SmoulderingCircuits
New member
I first purchased mine only a month or two after release, so i may have been fortunate enough to scoop an equivilant 1100t before the high end 1090s got cranked up to 3.3Ghz stock and rebranded, but none the less this is a 1090 i have been working with.
If you're looking to overclock one of these, i strongly advise you get yourself an NH-D14 like i used for my testing, or equivilant, top of the line heatsink/ watercooling soloution. Why? Because you really will be left wishing you had spent the extra few quid and done with it to gain the most from this chip, or forever hold your silence.
Another important point to make is a good overclocking board is vital to acheiving optimal results.
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My rig at time of testing:
- Phenom II X6 1090t
- Noctua NH-D14 & NT-H1
- 3x Coolermaster Excalibur case fans; 1x rear 2x roof @max 85.6cfm
- Asus Crosshair Formula IV
- 1x 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
- XFX 5770 1GB @stock 850Mhz/ 1200Mhz
- OCZ Fatal1ty 750w
- Samsung 450GB SATA II HDD 7200rpm
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Ambient temps never exceeded 25*c and were more often than not only hovering above 20*c
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Now first things first, enter your BIOS and Disable the CPU spread spectrum and if you intend to overclock everything, just disable all spread spectrums (in this case the only other spread spectrum was that of the pcie). Spread spectrums are only useful if you want to hide critical information from sophisticated hackers reading EMI signatures, or if you have EMI sensitive equipment nearby. If you are wondering will this cause interferance with your audio, i haven't experienced a single flicker, so nothing to worry about.
However, DO NOT disable load line calibration, neither for the northbridge, CPU or anything else. Doing so will likely cause otherwise stable overclocks to become malnourished and cut out.
Only overclock one item at a time to isolate instabilities.
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Most overclockers will first find the maximum bus frequency of their cpu before overclocking, but personally, i see this as a total waste of time as the second you up the multiplier you will kill the overclock within minutes. Rather than do your overclock upside down, go head first into the territory you know to be safe, namely, sub 4Ghz. The 1090t comes with a turbo core of 3.6Ghz, can jump up to 1.45v to maintain that, and uses a 18x multiplier to get there. These are all golden figures that are almost gauranteed to work, within reason, obviously. So the first overclock to attempt is about 3.6Ghz. Try to rely more on the bus frequency to give you this value, with only a small increase in the multi, as AMD CPUs have an apetite for base frequency. Your vcore shouldn't exceed 1.45v by any means. Somewhere around 1.42v should keep this stable like water off a duck's back, provided you haven't got a miserably performing 1090 - the whole purpose of this starting overclock is to determine just that, so if this overclock isn't working out no matter what you try, sorry for you, but you won't be taking that chip anywhere further than here. If you can't get higher than 3.6Ghz, stay at that frequency, the last thing you want is a very dead, very expensive green square on your hands. But 99% of 1090s will easily go past this.
Proceed to overclock in 200Mhz steps until you hit 4Ghz (still leaning towards bus more than multiplier), and ofcourse, always keeping an eye on temps. 55*c should be your absoloute limit, with 50*c signaling it's time to think about achieving your final clock. Once you have reached 4Ghz you should be nearing ever closer to 1.5v, but don't actually set your voltage to that, load line calibration will sort out a surplus voltage of about 0.2 for you left to it's own devices.
For my stability tests i used Cinebench 11.5, with 5 consecutive runs signaling potential stability, and 10 ~ 20 near enough definite stability. If your system locks up here, revert to the last stable clock and don't dare venture anywhere further than it, to avoid unneccessary risks. Once your load line calibration is giving a Vcore reading higher than 1.5v it's another sure sign to start backing off.
If you have reached 4Ghz with no problems and temps have not gone past ~46*c, you're ready to soldier on. Take the rest of your overclock in 100Mhz steps, this time switching between a base increase in 5Mhz blocks and 0.5 multiplier increases until you eventually have either maxed your voltage or have gone till you could go no more and blue screened. Once you bluescreen/ lock up, retreat back the classic 100Mhz/ your last combination, and use this hereafter.
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You're not done yet! Time for the northbridge!
Double check you're CPU spread spectrum is set to disabled, or it will certainly wreak havoc on your stabilty. The first two clocks have almost failsafe stability, but once you venture past 2.5Ghz (assuming you have a 2Ghz default northbridge like i did on the Crosshair IV), this is very uncharted land. Your clock may be stable at anything as high as ~2950Mhz one session, then the system will fail to boot the next. If this happens to you, change the bios as soon as you can upon next POST to last stable clocks. If your system fails to even power on, try flicking off the power supply, unplugging the kettle lead, then plug back in and switch on again and attempt another power on. If the system still doesn't boot, try resetting CMOS (i never had to do this). If the system is having none of that, something's died. The northbridge prefers being left well below thermal cut off (and i mean well below), and tends to be more stable with less volts funnily enough (don't exceed 1.3v or else the overclock is almost undoubtedly doomed.
