Overclocking AMD Phenom II X4 955
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Last response: in Overclocking
shravankale
February 18, 2010 4:31:44 PM
Following is my configuration:
Processor : AMD Phenom 955 3.2 Ghz
RAM: Transcend 3 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz
CPU Cooler: Stock cooler with MX-2 applied
I want to overclock my processor to 3.4 Ghz but since i'm a noob at overclocking i'll need a step by step process. One thing is that my processor shows a temperature of 43celcius on idle and goes till 55 celcius on load. So i'm worried if the temp will go higher due to overclocking and i dont want to fry my CPU...plz help.....thanks in advance
Processor : AMD Phenom 955 3.2 Ghz
RAM: Transcend 3 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz
CPU Cooler: Stock cooler with MX-2 applied
I want to overclock my processor to 3.4 Ghz but since i'm a noob at overclocking i'll need a step by step process. One thing is that my processor shows a temperature of 43celcius on idle and goes till 55 celcius on load. So i'm worried if the temp will go higher due to overclocking and i dont want to fry my CPU...plz help.....thanks in advance
More about : overclocking amd phenom 955
Going from the stock 3.2 GHz. to 3.4GHz. is just a matter of changing one BIOS setting - (the CPU multiplier) up by 1 from 15 to 16 - so is a very easy thing to do and should not effect the temp by more than 1-2C.
What MOBO do you have as the BIOS on the MOBO will determine exactly what needs to be done and what the settings are called. but the process is mainly to enter the BIOS settings find the settings for the CPU multiplier and change it from auto to manual and set the multiple at x16 instead of the current x15 - save the change and let the system boot.
What MOBO do you have as the BIOS on the MOBO will determine exactly what needs to be done and what the settings are called. but the process is mainly to enter the BIOS settings find the settings for the CPU multiplier and change it from auto to manual and set the multiple at x16 instead of the current x15 - save the change and let the system boot.
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shravankale
February 18, 2010 5:34:14 PM
JDFan said:
Going from the stock 3.2 GHz. to 3.4GHz. is just a matter of changing one BIOS setting - (the CPU multiplier) up by 1 from 15 to 16 - so is a very easy thing to do and should not effect the temp by more than 1-2C. What MOBO do you have as the BIOS on the MOBO will determine exactly what needs to be done and what the settings are called. but the process is mainly to enter the BIOS settings find the settings for the CPU multiplier and change it from auto to manual and set the multiple at x16 instead of the current x15 - save the change and let the system boot.
I have a gigabye GA-MA788GMT-UD2H
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Related resources
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Best solution
knilbeci
February 18, 2010 6:15:34 PM
hello! I replied to an earlier post about overclocking a phenom II x4 955 3.2ghz, you can check out the post here about how to overclock it ->
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257187-29-overclockin...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257187-29-overclockin...
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 9:45:59 AM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 9:52:40 AM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 9:58:58 AM
JDFan said:
Going from the stock 3.2 GHz. to 3.4GHz. is just a matter of changing one BIOS setting - (the CPU multiplier) up by 1 from 15 to 16 - so is a very easy thing to do and should not effect the temp by more than 1-2C. What MOBO do you have as the BIOS on the MOBO will determine exactly what needs to be done and what the settings are called. but the process is mainly to enter the BIOS settings find the settings for the CPU multiplier and change it from auto to manual and set the multiple at x16 instead of the current x15 - save the change and let the system boot.
Shouldn't the multiplier be 16x default since my processor is clocked at 3.2 Ghz, so 200 X 16 =3200 Mhz
I want to increase it to 200 X 17 =3400 Mhz
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:29:41 AM
shravankale hello! this is the link to the thread that i started and it shows how i overclocked my cpu. mine is a phenom ii x4 940, yours is higher than mine so i guess you can even have a higher cpu clock than 3.5 without adding voltage to the cpu. i got mine increased from 3.0ghz to 3.5 ghz without any cpu or northbridge voltage changes. i used the formula 250 x 14 and left the voltages on auto. it's the ram that i added voltage to. ok just kinda read through the post and i hope you overclock yours too without any problems. goodluck!
my thread -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257098-29-which-profi...
- knil
my thread -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257098-29-which-profi...
- knil
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:31:17 AM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:35:47 AM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 10:35:50 AM
http://s743.photobucket.com/albums/xx76/shravankale/?ac...
