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AMD Phenom II 955 - bottleneck?

ET900

ET900

ET900

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Joined
1 Nov 2011
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25
Hey all I have a Sapphire Toxic 6950 2GB (crossfiring it later next year) on the way and I'm just wondering if you think my CPU will bottleneck it all? I'm currently running it at 3.4Ghz rather than the stock 3.2Ghz.

I was thinking of overclocking it a lot more (maybe 3.8 - 4 Ghz if possible) once I have figured out the best AM3 cooler to get and have the cash for it.

A while back I did see a couple of overclocking guides for my CPU around the net but they varied a bit in what they said so don't know which to follow really. Does anyone know a specific guide that is most excellent for overclocking this particular CPU?

Thankyou! :)
 
It won't bottleneck it if you overclock it a bit more. (I don't think it'll be a bottleneck at stock clock either, it's noticeable if you're running SLi/Xfire or maybe even a GTX 570/580)

4GHz/2.6GHz NB is easy to get and I used both A50 and H60 to cool it.
 
Idartalis said:
It won't bottleneck it if you overclock it a bit more. (I don't think it'll be a bottleneck at stock clock either, it's noticeable if you're running SLi/Xfire or maybe even a GTX 570/580)

4GHz/2.6GHz NB is easy to get and I used both A50 and H60 to cool it.
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i can get it to 3.6Ghz very easy cos there are 2 presets in my bios (Asus Crosshair Formula IV). I haven't actually overclocked properly before, maybe a small multiplier and voltage bump but thats it.

I need a better cooler to take it above 3.4Ghz though as my Zalman one sucks - I sometimes hit 60c with this clock speed and im pretty sure the safe mximum is 61/62c. My motherboard has some program in the bios that can automatically overclock. I've never been keen on automated overclocking but its a board that's heavily designed around overclocking so was wondering if it might be worth a shot...

Thanks for the response :)
 
I'd say a Phenom II 955 would bottleneck a 6950 Crossfire.
My 1055T bottlenecked a 6870 Crossfire and 5870 crossfire.
That's not to say that it still won't be good enough on the majority of games however, which it will be.
 
3.8Ghz or higher shouldn't bottleneck, it don't for my single 6950, but you may need more for crossfire, 4Ghz really shouldn't at all

As for cooler, cheap and cheerful for 4Ghz would be a thermolabs Baram with 2 apaches in push n pull, worked a charm on my 955 at those ranges just fine :)
 
great responses thanks :) i think the next thing to buy is a cpu cooler. i was just thinkin that i'd probably upgrade to a 6 core cpu by the time i get another graphics card anyway so if i just overclock to somewhere around 3.6-3.8Ghz while i have this single 6950, then buy a better cpu when i get the second 6950. i guess things will turn out ok that way :)
 
My 1055T bottlenecked me, that was a hex, but I had it running at around 4GHZ
You will get bottlenecking whatever AMD CPU you get, however, the majority of games will still be absolutely fine.
I think the best gaming CPU you can get for AMD you already have, just overclock it.
The X6 isn't worth the transition unless you need the cores and can use them, you'll see quite a boost if you do.
 
Martini1991 said:
My 1055T bottlenecked me, that was a hex, but I had it running at around 4GHZ
You will get bottlenecking whatever AMD CPU you get, however, the majority of games will still be absolutely fine.
I think the best gaming CPU you can get for AMD you already have, just overclock it.
The X6 isn't worth the transition unless you need the cores and can use them, you'll see quite a boost if you do.
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yeh i will really look into verclocking my 955! people say the x6 isn't worth it for gaming as games only use 4 cores, but wouldnt windows 7 be able to use 6 cores? wouldn't that take strain off the 4 that games will be using? also games will probably be using 6 cores before to long right?
 
Windows 7 will be able to use the cores yes, however it's not going to do much in terms of games.
Games might end up using 6 threads before too long, however Thubans have been around over a year, and we've had 8 threads since 08, and it's not the norm yet, so don't count on it.

Personally, if you're after any sort of upgrade for significant performance, you're looking at Intel, but that'd be more costly, and frankly, you're best off with what you have at the moment.
 
Martini1991 said:
Windows 7 will be able to use the cores yes, however it's not going to do much in terms of games.
Games might end up using 6 threads before too long, however Thubans have been around over a year, and we've had 8 threads since 08, and it's not the norm yet, so don't count on it.

Personally, if you're after any sort of upgrade for significant performance, you're looking at Intel, but that'd be more costly, and frankly, you're best off with what you have at the moment.
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yeh i mean i wont be upgrading the cpu for a while but was thinkin of doing that next year maybe unless i get a close to 4ghz oc out my 955, then im sure that'll make it good to run for another year or so. im not completely sure tbh. intel would be nice but that means buying a new motherboard n all, plus i bought mine new less than 2 months ago so dont really wanna do that :/

once ive got hold of a nice cpu cooler im gonna try using that turbo v evo or whatever its called. came with my mobo and apparently the auto oc is pretty good and it saves the settings to your bios when its done. so i can use that as a base then do fine adjustments in the bios from there if its unstable. would be helpful as im not confident with overclocking.

so there have been some good suggestions for cpu coolers already. anyone got any other suggestions? buying one is definitely my next move here so basically just need to figure out which one to get. (keeping in mind im going for a 4ghz oc on my 955 if its possible).

thanks again all :)
 
Martini1991 said:
What board do you have? I'd cry if it was like 150 quid :p

For cooler, I'd for this ;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-093-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
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thanks for the suggestion :)

well i bought a m3a79-t back in 2009 (think it was that model). the bios went corrupt not so long ago, within 2 or 3 months of the warranty actually. anyway i returned it to ****** but they didnt have it in stock. so luckily they just gave me credit to buy another one with. so i got the asus crosshair formula iv. and yeh - it was £148! i had to pay 2 quid extra as id paid £146 for the last board. i wouldnt normally spend that much, but hey, guess i was feeling fruity that day lol... either way i have a sweet motherboard heavily designed around overclocking so i feel i should have a good chance of gettin a good result with the 955. my 955 is "RB-C2" Revision by the way (I've heard this gives an indication of potential overclocking ability).