I was lul'd into believing 2900Mhz to be stable despite a minor hiccup, but system failed to boot once so went back down to 2700Mhz, which was fine then cut out the sytem after a couple hours AvP gameplay. I am now running just below 2500Mhz and all seems well, but i definately miss the snappiness of post-2500Mhz frequencies (lightning quick!). I never required a voltage above 1.3v even when attempting 3100Mhz (bluescreen'd).
It's in overclocking sessions such as these you learn to no longer care about bluescreening.
I advise you keep the final CPU and NB clocks for a week or so afterwards to make sure of their stability, incase you wrongly assume that new videocard you ordered is faulty and it is infact your overclocking impairing it (always revert to defaults when checking new hardware functions correctly).
Don't meddle with pcie frequency unless you are certain of the entire rig being in good working order. Once you do come to this 100 ~ 105Mhz is near enough always going to be stable. 105 ~ 110Mhz slight risk of instabilties. 110 ~ 120Mhz are safe but pot luck stability. 120Mhz+ is no go, EVER!
---
For me, i managed a stable overclock of 4.294Ghz (226Mhz x19) or 4.3Ghz+ when fluctuation is taken into account @1.481v in the bios but this always reads 1.49 or 1.50v in windows via Asus PC Probe II. 4.4Ghz always bluescreen'd or locked up soon as i ran cinebench. I tryed with 226Mhz x19.5 and 231Mhz x19, both at a higher voltage and the same voltage, all with no success. I thought best to leave things where they are definately sound than place the speed at about 4.35Ghz then get random shut downs (these are very annoying when gaming, make sure if your system crashes while testing you won't mind losing your work). The northbridge is currently stable @2486Mhz @1.243v. I was hoping it to stay stable at 2700 or 2900 but 2400 will have to do, nothing can do about it.
As for the ram, i would have to overclock to 4.75Ghz before i can get the bus high enough for a clean 1333Mhz. Instead i lowered the frequency from the what would have been 1500Mhz down to 1200Mhz, as i don't want to risk killing the stick, although if i read otherwise i may give it a shot.
AFAIK Thuban processors cannot utilise greater than 1333Mhz ram.
---
Update: i am now running NB/ CPU and HT link at 2700Mhz again. This time i have set the HT link frequency and voltage manually, as well as being more generous with the voltage. The clock was stable for 20 runs of cinebench, running in two blocks of ten consecutive runs.
I did push for 2900Mhz which was stable for 12 runs, then cinbench error'd and so i went back in and tryed again, thinking it was my hard drive causing the problem, ran another session and got a bluescreen. Still not stable no matter what i try. It's fine for 2D stuff and very nice if i might say so myself, but unfortunately you don't want something that's inevitably going to die on you while gaming.
---
Any questions, feel free to ask, but i will more than likely edit the origional post to answer your queries, save people trawling through multiple pages
If you're looking to overclock one of these, i strongly advise you get yourself an NH-D14 like i used for my testing, or equivilant, top of the line heatsink/ watercooling soloution. Why? Because you really will be left wishing you had spent the extra few quid and done with it to gain the most from this chip, or forever hold your silence.
Another important point to make is a good overclocking board is vital to acheiving optimal results.
---
My rig at time of testing:
- Phenom II X6 1090t
- Noctua NH-D14 & NT-H1
- 3x Coolermaster Excalibur case fans; 1x rear 2x roof @max 85.6cfm
- Asus Crosshair Formula IV
- 1x 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
- XFX 5770 1GB @stock 850Mhz/ 1200Mhz
- OCZ Fatal1ty 750w
- Samsung 450GB SATA II HDD 7200rpm
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Ambient temps never exceeded 25*c and were more often than not only hovering above 20*c
---
Now first things first, enter your BIOS and Disable the CPU spread spectrum and if you intend to overclock everything, just disable all spread spectrums (in this case the only other spread spectrum was that of the pcie). Spread spectrums are only useful if you want to hide critical information from sophisticated hackers reading EMI signatures, or if you have EMI sensitive equipment nearby. If you are wondering will this cause interferance with your audio, i haven't experienced a single flicker, so nothing to worry about.
However, DO NOT disable load line calibration, neither for the northbridge, CPU or anything else. Doing so will likely cause otherwise stable overclocks to become malnourished and cut out.
Only overclock one item at a time to isolate instabilities.
---
Most overclockers will first find the maximum bus frequency of their cpu before overclocking, but personally, i see this as a total waste of time as the second you up the multiplier you will kill the overclock within minutes. Rather than do your overclock upside down, go head first into the territory you know to be safe, namely, sub 4Ghz. The 1090t comes with a turbo core of 3.6Ghz, can jump up to 1.45v to maintain that, and uses a 18x multiplier to get there. These are all golden figures that are almost gauranteed to work, within reason, obviously. So the first overclock to attempt is about 3.6Ghz. Try to rely more on the bus frequency to give you this value, with only a small increase in the multi, as AMD CPUs have an apetite for base frequency. Your vcore shouldn't exceed 1.45v by any means. Somewhere around 1.42v should keep this stable like water off a duck's back, provided you haven't got a miserably performing 1090 - the whole purpose of this starting overclock is to determine just that, so if this overclock isn't working out no matter what you try, sorry for you, but you won't be taking that chip anywhere further than here. If you can't get higher than 3.6Ghz, stay at that frequency, the last thing you want is a very dead, very expensive green square on your hands. But 99% of 1090s will easily go past this.