But Everest shows that Cpu Clock is 800 mhz and multiplier is 4x...I'm confused
But Everest shows that Cpu Clock is 800 mhz and multiplier is 4x...I'm confused
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:40:52 AM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:41:51 AM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 10:44:59 AM
i made an spd table for my ram for easy reference, you may want to make yours too
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in my thread you can see that in the bios i used the 400 setting but the voltage that i used was the maximum voltage that the ram can handle, spd wont tell you this, you have to go to the ram manufacturer website to know it

in my thread you can see that in the bios i used the 400 setting but the voltage that i used was the maximum voltage that the ram can handle, spd wont tell you this, you have to go to the ram manufacturer website to know it
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 11:13:40 AM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 11:16:07 AM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 11:23:28 AM
it will go up a little bit, if so, then overclock conservatively. for now try 210 x 15 = 3150, it's not too bad since the northbridge will be overclocked a little bit giving you some performance. try it and tell me what happens, set the ram timings correctly and leave the voltages for cpu volt and nbvolt on auto
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 11:25:49 AM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 11:29:01 AM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 12:01:43 PM
i was just looking here and there in my BIOS
1) i have enabled high performance setting
2)i could go to BIOS and set CPU host clock control to manual, which is is default auto
3)CPU clock frequency is 200 Mhz which i can't change
4)then i can go to cpu clock control ratio and change it from AUTO to any value from 5x to 20x+
5)Since i want to achieve 3400 Mhz how abt i change the clock ratio to 16.5x (assuming my default is 16x) and then later change it to 17x
6) I just found these options while lookin into my BIOS settings these steps, so i want to know if the above process will OVERCLOCK MY CPU to 3.4 Ghz from 3.2Ghz
1) i have enabled high performance setting
2)i could go to BIOS and set CPU host clock control to manual, which is is default auto
3)CPU clock frequency is 200 Mhz which i can't change
4)then i can go to cpu clock control ratio and change it from AUTO to any value from 5x to 20x+
5)Since i want to achieve 3400 Mhz how abt i change the clock ratio to 16.5x (assuming my default is 16x) and then later change it to 17x
6) I just found these options while lookin into my BIOS settings these steps, so i want to know if the above process will OVERCLOCK MY CPU to 3.4 Ghz from 3.2Ghz
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 12:09:01 PM
shravankale
February 19, 2010 12:26:29 PM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 12:29:20 PM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 12:39:32 PM
the cpu clock frequency in your bios, when you highlight it, there are no options that come out right? did you try to type in the numbers using the numpad? coz in my bios when i highlight it, it also doesnt show any drop down menu, the 200 is just highlighted but when you type numbers on the numpad it changes the value, try it might work then you can change the computations later if that worked, you can raise the HT link and NB frequency, if it works try 210 x 16.5 = 3465
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 12:44:10 PM
knilbeci
February 19, 2010 12:45:19 PM
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 12:46:17 PM
knilbeci said:
the cpu clock frequency in your bios, when you highlight it, there are no options that come out right? did you try to type in the numbers using the numpad? coz in my bios when i highlight it, it also doesnt show any drop down menu, the 200 is just highlighted but when you type numbers on the numpad it changes the value, try it might work then you can change the computations later if that worked, you can raise the HT link and NB frequency, if it works try 210 x 16.5 = 3465But is it necessary to change cpu clock frequency.....how abt just changing the multiplier ??
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 12:50:59 PM
knilbeci said:
the cpu clock frequency in your bios, when you highlight it, there are no options that come out right? did you try to type in the numbers using the numpad? coz in my bios when i highlight it, it also doesnt show any drop down menu, the 200 is just highlighted but when you type numbers on the numpad it changes the value, try it might work then you can change the computations later if that worked, you can raise the HT link and NB frequency, if it works try 210 x 16.5 = 3465I cant highlight the cpu clock frequency....it's dark in colour while others are white....
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knilbeci said:
the cpu clock frequency in your bios, when you highlight it, there are no options that come out right? did you try to type in the numbers using the numpad? coz in my bios when i highlight it, it also doesnt show any drop down menu, the 200 is just highlighted but when you type numbers on the numpad it changes the value, try it might work then you can change the computations later if that worked, you can raise the HT link and NB frequency, if it works try 210 x 16.5 = 3465On the Gigabyte MOBOs there is a CPU Clock Control line that is set to AUTO above the CPU frequency Line in the BIOS that must be changed to Manual before it will allow changes to the CPU Frequency - changiing the CPU CLock Control to Manual instead of Auto will then allow changes to the CPU frequency to be entered !!
