3870k ~preliminary overclocking

[ctsoth]

Hello, I haven't finished screwing around with the processor, but I thought I would post the numbers for my 3870k since I'm sure some people out there are interested. Please, if you also have the chip, chime in with your results.

CPU - 3.5ghz @ 1.464v, I can get it to run faster, but it isn't 100% stable over 3.5ghz. Also, voltage requirements jump pretty drastically pretty fast.

GPU - 847mhz, I just did the gpu clock tonight, I might play with voltages and see if I can get it to go any faster.

I'm less than impressed with the CPU clock, I was hoping for better, though the GPU clock is a 41% improvement over stock frequency, not bad at all. BCLK hasn't been touched, only multiplier adjusted.

Memory tested via prime and memtest, core stability tested via overnight prime, gpu tested ~35m occt.

Christopher

 

[Soulkeeper]

I've got my 3rd FM1 motherboard coming in tomarrow.

The first two were mini-itx and ~3.2GHz was as high as I could go
Not to mention the fact that the setting in ASrock's bios for nb/gpu voltage does not work, and asrock doesn't seem to care. 1.14v is forced resulting in me not being able to run the gpu over stock at all.

I'll post back when I get the gigabyte ud2h matx board
I won't do any massive overclocking, but 3.4GHz should be a reasonable start
I plan to keep the vcore under 1.4v if possible

 

[church473]

I only just installed my 3870K in a Gigabyte A75M-S2V. Very new to overclocking (read: never done it before) so I am not sure what I need to be messing around with in the bios. I tried to change the ram speed to 1600MHz but it just wouldn't have it and wouldn't boot up. Not even sure if I will be able to overclock :/

 

[mattyc]

I will pipe in here. I am quite a hardcore overclocker and have been for over 17 years but am struggling with mine also. I haven't had amd for quite a few years but have read up and its not having any of it! I can get stable on auto volt at 3.4 with gpu set to turbo but only at ram speed of 1333. I have some corsair ram 1600 7-7-7-20 but cannot get it to boot up into windows at this or even if I loosen timings. Have up'd all voltages to 1.4 and put DDR volt to 1.7 and still won't boot to windows. I know the ram is OK as tested on another system. Also tried some gskill 2133 4gb 1 stick and same problem with this?
Just thinking I need to try with gpu set to standard not turbo.
I have Asus f1a75 itx deluxe motherboard.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Soulkeeper]

I only just installed my 3870K in a Gigabyte A75M-S2V. Very new to overclocking (read: never done it before) so I am not sure what I need to be messing around with in the bios. I tried to change the ram speed to 1600MHz but it just wouldn't have it and wouldn't boot up. Not even sure if I will be able to overclock :/

Just focus on getting everything 100% stable first
verify that your ram timings are correct, this can be the trickiest part

do some memtest86+ runs, and load the cpu/gpu with whatever you like (ie: game or benchmarks)
once your reach a stable point you can start moving up slowly from there
Try to only change 1 setting at a time so you rule out being completely at a loss when something isn't stable. Raise voltages last and only when needed.

good luck and welcome to the forums

 

[Soulkeeper]

I will pipe in here. I am quite a hardcore overclocker and have been for over 17 years but am struggling with mine also. I haven't had amd for quite a few years but have read up and its not having any of it! I can get stable on auto volt at 3.4 with gpu set to turbo but only at ram speed of 1333. I have some corsair ram 1600 7-7-7-20 but cannot get it to boot up into windows at this or even if I loosen timings. Have up'd all voltages to 1.4 and put DDR volt to 1.7 and still won't boot to windows. I know the ram is OK as tested on another system. Also tried some gskill 2133 4gb 1 stick and same problem with this?
Just thinking I need to try with gpu set to standard not turbo.
I have Asus f1a75 itx deluxe motherboard.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Asus f1a75 itx <-- this could be your problem (I own that mb, but only tried a 3850 in it)
all the ITX fm1 motherboards lack a bclk divider for 133MHz
they are only good for maybe 5MHz overclock on the bclk, it's best to leave it at 100
if you overclock the bclk it'll overclock the sata, usb, sound, etc. and your system will not boot an OS
dunno if you were changing the bclk ?

also 7-7-7-20 are pretty aggressive timings, what vdimm are you using ? what subtimings ?

 

[church473]

Just focus on getting everything 100% stable first
verify that your ram timings are correct, this can be the trickiest part

do some memtest86+ runs, and load the cpu/gpu with whatever you like (ie: game or benchmarks)
once your reach a stable point you can start moving up slowly from there
Try to only change 1 setting at a time so you rule out being completely at a loss when something isn't stable. Raise voltages last and only when needed.

good luck and welcome to the forums

Thanks,
Will give it all a try tonight and see how far I can go with it. I realised that I need to update the bios on the mobo so I will try to do that first and then see what settings I can change. So far I am liking the A8. Havent tried any games yet though. Only got as far as installing W7 last night. perhaps the bios was the reason why I couldn't even get the ram speed up to 1600.