Proceed to overclock in 200Mhz steps until you hit 4Ghz (still leaning towards bus more than multiplier), and ofcourse, always keeping an eye on temps. 55*c should be your absoloute limit, with 50*c signaling it's time to think about achieving your final clock. Once you have reached 4Ghz you should be nearing ever closer to 1.5v, but don't actually set your voltage to that, load line calibration will sort out a surplus voltage of about 0.2 for you left to it's own devices.
For my stability tests i used Cinebench 11.5, with 5 consecutive runs signaling potential stability, and 10 ~ 20 near enough definite stability. If your system locks up here, revert to the last stable clock and don't dare venture anywhere further than it, to avoid unneccessary risks. Once your load line calibration is giving a Vcore reading higher than 1.5v it's another sure sign to start backing off.
If you have reached 4Ghz with no problems and temps have not gone past ~46*c, you're ready to soldier on. Take the rest of your overclock in 100Mhz steps, this time switching between a base increase in 5Mhz blocks and 0.5 multiplier increases until you eventually have either maxed your voltage or have gone till you could go no more and blue screened. Once you bluescreen/ lock up, retreat back the classic 100Mhz/ your last combination, and use this hereafter.
---
You're not done yet! Time for the northbridge!
Double check you're CPU spread spectrum is set to disabled, or it will certainly wreak havoc on your stabilty. The first two clocks have almost failsafe stability, but once you venture past 2.5Ghz (assuming you have a 2Ghz default northbridge like i did on the Crosshair IV), this is very uncharted land. Your clock may be stable at anything as high as ~2950Mhz one session, then the system will fail to boot the next. If this happens to you, change the bios as soon as you can upon next POST to last stable clocks. If your system fails to even power on, try flicking off the power supply, unplugging the kettle lead, then plug back in and switch on again and attempt another power on. If the system still doesn't boot, try resetting CMOS (i never had to do this). If the system is having none of that, something's died. The northbridge prefers being left well below thermal cut off (and i mean well below), and tends to be more stable with less volts funnily enough (don't exceed 1.3v or else the overclock is almost undoubtedly doomed.
I was lul'd into believing 2900Mhz to be stable despite a minor hiccup, but system failed to boot once so went back down to 2700Mhz, which was fine then cut out the sytem after a couple hours AvP gameplay. I am now running just below 2500Mhz and all seems well, but i definately miss the snappiness of post-2500Mhz frequencies (lightning quick!). I never required a voltage above 1.3v even when attempting 3100Mhz (bluescreen'd).
It's in overclocking sessions such as these you learn to no longer care about bluescreening.
I advise you keep the final CPU and NB clocks for a week or so afterwards to make sure of their stability, incase you wrongly assume that new videocard you ordered is faulty and it is infact your overclocking impairing it (always revert to defaults when checking new hardware functions correctly).
Don't meddle with pcie frequency unless you are certain of the entire rig being in good working order. Once you do come to this 100 ~ 105Mhz is near enough always going to be stable. 105 ~ 110Mhz slight risk of instabilties. 110 ~ 120Mhz are safe but pot luck stability. 120Mhz+ is no go, EVER!
---
For me, i managed a stable overclock of 4.294Ghz (226Mhz x19) or 4.3Ghz+ when fluctuation is taken into account @1.481v in the bios but this always reads 1.49 or 1.50v in windows via Asus PC Probe II. 4.4Ghz always bluescreen'd or locked up soon as i ran cinebench. I tryed with 226Mhz x19.5 and 231Mhz x19, both at a higher voltage and the same voltage, all with no success. I thought best to leave things where they are definately sound than place the speed at about 4.35Ghz then get random shut downs (these are very annoying when gaming, make sure if your system crashes while testing you won't mind losing your work). The northbridge is currently stable @2486Mhz @1.243v. I was hoping it to stay stable at 2700 or 2900 but 2400 will have to do, nothing can do about it.
As for the ram, i would have to overclock to 4.75Ghz before i can get the bus high enough for a clean 1333Mhz. Instead i lowered the frequency from the what would have been 1500Mhz down to 1200Mhz, as i don't want to risk killing the stick, although if i read otherwise i may give it a shot.
AFAIK Thuban processors cannot utilise greater than 1333Mhz ram.
---
Update: i am now running NB/ CPU and HT link at 2700Mhz again. This time i have set the HT link frequency and voltage manually, as well as being more generous with the voltage. The clock was stable for 20 runs of cinebench, running in two blocks of ten consecutive runs.
I did push for 2900Mhz which was stable for 12 runs, then cinbench error'd and so i went back in and tryed again, thinking it was my hard drive causing the problem, ran another session and got a bluescreen. Still not stable no matter what i try. It's fine for 2D stuff and very nice if i might say so myself, but unfortunately you don't want something that's inevitably going to die on you while gaming.
---
Any questions, feel free to ask, but i will more than likely edit the origional post to answer your queries, save people trawling through multiple pages
