supported CPUs only go up to 95 watts. Your 8320, unless it is an -E model, is a 125 watt model.

After choosing the BIOS download location, you should have a self-extracting file that will contain the new BIOS. The recommended method would be to have a FAT-32 formatted USB memory stick attached to the computer, copy the contents of the downloaded file to the memory stick after you have run it and they have been extracted, and then reboot.

During the boot process, enter BIOS and run Gigabytes Q-Flash utility. Provided your BIOS correctly identifies the USB memory stick, you should be able to load and flash the new BIOS contained on the memory stick.

 

[slyu9213]

Oops, forgot to check all Rev versions. Well maybe that's why the motherboard actually boots with the 8320 as the lower TDP version is supported. But this all depends on which Rev. version the OP has doesn't it?

 

[mdocod]

Installing a 125W CPU on a board that only supports 95W CPUs will typically result in erratic performance that is overall even worse than just running a properly supported CPU.

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There may be nothing you can do to get normal operation from your 8320 on that board, as it very likely has self-preservation features that prevent 125W CPUs from ever entering their highest power state.