Overclocking AMD Opteron C32/G34

[HeyItsChris]

Thanks.  I think if I wanna overclock I need to get a PCIe SATA card like a Marvell HyperDuo controller or some such so I can bypass the onboard SATA which is required when overclocking the FSB on these types of non-unlocked CPUs.  Anyway, here's my first video of the AMD Opteron 4284 in action at least until I get these fastest C32 Opteron 8-core 4386 CPU.  Too bad its not really any faster in game than my AMD A6-3670K @ 3.4Ghz.  Using a Dell OEM Low Profile AMD Radeon RX 550 4GB bios modded & overclocked from 1219mhz to 1375mhz core & from 1500mhz memory to 1750mhz & from 32 watts TDP to 75 watts & lowered the max temp to 84°C so the VRM & Core temp don't get too hot but I left the Hot Spot at 105°C so it can talk a little more on the big end.  It's a great video card for $95 shipped, I paid.

 

 

 

[HeyItsChris]

Here's my Cinebench R15 results for the 4180 & 4284.  They're extra slow processors.  Even my FM1 socket AMD A6-3670K surpasses the 4284 in L1 cache performance.

 

 

[HeyItsChris]

How do I force the cpu into it's max multiplier all the time?  I hate this that it only goes up to 3.3ghz under full load, the 4284.

 

There's this software from Supermicro called SuperO booster but I cannot find it anywhere & I doubt it will work on my board anyway.

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[pio]

12 hours ago, HeyItsChris said:

How do I force the cpu into it's max multiplier all the time?  I hate this that it only goes up to 3.3ghz under full load, the 4284.

 

There's this software from Supermicro called SuperO booster but I cannot find it anywhere & I doubt it will work on my board anyway.

 

Usually you'd set the multiplier in BIOS.  The turbo clocks are just that though, turbo.  It's meant for low to moderate loads to help get a single task done a little faster than it normally would.  Full system loads, you'll typically knock down to the "stock" clock speeds.  If there's no multiplier option in BIOS (which I'm not sure on that board), it might not be an option for you with that setup.  The CPU has to be "unlocked" to allow it since around the switch to DDR memory, well just after that.  Aftermarket "enthusiast" desktop type systems, the motherboards allow these kind of things, but they're really not supposed to.  Server boards are USUALLY (not always) treated a little more strictly in what they allow for adjustments, just like with OEM's like Dell and HP.  TBH, its probably not an option on server type boards.  I've never seen it on the ones I've played with, but that doesn't mean its impossible.

 

The PCIe SATA adapter thing, keep in mind too that your PCIe lanes also get overclocked with FSB speeds.  Everything does.  You might be able to lock the PCIe bus to 100MHz though, a lot of boards do that automatically, and some have the option to lock it at whatever you want.  FSB overclocking, without auto or manual locks, will overclock literally everything.  The CPU, RAM, PCIe lanes, PCI lanes (if applicable), your HT Link, NB and SB speeds, SATA controllers, IDE controllers, all of it.  Not saying that's going to be the case in your instance, just something to be aware of.  Again, the board MIGHT lock some of those to speed automatically.  Usually you'll run into instabilities or data corruption long before you damage something though.  And to be honest, the PCIe lanes CAN be overclocked to some degree and not hurt anything.  Doesn't really help anything either though, but it doesn't hurt.  I've ran my PCIe lanes at 115MHz before.  That would net you 230MHz HT Clock (FSB).  Data will get corrupted on SATA drives long before an actual instability would be noticed, assuming all else is fine.  So its really not going to harm anything on a system without important data on it (yet).

 

Want to know what'll hurt your setup?  Heat.  You're never going to overvolt the snot out of it without proper BIOS adjustments, so voltage can be ruled out.  I don't see a volt mod being successful in this instance, since the adjustments just aren't really there anyway to make use of extra voltage.  You can't harm it by FSB overclocking since its also not really a thing except with software.  FSB clocking doesn't HURT anything anyway, revert back and its fine.   Seriously, the worst thing you'll do software overclocking is crash, general instability, or the worst thing....data corruption.  So long as you're not worried about any of those (short term) problems, then FSB overclock away!  I wouldn't be, none of them are system threatening.  Voltage and heat are the two things that kill components, and with AMD especially, voltage itself really doesn't do much damage, its the heat that goes with it.

 

Hopefully that helps clear a few of your questions up.   I know its not much, and probably not the answers you were hoping for.  But you're also delving into areas that most of us don't do that often lol.

