Solved BSOD After using ASUS Sabertooth 990FX MOBO OC Utility.

[huonub]

Hello all, I am new to OC. I just wanted to see what my system could do. The motherboard has a built in OC utility in BIOS. The motherboard has three settings you can click on, Energy Efficient, Normal, and OCBurner(or something of that nature). I have Open Hardware Monitor always running. My temps never go higher than 45 C. The BSOD/Lock Up is sporadic. Sometimes during gameplay, and other times just idling. Any ideas?

Here is my rig if this helps.

AMD FX-6100FX Black Edition, normal clock is 3.31Ghz, using the OC utility its 4.14Ghz

Asus Sabertooth 990FX MOBO

DDR3 PC10700 4x4 16GB Kingston RAM

Asus 660ti DirectCU II 2GB GFX

Corsair GT 240GB SSD - OS, Games.

Hitachi 1TB SATA - Storage, approximately 95% empty.


Please assist in this matter, I am pretty good at building PCs and troubleshooting, however, I am new to OC. Thanks in advance!

 

[Arc]

From a BSOD perspective, I can say that Overclocking makes the computer unstable. If it BSODs with overclocking and stable without it, I would go with stable.

 

[huonub]

Yeah I understand, but I would really like some help with this. Any advice besides leaving it stock?

 

[Arc]

I asked our overclockers to have a look.

 

[ganjiry]

Hi huonub and welcome to Seven Forums
Could you take some screenshots of your bios please or list what changes you made in the bios. When you refer to the oc utility do you mean the bios or the software that comes on the disc with your motherboard?

The more information you can provide, the easier it will be to help.

Looking at your other threads it seems this issue has gone on since January of last year or did you manage to solve the previous issue?

 

[essenbe]

Hello huonub, I would advise to pay close attention to ganjiry, as he is very good with AMD overclocking. I will be of little help as I am an Intel overclocker. Intel and AMD are 2 different worlds. Having said all of that, my first advise is never use software to overclock. Always do it manually in bios.I believe that applies, no matter what board or platform you are using. As ganjiry mentioned, the bios settings are all inportant in overclocking. But, just in general, I would do a lot of research into the platform you are using and have a very good idea of the impact of any setting in bios you change. You will find that some settings change other settings.I have always said, and still believe, Overclocking is not a science, it is an art, Every setting in bios has to work together. In general, the best advise I ever got on overclocking was if you can't replace it, don't overclock it. Overclocking puts strain on everything in your system. If you have any weak points, they will show up fairly quickly. I would caution you again about using software overclocking. Put your settings in manually in bios if you are looking for a stable overclock. What settings you have in bios is all important, which is why ganjiry asked that first. Best advice on any platorm is know your board and it's settings and know your CPU. Every board and every CPU are different. No one can tell you specific settings to put in. Each setting affects each board differently. The best we can do is give you general guidelines and a few rules of never/always do a certain thing. Also, if you want a stable overclock, be prapared to do many hours of stress testing with several programs. There are several programs that are a necessity for overclocking. the basics are memtest86+, Cpuz, Gpuz, Core temp (personal preference and necesary with Intel, not sure about AMD), Prime95. Adid64 Extreme and Intel burn test. In my opinion I always recommend to stress test the heck out of any rig at stock. Reason is if you have an unstable system at stock, you will never have a stable overclock no matter what you do, Those are just my opinions at overclocking, others have different opinions. Ganjiry is very good at overclocking and I would pay close attention to what he says and follow it closely. Good luck to you.

 

[ganjiry]

Excellent advise Steve and thanks for the vote of confidence

As Essenbe said you should familiarize with the bios of your motherboard aswell as making sure your system is stable at its default setting's. In the bios hit F5, F10, Enter to revert to optimised default's and run some stress test's just to make sure everything is stable.
Here's a simple guide to using Memtest86 Memtest User Guide For ROG Motherboards | Republic of Gamers

I always use the portable version of HWiNfo64 as Core temp isn't too reliable with AMD cpu's and Cpu-z but don't have them open together as using more than one software to monitor temps and such as they can/will cause missreadings as each software will be polling the same sensor's.
HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download

Once you know all is stable at your systems defaults we can move on from there but be sure to read lots about your motherboard,cpu and overclocking Bulldozer in general. Just take your time and try not to be daunted by the amount of settings in the bios. From what you said in your original post

The motherboard has three settings you can click on, Energy Efficient, Normal, and OCBurner(or something of that nature)

It sounds like you have your bios set to EZ Mode which doesn't allow much to be changed. I would suggest changing to advance mode by clicking(Exit/advance mode) in the top right corner of your bios and have a good look around.

