PCTwin AMD Overclocking Log
- Thread starter tinytomlogan
- Start date
Okay, time for some results
CPU-Z . 4560.22. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170137_pctwin_cpu_z_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_4560.22_mhz
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1824233
30th out of 37, unfortunately the photo’s I took of all the screens didn’t come out as I hoped. I’ll have to work on that before the end. Also, I didn’t take a screen shot as I planned on taking things up a bit more, so I’ll share the screenshot with the Pifast screen.
This is only 5MHz below my Q9550 score which puts it 6th on my personal CPU-z scoreboard. Understand, I’m not trying to compare this to any processor in particular.
Pifast. 24.42 sec. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170760_pctwin_pifast_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_24.42_sec
10th out of 13. This is not so good. 2.58 seconds slower than my Q6600 at 4455MHz puts this score 8th on my board.
SuperPi 1m. 15sec 391ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170761_pctwin_superpi_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_15sec_391ms
13th out of 22. More of the same here. 12th on my board, 0.859 seconds may not seem like much to some. But it’s an age on this bench.
SuperPi 32m. 15min 54sec 125ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...rpi_32m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_15min_54sec_125ms
7th out of 11. The Phenom doesn’t do so well in single core benchmarks. 1min 37sec 335ms slower than the nearest CPU on my list.
wPrime 1024m. 4min 25sec 202ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...me_1024m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_4min_25sec_202ms
8th out of 10. What the?..... this is a transformed CPU. This score ranks 3rd on my board, beating the Q9550 by 938ms. Although slower than my Xeon by over 21sec, I’m still well impressed by the multicore performance.
wPrime 32m. 8sec 172ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170764_pctwin_wprime_32m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_8sec_172ms
10th out of 16. Not much on the HWbot league, but again it takes 3rd place on my board beating the Q9550 by 234ms.
Maxxmem 556. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170768_pctwin_maxxmem_ddr3_sdram_556_marks?tab=info
Memory at 912MHz (1824MHz) CPU at 4332
This is the first system I’ve used this benchmark on so I’ve nothing to compare it to. Nonetheless, a 224MHz overclock on the memory is pretty good. I see Marsey got his kit to 1880, but even for 1824 I had to change the timings slightly to CL9-10-10-25 to keep it stable. I don’t really want to overvolt the memory but I’m still playing around.
The CPU just won’t hit 4600. I’ve had it boot at 4.7, but windows just won’t load
I've got to stop playing with the system long enough to do the prime95 and PCMark tests, I'm just having too much fun.
I promise to sort out the screen photo problem soon.
CPU-Z . 4560.22. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170137_pctwin_cpu_z_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_4560.22_mhz
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1824233
30th out of 37, unfortunately the photo’s I took of all the screens didn’t come out as I hoped. I’ll have to work on that before the end. Also, I didn’t take a screen shot as I planned on taking things up a bit more, so I’ll share the screenshot with the Pifast screen.
This is only 5MHz below my Q9550 score which puts it 6th on my personal CPU-z scoreboard. Understand, I’m not trying to compare this to any processor in particular.
Pifast. 24.42 sec. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170760_pctwin_pifast_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_24.42_sec
10th out of 13. This is not so good. 2.58 seconds slower than my Q6600 at 4455MHz puts this score 8th on my board.
SuperPi 1m. 15sec 391ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170761_pctwin_superpi_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_15sec_391ms
13th out of 22. More of the same here. 12th on my board, 0.859 seconds may not seem like much to some. But it’s an age on this bench.
SuperPi 32m. 15min 54sec 125ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...rpi_32m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_15min_54sec_125ms
7th out of 11. The Phenom doesn’t do so well in single core benchmarks. 1min 37sec 335ms slower than the nearest CPU on my list.
wPrime 1024m. 4min 25sec 202ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...me_1024m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_4min_25sec_202ms
8th out of 10. What the?..... this is a transformed CPU. This score ranks 3rd on my board, beating the Q9550 by 938ms. Although slower than my Xeon by over 21sec, I’m still well impressed by the multicore performance.
wPrime 32m. 8sec 172ms. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170764_pctwin_wprime_32m_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_8sec_172ms
10th out of 16. Not much on the HWbot league, but again it takes 3rd place on my board beating the Q9550 by 234ms.
