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AMD® Phenom™ II Overclocking Thread

yeah 3.96 @1.45 i can do,, but if you even mention doing 4GHZ while sitting next to the pc it spits it's dummy and restarts.

i'm quite happy at 3.8Ghz performance wise just looking at SSD's now as the hard drive is slowing things up a bit.
 
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Hey bigjimmyauk, that is looking promising :), I wonder what is holding you back? . . . You forgot to add your name to the screenie and half your screenie is bare desktop! :p

What fan have you got on the Baram or is it running passive? . . .

To anyone else that is having problems getting 4.0GHz stable I am thinking it's either temp related, lack of vCore or CPU-NB vCore or something else random?
 
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A few questions if I may,

Whats the best method to OC, I read that some use FSB and some the Multi, what will one hold over the other?

I'm running 2x2 8500 and 2x1GB 6400 sticks of ram, on my old board I had these running together at 920Mhz 5-5-6-20, is this good enough?, could I hope for better?, or just discard the 6400.

Do I need a divider and have to keep the HT link to around 2000Mhz like on the old 939?
 
Hello Elfmeister,

I wouldn't say there is a *best* way to do anything but rather what works best for you. All the lucky owners of a Black-Edition chip get a fully unlocked CPU multi so that should be exploited to the max although it is not the be-all-and-end-all of the overclocking process . . .

gareth170 did quite a nice thread called "my phenom 965 c3 clocking" which you can find here, that should give you a good idea of what the procedure is, he also linked up an interesting document written by AMD called: UNLEASH THE DRAGON which outlines the the method of performance tuning an AMD® Phenom™ II system . . .

I'd say that once your certain your system is all nice and stable while at stock speeds and you have monitored temps and run a few benches and games your ready to begin . . . all you need to do is slowly but surely crank up the CPU multiplier and run a stability diagnostic, play some games, watch temps then rinse and repeat. As soon as the processor falls over and crashes your system then you just need to boost the vCore until it runs stable again, keeping an eye on temps etc . . .

At some point with this CPU Multi clocking you will hit a wall where the processor will not run stable no matter how much vCore you give it, this wall could be due to either temps running to high or the fact you have maxed the CPU. if you suspect its the temps you can trouble-shoot this by putting on some warm clothes and then opening all the windows and bring your temps right down and test again. Although this freeze-ya-behind-off method is not a sensible long term option it serves a function by allowing you to know if you have hit some thermal-wall or not, the Deneb silicon becomes *enchanted* and can work magic if you cool it enough . . . If your stability problems go away once you and the system are frozen you at least know that you need better cooling!

Once you have worked out the max CPU MHz your ready for the next stage which is to test the CPU-NB where the IMC lives, again all the lucky owners of a Black-Edition get an unlocked multiplier so with the rest of the system at stock I believe you can just increase the CPU-NB multi and do some stability tests, once the CPU-NB (IMC) begins to strain you need to boost the voltage. The CPU-NB runs at default 2GHz but hopefully you will be able to get it running at 2.6GHz with extra juice . . . the same freeze-ya-behind-off method can be employed if you begin to hit stability issues. I am using a slightly different core (Propus/Rana) to you and had some stability issue myself but these went away once I improved my cooling so bare that in mind, I think the IMC doesn't like the heat! :p

amdathlonii10.jpg


Once you have a rough idea of the CPU max and what volts its needs and the CPU-NB max and what volts that needs your ready to try overclocking them together, this may produce different results as the combined extra voltage from both the CPU/CPU-NB will undoubtedly push the temps up a lot more than when you just clocked them one at a time, so don't be surprised if you run into some problems that were not there when you tested them separately . . .

Everyone has their own personal method and pace to go about this but I personally like to take it nice and slow, the problem I have had is that the stability checks do not always show up a problem, Prime95 passed an 8-Hour blend, IBT passes many loops but the system may just reboot when you sitting there surfing? . . . the way I got around this was to just use the system for a day or two, play some games etc just to be really sure there isn't a little gremlin in the works . . . only once I'm sure the overclock is robust do I push on. Patience is the key thing here, give yourself plenty of time and don't rush things and you will be fine, by all means feel free to keep posting up your work in progress and ask any questions you need!

Eventually you will hit the max where no matter of extra voltage or freezing temps will net you extra MHz so your ready for the next stage . . . I notice you are using the same motherboard as me . . . although yours is with mismatched DDR2 . . .

For the sale of keeping things simple and I would suggest removing the 2x1GB of DDR2-800 and do your testing with just the 2x2GB of DDR2-1066. To get these sticks running at full speed your gonna need to set the HT ref. Clock to 267MHz while the sticks are set in the BIOS at DDR2-800 (which is default), of course by adjusting the HT ref. Clock your changing the base speed so all your other clocks will most likey need adjusting by lowering their individual multis. Bare in mind that by running the Memory at DDR2-1066 alongside an overclocked CPU-NB there will be more strain on the IMC so you may need to boost CPU-NB voltage to keep everything running stable . . .

Well didn't mean to go on so much there but that basically covers it, you got lots of things to overclock but you can do them one at a time, plenty of stability testing as you go and keep a note of what settings you are adjusting in case you forget . . .