 

[Soulkeeper]

timings I used on my mushkin 2133 4gb sticks:

9-10-9-27 1t
36 trc row cycle time
14 wrt write recovery
160 ref ct cycle time
5 RRD read to read delay
6 RTP read to pre
6 WRD write to read
28 tfaw four active window
1866 speed /w 1.5v

I did run 1600 speeds with slightly tighter timings, but can't recall them
pretty sure 1600 speed with 1.35v is likely to work with the 2133 timings
It took me a lot of headaches to finally experiment and settle on those timings

 

[gbeirn]

I can chime in that this had been the most frustrating overclock ever.

I have a ASUS F1A75 Deluxe (Mini-itx) and G-Skill 2133MHz RAM.

800MHz on the GPU is fine at stock voltages, 3.2GHz on the CPU too. To run my RAM at 1866MHz I have to set it to 11-11-11-30 @ 1.65V. anything lower and I get random program crashes and system reboots.

Can't seem to get a BCLK over 102MHz with the RAM at 1866 divider (hoping to increase bandwidth to the APU).

Took me days to figure out the right RAM timings that would not crash the PC. Now that that is done I can tweak the CPU and APU multiplier. Looks like for me at least BLCK overclocking (and RAM) is out of the question.

 

[mattyc]

Gbeirn.
You have the same board as me, to get your memory at that speed, what are your voltages on apu, CPU, and north bridge or are they all on auto? Also, is your CPU over clock set to auto or manual and then finally, is the gpu set to auto, turbo, extreme or auto?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[ctsoth]

All of my voltages are stock/auto except for cpu. Make sure you verify your ram timings, I was having a lot of stability problems until I noticed the timings in bios were totally wrong.

 

[gbeirn]

Gbeirn.
You have the same board as me, to get your memory at that speed, what are your voltages on apu, CPU, and north bridge or are they all on auto? Also, is your CPU over clock set to auto or manual and then finally, is the gpu set to auto, turbo, extreme or auto?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

If you update to the latest BIOS you can manually select the APU speed in MHz. I have that set to 800MHz, all voltages are set to auto except RAM which I had to use 1.65V. The CPU I have set to manual with a multiplier of 32.

Edit: yes make sure to check RAM timings, that has given me the most problems.

 

[church473]

For some strange reason, nothing I do changes any settings. I tried setting just the ram speed form x6.3 to x8 (I think) so it would be 1600MHz and it didn't even load Windows. Then tried to keep manual voltage for the ram and it booted up into Windows but CPU-Z shows 1333MHz. not sure whats up with it

So I now just tried the multiplier and changed from x100 to x110 and the computer booted up but I couldnt get the display to work at the correct resolution at all. Any ideas?

 

[Kristijonas]

ctsoth, what motherboard do you have?

Everyone, please mention your motherboard models and BIOS versions so there would be no confusion

Also, does anyone know any good guides for 3870 overclocking? I'm pretty new to this.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I love this image for visualizing A75/llano overclocking (note image may be down as I reboot my webserver)

Also I suggest people keep the GPU/NB clocks at stock until they settle on the desired cpu/mem overclock
usually the GPU/NB voltages are low also, not need to pump 1.3+ v thru them (1.15-1.25v seems like a good range)

 

[grimpr]

Graphical and beautiful.

 

[ctsoth]

Asus F1A75-m pro/csm, bios version latest, 0902

I'll try a 133 bclk and see what kind of difference that makes, I wouldn't mind the extra bandwidth for gaming and such. Plays skyrim at max settings @ 1080p.

 

[antisocialmunky]

Llano is unstable above 125 BLCK.

 

[Kristijonas]

Llano is unstable above 125 BLCK.

Depends on the chip, motherboard, possibly other factors.

 

[Lepton87]

I hate the name of that processor, when I see it I always confuse it with Ivybridge. I thought it was actually a thread about Ivybridge.

 

[Kristijonas]

Lepton I wish you'd hate useless posts too.
Oh wait...

 

[Soulkeeper]

I just got my A75M-UD2H setup

sitting in front of two running llano systems now

 

[church473]

Finally cracked the ram speed. I had to change the speed to 1600mhz and also change the timings and voltage manually. Auto timings were 11-11-11-34 or something silly like that so I dropped them to 9-9-9-24. The voltage is set to 1.5V too. Works well now. Might try the CPU/GPU overclock.

So far liking the A8. Runs Battlefield in medium settings. (on high it gets a bit choppy - by the way could anyone tell me how to get the frame rate showing while playing the game?). Also plays nicely with Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Got a GA-A75M-S2V motherboard, 8GB corsair ram and a 60gb agility 3

 

[Soulkeeper]

i'm playing oilrush with relatively high detail/resolution
I think it is cpu limited more than gpu (bandwidth likely)

these settings are 100% stable 1hr memtest, and 2hrs gaming
gonna try for my cpu speed now

 

[Kristijonas]

Why only 3.2ghz? I read it should overclock to 3.5-3.8 stable. Also where are gpu clock settings? Also have you updated BIOS version?