Question Asrock 970M Pro 3 can't overclock/underclock ?

[justine25]

Hi guys, just want to share my experience on this board..

Specs:

AMD FX4100 and FX8120
Asrock 970m Pro 3
ID Cooling frostflow 120l
Coolermaster MWE 550w White

I have a AMD FX 4100 & FX 8120 procie,
Now when i use my FX4100 with my Asrock 970m Pro 3, i don't experience any problem, now i upgrade my procie to FX 8120 and try to run some games, i experience some FPS drop whenever my cpu temp goes to 60+ degrees, i know this is CPU throttle, my idle temp is playing at 40+ to 50+ degrees and when playing games it will went up to 60+ degrees, when ti comes to my FX4100 my idle temp is 22 to 28 degrees only, playing games it will go up to 40+ degrees, now i want to underclock my FX 8120 to lower power consumtion, but sadly my board won't let me overclock or underclock my cpu whenever i change the settings in BIOS at first when it restart it will let me boot my windows, but when i shut it down and turn on again my pc it wont let me go to windows, it freezes all the time in windows 10 logo, please help me.

 

[Lutfij]

Which BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Speaking of motherboard's,

ASRock > 970M Pro3

Support for Socket AM3+ / AM3 Processors; Solid Capacitor design; Supports Dual Channel DDR3 2400+(OC); 2 PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 PCI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 6 SATA3; 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 (2 Front, 2 Rear), 10 USB 2.0 (4 Front, 6 Rear); 1 TPM Header, 1 IR...

www.asrock.com

did you read what the note in asterisk
* For cooling the CPU and its surrounding components, please install a CPU cooler with a top-down blowing design.
signifies?

What is the make and model of your case? Number of fans in your case and the orientation of said fans in your case?

 

[justine25]

Which BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Speaking of motherboard's,

ASRock > 970M Pro3

Support for Socket AM3+ / AM3 Processors; Solid Capacitor design; Supports Dual Channel DDR3 2400+(OC); 2 PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 PCI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 6 SATA3; 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 (2 Front, 2 Rear), 10 USB 2.0 (4 Front, 6 Rear); 1 TPM Header, 1 IR...

www.asrock.com

did you read what the note in asterisk
* For cooling the CPU and its surrounding components, please install a CPU cooler with a top-down blowing design.
signifies?

What is the make and model of your case? Number of fans in your case and the orientation of said fans in your case?

Hello sir, this is the additional details..

Bios version: 1.60 the latest one.

Case: Inplay Meteor 03
Fans: 6 fans G Storm Phantom w/control hub ARGB..

How about my other concern, regarding overclock/underclock.. why it's not proceeding into the windows, it's always freeze in windows 10 logo, Thank you very much.

 

[Karadjgne]

Just want to start with you are incorrect about temps from the get-go. The FX series did not have thermal couplings in the cores to be able to actually read core temps, 'cpu temps' as such. Only the motherboard had the ability to read temps, where the thermal couplings were underneath and surroubding the socket. Package temp is the temp read on the surface of the IHS, no way to read that either.

The only accurate(ish) way to read 'temps' on an FX is by using AMD Overdrive using Thermal Margins, a complex algorithm combining core voltages, core amounts, core usage, current loads etc to give a 'guesstimate' of how much heat is in the cpu and how much heat the cpu has left. It's not a temp reading as such but a variable range. It's like someone asking you the temp outside and your answer is 'it's freakin hot' or 'it's chilly'.

The ASRock 970m Pro3 was built for 95w cpus, the components on it are for 95w cpus. The bios was later amended to include 125w cpus, but they do not function above stock limits very well at all. The FX-4100 is a 95w cpu, the FX-8120 is a 125w cpu. In games or apps that don't use more than 4 threads, the 4100 performance is going to easily surpass that of the 8120, because the power used by those cores is going to be much less, and within better tolerances of the board, allowing for better boosts and/or OC.

That includes stability.

 

[justine25]

Just want to start with you are incorrect about temps from the get-go. The FX series did not have thermal couplings in the cores to be able to actually read core temps, 'cpu temps' as such. Only the motherboard had the ability to read temps, where the thermal couplings were underneath and surroubding the socket. Package temp is the temp read on the surface of the IHS, no way to read that either.

The only accurate(ish) way to read 'temps' on an FX is by using AMD Overdrive using Thermal Margins, a complex algorithm combining core voltages, core amounts, core usage, current loads etc to give a 'guesstimate' of how much heat is in the cpu and how much heat the cpu has left. It's not a temp reading as such but a variable range. It's like someone asking you the temp outside and your answer is 'it's freakin hot' or 'it's chilly'.

The ASRock 970m Pro3 was built for 95w cpus, the components on it are for 95w cpus. The bios was later amended to include 125w cpus, but they do not function above stock limits very well at all. The FX-4100 is a 95w cpu, the FX-8120 is a 125w cpu. In games or apps that don't use more than 4 threads, the 4100 performance is going to easily surpass that of the 8120, because the power used by those cores is going to be much less, and within better tolerances of the board, allowing for better boosts and/or OC.

That includes stability.

Thank you very much for that informative explanation sir, i really appreciate it.

By the way to give you an update, i use again my FX 8120 and use AMD Overdrive to undervolt my procie i set it to 1.25v and now i can use my FX 8120 with no CPU throttle at all while playing games, my temps are good now.

 

[Karadjgne]

Should get to know thermal margins. Your cpu has a max temp of 63° (all FX are 63°) before it throttles, that was measured by amd engineers using speciality built engineering samples. As such, you cannot measure that accurately as the cpu has no internal heat sensors.

Thermal margins look like they work backwards, but in reality the number represents an amount before reaching that 63°. So a TM of 40 is great, 30 is ok, 20 is seeing a decent load, 10 and you are getting hot, 0 = edge of throttle/damage to the cpu. The exact number isn't important, what is important is the range and that changes. So a 10 or 9 or 6 is essentially the same thing, almost no thermal room left, whereas a 40 or 30 or even a 25 simply means plenty of thermal room left.

Thinking, comparing, using temps as a °C like an intel doesn't work with the FX, not if you want it to last and stay out of throttle.