Crosshair IV formula 1100T OC

[Master&Puppet]

Hi guys & girls,

I've been playing with OC software for some time but in the last two weeks I have been making inroads into playing with the bios and as of 4 days ago I'm no longer limited by temps thanks to a new case and watercooling. I have a new limitation, however, which is my rather rudimentary knowledge of how this all works. The processes and tools that I've used this far have been largely learnt from this site, so thanks to all of you for that! However I'm sure there's more to be learnt.

I should say before I ramble on that I'm not aiming for the highest MHz score as such but the best performance of the PC on the whole - that may or may not affect any advice given but in my experience so far the highest CPU freq hasn't always yielded the best benchmark...

My rig in my sig but I'm using mobo BIOS v1102 (I've been unsuccessful flashing it but that's another topic) with Prime, HW monitor, AMD Overdrive, AMD fusion.

My current process has been to set the CPU voltage to the OEM's safe upper limit (1.475V) and try different combinations of CPU bus and multiplier, test with Prime and measure performance using Overdrive's benchmarking (taking an average over multiple tests using fusions offline high performance profile). This has netted me a current OC of 3978MHz (17 x 234) @ 1.475 apparently stable having run Prime in blend for 6 hours (temps all below 50C). Before I resign myself to that as maximum, attempt to reduce voltage and run a 24hr test I have some questions if you wouldn't mind:

A. Setting RAM. I've read that faster DRAM freq doesn't necessarily mean better performance so should I have set the tuner to DOCP and the freq to it's lowest (or another value) before OCing the CPU? I've also read in different forums and guides that RAM should be set beforehand; others don't mention it at all and just crack on.

B. The use of auto settings in BIOS in general. There are some that are given and need to be on manual but there are loads of options in the extreme tweaker, particularly voltage related, and I suppose I'm asking - does auto do a bad job of them and if so which ones are the options to be in control of? I'm guessing that there's a point of diminishing returns (MHz added per hour of effort) somewhere here.

I'm particularly interested in RAM & DRAM freq (as already mentioned), NB controls, HT link and PCIE freq (that one is probably in the wrong forum though). Otherwise I have LLCs enabled, spread spectrums & turbo core disabled and have already been playing with CPU bus, multiplier and CPU V as mentioned.

C. Lastly (phew) is there any accepted method, or order in which to adjust things in?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer, I don't expect any individual to answer all the questions in one sitting; it makes sense in my head to put it all in one place...

M&P

 

[dugdiamond]

what motherboard are you using?

 

[Master&Puppet]

Hi mate,

ASUS Crosshair IV Formula bios 1102

Rig should be listed in my sig.

M&P

 

[SPS]

what motherboard are you using?

It's in the title lmao

 

[dugdiamond]

lol

http://forum.overclock3d.net/index....inners-guide-to-ocing-the-amd-t-series-chips/

 

[Master&Puppet]

lol

http://forum.overclock3d.net/index....inners-guide-to-ocing-the-amd-t-series-chips/

Thanks for the link, that was a useful read. The most interesting part for me was the voltage and performance expectancies. I've limited myself to the OEM safe limit of 1.475 which according to that table would give up to ~4GHz, which is where I am. I'm guessing that's the choke.

The FSB and HT link speed - I've always had this on auto (which presumably just keeps them 10x apart?). Seems like a bit of a redundant option if that's the case...why have all the options that aren't 10x apart?

On another note, I did some RAM experimenting:

With my system OC'd to 234 x 17 (3978) I benchmarked (AMD Overdrive average and FurMark) with different DRAM freqs.

@ 936 Overdrive average = 7331 & FurMark 1868

@ 1560 Overdrive average = 7323 & FurMark 1865.

@ 1872 system didn't boot.

So basically it made no difference. I guess that suggests that the RAM isn't a bottleneck for those tests. Maybe I picked the wrong tests

FurMark was just for fun anyway, didn't think it would be affected...

 

[dugdiamond]

you should NOT really need to touch your memory, unless

1. it is to get the manufacturers timings
   
2. the multiplier has taken the ram too far over their safe operating speed
   
3. you are benching them
   

as a rule i, personally, always buy/use memory that is faster than my rig can handle. that way i have alot of headroom (and if i upgrade, there is one less item to worry about)

clicking on people's CPU-Z banner link in their sigs, can also give subtle hints, as to where you need to go

---

your 1100T should be able to be stable at ~4.2GHz, under WCing

remember, severe OCing is just for those who want to achieve a goal. those who have achieved high CPU speeds rarely use them for 24/7 use.

EG: during hot weather i usually set my OC to 0.3GHz under my 'max' (3.9), and in the winter i will have it 4.1GHz... i would NEVER use my rigs maxxed out 24/7, and i don't think many others do either

 

[Master&Puppet]

Yea that makes sense to me, I'd seen the cpu-zs of people who'd made upto 4.2 on the 1100t and wondered how they'd done it. Guess I never understood/noticed the volts they were putting through it. I'm looking for an everyday use OC so I was never actually planning on going above the upper OEM limit and was wondering what else can be done. That piece you wrote says to me that its the CPU volts that are the limiting factor, I guess I was over complicating things.

Having done some testing on the RAM and not seen any change in performance I'll put it back to auto. I don't think I'll ever plan to get involved in your first 2 points

Thanks for your help, on to gpus...

M&P