Maxxmem 556. http://www.hwbot.org/community/submission/2170768_pctwin_maxxmem_ddr3_sdram_556_marks?tab=info
Memory at 912MHz (1824MHz) CPU at 4332
This is the first system I’ve used this benchmark on so I’ve nothing to compare it to. Nonetheless, a 224MHz overclock on the memory is pretty good. I see Marsey got his kit to 1880, but even for 1824 I had to change the timings slightly to CL9-10-10-25 to keep it stable. I don’t really want to overvolt the memory but I’m still playing around.
The CPU just won’t hit 4600. I’ve had it boot at 4.7, but windows just won’t load
I've got to stop playing with the system long enough to do the prime95 and PCMark tests, I'm just having too much fun.
I promise to sort out the screen photo problem soon.
Nice work there dudio, pictures ect are great too KUDOS
I think I've sorted out the problem with photographing the screen with my camera. Let me know what you think.
I've added photos to my earlier CPU results post.
Now for the PCMark benchmarks.
PCMark04 11572marks.
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...2004_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_11572_marks?new=true
1st out of 2. A gold cup. Not many submissions for this bench on this CPU and I have nothing to compare it with yet.
36th out of 97 on a global scale ain’t too bad though.
PCMark05
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...2005_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_14514_marks?tab=info
2nd out of 6. 1.5 points and a silver cup.
622nd out of thousands. On my board this takes 2nd place as well, beating my Q9550 and Q6600 scores.
PCMark Vantage
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...ntage_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_9003_marks?new=true
1st out of 3. Another gold cup but no points.
218th out of 409 on a global scale.
I'm currently trying to find a stable prime95 setting.
Bigian
The photo tent I use is similar to this kit on Ebay. It’s basically a photo tent with 2 lights.
The only thing to not skimp on is the lights. The lights are the most important part of the kit. I think my kit cost over £100 at the time, so some of these look like bargains.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Photo-Stu...graphy_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item27abf7a41d
I've added photos to my earlier CPU results post.
Now for the PCMark benchmarks.
PCMark04 11572marks.
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...2004_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_11572_marks?new=true
1st out of 2. A gold cup. Not many submissions for this bench on this CPU and I have nothing to compare it with yet.
36th out of 97 on a global scale ain’t too bad though.
PCMark05
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...2005_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_14514_marks?tab=info
2nd out of 6. 1.5 points and a silver cup.
622nd out of thousands. On my board this takes 2nd place as well, beating my Q9550 and Q6600 scores.
PCMark Vantage
http://www.hwbot.org/community/subm...ntage_phenom_ii_x4_970_be_9003_marks?new=true
1st out of 3. Another gold cup but no points.
218th out of 409 on a global scale.
I'm currently trying to find a stable prime95 setting.
Bigian
The photo tent I use is similar to this kit on Ebay. It’s basically a photo tent with 2 lights.
The only thing to not skimp on is the lights. The lights are the most important part of the kit. I think my kit cost over £100 at the time, so some of these look like bargains.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Photo-Stu...graphy_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item27abf7a41d
Prime95 stress test 30 min run
Taking my wPrime 1024m settings as a starting point, I dropped the overclock until I got a stable run. The memory doesn’t need to be overclocked for this so I turned the bus speed down and upped the multi, so I ended up with the CPU at 4242, multi 21 and a bus speed of 202.
Temperatures after 30 minutes of stress maxed out at 54c.
That's it for tonight.
