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AMD® Phenom™ II Overclocking Thread

Hi guys, I hope you can help. I have built my new system today which consists of:-

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz
Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3)
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 545 3.00GHz

System build was fine, and it seems stable with one of the other cores unlocked (wouldn't post with core 3 enabled).

I have started overclocking but have a few questions, it has been a while since I overclocked and i'm not really up to date with it, The last processor I oc'd was a C2D and that was straightforward (I didn't overclock the ram).

Obviously the cpu I have doesn't have an unlocked multi, so I have been tweaking the FSB. I have this sat at 3.6ghz at the moment and am running prime95 as we speak. I need to check the memory timings though.

When set to auto they were 8-8-8-20, but the ram is supposed to be 9-9-9-24. I have changed this manually but i'm not sure what the Bank Cycle Time (tRC) should be? Auto set it to 27, Also the ram has command rate set to T1, but I believe this should be T2. I haven't found anywhere in the BIOS to change this.

I also have the NB multi at 8x, so NB frequency and HT Link are sat at 1920 at the moment. Can I and should I push these higher?

Also with voltages everything is set to auto at the moment, and Core Voltage seems to fluctuate between 1.39 and 1.45. Is this ok, or should I set manually?

I have noticed too that coretemp is not picking up the temps, but after a quick search this seems normal after using ACC to unlock cores. CPU temp in BIOS is ~40c, so is this ok? Is there some other way I can check the CPU temp in windows?

Sorry for so many questions, it's all new again to me with this build. I'm not after a huge overclock but I don't have huge amounts of time inbetween family and work, so i'd appreciate some tips.

Cheers
Ian
 
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TK7, I am fresh to clocking am3 too, but couple of things I can post before the more experieced members fill you in:
I had trouble finding 2t in my bios too (asus m4az9xtd evo) eventually I found it right at the top off the timings screen (doh!).
If you download and run cpu-z, it will list what the specs should be for your memory at each frequency it supports, including tRC.
I think your temp in bios seems a bit high, though not excessive, as the 2 systems I have built on stock coolers sat at mid 30's in bios, although cpuid hw monitor (which seems to be what a lot of people use) seems to report around 12 less than bios.
 
Thanks Vogon. To check the temps what I did last night was set it back to 2 cores and run FSB at 235, giving me about 3.5ghz clock speed. I left most of the other stuff on auto so NB and HT Link were being overclocked. I left prime95 running all night (~8 hours) and it was fine.

Temps in coretemp reached 40c at most, so the temperature issue seems ok. The temp now in windows is 26c. I have an Antec 900 case with all fans on low at the moment, so I have some extra cooling at my disposal should it become an issue.

Also what i've noticed when stressing with 3 cores on is that the pc will just reboot, it doesn't fail prime and stay on, so i'm wondering if the 3rd core is actually a no go.

Oh, I also scoured every corner of the BIOS last night and couldn't find T2 for ram. Is there a key combo to unlock other areas of the BIOS? My old Gigabyte P965 board had something like that, I had to press ctrl+f1 i think, but no mention of anything in the motherboard manual.
 
wayne please dont spam emails about quoting it is useful sometimes ;) and saves typing a wall of text out . three of four emails now about it . i understand for keeping to info but helping someone with a problem how is a quote bad ? every other thread is fine on here and quoting is allowed . please do not spam any more messages thankyou.
 
Just ordered a 955BE and an Asus M4A89GTD PROUSB3 AMD 890GX, still yet to get the ram but hope to see quite a difference from my E6600 at 3.2 :) Never had any luck with CPU's overclocking wise so i'm not going to get my hopes up :p
 
955 c3 OC

13316_381578452886_645197886_3997011_635576_n.jpg


this is my 1st OC ever, just built this comp and learnt how to OC

hope you like.
 
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After all that instability with 8 gig of RAM, not being able to have my previous memory timings, not being able to OC the NB... I put the CnQ idle speed back to default and yesterday got a 10 hour prime out of it with the NB on 2200/1.2v and RAM at 10-9-9-24.

Going for 9-9-9-24 today while at work, hopefully it'll still be running when I get home and can try for 2400 NB again :D

Question of the day; why does a lowered idle multiplier cause my P2 to be unstable at 3.6GHz :o
 
CnQ just seems to mess stuff up in the majority of cases.

I was getting some rather random reboots as well, when I was priming at 3.8 I got a 2hr prime out of it no problem. Then did a 6hr prime out of it no fuss.

Set it off before I went to work the other day (to get a 12hr), and it had reset in under an hour... no settings changed.

Tried again and it reset at about 3hrs.

Turned off CnQ and it's done over 8hrs. Turned up CPU-NB to 2400Mhz, and its been priming away for a few hours now.

So I'm hoping it was just the CnQ messing stuff up, as without it it seems to be fine.

If I can get an 8hr run out of it I'll be a happy bunny (as 3.8 CPU + 2.4 CPU-NB + 1600 RAM was my target, anything more is a bonus).
 
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