[HeyItsChris]

Here is some benchmark data of my new AMD Opteron 4386 8-core up to 3.8Ghz, which beats out my AMD Ryzen 5 2500U which is great.  The Dell OEM Low Profile AMD Radeon RX 550 4GB under-volted down to 950mV & 1250mhz core 1875mhz memory with 75w tdp & reduced hot spot down to 84°C from 105°C.  Only 5 fps less than 1375mhz core with 105°C.  It also runs 20°C cooler at 950mV from 1050mV but set to 1075mV via stock vga bios.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[pio]

I have a modded Acer laptop with a 2500u in it funny enough.  Once setup and overclocked, that darn thing does things I never expected to see a budget laptop do!   Your rig should be handily beating my laptop, looks like it probably is.  So yay!  The GPU in the 2500u is just BARELY underneath an RX 550 in performance, and your CPU is definitely stronger even with the 2500u at 3.6GHz speeds.

[HeyItsChris]

In my opinion though I think this RX 550 BIOS modded smoked the Vega 8 graphics which would throttle the gpu core clock all day well below 1100mhz peak, down in the 600-700mhz range with only 8 ROPs, it was pushing 4.8GPixel/s or so maybe a little more & the RX 550 @ 1250mhz core pushes a solid throttle-free 20GPixel/s with 16 ROPs.  Plus I overclocked the GDDR5 from 1500mhz 96GB/s to 1875mhz 120GB/s & added super-tight memory timings to the BIOS.  It appears to run much much faster than the AMD Radeon Vega 8 gfx but I will test it & compare & post the results.

 

Thanks for your amazing advice though buddy!  I love these Forums & this Community a lot.  Even as much as Overclock.net which I been a member on for years & years.

[pio]

34 minutes ago, HeyItsChris said:

In my opinion though I think this RX 550 BIOS modded smoked the Vega 8 graphics which would throttle the gpu core clock all day well below 1100mhz peak, down in the 600-700mhz range with only 8 ROPs, it was pushing 4.8GPixel/s or so maybe a little more & the RX 550 @ 1250mhz core pushes a solid throttle-free 20GPixel/s with 16 ROPs.  Plus I overclocked the GDDR5 from 1500mhz 96GB/s to 1875mhz 120GB/s & added super-tight memory timings to the BIOS.  It appears to run much much faster than the AMD Radeon Vega 8 gfx but I will test it & compare & post the results.

 

Thanks for your amazing advice though buddy!  I love these Forums & this Community a lot.  Even as much as Overclock.net which I been a member on for years & years.

 

You can force the Vega 8 to stay at 1200MHz, just like the CPU can be stuck at 3.6GHz on the 2500u.   I think its called Ryzen Adj or it might've been Ryzen Controller.  I forget, I'd have to hop on my laptop and find out, but the battery is dead lol.  Yeah, don't use it on a laptop unless you are 110% sure the laptop's power setup and battery can handle it.  Found that out the hard way.  Killed my battery, actually dead, in just a few months of my laptop being overclocked.   I have a 45w laptop, with a 150w power brick, upgraded battery (well it was new), and upgraded CPU / GPU cooler on it.  Took the parts off an Acer Nitro to put into my Aspire.  (Grabbed the screen too)  Thought that was enough to handle it fine.  Turns out, the DC plug / jack on the side is only rated at 45w though.  So even though everything ELSE can handle the load, my DC jack cannot. -_-  As such, it burned out the battery from being drained faster than it was being charged constantly.

[HeyItsChris]

Interesting.  Yeah my eGlobal AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Mini PC has Vega 8 GFX as well & its way faster than my HP ENVY X360 AMD Ryzen 5 2500U.  My eGlobal AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Mini PC has an unlocked BIOS so you can tweak the memory speed & timings.  I run DDR4-2933 on the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H with 3200mhz module's.  Not to mention they replaced the motherboard & put in a T-Bao motherboard with unlocked TDP settings in the BIOS so I set it to 54W & added a copper shim to the Core Diode to cool it down at 54W TDP.  It performs amazing now.  It holds 1200Mhz core on the GPU Vega 8 & 3.7Ghz on the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H.  Which smokes the AMD Opteron 4386 on Cinebench R15.  It scores almost 800 points on Cinebench R15, while the 4386 scores 511 points.  I'm happy with the performance of the 4386 though it's amazing & cool running too only 48°C max temp.

 

Can you post pictures of your modded heatsink on your Acer Aspire with the Acer Nitro heatsink?  That's really cool.