Taking my wPrime 1024m settings as a starting point, I dropped the overclock until I got a stable run. The memory doesn’t need to be overclocked for this so I turned the bus speed down and upped the multi, so I ended up with the CPU at 4242, multi 21 and a bus speed of 202.
Temperatures after 30 minutes of stress maxed out at 54c.
That's it for tonight.
Great build log and results, pleasant read.
Nice car choice! My dad had one as well. My granddad currently has a green car- a Vauxhall Agila
Nice car choice! My dad had one as well. My granddad currently has a green car- a Vauxhall Agila
DRAM Timing Configuration
What is the point of having SPD in the memory if the BIOS won’t read it. This is not isolated to just this motherboard, I’ve come across this so many times.
How the Toverclocker software reports the SPD
How the BIOS reports the SPD
I don’t know what it’s reading here. The Bios automatically sets the memory to 1333MHz CL9-9-9-24. It also sets the Vdimm to 1.548
Considering this is Lovo 1.35v I decided to run some tests based on the voltage.
First of all, the only option that I can find that allows me to affect the memory voltage appears to be in the Over Voltage Configuration section
I set the Memory Over Voltage to -200. This sets the Vdimm to 1.440v with memory at stock 1600MHz CL9-9-9-24.
I find SuperPi 32m to be a good enough test for the memory without stressing out the whole system like wPrime or Burntest. If the voltage and timings aren’t right, you won’t finish the test, which at these settings should take around 17mins. Maybe one in ten times the test will run, so you might get a lucky score sometimes. Usually though you get a “not round” error.
Now, as Hermes Conrad would say, “how low can you go”
With the memory on stock timings and dropping the voltage one step at a time, the lowest voltage I reached was -350 which gave me a Vdimm of 1.200v according to Toverclocker
Resetting the voltage to -200 and setting the timings to CL8-8-8-22, I repeated the tests.
At these timings the lowest was -250 or 1.296v
Next up, overclocking
Starting with stock timings I tested up to 1808MHz. That’s not the top speed I’ve had, but it’s enough for a comparison. So at 1808MHz the lowest voltage I could reach with stock timings was -100 or 1.50v.
Changing the timings to CL8-8-8-22 again, the lowest voltage I could reach was auto or 1.548v
Considering the Bios sets the voltage at 1.548v I’d say the memory will go a bit higher yet.
There are other timings to tweak as well, I’m just using the standard timings for this exercise.
What is the point of having SPD in the memory if the BIOS won’t read it. This is not isolated to just this motherboard, I’ve come across this so many times.
How the Toverclocker software reports the SPD
How the BIOS reports the SPD
I don’t know what it’s reading here. The Bios automatically sets the memory to 1333MHz CL9-9-9-24. It also sets the Vdimm to 1.548
Considering this is Lovo 1.35v I decided to run some tests based on the voltage.
First of all, the only option that I can find that allows me to affect the memory voltage appears to be in the Over Voltage Configuration section
I set the Memory Over Voltage to -200. This sets the Vdimm to 1.440v with memory at stock 1600MHz CL9-9-9-24.
I find SuperPi 32m to be a good enough test for the memory without stressing out the whole system like wPrime or Burntest. If the voltage and timings aren’t right, you won’t finish the test, which at these settings should take around 17mins. Maybe one in ten times the test will run, so you might get a lucky score sometimes. Usually though you get a “not round” error.
Now, as Hermes Conrad would say, “how low can you go”
With the memory on stock timings and dropping the voltage one step at a time, the lowest voltage I reached was -350 which gave me a Vdimm of 1.200v according to Toverclocker
Resetting the voltage to -200 and setting the timings to CL8-8-8-22, I repeated the tests.
At these timings the lowest was -250 or 1.296v
Next up, overclocking
Starting with stock timings I tested up to 1808MHz. That’s not the top speed I’ve had, but it’s enough for a comparison. So at 1808MHz the lowest voltage I could reach with stock timings was -100 or 1.50v.
