AMD Athlon X4 631 4ghz+ on stock volts

[HossHuge]

So about a month ago I put together a system which consisted of an AMD Athlon II x4 631 (2.6ghz) and an ASRock A55M-HVS motherboard. I had just found out about the 631 and that it was actually an AMD Liano core with the GPU disabled. So I figured with the GPU disabled and the fact that it was 32nm that I could get a good overclock with it. However, the best that I could get was 3.35ghz which is ok but I wanted more. The temps I was getting were in the 60+ range and that’s with aftermarket cooling. So I thought “Wow these things run quite hot.”
Then the other day, I saw this news post about the AMD Athlon II x4 651 (3.0ghz, 400mhz more than mine) and I thought “Wow that’s quite the boost. I wonder if they lowered the temps somehow?” Plus, I read in another news post that someone had taken a 631 past 4ghz and I thought “Wow that guy is full of poop!” and I almost posted that. So I decide to do some googling and found this Chinese website that showed that someone did go past 4ghz. Then I thought “Wow my chip really stinks like poop.” So I translated the Chinese website and found out that the MSI A75MA-G55 motherboard had this thing called Lab Burst Mode which apparently allows for better overclocks. Hence, why I am writing now. As soon as I read that I went out and bought one and low and behold it does allow for better overclocks.

This is where I'm at so far. But I have to go to work now...

 

[Hayder_Master]

Three of my friends i build them system using athelon II X4 640, only i can get 3.3 on stock voltage, it's nice they will be happy when they hear that.
I will look for this MSI motherboards.

 

[HalfAHertz]

Whoa. Can you do some stock vs OCed benchmarks like 7-zip?

- Change setup item "Enhanced Spread Spectrum" to "Lab Burst Mode".

The second reference appears in the changelog for the E7696AMS.139 [v1.3b9] release:

- Fixed Lab Burst Mode always enable when OC more than 133Mhz successful then load default.

It sounds like the options softens the timing of the memory so maybe memory heavy workloads won't experience a big boost.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

nice OC

 

[HossHuge]

4.3ghz still on stock volts

Whoa. Can you do some stock vs OCed benchmarks like 7-zip?

I'm planning on doing some benching. I just want to see how far I can O/C first.

It sounds like the options softens the timing of the memory so maybe memory heavy workloads won't experience a big boost.

8-8-8-20 isn't too bad @1762mhz

 

[ChristTheGreat]

4.3 stock volt? nice!

We want to see bench. much better than the x4 635 I had, 3.36ghz at 1.4v xD

 

[de.das.dude]

that shit is good.

 

[r9]

Come on give us max overclock!

 

[HossHuge]

This is as far as I could go.

It did boot and go through a test with the same CPU frequency and my ram @1816mhz but then it wouldn't boot after. The motherboard won't allow me to raise my CPU-NB ratio and raising the voltage on that didn't do anything. I suspect that is what's keeping me from going any further. I am not complaining, that's for sure. 2600mhz + 1828mhz = 4428mhz

 

[n-ster]

Also try 3.35Ghz and compare benchmarks with and without Lab Burst, just to make sure nothing gimmicky is going on

 

[HossHuge]

Also try 3.35Ghz and compare benchmarks with and without Lab Burst, just to make sure nothing gimmicky is going on

The guy on that Chinese website I mentioned earlier has also shown some benchies.
3.35Ghz

4.428Ghz (I think this matches or beats my 1055t @3.78)

 

[de.das.dude]

The guy on that Chinese website I mentioned earlier has also shown some benchies.
3.35Ghz
http://img.techpowerup.org/111117/superpi.jpg

4.428Ghz (I think this matches or beats my 1055t @3.78)
http://img.techpowerup.org/111117/superpi4428.jpg

chineese = i dont trust. i wanna see ur benchies.

 

[HossHuge]

chineese = i dont trust. i wanna see ur benchies.

Local time here is 1:30am. I have my teddy bear and I am going to bed.

 

[Miwo]

Hi,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but any benchmark using MSI Burst Mode is fake/broken/unreliable. i have been on the Athlon x4 631 hype train, but it turned out to be all fluff.

Its been confirmed that MSI foul play is at work, and it is screwing up the timing across all benchmarks that rely on the clock. If you use a stopwatch and actually compare what you are getting vs what the stopwatch says, you will see a huge discrepancy. Another side effect is the system clock shifting over time.

If you dont believe me, check out these threads:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?274039-Athlon-II-X4-631X/page2
http://hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-1643127.html

Bottomline is all MSI LLano OC benchmarks are not to be trusted. Turn off Boost Mode, and you'll probably hit a wall around 3600-4000 like what everyone else is getting. Sucks, this could have been the next Celly 300A, but it just didnt pan out! Though with the x4 651, higher multiplier could be good since these llanos seem to all have FSB walls. A8-3870K is nowhere to be found still.

 

[HossHuge]

Consider my bubble burst ......Cheers Miwo thanks for being the bearer of bad news. When I read your post I didn't want to believe you but ya the timings are way off.

Sorry everybody, it was not my intention to mislead you.

However, I'll be returning the MSI mobo tomorrow and getting a new graphics card so I can crossfire my 6850's again.

 

[Miwo]

Sorry man . When I was following the same lead, I was very excited too.

It is still possible that the new x4 651 chip could be decent cheap OCing (though unlikely I admit). Main drawback of Llano overclocking is that all system components are tied to the bus speed. Certain Llano boards have an Internal Divider when 133FSB is set so that the components (PCI-E, SATA, USB) dont go out of wack. Thats why its possible for people to get 133+FSB OCs, whereas some cheaper boards just flop out when the bus speed is raised by just a few MHz.

So based on this, I'd assume that if the x4 651 ever makes it to market, 4GHz OC would be fairly straightforward on 133x30. Yeah, its definitely no Sandybridge, but it could still make for some cheap OCing fun. I really would like to try that out on a beefier board like the UD4H, F1A75 Pro that have much better VRM sections.

Trying to remain optimistic, but with FM1 being phased out to FM2 in Q2, i dont really see the point of AMD trying to push out the A8-3870K Unlocked and X4 651. Maybe we can at least pickup some FM1 boards for dirt cheap soon, my main rig (Phenom II x3 720) is in need of upgrade love

 

[n-ster]

haha I knew something fishy was going on (not by you, by MSI). It was way too good to be true