And yes you are correct it is default 16x and to go to 3.4GHz. you want 17x (not sure what I was thinking earlier !) - Changing just that number is all you need for the simple OC you are wanting once you start changing the CPU frequency you need to start adjusting your RAM timings and Northbridge, Southbridge multipliers to keep everything stable at times so best to just use the multiplier until you understand how they interelate to each other.
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 12:55:38 PM
yep it is necessary, when you change the cpu clock frequency, you are also overclocking the northbridge and the memory at the same time, making your system faster, faster data transfer to and from the memory, and so the benefits are faster program loading, data processing, data copying, retrieval etc
![]()
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look at the above pictures, they're both 3.5 ghz but different HT Link, a higher cpu bus speed will result to a higher HT link and NB frequency


look at the above pictures, they're both 3.5 ghz but different HT Link, a higher cpu bus speed will result to a higher HT link and NB frequency
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 1:00:46 PM
knilbeci said:
yep it is necessary, when you change the cpu clock frequency, you are also overclocking the northbridge and the memory at the same time, making your system faster, faster data transfer to and from the memory, and so the benefits are faster program loading, data processing, data copying, retrieval etchttp://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs272.ash1/19970_1360884509063_1440063689_31013614_7914839_n.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs252.ash1/17970_1357948955676_1440063689_31005948_4667052_n.jpg
look at the above pictures, they're both 3.5 ghz but different HT Link, a higher cpu bus speed will result to a higher HT link and NB frequency
So fpr better system performance it's better to increase both right ??? So wht should be a suitable equation for me
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@ knilbechi - you are correct but you are forgetting on his CPU the multiple for the HT link is 10x by default not 9x like your 940 so changing it to 250 will result in his HT link running at 2500MHZ. which may require more Voltage to be stable so he might also need to change his NB multiplier and for him as a first time OCer it can get a bit more complex if he does not understand the inter relationships involved !! - Best to stick to the easy method for the first OC and then do some reading before pushing it !!
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 1:03:59 PM
JDFan said:
^correct but you are forgetting on his CPU the multiple for the HT link is 10x by default not 9x like your 940 so changing it to 250 will result in his HT link running at 2500MHZ. which may require more Voltage to be stable so he might also need to change his NB multiplier and for him as a first time OCer it can get a bit more complex if he does not understand the inter relationships involved !! - Best to stick to the easy method for the first OC and then do some reading before pushing it !!Yeah i agree, it would be easier to just increase the multiplier. Also I have got a black edition processor with unlocked multipliers...does it mean these cpu clock frequency mutiplier
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 1:06:42 PM
NO! DON'T INCREASE BOTH! You gotta do computations or you will fry your cpu! only when the cpu bus speed is set high like at 250, the multipliers need to be low, when you change your bios settings make sure, double check that you have input the correct computation! oc is gonna fail if for example you used the simple method, 200 x 17.5 = 3500 and then just decided to change 200 to 250 and left the multiplier at 17.5... 250 x 17.5 = 4375! BEEP! Overclocking failed! Press F1 to enter bios F2 to load default settings
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 1:12:31 PM
knilbeci said:
NO! DON'T INCREASE BOTH! You gotta do computations or you will fry your cpu! only when the cpu bus speed is set high like at 250, the multipliers need to be low, when you change your bios settings make sure, double check that you have input the correct computation! oc is gonna fail if for example you used the simple method, 200 x 17.5 = 3500 and then just decided to change 200 to 250 and left the multiplier at 17.5... 250 x 17.5 = 4375! BEEP! Overclocking failed! Press F1 to enter bios F2 to load default settings
Thanks for the heads up !! i wont change both for now, if i do i'll change both together with right calculations.....but for now i'll just increase the multiplier then mabye later i'll dig deeper into changing the cpu clock frequency
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shravankale said:
Yeah i agree, it would be easier to just increase the multiplier. Also I have got a black edition processor with unlocked multipliers...does it mean these cpu clock frequency mutiplierNo the Unlocked BE CPUs means that the clock multiplier (CPU Clock Ratio as Gigabyte calls it) has multiples higher than the stock value for example on non BE CPU that run at 3.2GHz. by default the MAX CPU Clock Ratio in the BIOs would be 16x so in order to OC those CPUs ther is no way to increase it to 17x in the BIOs (only the BE CPUs have higher multipliers since they are designed for OCers) so you have to do the OCing the other method that knilbechi is talking about but then you need to also adjust your memory multipliers and NB,SB multipliers as well since they all rely on that CPU frequency settting so many times you need to increase the CPU frequency and alos lower the NM,SB multiplier and memory multiplier in order to keep the system stable - so OCing the non BE CPUs and Intel CPUs is more complicated.
