Phenom II safe to overclock above 3.6?

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YamahaAlex37

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Jun 23, 2005
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So I was just noticing all my components in WEI scored above a 7 except my CPU which was 6.9... now I know WEI doesn't really mean anything but naturally It gave me the urge...

So I bumped the multiplier of my Phenom II X3 740 BE to 18x, or 3.6Ghz, and re-ran the assessment, and what do you know it's a 7 :D

Now, being inexperienced, I'm wondering if it would be alright to continue overclocking? Should I first run some stress tests, or should I first aim for the highest clock where everything loads and then run the stress tests, and then bring it back down as needed?

Also, I have PC8500 ram, but my CPU-Z shows my memory frequency is 400MHz with a FSB:DRAM ratio 1:2... what setting do I need to change to make this more optimal? Thanks.
 
1) what voltage are you giving it?
2) When stress testing (OCCT, LinX, IBT), what are your core temperatures as read by: CoreTemp/HWMonitor?
3) What Cooler do you have? What Are the Idle temps you are getting now at 3.6 ghz?
4) Do you have good airflow in your case?


As for safe, ya so long as volts and temp stay in tact.....without much other knowledge of your system, the safest i can suggest is:

Max Volts of: 1.5v, Max Core Temp of 64c


My suggestion for your being a "newbie" to OC'ing is 1) Read the Guide that is stickied here for the Phenom Chips[Same process applies], in short it will be:

1) Bump voltage
2) Bump Multiplier
3) Stress Test
4) Repeat 1-3

The biggest variable since you have BE is your temp as you need to bump voltage, my personal rule of thumb is to never go above 60c under stress testing........

if your able to jump on one of the IRC channels, specifically irc.dp.cx #HardOCP, there are a few of us on that channel/server in particular that can give ya a hand getting the most out of your CPU
 
W.Feather said:
1) what voltage are you giving it?
2) When stress testing (OCCT, LinX, IBT), what are your core temperatures as read by: CoreTemp/HWMonitor?
3) What Cooler do you have? What Are the Idle temps you are getting now at 3.6 ghz?
4) Do you have good airflow in your case?


As for safe, ya so long as volts and temp stay in tact.....without much other knowledge of your system, the safest i can suggest is:

Max Volts of: 1.5v, Max Core Temp of 64c


My suggestion for your being a "newbie" to OC'ing is 1) Read the Guide that is stickied here for the Phenom Chips[Same process applies], in short it will be:

1) Bump voltage
2) Bump Multiplier
3) Stress Test
4) Repeat 1-3

The biggest variable since you have BE is your temp as you need to bump voltage, my personal rule of thumb is to never go above 60c under stress testing........

if your able to jump on one of the IRC channels, specifically irc.dp.cx #HardOCP, there are a few of us on that channel/server in particular that can give ya a hand getting the most out of your CPU
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot W.Feather! I'll get on that channel when I get a chance. Right now I have a lot of homework so I can't stress test yet, but to answer some of your questions, I have the Hyper 212 Plus cooler with the HAF 912 case, fully loaded with fans including side 140mm and top 200mm, so really good airflow. Right now Core-temp is showing my temp at 20-23C @ 3.6Ghz. Only test I have is gaming benchmarks and Prime95. So would it be safe to go up a little before I start the stress test?
 
You should be able to get above 3.6 for sure with a phenom II

don't do a crap job at stress testing, its very important to test prime95 for half a day I believe.
 
3.6Ghz is doable with most Phenoms...My Phenom II x3 740 unlocked to quad and Overclocked to 3.6Ghz with 1.45 volts. My Phenom II x4 965 is currently at 4.0Ghz with 1.475 volts after putting the Corsair A50 on it. I've been running those machines at those speeds since I've built them. Also, I have an Athlon II x3 @ 3.6Ghz with just a OCZ Vendetta.
 
It's not the frequency you're clocking to that matters, the voltage it is...

So as long as you don't go over 1.55v with a good PSU you'll be fine, even if you went 4GHz+
 
LOL 5 minutes of Linpack, CRASH! Blue screen of death, physical memory dump. Upped the voltage to 1.5. Since this was a "physical memory dump", do I need to consider that memory may be the problem?
 
It's fine. I've been pounding mine with up to 1.65v and mid 60C load temps for the two years I've had it.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
LOL 5 minutes of Linpack, CRASH! Blue screen of death, physical memory dump. Upped the voltage to 1.5. Since this was a "physical memory dump", do I need to consider that memory may be the problem?
Click to expand...

Not really, since your doing multiplier overclocking, your ram is not being overclocked at all (unless you change your RAM speed in the bios),


What are your temps at 1.5? Thats pretty high for just 3.6, you should be fine with ~1.4v


i would not recommend running at 1.65v like the poster above me does, that is .1v above the max spec of the chip...and seriously if he needs 1.65v for that OC he has a shit chip
 
W.Feather said:
What are your temps at 1.5? Thats pretty high for just 3.6, you should be fine with ~1.4v
Click to expand...

