GA 970A-UD3 and FX 4100 throttling

[Vezina]

It seems that what it is happening to the 990XA version does happen to 970A-UD3 as well.BIOS version used is the latest F5.

When the CPU is under stress it sometimes goes to 3,3Ghz for short periods of times , at least this is what CPU-Z shows.You can observe this during WEI or while running Intel Burn test stress test.

The WEI score seems to be affected by this and by the lack of the performance boost (3,8Ghz for 4100FX) kicking in .
With BIOS settings on auto the WEI score for the CPU is 7.2 , with APM OFF in BIOS (that puts the CPU on 3,6Ghz) and with CPU set up in BIOS at 3,8Ghz (the performance boost clock ) manually the score is 7.3 (memory is running at 1333 Mhz).

Also a strange thing is that when the CPU has CnQ off it idles at 3,7 Ghz (normal boost) and when the CPU is in load goes to 3,6GHz the base frequency) practically the boost feature doesn t work.

Also the default CPU voltage seems to be wrong  at ~ 1,43V .
Adjusting the voltage to ~1,24V did not help with the clock throttling so it s not some TDP related issues.
Boards made by some other manufacturers seem to be using 1,27V for this CPU by default.

[autotech]

The CPU voltage is correct for that board have read a few post on it. You can always turn it down. As for cool n quiet and power saving features turn them all off and set it with no overclock. Then verify your processor is running at correct base speed and you can overclock it from there.  Could be a glitch from using a am3+ motherboard with a am3 processor.

[Vezina]

You may be right about the glitch ,but where i ve saw the glitch description the guy said that by loading the defaults it fixed it.
Before iinstalling the FX 4100 (after removing the AM3 720BE) i have cleared CMOS and also at first boot i have loaded the defaults.

It s bad that the turbo boost doesnt seem to be working though ,when the performance boost should kick in the board practically drops to 3,3Ghz from my observations.
When the CPU is in IDLE ,but the CnQ is off the first boost state (3,7Ghz) kicks in while when the CPU is loaded it drops to the base clock.Practically the turbo boost works reversed

Indeed ,by disabling the cpu features to OFF i was able to hit 3,8 Ghz ,3,9Ghz and 4,0Ghz along lowering the default voltage for all cores.

Running now undervolted ,if the voltage should be 1,4V, and at 2,8 Ghz for experimentation..

[autotech]

Wanted a 990 board myself but the 890 im using has the features i want and the 990 is missing a couple, my next rig is going intel havent used an intel in 10 years and want to play with one see what it has to offer.

[Vezina]

I don t think i ll make an Intel system for myself to soon.

To get a proper motherboard would cost me to much ,for a CPU said to be extraordinary to satisfy me.
At least this is what happens price wise in my country ,an Intel based rig is to expensive for what it is.
I was using some Athlon 1700+ in 2002-2004 ,when Intel still had (like always) the best CPU-s and never felt the handicap my CPU had over the Intel ones though in every benchmark i was looking my CPU was beaten to death.

As i am usually gaming i try to put the money on the video cards.

Even though the Bulldozer is weak in  synthetic benchmarks i have personally observed with this little FX 4100 that the desktop feels different compared to Phenom 2 or Athlon in the better.It may be placebo ,but i doubt as i started from the general opinion that Bulldozer is crappy
And i really don t care about the single core performance tests or super Pi as well.

By the way ,it seems that 970A-UD3 is not on the list AMD recommends for the 970 chipset

http://products.amd.com/(S(3thbck55fsfmcb45bzjgbg55))/en-us/MotherboardResult.aspx?f1=AMD+970&f2=&f3=Yes&f4=Yes&f5=ATX&f6=Yes&f7=&f10=AM3%2b

The Bulldozer CPU datasheet tells something about some BIOS setting that have to be implemented in a specific way so the board to be AMD certified.

[autotech]

Yes i know a 2600k intel is 299. here and a proper motherboard is 139. thats 439 and if i go with amd 8 core it is a ud3h mb and a 3.6 amd cpu it comes to about 100. USD cheaper so still rethinking what i am doing but i do want a spare pc in other room.

[MarkJohnson]

When my FX-8120 was throttling, I just load optimize defaults, save and exit, then go back in and set APM too disabled and all is fine.  No throttling.

For some reason it has a low setting for throttling.  I think mine was 43C and it would throttle, but no way to adjust it.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[Vezina]

When my FX-8120 was throttling, I just load optimize defaults, save and exit, then go back in and set APM too disabled and all is fine.  No throttling.

For some reason it has a low setting for throttling.  I think mine was 43C and it would throttle, but no way to adjust it.

Luck
-=Mark=-

I know about the APM trick.

Now there is something interesting ,the WEI score stayed 7.3 by doing the following in the BIOS:

C6 =Enabled (not auto)
APM =Enabled (not auto)
CnQ= Enabled
CPU voltage at 1,28V this is what the motherboard BIOS monitor shows (-0,075 setting for CPU voltage)

I have also tested more CPU speeds and even at 3,0 Ghz ,with APM OFF C6 off ,the CPU would have a 7.3 score, so the throttling stuff either drops the CPU frequency to much lower clocks either parks cores also.
I think this is some strange BIOS bug.
Also this motherboard is not on the 970 AMD recommended mobos list.

Also if the throttling is indeed a TDP /temperature related stuff the Bulldozer data sheet says the TDP anvelope can be adjusted by BIOS setting.So Gigabyte could make that setting visible maybe.

[MarkJohnson]

I wouldn't be using WEI score as any kind of benchmark.  If you can a good gauge try LinX.  It rates you CPU scores in Gflops.  Just set to low memory usages for quick test and more memory for stress tests.  775 I think is the default which is fairly quick.

LinX
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?201670-LinX-A-simple-Linpack-interface

Got tot the last page of the post for the newest version of LinX.

Also, Try HWMonitor to watch all of your temps at voltages.  

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

To get a good and live reading of you throttling, get Core Temp.  It will show each core's speed and each core's usage per cent.  compare with HWMonitor readings. and Linx Gflop scores and times.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

-=Mark=-

[Vezina]

Thank you for the reply, i will look into your suggestions.
I use HW Monitor ,CPU-Z ,Speed Fan  (or AMD Overdrive) and Intel Burn test as a stress test.I will add the other ones to the list .

I don t use the WEI as a real benchmark ,but it can be a marker for something wrong in the system.

I will inspect this CPU even more after i change the RAM to something better ,until then i hope Gigabyte will update the BIOS to a even better version.