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Making Lemonade: Overclocking Your Locked AMD Processor

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  • Overclocking
  • AMD
  • Processors
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Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 6:01:04 AM

We're spoiled. We know we are. Most of our AMD-oriented overclocking efforts center on unlocked Black Edition CPUs. But what if you're running a standard Phenom II? Today we show you how to get just as much performance from it using three techniques.

Making Lemonade: Overclocking Your Locked AMD Processor : Read more

More about : making lemonade overclocking locked amd processor

August 27, 2009 7:18:07 AM

What's the point of using a high-end mobo to overclock a mainstream/value cpu?
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-11
August 27, 2009 8:56:28 AM

it's about how to squeeze all performance from an locked cpu .
this is a pro' article (head shot)
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13
Related resources
August 27, 2009 9:52:50 AM

im a big amd fans, good stuff here, look forward to go back to amd
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0
August 27, 2009 10:50:56 AM

Good article! Too bad I killed my AMD CPU :p 
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5
August 27, 2009 12:48:50 PM

great article, should be more like it,
and a few more gaming benches wouldnt hurt either guys!
speaking of headshots yes unreal tournament is probably the most important game to exemplify the value of overclocking and added framerates due to "headshots" and shtuff.

keep up the good work!
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2
a b K Overclocking
a b À AMD
August 27, 2009 12:50:25 PM

stray_gatorWhat's the point of using a high-end mobo to overclock a mainstream/value cpu?

Fair question; no one would likely do this IRL, but I think the point here was to see how high the locked CPU could go, so they used a premium mobo.
Paul, now that we know what this specific CPU can do, would it be useful to now put it on a more typical mainstream mobo and see what one might get from the same chip under more typical conditions?
The point would be to answer the following: if my budget just grew by $25, does it make more sense to buy a BE CPU or to get a more premium mobo?
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9
August 27, 2009 1:37:57 PM

stray_gatorWhat's the point of using a high-end mobo to overclock a mainstream/value cpu?


because value mobos vary in stability much more than premium mobos. this article was just about the CPU limit, not the mobo limit.
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8
Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 1:43:22 PM

Tom's should do a shoot-out between an i7 920 and a 965BE that's had the multiplier taken down to 13x(2.6ghz), then both OCed to the max on the northbridge alone. I'm sure that would close the gap atleast somewhat, but I'm interested to see exactly how much. Maybe they could screw around with the HyperTransport multiplier as well, it might turn out that AMD has been shooting itself in the foot with the unlocked multiplier, when more performance would be had if they were forcing people to use the northbridge.
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0
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 2:38:01 PM

Good write up; but PLEASE do NOT recommend OCing via Windows. Most pro's here will tell you that same thing. BIOS > Windows for OCing.
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3
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 2:39:19 PM

Also how about putting this under WCing or DIce/LN2? :D 
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1
August 27, 2009 2:49:33 PM

In the performance gains and the cpu tweaking page the graphs for world in conflict are switched.
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1
August 27, 2009 3:28:16 PM

Excellent article! Thank you for the work.
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7
August 27, 2009 3:45:46 PM

Very good article!. Ryun is right, those 2 graphs for World in Conflict are switched.
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0
August 27, 2009 4:06:35 PM

I was planning on OCing but this article has made me afraid to OC, it seems there are a lot more factors involved in this than i thought.
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a c 296 K Overclocking
a b À AMD
August 27, 2009 4:43:38 PM

Really good article, in the pass I has a X2 6400+, and only can overclok 100MHz....now with the 955 I have 600MHz more that the stock frecuency....
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0
August 27, 2009 5:40:54 PM

nice article.
Amd has really improved overclockability with the dragons.
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1
Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 6:27:20 PM

Who cares how high an AMD cpu hz will go when an i7 cpu with half the speed does more on every level.
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-12
August 27, 2009 6:36:08 PM

wow great increases fom a triple core. 2.6 to 3.7 is great!
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2
Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 27, 2009 6:39:08 PM

Shreder: You are a perfect example of a brainwashed sheep. Core i7 has been shown to have a definite advantage in:

Video Rendering(I don't care, maybe you do)
Synthetic Benchmarks(yawn)
Specific games that have been "optimized"(rigged) to perform better on an i7

Other than that, the advantage ranges from neglible to non-existant. Unfortunately, there are people like you who swallow every bit of the fanboy articles with cherry-picked benchmarks...
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7
August 27, 2009 7:29:25 PM

Like Shadow said, its obviously a really good cpu, for overcloking from amd,

lets see how high it can go ;D
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-1
August 27, 2009 10:39:15 PM

been waiting for this article for a while, I actually OC my black edition proccesor like this so I can have CnQ enabled.

