Throttling on stress test
Throttling on stress test
Do you have any suggestions for the most affordable board that could help you reach higher overclocks? I’m looking for something that fits a second 7870 OC and allows future upgrades, so you can benefit later if you decide to invest in another motherboard. In my case, the H100 doesn’t fit well, but I’d also like to improve CPU cooling if a good board comes along. Overall, would anyone think it’s worth spending money on these upgrades instead of taking a better setup? These chips seem capable of overclocking, but they still lag behind other options at similar speeds? Worth the investment?
Here’s a revised version of your text:
Ok, I’m looking for a recommendation on the most affordable board that can help you reach higher overclocks. Ideally, it should be compatible with a second 7870 OC and allow further upgrades later. In my case, a H100 doesn’t fit well, but I’d also like to improve the CPU cooling if I get a decent motherboard. Overall, would anyone suggest spending money on these upgrades instead of taking a different, better-equipped path? I know these chips can overclock nicely, but they still lag behind other options at similar speeds. Worth it?
Cheap & cheerful – a solid board for the price (the one Frankendesign mentions)
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/Vrdqqs/g...ga970aud3p
Are there better boards for this budget? No, definitely not.
With your 8150, the CPU is usually the bottleneck for overclocking—not the board itself. I’ve tried a [email protected] on the same board with a voltage of 1.4125, and nothing has come close to that performance.
To be honest, my H55 is struggling too. It wasn’t particularly good at cooling when it was released, which is common for many 120mm boards. The 212 Evo (which is mainly a budget cooler) actually performs better or matches it.
In reality, you could probably swap in a RAJINTEK Pallas and it would likely stabilize temperatures well. But I can’t say for sure, as I’ve only used 6300s on that ASUS board before. Right now, I run a [email protected] daily, which was stable at 4.6GHz, but the heat-to-voltage ratio didn’t justify it.
Re-enable c1e,c6 & cool & quiet in bios.
Download the file, unzip it to your desktop and execute the off.bat by double-clicking (this is my own file, completely safe).
This action may prevent throttling during heavy loads—primarily by disabling low-level power states when core load exceeds 75%.
It won’t resolve the root cooling issue, but it serves as a useful test to check stability at that speed.
I’m glad the assistance helped ease the throttling issue, but now I realize it’s my board trying hard not to catch fire. I’d rather let it handle things just in case it gets loaded heavily in the game. Right now, I barely hit the 4.2ghz mark at prime, so this seems like a solid compromise. With the A/C on, it doesn’t quite reach that level and hasn’t throttled much. It looks like it manages around the 62* mark. I’m comfortable in-game now, though the ultra settings in Forza Apex cause some minor glitches but no crashes. Still, I’d like to upgrade when the next full Forza game releases. Besides the occasional headache, I really enjoy getting the most out of it. I wish I could gauge exactly how much of a difference it makes.
For the GA-970A-UD3P board, it looks good to me. Although I’m not super familiar with the details and what I need for my goals, I see from one review that it’s an 8+1 phase board, which matches what I require. Are there any other CPU-related considerations I should keep in mind? What about the graphics slots? Could this board support a second 7870 OC well? Would you recommend it? I notice it has two 16x slots—one at x16 and one at x4. What’s going on with that? I’ve read that one card is less problematic, but since I already own one, it would be much easier to pick another 7870 instead of buying a whole new one. Plus, it might be a bit older (cheaper) when I get it.
How can I tell if there will be enough space between cards after installation?
And regarding cooling options, what do you think is the best choice if I want to keep pushing this chip overclocked? Besides full water cooling, I thought closed loop coolers might be better (as long as they’re sized right). Should I try fitting the H100 near the HDD and directing airflow toward the graphics? I don’t want to risk damaging the cards, since I’ll likely overclock them too. I’ve already done that one.
Thanks for all the help so far. Sorry for asking so many questions—there are just so many specs to consider, and missing even one might lead to these kinds of discussions! 😄
All very accurate. But I already have the chip and from other people's experiences it can be overclocked quite well. I’m not really aiming to spend hundreds more on a new setup or another 1500+ just to upgrade everything again in a year, honestly. The board upgrade seems like a smart move because then I could overclock the bulldozer and add a second graphics card when needed. Then I just need a better cooler for overclocking, and eventually a second card. Maybe a better PSU (Corsair TX750)? Although I can’t find 7870 cards for sale, so that might be a problem. I’m guessing they’re not sold anymore? That could change my plans completely :/
Personally, the board upgrade still seems worthwhile to maximize the current setup.
The ud3p offers the best value right now, priced at $70 in the US or £62 in the UK.
A solid vrm configuration is definitely a plus.
16/4x PCI express provides only minor gains with older cards that use a crossfire bridge.
Performance loss should not exceed 3-5%.
The 7870 can also be crossfired with a r9 270/270x, and these cards remain more readily available.
Crossfire isn’t essential for me at the moment, but if you can find a cheap used card, it could be worth considering.
My rig below uses two 280x slots specifically for this purpose—bought from an old bitcoin build for £90 each, which had been sitting idle for a while.
The spacing between the slots on the ud3p is tight (about 25mm), so good case cooling is essential; temperatures are still under control.
Don’t expect full crossfire scaling in every game (some titles don’t benefit at all).
For now, I’m not worried about significant performance drops from crossfire unless stability improves.
I'm definitely thinking about that board option. It's a bit pricier in Canada at $105 before shipping, but I'll need improved cooling to handle higher performance. I might go back to adjusting the thermal paste just to be safe, though it looks like most people think the cooler is too small for the CPU heat. I could also experiment with extreme static pressure fans, but I'm not sure if that would really help.
Great update! I discovered exactly which part of the motherboard the VRM was located in—it was tucked away next to the power and cooling fans, with very limited airflow. I got inventive and shifted the power supply unit to the top fan position behind the HDD trays. It was a tight squeeze, as both fans were close together, and the plastic from the video card pressed slightly against the fan. I added another fan in the back for exhaust purposes, and tied off another 120mm fan to that setup and the cooler block. This allowed air to flow directly from the VRMs and around the CPU, exiting through the back and top. It actually looks much better now—surprisingly so! After stress testing, it didn’t throttle at all during about half an hour. It handles up to 62* socket 50* cores and stays stable. I think it’s running a couple of degrees cooler than before; previously it sometimes spiked to 64-65 before throttling. Idle runs at 40* when set to 4.2GHz. Success!
I also have some Sp120 fans that offer better pressure and airflow, which could help even more (Cougars is right now). Even with the GPU blowing intense heat, I stress tested both CPU and GPU together—temperatures stayed within a few degrees of what they should be.
Now I’m planning to make this an extremely long post. Sorry for the long explanation, but I’ll share all my overclock results so far. Let me know if you need any changes—I’ve only read online and found it stable. Or feel free to try it out! 😛