Carrizo APU Overclocking/Undervolting

Hey guys,

on my search for a tool that could be used to downclock the AMD APU of my Lenovo Y700 notebook i came across a neat tool called " AmdMsrTweaker" that was initially released in the xtremesystems.org forum and could be used to modify power states of old AMD K10 CPUs.

Some guy took over this project a few years ago and released a new version (1.1) with partial support for Trinity / Richland / Kaveri APUs. Luckily it does work with the new Carrizo APU generation too, so i decided to write a small guide.

First of all, this tool is for command line (Windows) only. That means there is no user interface that will pop up and let you change some settings with a simple mouse click (but it is not really needed actually).

I didnt found a working download link for the tool but the source code is still available so i recompiled it with Visual Studio. You can download it directly from the link at the end of this post. The .zip file contains the AmdMsrTweaker.exe and some files of the WinRing lib which this tool is based on (not sure what it does though).

Note: All attempts using this tool are at your own risk and will void warranty, it could even damage your CPU or other components !

If you execute the tool without any arguments it will output the current power states and some CPU info. On my FX-8800P it looks like this:



As you can see we get all the information we need.. base clock, multiplier, voltage steps.. even the north bridge states. The only bug with Carrizo APUs: The voltage values are wrong and shown lower than they are in reality. But that's no problem as we can work with those values and pretend that they are the real ones. F.e. the max turbo state P0 uses 1.1V but tools like HWInfo showing 1.325 V. Now if we decrease the voltage one step to 1.0875V we get 1.319V in HWInfo.

Now the important part.. how to change the P-states:

You can simply add arguments for execution in the command prompt after the .exe like this:

AmdMsrTweaker.exe [email protected]

The syntax is clear, we are setting the P0 state to 1.0875V (1.1 - 0.0125 as mentioned before) and the multiplier remains at 34. This will result in 3.4GHz (34 * 100 MHz base clock) which is the max turbo for this APU. You can even add more arguments if you need:

AmdMsrTweaker.exe [email protected] [email protected] P2=.....



All those changes will remain until you restart you PC (or shut it down if you use fast/secure boot options in BIOS), i.e. every time your BIOS will be initialized those changes will be reverted to the default values. To overcome this i will show you how to run the tool on Windows startup.

Run on startup

Windows 8.1 / 10

First we need a new Windows Batch File. Open Notepad and create an empty text file, got to File -> Save as.. and select All files in the Save as type: box. Name it MsrTweakerStartup.bat or whatever you like.

Now add the command at the first line of your newly created .bat file to start the tool with your custom arguments, here an example:

START C:\ YourFullPathToTheFile\AmdMsrTweaker-v1.1\AmdMsrTweaker.exe [email protected] [email protected]

To see if it works you can double click the .bat file, the line above should be executed and you see a command prompt shortly popping up. Now we need to tell Windows that our batch file should be executed on startup. Go to your start menu, choose Run and open shell:startup. This will open the windows startup folder, now create a shortcut of your batch file and move it inside this folder. That's it !



After restarting your PC you will notice that the command prompt is popping up after Windows login, that means your .bat file is executed automatically.


Hope this will help you as much as it did for me and many thanks to the developers of this tool !!!

 

Thanks for this tool.

 

DP

 

Try my settings Assembler. I found the lowest voltage possible to run my FX 8800P, 1.2v at 3.4Ghz. After removing the black filter and using these voltage settings i find 1 hour of Prime Small FFT results in a maximum cpu temperature of 60c. I see zero throttling now.

Here is a screenshot of 30 minutes of Prime 95 with my settings applied. http://i.imgur.com/kxZifl9.jpg

 

You sure this setting is stable under heavy load on both CPU and GPU ? You can set voltages quite low and it will run perfectly fine (even with prime) but while playing games you might notice crashes / blue screens / or sudden system restart. Better test it under those conditions to see if it is really stable.

 

That could well be the case if you use the integrated GPU, however i use High Performance mode for games to use the 385X. I have to admit, I've stressed it for a long time on Prime, but not on games. I'll have to give it a test on games before declaring 100% stability.

 

Thanks! it does work for me, but under gaming load, like Crysis 3, P7 state is also used and I can set it only to x21, tops

Also, did you have any success with running Ashes of Singularity on the dedicated GPU?

