Overclocking: AMD A-8 6600k
Overclocking: AMD A-8 6600k
I own a BIOSTAR A88MQ motherboard, an XFX Radeon R7 360 with 2GB GDDR5, and 8GB Ballistix DDR3 1600.
I’m new to overclocking and understand it varies based on your components.
My current CPU runs at 3.9GHz and I aim for 4.4GHz.
According to what I’ve seen, this shouldn’t be an issue, but I’d appreciate some advice on how to proceed properly.
an important aspect is your 9-9-9-24 setting.
the fourth setting should generally be higher than the previous three.
adding up 27 plus 24 gives you a possible factor.
also, RAM failures are quite noticeable—your PC won’t start and will emit beeps.
as amtseung mentioned, focus on fixing everything else first, then adjust the RAM timings more closely as suggested.
whether you notice a change with higher frequencies and looser RAM timings (2133Mhz with 11-11-11-33) or with lower frequencies and tighter RAM timings (1666Mhz 7-7-7-21), it will depend on the benchmarks performed.
the difference might be small, especially compared to optimizing your CPU’s OC settings.
also, AMD Overdrive is considered the most reliable temperature monitoring software...
Hi there,
Firstly, the motherboard you have is very poor for overclocking so, whatever you do, be careful!
Get Open HWMonitor and you can view the VRM temps when stressing the system.
AMD Overdrive as well (but try to edit in BIOS first, I doubt you will have options to modify the CPU multiplier seeing as that motherboard doesn't have heatsinks on VRMs, but if it doesn't, you should be able to with AMD OverDrive.
Get Prime95 for stress testing too.
And finally, to overclock, you'll need an aftermarket cooler as your stock cooler will not handle it & there is no guarantee you will get anywhere to 4.4ghz (due to the CPU die lottery).
Now for the fun stuff.
Disable the AMD Turbo Core, and C6 State along with P-State Limit & AMD Cool'n'Quiet? - disable all those things in your BIOS.
Crank your fans up to max in the BIOS and save those settings, so you start your PC with fans maxed out (this will avoid you editing anything, and then waiting until Windows fully loads to turn up the fans, ovoiding any potential overheating.)
AGAIN - do not attempt this with the stock cooler, you will not get very far at all and you seriously risk frying your CPU.
Once you've disabled all those features, and if you cannot edit the CPU multiplier in your BIOS, load up AMD Overdrive and select the CPU section, you'll get a slider bar.
Increase multipleir 1 increment at a time, without changing the voltage yet, and then reset, stress test with Prim95 while monitoring your temps (a good 15-20minutes testing is enough to see if you're stable or getting runaway temps)
If your temps are fine and Prime95 doesn't show any error from an unstable system, go up another notch and reset, stress test, repeat....repeat.
Do this until you get an unstable system, then and only then start increasing the voltage a little bit, same process, reset, stress test.
You ceilings are (AMD Overdrive's - CPU section - Thermal Margins, if between 0C-10C, then you are between 0C-10C close to the highest temp limits).
I believe it's about 70-72C, but you really want to keep it under 60-65C for any long period of time (the lower the better).
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - Whatever you do, do not jump from 36x -> 40x/42x/42x, and/or tweak voltage higher in one go, you could immediately destroy your system, within minutes...
Your system was not really designed for overclocking, the CPU, yes, but the motherboard, no... so do so at your own peril.
Still, I believe that you should be able to get some performance out of this.
And also, what PSU do you have?
If you don't have an aftermarket cooler, get something like the CM 212 Evo, cheap and extremely effective.
And good luck!
Submit your results here for us to see.
Thank you for your clarification. I wanted to understand precisely why your motherboard might not be suitable for overclocking. Additionally, regarding the PSU, it uses an EVGA Supernova 650 G1 model. Also, could you please address the frequency concerns?
Here’s a revised version of your message:
I’m still trying to understand why my motherboard isn’t ideal for overclocking. Also, I’m using an EVGA Supernova 650 G1 PSU.
Edit: Regarding the frequencies?
Hello again.
The main issue is that there are no heatsinks on the MOSFETs and the power phase design is quite basic. The current splits unevenly—like 3+1, then 4+1, then 5+2, etc.
If all the MOSFETs are of similar quality, sending power to three of them means each gets about a third of the total power. But with four or more, spreading the load across more devices helps with heat distribution.
It’s important for better heat sharing, but the quality of the MOSFETs also plays a role.
For overclocking, it’s usually better to use a higher power phase than what this board supports, since you’ll be adding more power than it was built for. If the load is already heavy, there’s a risk of overheating.
Don’t misunderstand, this isn’t a complete failure—you can still try the overclocking steps I mentioned earlier, and you might get some good results, though not as impressive as with an A88X board, for instance.
The PSU seems suitable if your overall build is within a reasonable budget.
What were your concerns about the frequencies?
3.9Ghz is your standard speed, 4.2Ghz is your turbo speed—so you’re using it at least in that range.
