K53TA.. The best deal ever... could be!

[HTWingNut]

Guys, sounds like you're just running and gunning. Baby steps. Like I said it took me HOURS (like 6+) to get my clocks and voltages rock solid. Choose to either overclock your CPU or GPU first. Then give each a LONG burn-in to see how it fares BEFORE you try to run them both together. I was getting lots of BSOD's at first, but that's because I wasn't doing it systematically, just plugging and running. My GPU can only go to 650/1000 while gaming where 665/1050 are stable in benches.

You need to tune ALL your P-states, not just P0. And test each state with both Prime95+Kumbustor running simultaneously for at least ten minutes. Because if your CPU hits one of those other P-states while under stress it will cause a BSOD or app crash, hang, or reboot. If you really want to just test your P0 state then best to set each lower P-state down one notch of voltage (0.125V), this is a pretty safe bet, and you can tune each lower P-state as you find time.

Once you fix your P0 fairly high (like 2.1GHz+), B0 is really no longer in play because the conditions to allow for boost are pretty much non-existent. I did find that once you approach the max design speed (2.3GHz) you cannot use that for P0, you need to set ALL P0 states to that higher clock in order for it to work, otherwise it will throttle the CPU to lower P-states once the temps rise from 70C+. Just create another K10stat profile setting all P0 states to that higher clock and run that before you game.

My third core (or Core #2 numbering 0-3) is also the weak one, which requires bumping the voltage, but that's the way it is, not all cores are created equal, as much as we'd like them to be.

Baby steps. I didn't do it all in one sitting either. I did little by little, tested a little, gamed with it, then adjusted the next P-state, etc.

I also noticed that games that are very CPU heavy (like Bad Company 2 and Starcraft 2), it may be best to turn off crossfire because running with the iGPU steals resources from the CPU, even if CPU is at 100%, which is counterproductive.

[Wilfred Humphreys XI]

Do any other notebooks compare to this one at this price point? Still can't believe what a steal this is.

[HTWingNut]

No other notebooks come close.

If you want a higher res screen (1080p), blu-ray, faster CPU & GPU, and longer battery life, another $300 will get you a DV6z.

[AMD_Swole]

Guys, sounds like you're just running and gunning. Baby steps. Like I said it took me HOURS (like 6+) to get my clocks and voltages rock solid. Choose to either overclock your CPU or GPU first. Then give each a LONG burn-in to see how it fares BEFORE you try to run them both together. I was getting lots of BSOD's at first, but that's because I wasn't doing it systematically, just plugging and running. My GPU can only go to 650/1000 while gaming where 665/1050 are stable in benches.

You need to tune ALL your P-states, not just P0. And test each state with both Prime95+Kumbustor running simultaneously for at least ten minutes. Because if your CPU hits one of those other P-states while under stress it will cause a BSOD or app crash, hang, or reboot. If you really want to just test your P0 state then best to set each lower P-state down one notch of voltage (0.125V), this is a pretty safe bet, and you can tune each lower P-state as you find time.

Once you fix your P0 fairly high (like 2.1GHz+), B0 is really no longer in play because the conditions to allow for boost are pretty much non-existent. I did find that once you approach the max design speed (2.3GHz) you cannot use that for P0, you need to set ALL P0 states to that higher clock in order for it to work, otherwise it will throttle the CPU to lower P-states once the temps rise from 70C+. Just create another K10stat profile setting all P0 states to that higher clock and run that before you game.

My third core (or Core #2 numbering 0-3) is also the weak one, which requires bumping the voltage, but that's the way it is, not all cores are created equal, as much as we'd like them to be.

Baby steps. I didn't do it all in one sitting either. I did little by little, tested a little, gamed with it, then adjusted the next P-state, etc.

I also noticed that games that are very CPU heavy (like Bad Company 2 and Starcraft 2), it may be best to turn off crossfire because running with the iGPU steals resources from the CPU, even if CPU is at 100%, which is counterproductive.

so then we don't have "faulty" cores as in I should exchange for a new one? And how are you guys finding stable OC's on the GPU? Kombuster just plays some furry stuff and i see temps and fps...should i let it run longer?