 

I managed to use this trick on a Toshiba laptop with a FX 8700P. It's got low end cooling and a 19W TDP limit so i had to settle for a maximum boost clock under sustained load of 2.8Ghz at like 0.900v (roughly). Nonetheless this has boosted performance a bit as it was rarely getting over 2.2Ghz at stock voltatge settings and would even drop to 1.8Ghz under heavy load. Now it holds 2.8Ghz under all but extended prime95 small FFT where it sometimes drops to 2.6Ghz.

 

In my case (Y700), Prime95 results in 3.3GHZ actually.. but as I said, Crysis 3 or other gaming type load (which is not as heavy as Prime95 maybe) results downclocking of the CPU to 1.3GHZ (or 2.1GHZ if I use this tool). The difference in FPSs is huge in Crysis 3. I don't really think the FX-8800P has any problem to do 3-3.3GHZ in the Y700, but it seems like there is the usual problem with the EC/bios algorithm that controls the clocks or something ..

 

Any chance of seeing a Cinebench R15 bench run? Thanks.

 

You need to adjust the other boost clocks/voltages as well. I recommend changing all of them, that way you can limit the throttle to the next step down.

 

That is more or less the point. The cooling system is not powerful enough to keep max. CPU turbo while the dGPU is under load. That is the case with most of the notebooks out there, usually the BIOS would lower turbo clock of CPU and/or GPU to prevent overheating (sometimes even below base clock).

In our case, Lenovo did set a temperature target of 85 degree (c) for both, CPU and GPU. If one chip reaches this temp. the CPU will switch to its lowest power-state, until then it will keep up max turbo which makes no sense at all. A typical behaviour would be to lower the P-state step by step when reaching certain temp. targets (as the Intel based Y700 does starting at 65 degree). The cooling system is capable enough to maintain APU clock speeds between 2.1 and 3.0 GHz but the logic for that is simply missing in the BIOS.

Never versions try to address this throttling issue by limiting max. turbo clock of the dGPU, but that does not work and is more an "half hearted" attempt that will reduce overall performance for nothing. It seems Lenovo is not interested in resolving this, so we had to take action by ourselves.....

You can check my Y700 review in this forum for Cinebench R11 and R15 results.

 

Thanks.

For the dual-channel test you could check bandwidth with one and two DIMM's using Maxxmem or Sisoft.

FWIW the i7-4600m can score a lot more than 3.35 in Cinebench R11.5

 

Yeah, but then i would have to open it again and that will not happen soon

The scores are from the notebookcheck database, but they only tested one device with this CPU so i have to admit that scores could be better in reality. Lets just say the FX-8800P performs on a similar level in CB R11.5

 

Don't know what BIOS options you have but might be one for disabling DIMM slots. No worries though, I've seen CPU-z report both single and dual channel for 8800P so have some confidence it's okay.

Notebookcheck is fine if your looking for out of the box performance however usually those results can be improved on, sometimes substantially. The i7-4600m can score over 4 in CB R11.5, over 5 if OC'd.

 

Thanks for replying - didn't see that

Indeed in some games the CPU temps reach 91C (and then stabilize on 80-82/3), but I have no success making it stay on more than 2.1. It should be doable, if you say 85C is the limit..

 

Is this with some good thermal paste or stock one? If stock, get some Gelid GC Extreme and your temps should drop into low 80s or the 70s..

 

A little headache with all them components so tight and squished together

 

Squish engineering, sounds like something marketing could use to make it actually sound like a good thing.

 

Replacing the thermal compount is no use, it will just prevent throttling for a few more minutes.

 

yea, that's what I think.

From my tests, however, the difference in average FPS with and without 2.1GHZ locking, is really insignificant to non existent, but experience is better, in Crysis 3.

I must say, though, that there are other qualities that have not materialized yet, like HSA, DX12/Vulkan and more. I think that such a machine in the era of Vulkan/DX12/HSA will be way more cost effective, but that will take time.

 

Raise the back of the laptop... It's the best way to reduce the chances for this...

 

can someone give me the exact word to paste in block notes? I try different words and my processor still in 2.1 don't change. I last try this START C:\Users\myusser\Downloads\AmdMsrTweaker-v1.1\AmdMsrTweaker.exe [email protected] [email protected] help me assembler

 

People, did anyone try the method of removing the dust filters? various people say that it helps greatly, even if custom filters are applied

 

Removing dust filters will help if you are use a cooling pad, otherwise it will not reduce temps. on constant heavy load.