Really? I thought 21c was really low?

Anyways, last night I ran Linpack again after upping to 1.5v and it ran for one hour before quacking and saying error. I just ran Prime95 over night, so 6 hours so far, and no errors. CPU 34c.

I just noticed in CPU-Z my Core voltage is fluctuating between 1.512, 1.528, 1.536, and 1.50, and 1.544... is this supposed to happen? I only set it to 1.5 in bios:confused:
 
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was that 21c at load ? Or idle ?

it shouldnt fluctuate that much, but it will do some.....do you have all the Cool and Quite and powersaving features disabled in the bios as well ?/
if your having errors with 1.5v for 3.6ghz some setting is wonky in your bios

which motherboard do you have ?

if you can jump on that IRC i said above, ill be in it for sure till about 12:30 EST, probably later(that class is boring :D )
 
I can't get on the channel till after 7, I'll be away from my computer all day at class.

21c was idle, I'm not sure how hot it got with Linpack but the high with Prim95 was 35c. I ran 3dmark06 just to see how my CPU score increased and I was shocked it was lower! :confused: My Athlon II X3 440 got a 3500, and I know when I upgraded to the Phenom II X3 740 it was higher, but I forgot to record it. Now I tested @ 3.7Ghz, and my score was 2800 :mad:. I put all the settings back to default in bios so 3.0Ghz, and my CPU score was 3300 :mad: wtf?
 
unstable probably

anytime tis week or whenver, a few of us on there can help if ya pop in.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
I can't get on the channel till after 7, I'll be away from my computer all day at class.

21c was idle, I'm not sure how hot it got with Linpack but the high with Prim95 was 35c. I ran 3dmark06 just to see how my CPU score increased and I was shocked it was lower! :confused: My Athlon II X3 440 got a 3500, and I know when I upgraded to the Phenom II X3 740 it was higher, but I forgot to record it. Now I tested @ 3.7Ghz, and my score was 2800 :mad:. I put all the settings back to default in bios so 3.0Ghz, and my CPU score was 3300 :mad: wtf?
Click to expand...

Double check your RAM speeds in CPU-Z ;) You need to fine tune those to the highest capable speed, without going over what you know your memory speed limit is or that either will not reboot/post or you will get random reboot when stress testing.

Also when you increase your FSB speed, your memory will increase it's stock speed as well (on my mobo). You have to find the best balance.

I dunno if your mobo is like mine, but to get 3795Ghz stable I use a FSB of 230, PCI-E of 130, and NB + CPU Volt of both 1.3625V. After all those settings I try and get my memory the fastest it can run (without bluscreening on me). Which My memory is rated @ 1333Mhz but it does 1400mhz stable no problem, or anything under that will also work, yet if it's slower than 1333/1400 generally lowers benchmark scores because your memory is not running at its fastest speeds. Yet if you get higher CPU cycles that can make up for the slower memory speed settings as well when later benchmarking. Finding the balance between high CPU OC and high memory speed is key to high Benches IMO. Good luck I hope something I said helps you get a better OC. :p I've takin my CPU up to 88 degrees C witha 4.0+Ghz OC but I only let that go on for 5 minutes of Prime, but it's nice to know what your chip can do in the future with better cooling, at least for me it is. :) If you want 4.0Gghz+ you will have to go past 1.4000 Volts in the bios also.
 
...except he is doing multi OC, so the RAM speed wont change, and as thus he doesnt need to do an OC with FSB (unlike you).


and yes, for his chip to hit 4.0 he will need closer to 1.53v
 
So I should increase the FSB, or use the multiplier? The memory frequency is grayed out in BIOS, so I don't see any other way of overclocking my RAM besides raising the FSB. There is also an option to change the ratio from 1:2, but I'm not sure which way to go. Motherboard is MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum.

Would FSB 250Mhz x15 with a RAM ration 1:4 give me 1000Mhz ram?
 
I have an older chip than yours at a 720. I've overclocked and unlocked it. With an extra core and at 1.4v I'm rock solid at 3.6GHz. If you're on the original three cores only you should be able to do even better then what i pulled off with your 740. You shouldn't need to touch your base clock. Just your multiplier. I would only adjust the base clock if you have a locked multiplier chip.
 
OFaceSIG said:
I have an older chip than yours at a 720. I've overclocked and unlocked it. With an extra core and at 1.4v I'm rock solid at 3.6GHz. If you're on the original three cores only you should be able to do even better then what i pulled off with your 740. You shouldn't need to touch your base clock. Just your multiplier. I would only adjust the base clock if you have a locked multiplier chip.
Click to expand...

Then how do I get my ram closer to the rated 1066Mhz?
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
I can't get on the channel till after 7, I'll be away from my computer all day at class.