[joe_dude]

Guys, no offense, but you do realize being able to run the A6-3400M @ 2.3 P0 is just plain nuts.

It's probably close to double the maximum TDP for the APU. I on purposely kept power usage *under* stock. IMHO, >2 GHz P0 is really having your cake and eating it too.

[r0ge]

My core 3 is acting up as well. I can pass Intel Burn Test easily with out going over 80C. As soon as I fire up Prime 95 for more than a few minutes, I get a failure in core 3. I assumed it was because I've never used K10Stat before and I was doing something wrong. Does locking the P-states help when testing the lower P-states?

[ryanlecocq]

So I've read every post here and looked everywhere else and I'm still having trouble. I have yet to get any game to run well in crossfire. They all run at least 15% slower and stutter a bit. I'm not sure if it's my drivers, or if it's because I have my CPU cores overclocked and it's taking all the power as mentioned above.

So far two people have mentioned getting Deus Ex:HR working well under crossfire and that's one of the games I'm testing (other two are Alice: MR and Crysis 2). So either my settings are wrong or I'm missing something completely.

I installed the AMD chipset driver from Asus' support site, the CCC and crossfire profiles from AMD's site and I have nothing else running besides Fraps to check framerate and K10Stat.

[AMD_Swole]

So I've read every post here and looked everywhere else and I'm still having trouble. I have yet to get any game to run well in crossfire. They all run at least 15% slower and stutter a bit. I'm not sure if it's my drivers, or if it's because I have my CPU cores overclocked and it's taking all the power as mentioned above.

So far two people have mentioned getting Deus Ex:HR working well under crossfire and that's one of the games I'm testing (other two are Alice: MR and Crysis 2). So either my settings are wrong or I'm missing something completely.

I installed the AMD chipset driver from Asus' support site, the CCC and crossfire profiles from AMD's site and I have nothing else running besides Fraps to check framerate and K10Stat.

honestly my dude, keep the 11.6 drivers from the Asus Chipset, (should be v8.861) and get the official 11.8 software from AMD (NOT THE DRIVERS THOUGH) and disable crossfire and set to high performance. I'm hitting 60-70fps maxing out DX9 games such as Source and COD4. They need to fix it. Only real improvement with the Crossfire can be seen in BF2, which I don't play. Otherwise, the system I have (2.4ghz, 700/1000GPU, 8gb dual channel) can beat most comparable stock $700 computers, and I didn't even game before this. For $450, this is a blessing from the laptop gods.

[AMD_Swole]

My core 3 is acting up as well. I can pass Intel Burn Test easily with out going over 80C. As soon as I fire up Prime 95 for more than a few minutes, I get a failure in core 3. I assumed it was because I've never used K10Stat before and I was doing something wrong. Does locking the P-states help when testing the lower P-states?

It could be a glitch in Prime, because IntelBurn passes 5 tests easy, but Core 3 seems to be a problem with everyone in PRIME., specially since the other cores perform absolutely fine throughout the rest of the PRIME testing...

[HTWingNut]

I don't think it's a glitch, could just be a result of the manufacturing process. Prime95 runs the CPU harder than most apps. You can try OCCT as well, it fails on me too when Prime95 fails. Albeit I haven't spent much time using it. That's why it's best to run multiple benches, because one may pass and the other not. When I was done with a stable Prime + Kombustor run, I ran IntelBurnTest just to make sure, at least on my P0, P6, and B0 states.

My core 3 is acting up as well. I can pass Intel Burn Test easily with out going over 80C. As soon as I fire up Prime 95 for more than a few minutes, I get a failure in core 3. I assumed it was because I've never used K10Stat before and I was doing something wrong. Does locking the P-states help when testing the lower P-states?

Yes, when testing the lower P-states, click on each core to lock those speeds. Use HWinfo to confirm the speeds.