Help Overclocking AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition

Hi guys i am looking into overclocking my phenom. Here is what i am running, AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition 140 watt, ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe Motherboard, Kingston Dual Channel HyperX Ram, 2 Sticks at (2024mb each), ATI Radeon 4670 1gb Memory DDR2, Thermaltake V1 Heatsink, and a Cooler Master Centurion 5, ATX Mid Tower Case. Now before i upgraded my heatsink i was running the stock one that comes with the processor, it was at an idle temp of 50C, now with the new Thermaltake V1 installed i am idling 35-38C. Those Temps are with stock overclock at Multiplier 13, FSB 200, the core speed is 2.6ghz, with a core voltage of 1.312 V. I am wondering how to overclock this processor to a nice speed to increase performance and maintain stability, I play games like Call of duty World at War, FarCry 2, and other high graphics games. If i missed anything you guys need to know, just let me know and i can get u the specs. I appreciate it

Thanks Topper i appreciate your input, anyone else have any suggestions?

I just picked up a 9850BE about two weeks ago popped it in and raised the multiplier to 15 to give me 3ghz and also relaxed my ram timings to 5-5-5-18 on stock voltages and it runs fine with no problems. When i would try 15.5x multiplier it would boot windows fine no problems but when i would try to run benchmarks it would usually bsod. And 50 degrees on that stock cooler is crazy! I'm using the stock one on my cpu and it keeps me at 38-39 degrees. Maybe my antec 900 has something to do with that, who knows!? Anyway, what i said is pretty much what these guys have told you already. Good luck though

Umm, you said the stock volts were 1.312 V, but topper said to put the volts at 1.25-1.28. I don't know anything about this cpu but it seems, I assume, that to overclock you need to raise the voltage not lower it. As long as temps are fine anything 1.4 or less would be OK. Some overclocking sites go to 1.5 but I wouldn't feel comfortable running one at that on a regular bases.

@ moe2o56

My AMD 9950 BE is the 125W series, I'm presently running a 16X multiplier @ 3200mhz or 3.2G, my Vcore is 1.4250V, I'm air cooling with a Zalman 9700.

All other settings are stock default settings, you may or may not be able to reach these settings with the 140W series of this Phenom on air, so proceed at your own risk as it is with any OCing adventure.

Since you're running an ASUS M/B make sure you manually set your system memory timings and the DDR2 slot voltage for your memory modules, thats very important to attain a solid OC.

The key to a good AMD unlocked multiplier CPU overclock is to keep it as cool as possible, no matter how good of a CPU cooler you have, good case airflow is of utmost importance.

Make sure all wire clutter is tucked out of the way inside the case and enough case fans are operational to supply and exhaust the air.

So what are the results or problems you've gained so far, and how is your OCing adventure coming along?

@ moe2o56

Enter the BIOS setup;

Under the Advanced Tab;

Select Jumper Free Configuration;

Set AI Overclocking to Manual

That will open quite a few things you didn't have access to.

Hey, what is the core voltage you set for the 9950 to hit 3.2Ghz?

If every CPU that left the manufacturing plant was identical then we could all get what you did with the same voltages and with the same hardware of course, unfortunantly thats not the case some have gotten a better quality batch of CPUs, out of the production runs than others, and it may require more voltage to get a stable OC.

Even at using a higher voltage to attain a stable OC, everyones suggestions should be cautiously applied and creep up to a higher setting not just go straight to it.

You have an excellent quality batch CPU to attain what you have on lower voltages, and cooling does play a part in all of this, what cooling are you using?

61c is the thermal limit of the Phenom 9950, an idle of 50-55c is not too good, under load its sure to crash.

Air Cooling Factors
#1 Ambient Room Temperature
#2 Case Airflow
#3 CPU Heatsink Cooling Effeciency
#4 Heat Generating Internal Components [GPUs that exhaust inside the case are not helping the situation]

With the right tools, know how, and motivation, pretty much any case can be modded to improve airflow.

Latest 9950 OC 3.4G @ 1.4375v core using 200 x 17X everything else in stock settings.

Its very important to set your memory slot voltage and memory timings manually, have you done that?