[pio]

15 minutes ago, HeyItsChris said:

Interesting.  Yeah my eGlobal AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Mini PC has Vega 8 GFX as well & its way faster than my HP ENVY X360 AMD Ryzen 5 2500U.  My eGlobal AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Mini PC has an unlocked BIOS so you can tweak the memory speed & timings.  I run DDR4-2933 on the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H with 3200mhz module's.  Not to mention they replaced the motherboard & put in a T-Bao motherboard with unlocked TDP settings in the BIOS so I set it to 54W & added a copper shim to the Core Diode to cool it down at 54W TDP.  It performs amazing now.  It holds 1200Mhz core on the GPU Vega 8 & 3.7Ghz on the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H.  Which smokes the AMD Opteron 4386 on Cinebench R15.  It scores almost 800 points on Cinebench R15, while the 4386 scores 511 points.  I'm happy with the performance of the 4386 though it's amazing & cool running too only 48°C max temp.

 

Can you post pictures of your modded heatsink on your Acer Aspire with the Acer Nitro heatsink?  That's really cool.

I don't have any unfortunately.  Did this a few years back, 2019 I think?  But its this cooler here off the Nitro 5:

 

The factory heatsink on my Aspire 3 was aluminum and only had 1 fan on it.  I don't have it on me anymore, and the laptop is put up on my shelf of junk until I get around to replacing the battery again lol.  The Nitro was solid copper with 2 fans on it, rated for a higher TDP / wattage.  It fit, so I put it in there lol.  My particular model Aspire 3 came with the 2500u in it, and its identical to the Nitro that had the 2500u / 2700u + GTX 1660 or whatever GPU it was in there.  Wired in the second fan to a USB header 5v and put it on a toggle switch so I could turn it on or off (full speed only for the second fan).  Used liquid metal for TIM (VERY carefully surrounding the area with tape).  I was hitting about 61*C full CPU load, and in the low 70's p95 + furmark load with the CPU locked at 3.6GHz and the Vega 8 locked at 1.2GHz.

Edited March 23, 2022 by pioneerisloud

[HeyItsChris]

Nice yeah the 3550h vega 8 had a clock of 1200mhz but the 2500u is 1100mhz.  By the way cool mod bro!  I wanna buy your laptop model & do the same mod!  Whats the exact model number?

Here are my results comparing the RX 550 at 1250mhz core & 1375mhz (not much so ill leave it under volted and at 1250mhz for safety purposes).  Against my 3550h mini pc & my 2500u laptop.  Looks like the Ryzen chips surpass the Opteron 4386 on the CPU test.

 

Result

WWW.3DMARK.COM

 

 

This one I overclocked the RX 550 to 1400mhz core & this is the result.

 

3dmark.com

WWW.3DMARK.COM

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[HeyItsChris]

I took some more pics including the damaging of the case to fit the larger than typical ATX power supply, the Dell Precision T7500 1,100W PSU.  It's an amazing power supply for the money providing very solid 12v rail capabilities & 16 AWG thick wires ensure stability, continuously under load.  I know it's an eye soar but later on I'll take it to a shop & have them cut out the metal & weld a brace to reinforce the chassis.  So far I'm waiting on my 12" Molex Extension for my PCIe x1 USB 3.0 adapter with front panel 3.0 header & my 12" 24-pin power supply EPS power extension for the short 24-pin on the Dell Precision T7500 or it's only because the motherboards power connectors are at the very top & the PSU is at the very bottom of a standard ATX case so it just can't quite reach.

 

[bonami2]

Great looking build!  

What kind of heatsink is that seem like a chunk of copper?

[HeyItsChris]

@bonami2Thanks man.  I'm glad you didn't think that bending the metal to fit the large 1100w psu wasn't too much of an eye soar.  It sure is a PITA getting the side panel on though .  By the way, that heatsink came with the motherboard but I'm thinking it's a Dynatron full copper 2U? heatsink for C32 socket.  I also love this socket & build as well.  I always look forward to getting on it even without it being overclocked, it's 99% faster by stock than my other AMD A6-3670K overclocked to 3.5Ghz Quad-Core.

 

If desired, I'll post more videos of gameplay using my overclocked & unleashed overvolted delimited power limit AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB Edition with Hynix memory.  Which atm is clocking in at 1375Mhz core & 1750Mhz stock memory because of avoidance of memory errors.  From 1175mV to 1225mV was required to hop from 1266Mhz to 1375Mhz on this chip full stable.  To achieve 1400Mhz may need 1250-1275mV but that's likely too hot anyway.

 

If only I knew it could support an RDNA 2 GPU or RDNA would suffice, but preferably RDNA 2.  I'm an All-AMD-Type-Of-Fanboy these days.  I used to opt for NVIDIA/ Intel but now I support #AMD, 100%.  I like Lisa Su & her marvelous company!