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knilbeci
February 19, 2010 1:13:08 PM
@ jdfan yeah that's true but in the oc thread that I wrote i specifically mentioned that it is overclocking without voltage changes, he can try all day if he wants to overclock and that wont destroy the cpu since no additional voltage is to be added, it just wont post / boot but it's fun doing trial and error and remember to be on the conservative side when overclocking for the first time
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knilbeci said:
@ jdfan yeah that's true but in the oc thread that I wrote i specifically mentioned that it is overclocking without voltage changes, he can try all day if he wants to overclock and that wont destroy the cpu since no additional voltage is to be added, it just wont post / boot but it's fun doing trial and error and remember to be on the conservative side when overclocking for the first timeOK - I hadn't read through your other link - but one thing to keep in mind (not sure if you mentioned it or not ) is that if the settings for the Voltages are on auto they will adjust to the settings that you are entering and will not stay the same (though usually they will stay within acceptable limits it can cause the system to overheat due to the extra voltage that the system provides for those settings if left on Auto - The Gigabyte MOBOs will self adjust the voltages to try and run at the frequency settings you enter and they usually overcompensate and add more voltage than is really needed causing extra heat and lower stable OCs !
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 1:30:50 PM
JDFan said:
No the Unlocked BE CPUs means that the clock multiplier (CPU Clock Ratio as Gigabyte calls it) has multiples higher than the stock value for example on non BE CPU that run at 3.2GHz. by default the MAX CPU Clock Ratio in the BIOs would be 16x so in order to OC those CPUs ther is no way to increase it to 17x in the BIOs (only the BE CPUs have higher multipliers since they are designed for OCers) so you have to do the OCing the other method that knilbechi is talking about but then you need to also adjust your memory multipliers and NB,SB multipliers as well since they all rely on that CPU frequency settting so many times you need to increase the CPU frequency and alos lower the NM,SB multiplier and memory multiplier in order to keep the system stable - so OCing the non BE CPUs and Intel CPUs is more complicated.I have a black edition processor and in my bios the CPU Clock Ratio has values like 17x, 18x and more
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shravankale said:
I have a black edition processor and in my bios the CPU Clock Ratio has values like 17x, 18x and moreRIght and I was just saying that as a result you can easily OC your system to 3.4Ghz. vy just changing that one setting to 17x !
-- While anyone with a non BE CPU would have to instead rely on changing the CPU Frequency (what Gigabyte calls it or old timers refer to as the FSB) which makes Ocing a bit more complex since then you also have to worry about that single change also effecting the NorthBridge, SouthBridge, and RAM frequencies as they also use that same CPU frequency setting to get the MHz. that they run at (so increasing it to increase the CPU speed also speeds up the memory and other components so may cause the system to be unstable even if the CPU can handle the increase.
For example lets say you increase the CPU frequency to 250 instead of 200 and leave all other setting the same you would now have your 3.2GHZ. CPU with a 16x multiplier running at 4.0Ghz. and your NorthBridge or HT link running at 2500 Mhz. instead of the stock 2000Mhz. and your Ram running at 1665Mhz instead of 1333 stock and any one of the 3 may cause the system to not boot so you would have to play with the 3 seperate multipliers for them to find what each one can handle and experiment to get it stable - instead of just changing the 16x multiplier to 20x which only effects the CPU placing it at 4.0Ghz. and leaves everything else stock and stable - and if it will not boot you know it is because the CPU can not handle 4.0Ghz.!! (at least at that Voltage - but that's another topic)
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 1:46:35 PM
JDFan said:
RIght and I was just saying that as a result you can easily OC your system to 3.4Ghz. vy just changing that one setting to 17x ! -- While anyone with a non BE CPU would have to instead rely on changing the CPU Frequency (what Gigabyte calls it or old timers refer to as the FSB) which makes Ocing a bit more complex since then you also have to worry about that single change also effecting the NorthBridge, SouthBridge, and RAM frequencies as they also use that same CPU frequency setting to get the MHz. that they run at (so increasing it to increase the CPU speed also speeds up the memory and other components so may cause the system to be unstable even if the CPU can handle the increase.