List your full specs?

thanks for the sugestions!

my cooler (scythe zipang) should do the job if all else is in order..i will try to fit smth here and there and see how it goes..
about these 3dmark tests - do you do them on default settings? i did it today to see how far behind i am - vista 64bit ultimate, default bios (mem at 800mhz not max - dunno if it matters) - just over 13000..
will keep in touch on my progres on cooling the basterd

@igithepop, default settings on 3Dmark06 tests, my settings are in the screen shot.
and the bench was run in WinXP.

right. first results - my case is something i should have picked better to start of
anyway...i fitted some more fans to help with the cooling. news flash - you can't fit a front intake fan in this case! blast them!


i had the top, rear and one 92mm side fan. i fitted another one of those and another monster 12cm inside the case as you cant fit it on the "normal" spot i fitted it inside on the HDD rack )

cpu idle down by 11°C
chipset down by 15°C (it had insane temps from day one, and now in the summer it drove me nuts!)
GPU down by some 5-10°C (it never overheated as it's the 4870 with a monster factory cooler on it but it's still nice to se a change )

drawback - noise. i almost feel i have to shout to type this kidding, it's noisy but not to the point of madness..

by the way - i like the pc case 4ryan suggsted, but in my country it costs almost 100€ so i'll pass for now...
cheers for any ideas you gave or will give me in the future!

Sweet results I got tried of dealing with heat that's why i when with water but it's alot more money so not for everyone. Am going to do some 3dmarks once i get my issues worked out but I only have a 4830 so have to get some good clocks out of it to get up there with you guys.

Im a bit curious about the 2nd post. Ive playing with OCing my 9950 black a bit, Ive got it at 3.1 currently, stable. Just using x15.5 multiplier without changing anything else.

My question is on the voltage setting. Topper suggests setting it to 1.25 to 1.28. The stock voltage on my 140w, or at least on my motherboard, is 1.3 already, bumping this up to 1.35ish doesnt seem to help me get it any higher.

Running the 9950 black with a gigabyte MA790X-DS4 motherboard. Corsaisr dominator ram, but its being replaced. Its only 800mhz ram, the 1066 is in the mail. Any thoughts on what I can do to push it a bit higher?

Im using a Zalman 9700 cpu cooler and sitting at sub 40C under a load, so heat shouldnt be an issue for a bit.

i did not even try to touch my NB. as for my other settings here's a probe and anything else you want of my settings just ask and i'll post:

will do! you CAN'T get any clocking done with that low voltage in my experience. 3.2 was on the same or one step higher voltage for me. so, 1.328 or smth a nudge higher...as soon as i get home i'll let you know what my V was

(that RAM multiplier you mentioned never crossed my mind cause as far as i know one must chase ram base speed. in my and your case that would be 533MHz...however, i never got to the bottom of that topic so i might be wrong)

Cool, I should do some benches now too I guess. I went and got a new case (cooler master cm690 [rc? or something]) and now run four 120mm fans in it. On idle @3.2 my temps are similar but the new setup did bring down the under load temps to only ~55.

I use both my HT and NB at 2.2 and she runs a titch warm(NB usually about 7% cooler then CPU) but now she eats through anything I throw at it, except CIV4, I play really big maps with lots of ai and it still takes awhile for the next turn.

one question though my 1 GB sapphire I got OC'ed to 700MHz core and 2.1GHz RAM, how bad is it draging down the rest of my setup? should I sell it and get a 4870? or even a 4890? I'm only interested in get a single GPU no x2's or CF cause I play alot of old games that dont use that kind of thing anyway.

hey, i've been refering to this thread quite a lot whilst doing my first few overclocks on my Phenom Black.

I've managed to get good temps, results and stability from 2.6GHz to 3.00GHz. As im typing this im currently testing 3.20GHz and it's going well so far.

People keep mentioning different wattiges of processor (125w and 140w) i was just wondering how do I find out which i own, and what is the differences between them regards to overclocking?

I know not all processors are born equal but some of the voltage variations on here seem to be quite excessive. Some people having stock volts at 1.2, and some overclocking 3.00GHz at over 1.4.

I think i'm somewhere in the middle, my stock is 1.300V and can achieve 3.00GHz at 1.3125. I'm currently trying to get 3.2GHz to work under 1.3875v as no less will work.

Given that the max temp is 61c? (Although i've also read 64c) - i'm maxing temps are no m ore than 53, and idle temps around 39.

Does this all sound in order? I don't want to make any fatal mistakes, and is there anything else i can do to help it?

Nice work on the GPU, what chip is it? 4870? 4890?

also im trying to get my system to the following spec's but my face hurts after runing into the brick wall too many times.

CPU: 3.3GHz
NB & HT: 2.2GHz
RAM:1.1GHz

i can do it theroetically with a FSBClk of 275 and then dropping my RAM multi back to what woul doriginally be 800MHz, but i only got it to partially POST once(it locked up RIGHT after the RAM check)

I would be very grateful if you could manage the above stats and could post your BIOS settings to get them.

Alternitively, if you either dont want too or cant do that above, if you can get your NB & HT too 2.4GHz and leave the other stuff to what we had b4 that would also be amazing.