Changing the timings to CL8-8-8-22 again, the lowest voltage I could reach was auto or 1.548v
Considering the Bios sets the voltage at 1.548v I’d say the memory will go a bit higher yet.
There are other timings to tweak as well, I’m just using the standard timings for this exercise.
dugdiamond
New member
why two screenshots for the CPU-Z !!!
more than one instance of CPU-Z can be run at the same time (two instances/different tabs)
EDIT: my baad - you know this - lol - i was wondering why CPU+MEM shots were not on the last few piccies
more than one instance of CPU-Z can be run at the same time (two instances/different tabs)
EDIT: my baad - you know this - lol - i was wondering why CPU+MEM shots were not on the last few piccies
,OK. Having tried to up the overclock I failed. The most I managed was 4231. I did overclock the memory a bit, though 868MHz isn’t the highest I’ve benched at.
After a few days folding non-stop here’s how it performed.
I am now going to run this for as long as I can, get a few days up there and see what I average.
The wife has been complaining about the noise and the leccy bill.
Before all this I played with Sisoft Sandra briefly.
59,340
I haven’t submitted this yet, when I finish the folding part I’ll go back to it and try again.
After a few days folding non-stop here’s how it performed.
I am now going to run this for as long as I can, get a few days up there and see what I average.
The wife has been complaining about the noise and the leccy bill.
Before all this I played with Sisoft Sandra briefly.
59,340
I haven’t submitted this yet, when I finish the folding part I’ll go back to it and try again.
While I’m leaving the FAH test to run for a few days I decide to give some thought to the kit.
A few of these images you have seen before.
The motherboard
Biostar TA890FXE
AMD’s latest 890FX chipset is supposed to be overclocking friendly with 2 PCI-E x16 slots.
OC3D has already reviewed this board, so I’ll try not to do the same.
It looks a solid enough board, the heatsinks covering the north bridge and voltage area are quite chunky and dark looking with a gunmetal grey colouring.
Now let’s delve into the dark recesses of the BIOS.
First to catch my eye is CPU configuration, or rather “Core levelling”.
Set on Auto all cores are enabled.
Set to manual to turn off cores if you want to. Turning off cores reduces the amount of heat generated by the CPU.
It’s been mentioned that setting core affinity may have the same desired effect, but you still have four active cores generating heat.
Marsey99 stated in response to a post “Think of it a bit like a 4 bar electric fire with all 4 bars on, then with only 1.” Nuff said.
Another thing is “Smart multi-core” found in the boot tab.
I can’t find any reference to this in the manual, yes! I do occasionally read them.
I even read the bios manual which downloaded with the regular manual in 1 zip file. It’s not even in the screenshot they use.
I can only imagine that if I disable any cores then I should really disable this.
Ok. Now the overclock section which on this board is in a tab called T-Series
BIO-unlocking. Again there’s no mention of this in the manual. I know it enables unlocking extra cores if they’re available.
It would just be nice to see this stuff documented.
Automatic overclock didn’t rock the world. I had to check in cpu-z to see if it actually done anything. 3.8 gig, what’s that. Put it on manual.
Over Voltage configuration.
Something I can’t find is the Vdimm setting. This is the only place I’ve found where I can affect the memory voltage, same for the HT and South Bridge.
You can mix these settings with the VID settings to fine tune the voltages.
CPU FID/VID Control
Disabled is the default setting, once enabled you have control. I haven’t yet been able to max out the voltage on the north bridge yet.
I did try once, but all I got for my trouble was a screen telling me there had been a fatal error and to contact the vendor.
The core VID maxes out at 1.55 and for some reason there are four settings that read 0.0000.
DRAM Timing Configuration
There’s a couple of screens to visit in this section. Biostar memory insight shows you what the bios is reading from SPD spec.
I don’t know what to take from these readings.
The bios automatically sets the memory to 1333 CL9-9-9-24, so is it also setting the memory to 1.25v, where’s the Vdimm control.