 

[Solarstarshines]

I honestly don't think he should be using ASUS overclocking tool he could do much better with a few simple Bios changes and would likely not cause the BSOD

It could be overvolted and the chip could be working harder then needed

FX6300 Vishera are easy to overclock


fx 6300 overclocking help/guide

The settings are Energy Normal and extreme with the flame symbol on the clock speed

Where he wants to go after reading a while is the AI Tuner/Tweeker area where most of the settings will be adjusted

 

[ganjiry]

When i said to switch from EZ mode i was refering to the bios as it defaults to that mode for some reason on the V Formula depending on which bios is used.
Asus AI Suite is well known for being a pita and i never install it.

 

[huonub]

I just seen your responses. I will take the screen shots now. Thank you all for your insight

 

[ganjiry]

No worries mate! You're welcome

 

[huonub]

Pics of Bios

Hope this is as much pics as you requested.

All settings have been set to default. Thanks for all your help so far.

 

[huonub]

:drool: waiting for the moment when I'm OC and stable.

 

[ganjiry]

hi huonub
Sorry for the delay! Just woke up :drool:

While everything is at it's default's if you follow this guide but set your ram to it's specced timings from the label of the memory sticks manually
Crosshair V Formula Easy Memory Setup Guide The guide is for the Crosshair v Formula but it's pretty much the same.
Then run memtest86 and some sort of stress test for the cpu like Intel Burn test or AIda64.
Download IntelBurnTest - MajorGeeks
Downloads | AIDA64 the portable version is fine.

If you have no crashes and you're sure you system is stable at its default settings then you can move on to overclocking.

There is a good guide for Bulldozer here Crosshair V Formula & AMD FX 8150 CPU Overclocking Guide | Republic of Gamers
and here AMD Bulldozer and Piledriver Overclocking Guide - Asus Motherboard

Have a good read through those to give you more of an ideal of what each of the setting's do.
Most Bulldozer cpu's will do about 4-4.2ghz on stock voltage.

Note in the guide from overclock.net it show's the HT link speed set higher than Cpu/nb. That is for Piledriver but Bulldozer prefers these to be set the same as eachother.
Anything you're not sure of just ask and i'll be happy to answer.

Edit: Remember that whenever overclocking there is always a risk of damaging components. If you can't replace it don't overclock it. Make sure you keep an eye on your temps and don't use more than one software to monitor the temps as it will cause missreadings.

 

[essenbe]

I didn't notice in your system specs what CPU cooler you're using. If you're using the stock cooler, I would change to a third party cooler as soon as possible. Both the Intel and AMD stock coolers are junk. Always know you're CPU and GPU temps. Watch them like a Hawk during any stress testing. Temps will get very high, very quick. The stock cooler can't handle it.

 

[huonub]

I didn't notice in your system specs what CPU cooler you're using. If you're using the stock cooler, I would change to a third party cooler as soon as possible. Both the Intel and AMD stock coolers are junk. Always know you're CPU and GPU temps. Watch them like a Hawk during any stress testing. Temps will get very high, very quick. The stock cooler can't handle it.

This is what I am using for my CPU cooling.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2314

Also, i have 4 fans for my case. 2 big 140MMs and 2 smaller 80MM. On stock settings, my CPU temps never goes above 34 C on a full load. Idle load or internet browsing, it usually sits around 12-16 C.

 

[essenbe]

That's good. I just didn't want you to try running CPU stress tests with the stock cooler.

 

[huonub]

Okay, so I went to the BIOS settings and did what the RAM page said to do. I saved the settings. Now, I am running Prime95. I'll post back with results.

 

[huonub]

Curious, CPUID/CPUZ shows that I have Kingston PC10700 @ 667mhz, but I checked my RAM physically and this is what it says, KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX - part number. When I searched that part number, it comes up with

Amazon.com: Kingston Technology HyperX 16 GB Kit (4x4 GB Modules) 16 Quad Channel Kit 1600 (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX: Electronics

So is this what I have? or is CPUID showing the correct RAM? I built this PC, but I can't remember which one I bought. It's been a year.

Update on Prime95 - So far 5 hours into it, and everything has passed. No issues so far. Even with the use of youtube/surfing. No problems, max temp is 35 C.

Thanks for the help.

 

[huonub]

Here are the results after running Prime95 for a couple of hours.