Edit: haha i cant say the name of the shop i bought it from!!?? wow...
 
C2 revision isn't the good overclockers, it's C3 that is.

And a CH IV?
:(.

Such a lovely board, it's such a shame that Bulldozer can't perform, as Bulldozer, with the latest BIOS is supposed to work with the CH IV.

I've used a few CH IV's, and clocked a mighty fine amount of Phenom II's, but with that 955 C2, you'l be looking at around 3.8GHZ, if you're smart, with the CH IV you *may* be able to push 4GHZ if you abuse its high bus clocking ability.

Shame you never took the opportunity to go Intel :p
 
Martini1991 said:
C2 revision isn't the good overclockers, it's C3 that is.

And a CH IV?
:(.

Such a lovely board, it's such a shame that Bulldozer can't perform, as Bulldozer, with the latest BIOS is supposed to work with the CH IV.

I've used a few CH IV's, and clocked a mighty fine amount of Phenom II's, but with that 955 C2, you'l be looking at around 3.8GHZ, if you're smart, with the CH IV you *may* be able to push 4GHZ if you abuse its high bus clocking ability.

Shame you never took the opportunity to go Intel :p
Click to expand...

yeh it is a nice board :) im sure there will be something real nice i can run on it by the time im ready to upgrade :)

thats good to hear. but yeh had a feeling mine wasnt the best for an oc. still, 3.8ghz would be sweet compared to 3.2ghz :D i'll do my best with my limited knowledge! ive got the right board to explore overclocking so i guess its time to learn haha...

you have a good point and believe me i would've bought an intel board as i've been wanting one for some time... its just that i already had an amd cpu so it was a natural upgrade progression that's been happening to me since the single core days lol. i will have to break out of it on my next mobo upgrade unless amd get their act together :p i've been starting to think that sli generally works out better than crossfire to, so another reason to move away from amd chipsets!
 
Martini1991 said:
C2 revision isn't the good overclockers, it's C3 that is.

And a CH IV?
:(.

Such a lovely board, it's such a shame that Bulldozer can't perform, as Bulldozer, with the latest BIOS is supposed to work with the CH IV.

I've used a few CH IV's, and clocked a mighty fine amount of Phenom II's, but with that 955 C2, you'l be looking at around 3.8GHZ, if you're smart, with the CH IV you *may* be able to push 4GHZ if you abuse its high bus clocking ability.

Shame you never took the opportunity to go Intel :p
Click to expand...

with the bios in the link below the CH IV now supports bulldozer , although it is not on the asus website yet

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...V-890-boards&p=4984597&viewfull=1#post4984597
 
Well, AMD don't have any official support for AM3, so officially, your board has no upgrade path.

While Bulldozer in its current form does work on your board, who knows if Piledriver will.
I've used Crossfire and SLI, but I'm biased when it comes to AMD GPU's :p, so I'd say Crossfire ***.

chaotic_uk said:
with the bios in the link below the CH IV now supports bulldozer , although it is not on the asus website yet

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...V-890-boards&p=4984597&viewfull=1#post4984597
Click to expand...

Indeed, I said Bulldozer's supposed to work with the latest BIOS. But who'd buy Bulldozer? It replaces the Phenom II X4 and X6 CPU's at the same price point, but is worse, there's no evading that.
 
ET900 said:
good stuff thanks :)

so these 'bulldozers' some of the best amd has to offer at the moment? they look fairly reasonably priced from a quick googe product search. they should be much closer to the £100 mark later next year :)
Click to expand...

They're not very good at all.
Bulldozer is supposed to be the best AMD has to offer, but take the Bulldozer FX4, it's coming in at like 90 quid? The Phenom II X4 955 is cheaper, and is better.

Ergo, not good at all.
 
Martini1991 said:
Well, AMD don't have any official support for AM3, so officially, your board has no upgrade path.

While Bulldozer in its current form does work on your board, who knows if Piledriver will.
I've used Crossfire and SLI, but I'm biased when it comes to AMD GPU's :p, so I'd say Crossfire ***.



Indeed, I said Bulldozer's supposed to work with the latest BIOS. But who'd buy Bulldozer? It replaces the Phenom II X4 and X6 CPU's at the same price point, but is worse, there's no evading that.
Click to expand...

well ive always been quite happy to generally be about a year or so behind in hardware specs, so if bulldozer is the **** right now then its probably what i'll buy later next year :) unless i get to doing that intel switch over of course ;)

heheh ive always liked ati graphics more in general, but i dont think its based on a great deal of knowledge or anything. just tend to find them better than their nvidia price equivelant, well thats based more on past experiences, not sure about currently. but my experience of sli has been better than crossfire and there a hell of a lot of people (including me lol) maoning about crossfire issues and performance in battlefield 3 right now, but i dont hear many people moaning about sli in bf3. maybe its just what ive read!
 
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