Over Clock Guide (AMD X4 640)

[H-street]

Is there a good guide for ocing a phenom II with DDR3?

i have found my FSB limit without voltage increase (3.4Ghz) but would like to try and start increasing beyond that. I can pass hours of prime 95 and cpu tops out at 39C

I have read some guides but many don't go much into how to set the ram, they say just set the the ram to 9 9 9 25 but i am not sure what that is referring too

Right now i have 4gb of OCZ where spd out of CPU-Z lists 5 different settings depending on frequency

@444Mhz it says 6 6 6 14 22 and at 666mhz it says 9 9 9 20 33, what would i sent the timings to to allow for "Ocing" more

I think that is where my issue is at when trying to get passed 227FSB (even with voltage increases i get BSOD over 227)

I have very little experience with DDR1-3 (my last OCing attempts were back in SDRam Day)

 

[novadaemon]

odds are that you have not even come close to reaching your true FSB limit. What motherboard are you using? I can write our a pseuo guide once I know which one you have. I would aim for 3.75ghz on a 250 FSB with 10x NB multi and 8x HTT Multi if I were you.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

you are probably hitting the limits of the ram if its bsod'ing on cpu voltage increase.

what is the rating on the ram you are using? or what model ram are you using?

as far as the overclocking goes its pretty easy on amd processors. just a lot more things you need to change since its a locked multiplier processor.

first rule of thumb is to set the HTT(hypertransport) clock to 5x(1Ghz or 2ghz HTT) those are the most common names for it in most bios. default on those processors is 10x(2ghz or 4ghz). so you want to drop it to half what the default is to remove it as the variable in the overclock.

next drop your memory to the lowest clock setting which is ddr3 1066(ddr3 533). that will remove the ram as the variable in the overclock as well.

that now leaves you with 2 options you need to play with. the cpu FSB(HT) and cpu voltage. find your highest possible overclock with the FSB. once you have done that start increasing the hypertransport clock back stock 2ghz(4ghz) or as close as you can get. (yes you can go over if you need to but dont go above 2.5ghz). then once you know thats stable start increasing your memory back to its rated speed.

depending on the motherboard you are using. you should be able to get to around 3.6-3.7ghz.

notes to remember:
do not go over 1.55v no matter what.
try to keep the temps below 62C.
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also the numbers you were asking about. the 9-9-9-25 those are the ram timing. they arent very important on DDR3 or AMD processors so try to keep the numbers to what the rated numbers are on the ram(the numbers that show up in cpu-z in the memory tab you were referencing in your original post)

 

[H-street]

Awesome thanks for offering to guide my newbishness

my FSB limit is 227 without voltage and without bluescreening - without a voltage bump i cannot POST passed 227 - if i voltage bump i bluescreen after 3 minutes of Prime95

my motherboard is
MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 785G mATX Motherboard
The overclocking options are pretty good for a microATX

my memory is OCZ Gold OCZ3G1333LV4GK i don't completely understand the timing but from what i can tell it has different timing based on the memory ratio

its specifications are

1333MHz DDR3
CL 9-9-9-20(CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)

i went and bought a Cooler Master TX3 (i know not the best but for 20$ can't beat it)

 

[sirmonkey1985]

yeah just set the ram to ddr3 1066(if the board allows you to go lower then ddr3 1066 do it) and set the hypertransport link to 5x. if your having issues finding the exact cpu voltage you need for that given overclock you are trying for. set the cpu voltage to 1.45v its well within the limits and should allow you to exceed 227 fsb(ht). once you have found the overclock you want or if you want to go higher then 1.45v go right ahead. if you decide the given overclock is enough then try lowering the cpu voltage til it becomes unstable again. then go back up to the last good voltage.