 

*Update*

It's a 1U Dynatron T319 Copper Heatsink for C32 Socket.

Dynatron T319 Socket C32/F1207 1U Passive CPU Cooler

EBAY.TO

---

Solution 1U Server. CPU Support AMD® Opteron™ 4100 & 4200 Series Socket C32, Six-Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ Processor Socket F 1207 up to 105 Watts. CPU Socket C32 & F 1207. Material Copper...

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[HeyItsChris]

Which chip is the clock generator for SetFSB?  I can't find an ICS chip.

 

[bonami2]

On 01/04/2022 at 03:15, HeyItsChris said:

@bonami2Thanks man.  I'm glad you didn't think that bending the metal to fit the large 1100w psu wasn't too much of an eye soar.  It sure is a PITA getting the side panel on though .  By the way, that heatsink came with the motherboard but I'm thinking it's a Dynatron full copper 2U? heatsink for C32 socket.  I also love this socket & build as well.  I always look forward to getting on it even without it being overclocked, it's 99% faster by stock than my other AMD A6-3670K overclocked to 3.5Ghz Quad-Core.

 

If desired, I'll post more videos of gameplay using my overclocked & unleashed overvolted delimited power limit AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB Edition with Hynix memory.  Which atm is clocking in at 1375Mhz core & 1750Mhz stock memory because of avoidance of memory errors.  From 1175mV to 1225mV was required to hop from 1266Mhz to 1375Mhz on this chip full stable.  To achieve 1400Mhz may need 1250-1275mV but that's likely too hot anyway.

 

If only I knew it could support an RDNA 2 GPU or RDNA would suffice, but preferably RDNA 2.  I'm an All-AMD-Type-Of-Fanboy these days.  I used to opt for NVIDIA/ Intel but now I support #AMD, 100%.  I like Lisa Su & her marvelous company!

 

*Update*

It's a 1U Dynatron T319 Copper Heatsink for C32 Socket.

Dynatron T319 Socket C32/F1207 1U Passive CPU Cooler

EBAY.TO

---

Solution 1U Server. CPU Support AMD® Opteron™ 4100 & 4200 Series Socket C32, Six-Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ Processor Socket F 1207 up to 105 Watts. CPU Socket C32 & F 1207. Material Copper...

 

I bent a micro atx once to fit a 1000w psu hahaha.

 

Those amd gpu are great. 100mhz is almost 10% gain in fps

 

 

[HeyItsChris]

@bonami2 Right on man.  Glad to hear I didn't make a poor choice.  I had to do it or else this machine wouldn't work properly.  It's very stable now it reports 12.094v at idle & max load of 221 watts on the core alone not including the rest of the PCB is 11.813v which is just fine & dandy for a $39.99 power supply shipped.  Stock clocks it doesn't budge 12.000v load which is amazing.  It's because I have the TDP TDC limits at 999 watts so its unleashed & delimited power limit for maximum performance.

 

*Update on the PSU Voltages*

After turning up the voltage on the RX 480 to 1.275v, it reached more than 315 watts on the Core alone!  The Core temperature was 79°C & the VRM was 76°C & the minimum 12 volt rail voltage was 11.750v.  Still quite capable power supply.

 

I recently pulled the motherboard to repaste the super-hot running Chipset which before I pulled the dust mesh filter off the front of the case front panel, would hit 80°C.  After pulling the dust mesh filter off the front panel it went down to 67°C, but I since have repasted the Chipset & it's running at 63°C now which is fine with me.

 

I also made a new video of the Supermicro H8SCM-F in action with the AMD Opteron 4386 8-Core CPU which clocks up to 3.8Ghz which conditions are right, but most of the time is 3.4Ghz.  I also have the MSI Reference Blower AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB Hynix running at 1.2v vCore which is set in the VGA BIOS, from 1.175v max vCore stock.  There is a -25mv offset by stock on my card so bare that in mind when viewing the GPU Core Voltage.  I have the core set to 1375Mhz & left the memory stock at 1750Mhz to minimize memory errors.

 

I still have yet to receive my 24-pin EPS power supply extension cable which is 1 foot long & 1 foot long molex extension.  So I cannot upload pics of the machine yet until it's fairly complete.  Still need to upgrade the RAM to 128GB DDR3-1866 ECC Registered Buffered & possibly a GPU upgrade would be nice.  Maybe a RX Vega 64 or RX 5700 XT or some such RDNA or RDNA 2 GPU.

