I have to use AMD overdrive to monitor temperatures because other software show incorrect readings for my CPU temps. Example: http://puu.sh/q6RMR.png - there's no way my CPU is constantly running at that temp for so long without throttling, or shutting down. So that's an incorrect reading. Apparently, this CPU has weird temperature sensors or something, which most software are unable to properly read.
AMD Overdrive displays temperatures using thermal margins, instead of the traditional "lower is better" reading.
Thermal Margin indicates how far the current operating temperature is below the
maximum operating temperature of the processor.
according to AMD.
This is how Overdrive shows temps for the CPU: http://puu.sh/q6RTD.png - higher is better. I also have to use this software to undervolt, because again, my poor motherboard's BIOs only allows for overvolting, not undervolting.
According to some Google searches, having thermal margins in the double-digits is considered "safe" for the CPU and shows it's doing fine. It shouldn't throttle. However, for me, I've found it does throttle under high load once margins drop to around 15-20c (not so much at 20c). On software, this reading translates to 104C and above (incorrect, but still). Due to this, I do what I can to avoid it hitting below 20c (104C on software like Speccy, HWMonitor, etc).
Apparently my motherboard does not have heatsinks on its VRMs, so they get really hot and will throttle my CPU down to 1.7GHz if they get too hot despite my CPU temps being "normal" for the load the CPU is under.
By the looks of things currently, I may have to revert back to stock speeds to see if that helps (might be able to undervolt further as well).
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19-Jul-2016 12:50:16
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