Need to know anything more then just ask! :cool:
 
Hey bigjimmy

using a akasa apache got another one coming in a couple of days for a push/pull config
temps seem fine TBH now @ 28 idle - 49 load.

i've not really increased cpu-nb Volts much as i'm not sure what the safe limit is at the moment i bumped it up by 0.025V.

i'll post another update later with a larger picwith less desktop
 
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Muel
That looks great! . . . Did you get time to run any Prime95 Blend on that? . . . 4GHz prime stable quad core would be quite something! . . . can you include maybe CPU-Memory tabs also please (you can open multiple copies of CPU-z no probs), apart from that great result and good screenie!

I'm afraid I doubt I'd ever get it stable at that, I managed to get it stable at 3.8ghz, but it won't boot at anything higher, and at 3.8ghz it needed 1.55v anyway. It was stable for 2 and a half hours of Prime95 Blend though.

At anything over 3.8ghz blend fails straight away, the 4ghz run was just to see how fast I could get SuperPi 1M done in.

I doubt I'll overclock it again now though, I've pushed it to the limit and got the screenie, which is actually only around 15% faster than stock. Seeing as I never max it stock anyway, I'd rather keep it stock and be able to trust it not to crash. :P To push it harder would require insane voltages, getting on for 1.7v I reckon, and even at my 4ghz overclock at 1.55v the TDP had gone from 140w to 233w, which I think would be putting too much strain on the motherboard for my liking....

Apparantly the C3s will do a stable 4ghz overclock, I'm more interested to see how far one will go for a SuperPi run though, maybe it'd reach say 4.2-4.3ghz and a 1M time of 16.5secs? Would be nice to see anyway.
 
i just did 4.14Ghz super pi run 1 million took 16.907 i think i could get a 4.2 Run but that requires 1.55V and i'm not breaking a 1 week old chip lol
you can get sub 17 seconds at 4ghz if u fiddle your memory timings and voltages but i'm not pushing my brand new equipment too far as it's only a week old maybe when i know more about the system. I can't seem to tweak this dominator ram too much and i'm unsure how many volts they can take before they pop
 
Folks, I have a question to which I cannot find the answer to and I think you knowledgeable people might be able to answer.

Is it better to have a higher clock speed, more cores or a combination of both?

I game a fair bit, use virtual mahines, often running at least 2 at a time and the usual things people generaly use a PC for.

Edit: The reason I ask is becuase I can get a greater overclock using just 2 cores but after enabling my 3rd core (4th is defective) I have to reduce the overclock.
 
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i would say combination of both future is looking good more and more stuff will start utilising 4 cores. I really don't understand the new 6 core proccessors nothing out there will use all 6 cores blimey most things don't even use 4.

there are some future games that plan to use 4 cores but 6 i doubt we will see for a long time.
 
Great thread. Will post my screen shot when I get home.

Also thanks for the instructions Big Wayne, really helpful. I have actually not touched the cpu nb yet. So will have to get to that tonight. :)
 
i would say combination of both future is looking good more and more stuff will start utilising 4 cores. I really don't understand the new 6 core proccessors nothing out there will use all 6 cores blimey most things don't even use 4.

Just a thought. The xbox 360 is effectively 3 core with hyperthreading or something like it. That's 6 threads if games are heavily optimised for the console. Potentially, 6 core could run 360 port games really really well.
 
I'm nowhere near hitting 4Ghz yet... Check out my sig though, gives i believe up to date current speeds.

3.5Ghz core, (206x17) 1.475vCore, 1.35v(i think)CPU-NB.
RAM @ 1372Mhz 1.7v
2472Mhz HyperTransport & CPU-NB

Not sure how to get more out of it... Tried upping the HT and CPU-NB, but i get BSOD's because of graphics. I don't really want to up my voltages any more, CPU-NB currently hits 52°C under 2 hours Prime, while the core only hits 41°C.

I'll get screenshots tonight as i'm at work now, and see if you guys can help me get more!

Basically, consider this a placeholder for some screenies.
 
does cpuz report the wrong voltage at all ?

cause on mine this is using amd overdrive i set the voltage to 1.5v but in cpuz its sayin its 1.440v i also noted on bigjimmyauk 4ghz screenie what was your true voltage im assuming over or 1.5v but using the cpuz screenie its just under :confused:

im asking cause if there is a small bit out i might get away with it cause my 4 is about stable or very close and i believe its only the voltage keeping it from being stable. the heat is fine only goes to 50c max.
 
does cpuz report the wrong voltage at all ?

cause on mine this is using amd overdrive i set the voltage to 1.5v but in cpuz its sayin its 1.440v i also noted on bigjimmyauk 4ghz screenie what was your true voltage im assuming over or 1.5v but using the cpuz screenie its just under :confused:

im asking cause if there is a small bit out i might get away with it cause my 4 is about stable or very close and i believe its only the voltage keeping it from being stable. the heat is fine only goes to 50c max.

yeah voltage was 1.5V both cpuz and core temp don't know it only program that picked up the true figure was speedfan also HW monitor picked up all voltages fine
 
EGuitarStar
great result but sadly your posting it in the wrong thread as your using a RANA core, can you edit your post down to a smiley and please repost your results here . . . AMD® Athlon™ II Overclocking Thread . . . thanks very much I am getting loney by myself in that thread haha! :o

I am using a Phenom II X2 550BE and not a Athlon (that is my other machine) it displays as an Athlon when I unlock 1 of the 2 disabled cores.
 
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My effort:

23u75af.jpg


Any one got any suggestions to make it better? Should I be using less multi and more clock? Should I try a higher nb frequency?
 
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