 

On the Superposition 4K Optimized benchmark I had the RX 480 clocked at 1400mhz at 1275mV & its stable with 105°C default Hot Spot limit.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[Storm-Chaser]

On 22/03/2022 at 23:02, HeyItsChris said:

Here is some benchmark data of my new AMD Opteron 4386 8-core up to 3.8Ghz, which beats out my AMD Ryzen 5 2500U which is great.  The Dell OEM Low Profile AMD Radeon RX 550 4GB under-volted down to 950mV & 1250mhz core 1875mhz memory with 75w tdp & reduced hot spot down to 84°C from 105°C.  Only 5 fps less than 1375mhz core with 105°C.  It also runs 20°C cooler at 950mV from 1050mV but set to 1075mV via stock vga bios.

 

 

Nice work so far! Love the case (white is really underrated as cases go)... It's not gaudy or anything like what you see nowadays. Still has a little old-school feel left in it. 

 

[Storm-Chaser]

On 19/03/2022 at 01:05, pioneerisloud said:

And my Broadwell setup allows DDR3-2133.  Both setups have the same exact RAM sticks installed, have the same exact motherboards, but only the Broadwell will work with the full speed.  Opterons would do the same, since its still a Supermicro board, and since the IMC is still on the die itself.

Could be a CPU limitation, v3 processors only supported up to 2133MHz versus v4 processors supporting up to 2400MHz.

 

You might be interested in going the HP route with a HP Z820/Z840 or something similar. 

You can check out my build log for it over in the other thread. 

 

But this is a really cool thing you've got going here. Favorite Opteron was the 6180SE because was the last of the might Phenom II (though memory speed in some configurations only supported up to 1333MHz (and thats usually about my cut off for actually using the machine). I never dip below 1600MHz on the memory front but that doesnt stop me from tinkering with old hardware.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Storm-Chaser

[HeyItsChris]

Tomorrow I'm ordering 4x 16GB sticks of ECC Registered Buffered Mushkin ProLine RAM for 64 Gigabytes of total RAM for $10 a stick, total $40 shipped for 64GB, Can't beat it!

 

Not to mention my Guardian is holding my mail now because I'm not compliant with my newly found diabetes apparently, even know I'm never going to succumb to treatment for it ever.  I'll die before I get treated for diabetes.  So I couldn't receive my 1 foot long 24 pin power supply extension cable.  So I have to re-order it all under someone elses name.  I live in a lock down facility because I yelled at my parents about Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[HeyItsChris]

So I got my Mushkin Proline RAM in & it BSODs if I have all 4 module's installed & boot loops continuous but will boot but reports the 1600mhz module's as 1066mhz unbuffered DIMMs.  With 2x module's installed for 32GB it reports 1600mhz & works fine.  I contacted Supermicro & they said the memory wasn't on the QVL list for memory.  I should have bought Samsung Module's because of their higher compatibility.

[HeyItsChris]

*Update*
For some dumb reason the Supermicro BIOS is at fault here with this Mushkin RAM.  It uses the wrong timings at 1066mhz, way too tight is why it BSODs & barely gets to Windows most of the time.  So I dialed the RAM back to DDR3-800 & Its using the right timings now its working fine with 64GB installed, but the RAM is slow as heck bro's!  Can you help me mod the BIOS so it uses the right timings with the RAM installed?

 

[HeyItsChris]

What about Thaiphoon Burner @pioneerisloud

 

My module's aren't protected with write protection which I'm lucky for, I have a chance at fixing this issue with Thaiphoon Burner.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[HeyItsChris]

I wanted to thank everyone for contributing to this thread.

 

By the way I wanted to let you know if you have to use just 2 sticks of RAM to use 1600mhz to 1866mhz RAM on C32 socket Processors.  Since with all 4 slots populated it runs at a max of DDR3-1066 & nothing can help this not even Thaiphoon Burner.  I think it can handle 1866mhz RAM since it has the option for it in the BIOS.  I would use 2x 32GB sticks on this socket instead of 1600-1866mhz.

 

By the way I am having USB 3.0 issues on this Opteron system... Code 43 for some reason, why?  Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

 

VIA USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft)

PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3483&SUBSYS_34831106&REV_01

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by HeyItsChris

[HeyItsChris]

The Supermicro H8SCM-F hates 4 sticks of RAM, so I reduced it to 32GB which runs at full speed DDR3-1600, otherwise with 4 sticks it has USB 3.0 PCIe card issues & BSODs galore & the RAM only runs at DDR3-1066.  So now that I have 32GB 2x 16GB in there all the issues went away.  So now I need to order 2x sticks of 32GB DDR3-1866 for 64GB SK Hynix RAM from Cisco.