I do have one question though
If I OC by changing the reference clock and the CPU Voltage (board cpu voltage like in article because CnQ is enabled)
But I don't touch the Ram settings, HT multiplier, NB multi, or any of their voltages. Their speed does go up do to the raising of the reference clock. IS this OK, (I know I might be able to reach A higher CPU overclock if I lower their settings, but I can't do to CPU temps right now).
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-1
August 28, 2009 6:02:23 AM

ShrederWho cares how high an AMD cpu hz will go when an i7 cpu with half the speed does more on every level.


Non-Intel fanbois? Just guessing...
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1
August 28, 2009 12:18:10 PM

jtt283Fair question; no one would likely do this IRL, but I think the point here was to see how high the locked CPU could go, so they used a premium mobo.Paul, now that we know what this specific CPU can do, would it be useful to now put it on a more typical mainstream mobo and see what one might get from the same chip under more typical conditions?The point would be to answer the following: if my budget just grew by $25, does it make more sense to buy a BE CPU or to get a more premium mobo?

Yup, in this one we wanted to demonstrate how to do it, and avoid the mobo being the limiting factor. But I like your suggestion and think it could be an interesting story.
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2
August 28, 2009 12:39:27 PM

RyunIn the performance gains and the cpu tweaking page the graphs for world in conflict are switched.

Thanks. I saw that too and put in a request to have them swapped. Took a few hours though since it was still early on the West coast.
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-1
August 28, 2009 1:01:09 PM

tkgclimbbeen waiting for this article for a while, I actually OC my black edition proccesor like this so I can have CnQ enabled.I do have one question thoughIf I OC by changing the reference clock and the CPU Voltage (board cpu voltage like in article because CnQ is enabled)But I don't touch the Ram settings, HT multiplier, NB multi, or any of their voltages. Their speed does go up do to the raising of the reference clock. IS this OK, (I know I might be able to reach A higher CPU overclock if I lower their settings, but I can't do to CPU temps right now).

You likely won't get far without lowering the HT multiplier and keeping your memory frequency in check.

It's best to lower these while dialing in your CPU OC and then raise each back up individually to find the best usable settings. Don't push the HT Link Speed much over stock. To avoid potential data corruption, test any memory overclocks with a memtest 86+ boot CD.
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0
August 28, 2009 1:49:19 PM

Well that sucks for me, My gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P can't even keep a X3 720 BE stable at 3.7Ghz. I'm stuck at 3.6...grr...
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0
August 28, 2009 2:34:19 PM

biggest mistake i made when building for an OC rig (not buying faster ram than required)... :-p
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-1
August 28, 2009 3:31:49 PM

Great article! Especially useful for me - I have almost the same rig (gigabyte 790fxt) - and for some of your questions, I chose this "High end" motherboard in order to be able to crossfire on x16x16 and had to spend a little less on cpu and that's why i chose this 710.

One question though - All of the benchmarks mentioned here are running just fine on my overclocked cpu-nb-ram, except AOD "Stability test" which returns an error no matter what i do. Anyone have this problem?
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-1
August 28, 2009 4:11:51 PM

volks1470Well that sucks for me, My gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P can't even keep a X3 720 BE stable at 3.7Ghz. I'm stuck at 3.6...grr...

Could be the limit of your particular chip. The 720BE sample I received from AMD wasn't fully stable at 3.7Ghz either, while a 940BE on the same mobo was at almost 3.8GHz. See here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-cpu-overclock,2...
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-1
August 28, 2009 5:42:22 PM

I have Phenom II 710 And i reach 3.3GHZ (unstable ) and 3.25GHZ(Stable)
Frequency ..
when i reach 3.25GHz i couldn't believe it specially it was on Stock Cooler and MOBO with SB700 ChipSet No ACC Feature .