 

Well removing dust from your laptops fan will always help.. It should help to drop temps a bit tbh...

 

I've tried cooling pad vs removing the whole bottom and I didn't see serious difference or difference at all I think that this guy who found a "solution" simply used the laptop quite badly before that

 

Hi, could you share the settings you use to reach these values? I have the same APU and I would like to boost performance.

 

Are you guys talking about single threaded stress? Because whatever settings I try once I start prime 4 core stress my 8700p won't go over 2.3Ghz.

 

Hi, I'm new here, and new to overclocking, and have a ASUS X555DG, with the FX-8800P/Carrizo, with Win10 64bit, dual boot to Ubuntu 16.04LTS. I'm wanting to overclock my CPU/APU, I've never done something like this before. I have downloaded the AmdmsrTweaker.zip and unpacked in Windows, and opened a PS window. I ran the "./ AmdMsrTweaker.exe" on it's own and got the same screen readout as the OP. Then I ran the command line "./ AmdMsrTweaker.exe [email protected]". I used CPU-Z, and I see no changes at all. What am I doing wrong? Or, what all else do I need to do? And any suggestions on additional tools to check/monitor performance and stress test to see the CPU multiplier alterations are actually in affect.

BTW, this little $500 laptop is quite impressive for price erformance.

 

Well, first let me start by giving you information on what system i have. I have a Y700 this laptop does seem to have potential. specs are FX 8800p, R7, R9 M385X, Dual Channel 8GB with 1 rank, 256 SSD 850 Evo.
there is a way to really cool your system to where throttling isnt even in existence... and ill explain just what i did.. the cooling problem is in fact a lenovo design flaw from heat sink to not enough copper pipes. all in all a very bad design indeed. to fix the problem youll need to place PVC or ELECTRICAL tape between the fan and heat fins. basically the air escape from this openning causing the temp to rise since the hot air is cycling it self. i have patch this flaw and have been monitoring the temps to see that my temp doesnt exceed 66-69 Celcius... meaning i have fixed this flaw. not only did i use tape to fix it but i also changed the thermal paste to a silver acrylic paste to notice even more cooling. to a output temp of 60-65 maxium temp recorded.
if interested ill make a video in YOUTUBE to allow the world who have the fx 8800p cpu to fix this design flaw. Thank you.

 

Yes, please post a video of the enhancements. My FX-8800P is a ASUS X555DG Laptop, so the Lenovo design around the fan exhaust maybe be different. My top issues would be, how to open up my laptop without destroying it (and getting it back together). and then where to place tape, and/or additional heat sinks. Also, the exact software, how to compile if need be, and the command lines to execute, step-by-step. I'm sure my local Frys Elecronics some of the best thermal grease to use as well, anything to bring down temps to stop the CPU getting too hot and throttling

 

I'd like to see that video.

 

Sir, can u tell me advance setting of ur fx-8800p ?, iam also TOSHIBA E45DW user with amd fx8800p,.i dont get it how to get like on ur picture,.my cpu-z tell nothing changed although follow the instruction on first page

 

Hey guys, not to necro this post or anything but just wanted to say that I've had awesome success with combining removing the dust filter, using tape to seal off the leaking hot air from the heat pipes, and undervolting my P states by 0.0125. I have the Lenovo Y700 with the A10 8700P, 8 GB, 1 TB HD, and the 4 GB R9 M380. All of these combined have allowed me to let my processor run in its turbo 3.2 hz state for longer and especially in PUBG which isnt well optimized but does use all four cores I've been able to maintain a 2.6 ghz (or higher) state for hours on end instead of it dropping to the 1.3 ghz. Thank you to everyone who did all the hard work on this forums, you've allowed me to actually enjoy gaming on a computer that I thought I had wasted all my money on!

 

I was wondering if you can share your 8700P undervolt settings. I've tried to get this work on my Elitebook 745 G3 with the 8700B to no avail...
Also could you give me a quick rundown of how you applied these? Whenever I try an undervolt it seems nothing changes even after running Prime95

 

Hi everyone ,

on a HP 15-ba061dx laptop (A12 9700p with R7) with win10 on it ,when i run the tool i get the following :

"AmdMsrTweaker v2.0

.:. General
---
AMD family 0x15, model 0x65 CPU, 4 cores
Default reference clock: 100 MHz
Available multipliers: 1 .. 63
Available voltage IDs: 0 .. 1.55 (0.0125 steps)

.:. Turbo
---
enabled
unlocked
Max multiplier: 36

.:. P-states
---
8 of 8 enabled (P0 .. P7)
Turbo P-states: P0 P1 P2
---
P0: 36x at 1.2375V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P1: 30x at 0.9V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P2: 27x at 0.725V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P3: 25x at 0.6V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P4: 21x at 0.4V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P5: 16x at 0.225V
NorthBridge in NB_P0
P6: 13x at 0.15V
NorthBridge in NB_P1
P7: 8x at 0.05V
NorthBridge in NB_P1
* PsiVidEn = 0, PsiVid = 1.55 V
---
NB_P0: 11x at 0.325V [NBPStateHi] [NBPStateLo]
Memory in M0
NB_P1: 10x at 0.275V
Memory in M0
NB_P2: 10x at 0.275V
Memory in M0
NB_P3: 7x at 0.125V
Memory in M1
* NbPstateDis = 0, NbPstateGnbSlowDis = 0, StartupNbPstate = 0
* NbPsi0VidEn = 0, NbPsi0Vid = 1.55 V
* NBPStateHiCPU = 0, NBPStateLoCPU = 0
* NBPStateHiGPU = 0, NBPStateLoGPU = 0
---
M0: 933.3 MHz
M1: 666.6 MHz
* MemClkFreqVal(M0) = 1, FastMstateDis(M1) = 0
---
GPU_P0: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P1: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P2: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P3: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P4: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P5: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P6: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
GPU_P7: StateValid = 0, LclkDivider = 0, VID = 1.55 V
* GpuEnabled = 1, SwGfxDis = 0, ForceIntGfxDisable = 0
* LclkDpmEn = 0, VoltageChgEn = 0, LclkDpmBootState = 0

Press any key to exit..."


Would just like to know if it's possible to tweak anything on my rig and how much ...Anyone?

Tnx in advance

 

I have novabenchmark scores went from 585score to 727 on my hp envy fx8800p

I also used Radeon 18.5.1 and boosted the gpu

 

Did you get msrtweaker to work on your a12 9700p?

 

Create a notepad doc and write
(Your location of file)Amdmsrtweaker-v1.1\amdmsrtwesker.exe
When you save it as .exe and have downloaded msrtweaker it will pull up command promp and will run.
[email protected] [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] so on to P7 all one big line

 

Hi,
I have the HP 15-bw064ng with the A10-9620P, boost is 36x@3600 MHz just like yours.

I can tell you, these devices are not undervoltable, anyhow not with the latest BIOS Version I'm using.

My HP15 was blowing like crazy, easily reaching 70°C just browsing some tabs in Chrome,
thermalpaste was just replaced by Arctic MX4 without any big success,
that's because of boosting to that 3,6 GHz all the time while doing nothing at all,
tried to fix that by setting the Windows power plan to CPU max @ 80 - 99% which always forces the processor to max. @20x => 2 GHz which is a bit to much of bottlenecking my device.

So I've used AmdMsrTweaker to set P0-P3 to 25x => 2,5 GHz, which is the regular max. clock without that boosting P-States,
and what can I tell you: WOW, THAT THING IS ABSOLUTELY SILENT NOW, AND I CAN'T FEEL ANY PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE HERE!!!

HWMonitor reports 2,5 GHz @1.106V - absolutly silent and CPU Temp between 40-50 °C while ambient is 30 °C these summer days!
Furthermore I did some Benchmarking via CPU-Z with it, in order the device is thermal throttling very fast without that 25x handbrake, the scores are on average the same +/- 5-10 points, nothing worth mentioning.

Just make a *.bat file, open the Windows Task Scheduler, create a new task, check the Run whether user is logged on or not and Run with highest privileges box,
under Trigger, set it to run when the computer starts every time (At startup). After you've clicked OK, you should now give it your (Admin-)Username and Password,
so UAC Prompt will be bypassed and MSR Tweaker will be loaded in the background just before you've logged into windows on system startup.

Hope that helps you out, I really enjoiy my HP 15 (modded with a antiglare FHD IPS Panel) even more now!

Kind regards
Marius