For example lets say you increase the CPU frequency to 250 instead of 200 and leave all other setting the same you would now have your 3.2GHZ. CPU with a 16x multiplier running at 4.0Ghz. and your NorthBridge or HT link running at 2500 Mhz. instead of the stock 2000Mhz. and your Ram running at 1665Mhz instead of 1333 stock and any one of the 3 may cause the system to not boot so you would have to play with the 3 seperate multipliers for them to find what each one can handle and experiment to get it stable - instead of just changing the 16x multiplier to 20x which only effects the CPU placing it at 4.0Ghz. and leaves everything else stock and stable - and if it will not boot you know it is because the CPU can not handle 4.0Ghz.!!
GOT it !! Thank god i got a black edition processor... i did not know wht black edition actually meant untill today.
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 2:17:03 PM
shravankale said:
How about overclocking with AMD's Overdrive...should i should i not ??Usually best to turn it off - though for the OC you are doing it will not really be needed - since the main reason for turning it off is that it also adjusts the Voltages down when it conserves energy which can result in unstable OCs as it doesn't always return to the correct increased voltage for the stable OC - but with the small OC you are doing and since you are not messing with the Voltages it should be fine if left on.
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 4:04:22 PM
http://www.dvhardware.net/review/45391
FROM THE ABOVE SITE
Overclocking the Phenom II X4 955 was a lot more tedious than when I reviewed the X4 940. This processor did not like being pushed very far, no matter how much voltage I threw at it. I expected to at least be able to get 4GHz out of it, after the easily overclockable 940, but boy was I mistaken. When it came to the multiplier, anything over x18.5 and the computer would not boot at all. Even pushing the voltage on the CPU, NB and the HT I could not get any more out of it. Pushing the FSB, the system would lock up at anything past 205Mhz. It just did not want to budge. I even raised the voltages over safe operating limits and still no joy. So the final settings I ran for the overclock were 3.795GHz at 1.5v and memory speeds of 1366MHz at 7-7-7-20 timings.
FROM THE ABOVE SITE
Overclocking the Phenom II X4 955 was a lot more tedious than when I reviewed the X4 940. This processor did not like being pushed very far, no matter how much voltage I threw at it. I expected to at least be able to get 4GHz out of it, after the easily overclockable 940, but boy was I mistaken. When it came to the multiplier, anything over x18.5 and the computer would not boot at all. Even pushing the voltage on the CPU, NB and the HT I could not get any more out of it. Pushing the FSB, the system would lock up at anything past 205Mhz. It just did not want to budge. I even raised the voltages over safe operating limits and still no joy. So the final settings I ran for the overclock were 3.795GHz at 1.5v and memory speeds of 1366MHz at 7-7-7-20 timings.
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shravankale said:
http://www.dvhardware.net/review/45391FROM THE ABOVE SITE
Overclocking the Phenom II X4 955 was a lot more tedious than when I reviewed the X4 940. This processor did not like being pushed very far, no matter how much voltage I threw at it. I expected to at least be able to get 4GHz out of it, after the easily overclockable 940, but boy was I mistaken. When it came to the multiplier, anything over x18.5 and the computer would not boot at all. Even pushing the voltage on the CPU, NB and the HT I could not get any more out of it. Pushing the FSB, the system would lock up at anything past 205Mhz. It just did not want to budge. I even raised the voltages over safe operating limits and still no joy. So the final settings I ran for the overclock were 3.795GHz at 1.5v and memory speeds of 1366MHz at 7-7-7-20 timings.
Yes but he is talking about over an 18.5x multiplier (3.7 GHz.) where you were just looking to go to 17x (3.4 GHz.)!!
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shravankale
February 19, 2010 5:22:17 PM
shravankale
February 22, 2010 3:37:08 PM
shravankale
February 22, 2010 3:38:14 PM
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