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-1
August 28, 2009 9:00:23 PM

this processor is also less than half the cost of an i7 for all those intel lovers, . . and can be run on a motherboard thats half the cost, and i bet, in any of the games, it gives over half the performance, so what? that processor is like 50 bucks.
even in a third of games the kuma dual core was par for par with an i7,

intel is a nasty company btw. . .
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-1
August 28, 2009 9:01:48 PM

obviously i meant the kuma processor is around 50 bucks. not the triple core.
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-1
August 28, 2009 10:59:59 PM

I had no idea about that AMD CPUs with locked multiplier could be overclocked this far by tweaking of reference clock, CPU voltage, NB. The CPU gave a stable performance with a mobo very fexible on changing the values.

I also agreed that a review should be done with some value mobos which have limited capability of tweaking those values.

Nice article....
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-1
August 29, 2009 12:47:19 AM

brisingamenthis processor is also less than half the cost of an i7 for all those intel lovers, . . and can be run on a motherboard thats half the cost, and i bet, in any of the games, it gives over half the performance, so what? that processor is like 50 bucks. even in a third of games the kuma dual core was par for par with an i7, intel is a nasty company btw. . .

A Kuma has less performance and OC headroom compared to the X3 710, so it surely isn't going to keep up with i7 except in GPU limited situations. Example: GPU limited with HD4870 in the tops charts, but paired with the 4870X2 in the lower charts, the Kuma didn't fair so well. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-cpu-overclock,2...
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-2
August 29, 2009 3:45:24 PM

ive personally used an i7920 overclocked past 4ghz next to a black edition x3 720 phenom2 watercooled and i think the i7's are all hype.


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0
August 29, 2009 6:32:11 PM

great article! i think it would have been nice to see OCing results of the 710 and 810 though. i wish my MA790XUD4P mobo had that nifty clear CMOS button :( 
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-1
August 29, 2009 8:41:00 PM

Saw the article, didnt read it til now, better late than never.
Excellent article, and nicely done, a far cry from firing squad heheh
And finally some better explanations on the how tos for the AMD chips, good to see it, and to see you writing Paul, excellent job
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0
August 30, 2009 11:47:36 AM

Thanks JDJ, glad your read/liked it.
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-1
August 30, 2009 12:01:47 PM

doronGreat article! Especially useful for me - I have almost the same rig (gigabyte 790fxt) - and for some of your questions, I chose this "High end" motherboard in order to be able to crossfire on x16x16 and had to spend a little less on cpu and that's why i chose this 710.One question though - All of the benchmarks mentioned here are running just fine on my overclocked cpu-nb-ram, except AOD "Stability test" which returns an error no matter what i do. Anyone have this problem?

In some cases, the extra money may just go into a crossfire mobo period, such as a 790X or 790GX vs. a cheaper 770. Valid points that the $20 CPU savings could be put towards mobo features or better graphics.

On the AOD stability test issue, just use Prime95 small FFT instead. I've found P95 is a more stressful test that will push cpu temps higher. One PII passed an hour of the AOD stability test at 3.9GHz, but failed Prime 95 at 3.8 GHz and a higher temp.
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-1
Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 31, 2009 1:46:41 PM

OK, I've just found another great reason to boycott Intel:

http://thespec.com/News/Business/article/626011


Apparently Intel wants to be the thought police, and enforce propaganda and quell political dissent. The point of freedom is to allow you to see all information, and decide what is correct on your own, not to have Intel and the CIA tell you what to think. If somebody can find an instance where AMD has done similar, I will eat my hat.

PS: Phenom II performs well enough for anybody's needs.
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Anonymous
a b K Overclocking
August 31, 2009 6:09:54 PM

Right, and 512kb of memory should be enough for anyone.
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September 2, 2009 4:10:41 AM

What's the point of using a high-end mobo to overclock a mainstream/value cpu?

In my case, it's because I don't really know how much CPU power I'll want a few years from now. So I bought a good quality motherboard and a CPU that is fast enough for my current needs. A few years from now, I may upgrade the CPU, but I'll keep the motherboard.


So I bought a good quality motherboard, with the intention of keeping it for a long time.
, and a CPU relatively inexpensive CPU. A couple of years from now, I may decide to upgrade the CPU, but I'll keep the motherboard.
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September 23, 2009 12:58:39 PM

Motherboards are not the place to skimp, than and psu's because if either of these fail it could cost you your entire setup. great article!
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