Overclocking Phenom II 955, worth keeping it?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

juanra1409

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
13
0
10,510
Hi everybody.

I'm a newbie in this stuff of overclocking, but I did some research and overclocked my current CPU, it is (as the title says) an AMD Phenom II 955 Quad-Core. My motherboard is GB 880GM-UD2H. I have had this CPU for 3 years now, but never had the chance to overclock it until my cheap and low quality PS melted (thankfully it didn't damage any of the components) and my neighbor lend me his certified 450w PS.

The CPU is now overclocked at 3.8 ghz (1.4v, but the mobo automatically increases or decreases it to improve overclock) with stock cooler and the temps seem to be OK. My question is:

Should I buy an aftermarket cooler and push the CPU as far as I can or should I use that money to buy a new processor like a FX-8320 or a i5 4670k? How far do you think I will be able to go?

Thanks guys!
 
Solution
B
Well The phenom 2 while dated is still a descent quad core CPU. You won't see any significant gains going from a Phenom 2 to an FX unless you go for something like an 8320/8350. And even then you won't see much improvement outside of heavily threaded applications.

As far as overclocking your CPU it's really the win of the lottery. My Phenom 2 would do 4 ghz but I've known most P2 965 to cap out around the 3.9 ghz area. Honestly those chips never scaled well with higher clocks so going above 3.8 ghz would be pointless.

But your CPU would be reat with a GTX 660 or lower. There will be a small bottleneck but nothing major.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710
Upgrading to a new cpu (depending on the socket) will require a new motherboard, and maybe even ram. So I would say overclock it if you even need the speed or just buy a new motherboard and cpu. Although is there a specific reason you are looking for an upgrade or an overclock?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

juanra1409

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
13
0
10,510
I'm overclocking because I want to experiment with it and want to get more performance in aplications (mainly games) I don't know if OCing a CPU makes a difference but I wanted to try it out. Currently I'm on 4ghz with stock cooler and it seems to be no problem, temperatures are 53º idle... Also for the upgrade, my system is a bit old so upgrading to a current gen cpu, gpu and mobo (like 4670k-gtx 760-z87) is neccesary to play the latest games.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710
Well then I would totally recommend a whole system upgrade/build because some day you will have to do it anyways. Although make sure to upgrade to something good and powerful because just upgrading to current gen but same value stuff it won't help. So try getting something like an i5-4670k/i7-4770k with a GTX 770/R9 280X.

Or you can save money and get a build similar to mine :p
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710
| FX-8320 @ 3.7Ghz
| 8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3
| MSI TwinFrozr HD 7950
| Gammaxx 300 CPU Heatsink
| ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0
| Corsair CX600w 80+ Bronze
| 1TB WD HDD

I know it's a pretty budget gaming pc but here in Australia things get more expensive :/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

juanra1409

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
13
0
10,510
What a retard, it was to the right of the comment, lol. I'm planning something similar, but with a 990fx mobo and maybe a Nvidia GPU. Thanks! Also yea, In my country things are more expensive too...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710


Make sure to get an aftermarket cooler because with these stock coolers (i know from experience) it will boot up and fly like a jet XD ... But what's wrong with AMD GPUs?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

bigj1985

Distinguished
Mar 12, 2010
331
0
18,810
Well The phenom 2 while dated is still a descent quad core CPU. You won't see any significant gains going from a Phenom 2 to an FX unless you go for something like an 8320/8350. And even then you won't see much improvement outside of heavily threaded applications.

As far as overclocking your CPU it's really the win of the lottery. My Phenom 2 would do 4 ghz but I've known most P2 965 to cap out around the 3.9 ghz area. Honestly those chips never scaled well with higher clocks so going above 3.8 ghz would be pointless.

But your CPU would be reat with a GTX 660 or lower. There will be a small bottleneck but nothing major.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
J

juanra1409

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
13
0
10,510
Nothing wrong with AMD, but I have never tried and Intel/Nvidia setup, want to see how it goes :p. Thanks for the answer bigj, i think I will upgrade but until then, I will buy a 212 Evo and buy other parts to prepare my new build. If i don't get really much of a change from buying a 8350, then i will go for the Intel platform (4670k). thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710


That first sentence is the same thing I'm thinking of doing in the future. Getting Intel and Nvidia just to try out the combo since basically all of my friends have it, while I'm the only AMD :'(
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

Honorable
Jan 12, 2014
138
0
10,710


Well the only real difference between AMD and Nvidia GPUs are Physx, OpenGl, etc. But CPUs are very independent since Intel has good single-core performance CPUs while AMD features extra cores and better overclocking.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom