AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE Unlock and Overclock on GA785GT-UD3H

I'm basically new to overclocking. I have an AMD Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition@ 3.2Ghz(stock cooler) on a MA785GT-UD3H(with latest BIOS update - F7). I have it for about one week and all the games and apps runs smooth. I thought I may unlock/ it in the near future so I need your help. Here are a few questions:

1)What benchmark/stress/spec software will I need?
2)If the 2 cores won't unlock, will anything bad happen to my other 2 cores/CPU/motherboard?
3)Should I first unlock then overclock or vice versa?
4)What are the normal CPU temperatures? When my CPU is idle, it stays at about 36*C. Don't know how to see what temperature when full load.
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Now another little question. Are these temperatures ok?

Motherboard: ~45*C.
Video Card: ~35 idle, ranging from 40 to 70 when playing graphical intensive games for a long time.
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Thanks in advance!

Message edited by gothicfighter on 04-22-2010 at 05:05:18 PM

Reply to gothicfighter

firstly, this thread at OC.net will help you out greatly:http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-core-unlocking-guide.html
in short though, you will at least need prime95 for stability testing, HWmonitor for temp tracking and CPUid to see if your unlock is successful.

if the cores won't unlock, nothing 'bad' will happen. usually they will simply remain inactive, but sometimes the system will fail to boot into windows. worse case scenario is the system becomes un-bootable and you need to clear CMOS to revert to previous settings.

id say unlock first, since your OC headroom will liekly be limited by a successful unlock. by unlocking first, you can then find the OC ceiling of all 4 cores.

as for temps, anything below about 65c at load is fine but if you see it hitting 60's you may want to lower the voltage as thats starting to get into life-span reducing territory.
with prime95 you can monitor temps at full load though, and so long as they dont go above 65 in that program you should be fine. as real world usage will never be as intensive as a prime95 test.

i think thats everything. let us know if you need more help though. i have successfully unlocked my 550BE, so have a fair bit of experience on the matter. ill help where possible.

Message edited by welshmousepk on 03-25-2010 at 09:16:56 AM

Last night I bit the bullet and I've unlocked the CPU. When I've booted up the PC, on the POST screen I could read AMD Phenom II X4 B55 . I've entered Windows then CPU-Z. The same here. I've done a stress test for ~hour and no errors, temperature never got past 60 on the CPU but it was ~60 on the motherboard. But, as always, there has to be a little something. I can read the CPU temp but I can't read the individual cores temp. They stay at 0*C. Should I be worried? I'll post some screens in a minute.

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Message edited by gothicfighter on 03-25-2010 at 08:21:38 AM

Reply to gothicfighter

Never knew welsh was NZ.

~62 degrees is max, if it doesn't go past 60, stays at 54-57 I'd say you're fine.
I think the reason why the CPU Core temps show 0 is simply because the Phenom IIs have one temperature monitor only for the whole CPU, not each core. Not fully sure about this, but I don't think you have to worry too much.

Reply to Lmeow

OK... I've read right now a forum and is says "However, you may have already noticed that you can no longer monitor your cpu core temperatures. Fortunately, most motherboards have a cpu temperature sensor located in the cpu socket area. It is up to you to find out how closely this temperature reading relates to the actual cpu core temperatures."

Reply to gothicfighter

I'd say cores are normally a few degrees hotter than the CPU. So, I suggest 55C or below. Although, I'd check with a few more others just to be sure, because with my EVGA X58 board, the CPU temps are around 10C-15C lower than the core temps, so bewarned. But, I've only seen such a massive difference between CPU and Core temps on EVGA boards.

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Reply to Lmeow

ah, i linked the wrong page haha. my mistake. i was meant to link OC.net.

@OP though, thats a normal thing to happen when unlocking. my CPU does the same, no temps on the cores. i think a large number of 550s are affected by that issue when unlocking. hardly a big deal though.

just fixed the link in my original reply. check out that thread OP (http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-core-unlocking-guide.html)

Message edited by welshmousepk on 03-25-2010 at 09:17:20 AM

Played Crysis for a couple of hours, everything went smooth. Runned Prime95, no error. Everything seems cool. Almost. Only when using Prim95, the motherboard got once at ~65*C but then the cooler got faster and it cooled down to about 55-60*C. The CPU never reached 60* when using Prime95. When playing crysis it's not even reaching 55. When iddle the mobo is @~40*C.
I'm a bit worried about the motherboard temperature but it says it's ultra durable. Dunno what to think. Please reply.
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edit: I'm gonna closely see and note the iddle/gaming temperatures of the motherboard and post them here, perhaps tomorrow.

Message edited by gothicfighter on 03-25-2010 at 03:20:13 PM

Reply to gothicfighter

You using any special coolers??