In fact, when I installed Toverclocker it showed the Vdimm as 1.5v
Memory Clock mode
After setting this to manual, choose which speed to run
While it’s fairly easy to find your way around this BIOS, it’s still a bit of a challenge to overclock.
Recovery from a bad overclock is there, but it failed more often than it worked.
The BIOS needs a bit of improvement, it doesn’t feel quite as polished as others I’ve used, and it’s a bit unstable at silly overclocks.
Even so, it has the X4 970BE folding stable at 4.23GHZ with the Kingston DDR3 1600 at 1736MHz. That’s not too shabby really.
The processor
AMD Phenom II X4 970BE
Image courtesy of cpu-world.com
The X4 970 BE runs at 3.5GHz on a 45nm fabrication process with a 125W TDP.
With 128KB of Level 1 and 512KB of Level 2 cache per core and 6MB of shared Level 3 cache.
I read on some websites that there are some extra cores to be unlocked, with the right motherboard.
Other sites have said it depends on the batch no. We will see.
This CPU is no hotter than my old Intel QX6700, which had a TPD of 130W but only ran at 2.6GHz.
Overclocking wise I can’t fault it, although I don’t think this motherboard really does it justice.
So far I’ve only managed to coax 4.56GHz out of it.
Considering that’s using an air cooler, it’s than I’ve managed on most of the CPU’s I’ve clocked on air.
The cooler
The Scythe Susanoo
So much has already been said about this cooler, what can I possibly add.
Showing you a picture of the box doesn’t do it justice.
This is a better picture.
4 100mm fans sit on it’s top, coupled with a fan controller to control all 4 fans.
Yes, it’s massive, but it performs as well.
This is folding 24/7 at 4.23GHz for four days now, and it reached a max temp of 51c in a room temp of 26c.
You’ll have to excuse the poor quality of this pic. I was focusing on getting the thermometer readings to show.
It’s been a warm couple of days recently, and considering I’m using 1.51vcore that’s pretty impressive.
The DDR3 RAM.
I’m still in love with this stuff, please can I keep it, huh? Can I?
I won’t go as far as offering fealty or anything like that, but maybe a live sacrifice to the gods?
I mean look at it. Doesn’t it look so at home there? Gorgeous.
Oh, right. You want to know about performance.
1960MHz with CL9-9-9-24 timings using 1.5vdimm SuperPi 32m stable.
That’s impressive enough for me. At the moment it’s running at 1736MHz for the 24/7 FAH test.
Got some more to do when that's finished.
A few of these images you have seen before.
The motherboard
Biostar TA890FXE
AMD’s latest 890FX chipset is supposed to be overclocking friendly with 2 PCI-E x16 slots.
OC3D has already reviewed this board, so I’ll try not to do the same.
It looks a solid enough board, the heatsinks covering the north bridge and voltage area are quite chunky and dark looking with a gunmetal grey colouring.
Now let’s delve into the dark recesses of the BIOS.
First to catch my eye is CPU configuration, or rather “Core levelling”.
Set on Auto all cores are enabled.
Set to manual to turn off cores if you want to. Turning off cores reduces the amount of heat generated by the CPU.
It’s been mentioned that setting core affinity may have the same desired effect, but you still have four active cores generating heat.
Marsey99 stated in response to a post “Think of it a bit like a 4 bar electric fire with all 4 bars on, then with only 1.” Nuff said.
Another thing is “Smart multi-core” found in the boot tab.
I can’t find any reference to this in the manual, yes! I do occasionally read them.
I even read the bios manual which downloaded with the regular manual in 1 zip file. It’s not even in the screenshot they use.
I can only imagine that if I disable any cores then I should really disable this.
Ok. Now the overclock section which on this board is in a tab called T-Series
BIO-unlocking. Again there’s no mention of this in the manual. I know it enables unlocking extra cores if they’re available.
It would just be nice to see this stuff documented.