If you turn off all options, including Turbo in the BIOS, then gradually increase from 3.9Ghz to 4.0Ghz, run a stress test with Prime95, and if everything works, try going up to 4.1Ghz.
Only after seeing no errors should you slowly raise the voltage a bit at a time.
Before doing any of this, make sure to run Prime95 with AMD Overdrive enabled, stress-test at 3.9Ghz, and keep an eye on CPU temperatures and thermal limits. If you don’t have an aftermarket cooler, you might hit your thermal limits before reaching higher frequencies.
My base clock speed is 100, with a maximum of 127. The only reason to adjust it seems to be during testing if the multiplyer starts causing instabilities, right? I understand you mentioned an A88X board would work, but I think that's what I have. (Full name: BIOSTAR A88MQ FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard)
My RAM default is 1600MHz. Can I raise it to 2144? Is that a good idea or worth the effort?
I don’t have an aftermarket cooler yet, so I’m aware I should get one. When does temperature begin to cause damage? I know 40°C is ideal and 70°C is high, but at what point does actual damage start?
Thank you for your time and helpful answers.
I have a base clock speed of 100, with a maximum of 127. I think adjusting it is only necessary during testing if the multiplyer starts to cause problems, right? I recall you mentioned an A88X board would work, but I believe that's what I currently have. (Full name: BIOSTAR A88MQ FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard)
My RAM is set at 1600MHz. Could I raise it to 2144? Would that be a good idea or not?
I don’t have an aftermarket cooler yet, so I’m aware I should install one. But at what point does temperature start to cause damage? I understand 40°C is ideal and 70°C is high, but when exactly does damage begin?
Thank you for your time and helpful answers.
Apologies if the board was mentioned.
Keep in mind that changing the BCLK to a higher value will affect almost everything on the board (RAM, PCI-E slots, Northbridge, etc.). If you plan to increase it, do so first, in small steps.
Since you have a 'K' version of this CPU, you should have an unlocked multiplier, so try adjusting the CPU multiplier before changing the BCLK, as you might see better results but always benchmark.
Just be cautious with the Base Clock—any increase will raise the temperature of all components on the motherboard. The weakest part will fail first. The CPU multiplier is less risky since it only affects the CPU, provided you don’t go too far.
I got a bit more knowledge after my last reply. (Mostly through practice) But the default voltage was 1.399, which research shows is quite high, especially for stock speed.
I managed to bring it down to 1.25V, and the OC from 3.9GHz to 4.1GHz.
Everything started working again, and my thermal margin reached around 70°C.
After a stress test lasting about 20 minutes, the thermal margin stayed between 31°C and 34°C throughout.
I’m still using the stock heatsink and fan, but these results seem pretty solid?
Edit: I tried overclocking the RAM, and it reports a max of 2400MHz.
I switched it from 1600 to 1866 with proper timings, but it crashed on startup. I increased the DRAM voltage, yet it kept crashing even at the maximum (1.675V).
Is there a reason it can’t be OC’d at all? Even though the max is listed as 2400MHz?
Hello again.
For the RAM. There is no guarantee you'll be able to get to the higher frequencies.
Have you tried it at 2133mhz instead of 2400?
Most RAM. Even basic RAM can get to 1 increment higher than the stock. After that is anyones guess.
I would reduce the voltage. Keep it as low as you can for that clock speed. If at max voltage you can only get 1866mhz stable then it isn't bad.
Try 2133mhz with more loose timings.
About the CPU. Your thermal margins are not bad.
Yes it is normal for it to automatically choose a higher voltage than what is required. Good thanks though managed to lower it and still get 4.1ghz.
But considering you're on a stock cooler. You may want to not go too far.
The lower temps you can keep it at the better.
How does it feel to be able to tweak your system?
I find it addictive.. Find your limits. Either ghz stability. Voltage. Thermal.
If you're happy with your setup. Run prime95 for the same length of time you would have a gaming session. If 2-3hrs. Run it that long and monitor temps. If they will creep up slowly. But if you're still in double digits of thermal margins. You can consider it a safe overclock.
For the RAM really. What timings did you choose?
I must admit, I really enjoy working with computers and have been doing it for years, but this is the first time I've had the proper gear (without an aftermarket cooler) to push overclocking. Since I began, I can't stop thinking about it.
I managed to reach 4.2GHz at the same voltage, though my thermal margins stayed the same and I didn’t encounter any errors or crashes.
I also tried adjusting the RAM again, but made other changes too, so I’m not sure if the RAM was the cause and I shouldn’t have tried it. I’ll have to give it another shot.
My clock speeds are set to default, but I manually adjusted them. My RAM settings are 9-9-9-24.
Also, based on what others have shared, what’s the most reliable temperature monitor? Right now I’m using AMD overdrive to track thermal limits, since other programs give me inconsistent readings. I get why it’s confusing, but is there a better option?