------------------------------ The geek shall inherit the Earth
Reply to Starges

i wouldn;t worry about the mobo temperatures, they are surprisingly versatile. so long as you aren't seeing figures above 70 it should be okay.

Lmeow wrote :

I'd say cores are normally a few degrees hotter than the CPU. So, I suggest 55C or below. Although, I'd check with a few more others just to be sure, because with my EVGA X58 board, the CPU temps are around 10C-15C lower than the core temps, so bewarned. But, I've only seen such a massive difference between CPU and Core temps on EVGA boards.

On my Gigabyte MOBO the individual core temps are 8-10C lower than the CPU temp - so it does vary - best thing to do is reset the CPU to dual core and run it for awhile while monitoring the temps and find out what the variance of the 2 temps is on your specific MOBO -that way you will know whether to worry or not ( Since my CPU temp always showed around 10C higher than the core temps I know I'm fine after the unlock as long as the CPU temp stays in line (since then my core temps are even lower) - Then after you know how the 2 temps compare you can reunlock the other cores and know where your temps are.

Reply to JDFan

Now that you are getting comfortable ....

Start trying some OCing ...

We did not hear what you're using for a Cooler and Heatsink .... if you only have stock, you may wish to invest here first.

Best of luck and keep us posted to your success ! :bounce:

Reply to hrmchan

I'm using the stock cooler but I have a Spire vent(80mm) on the back of the case and I will buy another one soon(Antec TriCool 80mm). Honestly, I don't know why I should overclock right now. All the apps are running more then better. Perhaps when I'll change my CRT I'll see how things are running. Last night I've done some temperature checking, and here are the results:

Motherboard Idle temperature: 36*C
CPU Idle temperature: 36*C
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Motherboard Stressing(Prime95) temperature: Ranging from 53*C to 68*C(max.) //(After the fan increased the speed, it never got past 65*C)
CPU Stressing (Prime95) temperature: Ranging from 44*C to 62*C(max.) //(After the fan increased the speed, it never got past 60*C)
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Motherboard Gaming(Crysis) temperature: Ranging from 40*C to 52*C
CPU Gaming(Crysis) temperature: Ranging from 40*C to 48*C
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I think they're more then better.

edit: Can someone modify the title of the thread? I've made a typo(GA785 instead of MA785)I can't edit because it won't let me.

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Message edited by gothicfighter on 03-26-2010 at 09:46:52 AM

Reply to gothicfighter

gothicfighter wrote :

edit: Can someone modify the title of the thread? I've made a typo(GA785 instead of MA785)I can't edit because it won't let me.

Only a mod can do that...........

------------------------------ The geek shall inherit the Earth
Reply to Starges

Umm, kinda ran into a situation here. Last night I was playing CoDMW2. I've alt-tabbed several times to check something. Then I've played it about 10mins, after which the game simply froze, and a sound kept looping really fast. I've rebooted the PC and entered HWMonitor. The temps were normal. I kept It in the background while I was doing some little work(renaming folders) for a while. When I've checked HWMonitor again, The MaxTemp for CPU was showing 78*C and the current temp was normal, so I guess it "jumped" to 78 for a bit then came back. It has happened before(the freezing thing), again when I was alt-tabbing and playing Burnout. And before this, about 3 weeks ago, the fan readings were a little weird. There was an extra fan(case#2) which was showing ~18000RPM. But no current temp on medium. Today I've played both burnout and mw2 and nothing happened.

Please give me some advice.

Reply to gothicfighter

Have you OCed you gpu? Am not sure but i think when you at+tab, the comp takes away the signal from the gpu and when you alt+tab back to the game, the gpu suddenly comes back to life and hence the high jump in temps. :lol:

Again, you must forgive my language since like i said i am not really sure what i am saying, its just something i thought up :lol:

------------------------------ The geek shall inherit the Earth
Reply to Starges

The high temp was in the CPU. Anyway, it's ok now. And yours English is just fine.

Reply to gothicfighter

gothicfighter wrote :

Last night I bit the bullet and I've unlocked the CPU. When I've booted up the PC, on the POST screen I could read AMD Phenom II X4 B55 . I've entered Windows then CPU-Z. The same here. I've done a stress test for ~hour and no errors, temperature never got past 60 on the CPU but it was ~60 on the motherboard. But, as always, there has to be a little something. I can read the CPU temp but I can't read the individual cores temp. They stay at 0*C. Should I be worried? I'll post some screens in a minute.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232 [...] est.th.jpg
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1127/cpuzu.th.jpg

Forget about individual core temp, just look at the CPU temp and make sure it does not go over 60c.

Your CPU voltage is too low, that shot is showing 1.25v at 3.2Ghz as a B55. You need to give it at least 1.35v if you want stability, especially in games.