21c was idle, I'm not sure how hot it got with Linpack but the high with Prim95 was 35c. I ran 3dmark06 just to see how my CPU score increased and I was shocked it was lower! :confused: My Athlon II X3 440 got a 3500, and I know when I upgraded to the Phenom II X3 740 it was higher, but I forgot to record it. Now I tested @ 3.7Ghz, and my score was 2800 :mad:. I put all the settings back to default in bios so 3.0Ghz, and my CPU score was 3300 :mad: wtf?
Click to expand...

Keep an eye on your multiplier with CPU-Z while it's on load. It may be throttling down due to northbridge overheating even if CPU temps are fine. That was the problem with my OC and I'm waiting for an SpotCool to help it a little.
 
Does your motherboard BIOS not have a section dedicated to memory and their associated settings and voltages? What motherboard do you have?
 
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MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum. I did not see a dedicated section for the RAM. On the same page as the CPU settings was RAM Frequency (could not change) and Ratio 1:2.
 
That's a pretty high end board for AMD. Albeit for AM2+ socket but still. There MUST be a section to go harder on the ram. I would update to the latest BIOS. If that doesn't provide more controls for RAM I cannot tell you what will as I have never used that board. :( sorry
 
@OP - For now focus on the overclock for the CPU, hell the lower the mem speed the better when working on a CPU OC. That way you limit the variables on what could be causing in stability. Say with multiplier overclocking, do a .5 boost in the CPU's multiplier at whatever voltage (good starting point is go for 3.6 ghz, with 1.4v), raise by .5 on the multi and do a 10 pass IBT test in windows. Reboot to bios, up by .5 on multi, if you fail just feed it more volts. Once your temps start hitting 60c on the Core (IE take a reading from Core Temp/HW Monitor) back it off a step on the volts.

the goal is to have a high multi, with 200 base clock, and lowest volts possible. Thats why you do a .5 step on the multi at a time(since your new, otherwise i would say go much higher quicker).

If you have any questions and want a quick response, i'm more than happy to help through PM(i can give ya an IM for me there as well if you want, or through IRC i listed above(i'm on there between classes usually)
 
HALLELUJAH! I LOVE U GUYS! Seriously, thank you for all the awesome advice! This was seriously giving me a headache, especially after flashing the BIOS, still not knowing how to OC the ram, and getting constant blue screens. If not for all the posts I would have called it quits and probably reverted to stock settings.

Anyways, it seems I hit some how hit a sweet spot, and my 3dmark06 jumped over 3000 points! 18422. CPU score was 4077 (never understood why it dropped after previous overclocks) :confused: Anyways, I never could adjust the ram frequency, but I never needed to. Simply changing the ratio to 1:2.66 puts me at 1066Mhz and 5:5:5:15. CPU core voltage was set to 1.45 and freq 200Mhz x 18.5 = 3.7 :D

I don't think this will be an issue, but just to make sure, although i set my vcore to 1.45, in CPU-Z it reads 1.464, 1.472 and 1.480. Anyways, all this excitement and I haven't properly stress tested yet *why is there no embarrass face emote?*... I am just happy benchmarks were successful and are showing improved results and will not be upset if i have to tone things back a bit.
 
Multiplier overclocking is sooo much better than FSB/HT clocking... The MA790X board that I used to have, absolutely hated any setting between 270 and 280, would've made hitting 3.6GHz on my 620 a lot easier, but I had to settle for 300x12...:(
 
JMccovery said:
Multiplier overclocking is sooo much better than FSB/HT clocking... The MA790X board that I used to have, absolutely hated any setting between 270 and 280, would've made hitting 3.6GHz on my 620 a lot easier, but I had to settle for 300x12...:(
Click to expand...

AGREED
 
sweet news on the OC, ya missed me today i was off having fun ;)

anyhow, make sure you stress test it very well, my personal thing is overkill (I do 50 pass IBT, followed by doing a unit on the folding benchmark suite that was made by musky, to make sure its folding stable).....
 
Well I woke up to a rebooted computer, so Prime95 crashed at some point. So far today I've only completed Auto(1h) of OCCT Linpack with no errors :/
 
if you can jump on the IRC again, i should be around for another 2 or 3 hours
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
Well I woke up to a rebooted computer, so Prime95 crashed at some point. So far today I've only completed Auto(1h) of OCCT Linpack with no errors :/
Click to expand...

You may need to back off just a bit on your oc, it is possible that the specific chip you have may just not be able to handle 3.6GHz at less than 1.5v. I've noticed that some of the earlier C3-revision chips don't fare much better than C2s in overclocking.
 
I got 10 passes of IBT at Very High even after OCing the ram, but it still crashed on Prime95 over night. Going to try 50 passes IBT while at school today.
 
k, thats interesting, did you see how long into Prime95 it crashed ?
 
No I forgot to log. So you think 50 pass of IBT at very high is enough, or do I need maximum?
 
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