Automatic overclock didn’t rock the world. I had to check in cpu-z to see if it actually done anything. 3.8 gig, what’s that. Put it on manual.
Over Voltage configuration.
Something I can’t find is the Vdimm setting. This is the only place I’ve found where I can affect the memory voltage, same for the HT and South Bridge.
You can mix these settings with the VID settings to fine tune the voltages.
CPU FID/VID Control
Disabled is the default setting, once enabled you have control. I haven’t yet been able to max out the voltage on the north bridge yet.
I did try once, but all I got for my trouble was a screen telling me there had been a fatal error and to contact the vendor.
The core VID maxes out at 1.55 and for some reason there are four settings that read 0.0000.
DRAM Timing Configuration
There’s a couple of screens to visit in this section. Biostar memory insight shows you what the bios is reading from SPD spec.
I don’t know what to take from these readings.
The bios automatically sets the memory to 1333 CL9-9-9-24, so is it also setting the memory to 1.25v, where’s the Vdimm control.
In fact, when I installed Toverclocker it showed the Vdimm as 1.5v
Memory Clock mode
After setting this to manual, choose which speed to run
While it’s fairly easy to find your way around this BIOS, it’s still a bit of a challenge to overclock.
Recovery from a bad overclock is there, but it failed more often than it worked.
The BIOS needs a bit of improvement, it doesn’t feel quite as polished as others I’ve used, and it’s a bit unstable at silly overclocks.
Even so, it has the X4 970BE folding stable at 4.23GHZ with the Kingston DDR3 1600 at 1736MHz. That’s not too shabby really.
The processor
AMD Phenom II X4 970BE
Image courtesy of cpu-world.com
The X4 970 BE runs at 3.5GHz on a 45nm fabrication process with a 125W TDP.
With 128KB of Level 1 and 512KB of Level 2 cache per core and 6MB of shared Level 3 cache.
I read on some websites that there are some extra cores to be unlocked, with the right motherboard.
Other sites have said it depends on the batch no. We will see.
This CPU is no hotter than my old Intel QX6700, which had a TPD of 130W but only ran at 2.6GHz.
Overclocking wise I can’t fault it, although I don’t think this motherboard really does it justice.
So far I’ve only managed to coax 4.56GHz out of it.
Considering that’s using an air cooler, it’s than I’ve managed on most of the CPU’s I’ve clocked on air.
The cooler
The Scythe Susanoo
So much has already been said about this cooler, what can I possibly add.
Showing you a picture of the box doesn’t do it justice.
This is a better picture.
4 100mm fans sit on it’s top, coupled with a fan controller to control all 4 fans.
Yes, it’s massive, but it performs as well.
This is folding 24/7 at 4.23GHz for four days now, and it reached a max temp of 51c in a room temp of 26c.
You’ll have to excuse the poor quality of this pic. I was focusing on getting the thermometer readings to show.
It’s been a warm couple of days recently, and considering I’m using 1.51vcore that’s pretty impressive.
The DDR3 RAM.
I’m still in love with this stuff, please can I keep it, huh? Can I?
I won’t go as far as offering fealty or anything like that, but maybe a live sacrifice to the gods?
I mean look at it. Doesn’t it look so at home there? Gorgeous.
Oh, right. You want to know about performance.
1960MHz with CL9-9-9-24 timings using 1.5vdimm SuperPi 32m stable.
That’s impressive enough for me. At the moment it’s running at 1736MHz for the 24/7 FAH test.
Got some more to do when that's finished.
After a 7 day 24hr session the top one day score was 11,702, although I think the average is about 10,000.
The temps after the seven days was a consistent 50~51c, so the cooler did well considering the warm days we’ve been having.
Just running the Sandra bench now. I will post the results later.
The temps after the seven days was a consistent 50~51c, so the cooler did well considering the warm days we’ve been having.
Just running the Sandra bench now. I will post the results later.
