Phenom II 720 Help

[damirk]

I've heard that these things can do 3.3ish with stock settings by just raising the multiplier.



Right now I'm playing around with AMD overdrive just to get a decent indicator or ranges before I input those settings to the MB.

If I take this thing to 3.2 (16x) and start to stess test with OCCT if fails very quicky. It reboots (no blue screen visble).

Temps are really low like 31C max right now under load.


This board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157154

Along with a 720BE and 4 Gig of ddr2 800 ram is being used.


All I'm doing is bumping the multiplyer.


What am I doing wrong?

 

[damirk]

Also I appear to be stable at 3.0 (15x) at stock settings which isn't much but its a start.

 

[damirk]

Strange thing is I can bump up to 3.7 fairly easy using AMD Overdrive but the seconds I stat any kind of stress test it crashes.


Could this be related to Vista 64 or maybe Some bios feature?

 

[damirk]

Sorry for spamming but I find it hard to believe that I cant get 3.3 out of this stable with 1.425 volts while people are getting 3.6 from this processor guaranteed.

I'm sure I'm missing something simple.

 

[damirk]

Seems like I'm going to be stuck at 3.3ghz (16x) at 1.4v

17x produces a BSD shortly after starting stress tests even with vcore bumped to 1.45.


I just cant get anything higher than this. I have noticed that according to OOCT my vcore will swing +/- 0.03 randomly up and down as I'm testing.

Could this be the root of my issues? Is this normal or the sign of a sub par power supply?

 

[xtc28]

psu? Cooler? Temps? ACC on? Ram tested with memtest? peripherals?

 

[damirk]

I've had this ram for a while now and never had any issues at all. I think I've ran memtests before on it and its come back fine.

Since its just a mult overclock the ram should not be causing an issue right?

Temps are fine, between 33-35C under load according to a few monitors. Its that xigmatech 1200 something cooler.

What types of peripherals could be causing issues? either way i don't have anything strange connected besides the standard monitor, mouse, keyboard and speakers.


ACC is set to auto. I was under the impression that is what you want unless you're trying to unlock the 4th core.

 

[b1kshad0w]

Every CPU is different and some overclock better than others. I wouldn't use the AMD overdrive. Try using the bios. If that doesn't help you get to at least 3.2, then I would make sure you put all the other settings on manual. Just make sure you don't bump the cpu voltage up too high. I would stay below 1.45 with that cpu. I like to manually input the voltages because I didn't do it once and it bumped the voltage up way too high 1.56 on a 45nm cpu.

 

[damirk]

Its on manual and and the lastest roun of OC is all bios based.

 

[xtc28]

disable ACC this Maybe your problem try it and see

 

[billybobjon]

Dude i have the amd 7850 BE and i cant change my multi at all, but i can raise my bus speed, its default at 200 and i can get it up to 222 completely stable, now i took my 2.8 to 3.1 and thats without even moving my multi, now i am confused cause i cant change my multi at all, so its my problem but i would mess with the clock a little just to see if it bumps up more! this is fun, lol

 

[billybobjon]

oh and i have heard alot of people including amd say that you should set the acc on just for any kind of advance overclocking, its not "just" for unlocking the extra cores.

 

[xtc28]

No really there is no benifit for it being on at all. It is said that it helps but in my experience here and at work and at home and on friends it really doesnt give beter results at all. More times than not it causes problems- Example on a PII 940 Im able to get an OC of 3.825 Ghz with it disabled with it enabled I get a max OC of 3.725Ghz not to mention the temp monitoring problems it has when its on. Example with ACC off my temp monitor says 32 Idle with it on temps say -265C. Another reason is its really for major overclocks past 4.5Ghz where instability is a real problem and you will be cooling with LN2 or Phase change or such. TURN IT OFF!!!!!

 

[damirk]

Hm, I guess I'll try to push it further with it off.

 

[Onus]

Turn it off. The PII has built in what ACC does for the PI. I have this chip too, and mine becomes unstable (may not even POST) with ACC on Auto. Left off, it is as smooth as silk.

 

[juncwil]

Try using a combination of FSB and multiplier. I find multiplier alone takes more voltage to be stable than a combination of increase in multiplier and FSB. Also your mobo isnt the best for OC so that may make a difference as well. You also need a good mobo if you want to do major OCing. For your reference, I have the same cpu as you but GA-790XT mobo and I wasn't able to reach stable OC at 3.2 GHz at stock voltage. It took me 1.525 V to reach 3.7 GHz at 18.5 multiplier but only 1.45 V to reach 3.64 GHz with FSB at 260 and multiplier at 14.

 

[damirk]

Ok so I've been playing around with my stuff todafy for a fwe hours with ACC off. This is what I've found.


14x*210 stable at 1.325v (stock v)

15x 210 sable at 1.3625v which is something like 3-4 bumps
15.5x 210 stable at 1.4 so another 3-4 bumps.

I tried 16x 210 but it fails quickly at 1.425v (specified max)

It would take me at least ~1.44 to get that stable and that just seems like its not worth it or right.


Oh well I'm not sure what I did wrong.


It might still be the power I guess (PS or bad local power). I'm not sure what acceptable vdroop levels are but at 1.4 I'm seeing this swing between 1.375 and 1.43 in CPUZ

 

[xtc28]

MORE JUICE! MAX of 1.5 on air.

 

[damirk]

I'm scared of siginficantly damaging the processor having it run outside the spec range. I'd hate to ruin it.

 

[xtc28]

Hey, if you are afraid to get burned, stay out of the fire! OCing is the fire!!!!

 

[damirk]

I understand that there is always inherent risk in OCing but obviously the AMD specifies the max recommended voltage for a reason. I'd hate to be that guy that burns out his chip in a couple of months for a few mhz more.

 

[xtc28]

My point was: If you dont want to risk it, dont do it! If you have read all the OCing tutorials you can lay your eyes on and you still cant get it. Then I would say get a new and better board for OCing such as the gigabyte MA790X-UD4P or the Asus M4A79. A good set of ram will get you real far in OCing.... Ex. On my MA790x/PII940 combo with XMS extreme ram @ 800 MHZ, the highest stable clock on the cpu is 3.725 Ghz. By swapping the RAM to Mushkin 1066 Mhz and changing the multi I was able to get 4.275 Ghz max stable clock.

 

[silvertounge]

Is there any easy way to explain why Ram would make a difference? I did not realize Ram would be a factor with overclocking the CPU. I myself am having trouble getting over 3.5Ghz on my Phenom ll 720. ( I'm using 1066 Kingston Hpyer X ram, so that shouldn't be a problem)

 

[Soasin]

Don't be scared! OC that mofo, pushing the limits is what OC's do! Na i do agree with b1K, use the BIOS, not the software...I dont understand why you cant get anything stable of 3.3Ghz, have to tried to run a Prime test on your RAM? I have no issues bumping the same core up to 3.8ghz and even tested it at 4ghz, but my rig is completey water cooled and using the MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard from Gigabyte.

You might be happy with the results if you can drop some exta cash on some of those suggested mobo's Good Luck!