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http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv199/OvrClkr/mod.png

Reply to OvrClkr

Thanks for the reply. Now a few questions:

1)When I've unlocked the cores in ACC, there was a thing there saying "Value (All Cores) -2%". I've left it that way, thinking now to screw up something. What exactly is that and could it be why the voltage is so low?
2)What exactly is the voltage and how does it affect my CPU?
3)How do I raise the voltage?

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Thanks!

Reply to gothicfighter

Leave it at -2

The vcore is what gives juice (voltage) to the CPU, the higher the clock the more juice you need to apply.

Your bios might look similar to this :

Note: The CPU voltage is the same as processor voltage ..

Message edited by OvrClkr on 04-10-2010 at 09:12:22 AM

Reply to OvrClkr

Nice explanation. I like the gun. Now, I have to increase the voltage to 1.35V, right? Nothing bad will happen , I hope :kaola:
ps: A reply on another thread on i7 voltage:
"Lower voltage is always good. As long as it's not crashing or anything like that, I would not worry about it at all. With that voltage though, I bet you're talking about idle voltage. Load up the CPU with something like Prime95 and I bet the voltage will climb to 1.1V or higher."
His was ~0.97

Reply to gothicfighter

Don't worry about the voltage as long as you keep it under 1.52v and you monitor your temps.

The only way your voltage will drop below spec's is by having Cool n Quiet enabled which obviously should be disabled when overclocking.

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Reply to OvrClkr

Well, I have Cool'n'Quiet enabled. I bet this is why the voltage is 1.25 when idle. I'll monitor the voltage under full load and see where it is. Since I'm not overclocking right now, should I leave the Cool'n'Quiet enabled?

First rule of overclocking :

DISABLE : CnQ

You will en-dup bashing your head against the wall when you realize that Cool n Quite "underclocks" the CPU when idle to save power.

When you are overclocking the CPU needs a constant amount of juice, the purpose of CnQ is to reduce the CPU voltage which in turn screws up the whole process all together. Hope this explanation is good enough for you to understand =)

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Reply to OvrClkr

That's right, disable if I'm overclocking. But right now I'm not. So my question is if I should disable it now, when the CPU is not overclocked.

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Reply to gothicfighter

If you are running at stock clock then yes you can enable CnQ, but like I said the purpose of CnQ is to save power which defeats the whole purpose of overclocking.

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Reply to OvrClkr

gothicfighter wrote :

That's right, disable if I'm overclocking. But right now I'm not. So my question is if I should disable it now, when the CPU is not overclocked.

If you are not OCing or even if you are OCing if you are not increasing voltages to remain stable then leaving it on should be fine - the problem comes when you are OCing as it will not always return to the same voltage that it was set at when you begin to stress the CPU so if you are trying to push an OC and remain stable by increasing the Voltage then CnC lowers the voltage you can sometimes lose the system stability as it will just return to the default voltage instead of what you increased it to manually thus defeating your work !

Message edited by JDFan on 04-10-2010 at 04:29:25 PM

Reply to JDFan

Yesterday I've disabled C'n'Q and increased the voltage to 1.30. I've done this after Assassin's Creed froze after a couple of hours of non-stop playing. Went to BIOS and the temps were normal so it's the game that's the faulty one.
Anyway, all has run fine and stable.
PS: since when I bought the new PSU(about 5 months ago) the +5V voltage was kinda low (about 4.5-4.8V)Could this produce a crash?

The 965 C3 is the at the exact same CPU as the B55, the 965's stock voltage is around 1.38/1.4v, so this tells you that you should not be giving it anything less than 1.35v at 3.2Ghz.

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Reply to OvrClkr

Oh, so then I should increase it to 1.35, right? Anyway, found the problem(99% sure) All these crashes started as soon as I've uninstalled DirectX 10 for XP(what a big dumbass I am). When I've checked dxdiag, the reported version was still 10. Gonna make a new thread about it.

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Reply to gothicfighter

gothicfighter wrote :

Oh, so then I should increase it to 1.35, right? Anyway, found the problem(99% sure) All these crashes started as soon as I've uninstalled DirectX 10 for XP(what a big dumbass I am). When I've checked dxdiag, the reported version was still 10. Gonna make a new thread about it.

Yes raise the voltage to at least 1.35v (1.38v prefered).

Any reason why you would have to uninstall the Direct X on your comp?

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Reply to OvrClkr

OvrClkr wrote :

Yes raise the voltage to at least 1.35v (1.38v prefered).

Any reason why you would have to uninstall the Direct X on your comp?

'cause XP doesn't support dx10?

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welshmousepk wrote :

'cause XP doesn't support dx10?

Correct, but then why would he have DX10 to begin with?

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Reply to OvrClkr

OvrClkr wrote :

Correct, but then why would he have DX10 to begin with?

because he installed Dx10 for Xp as he said in his post.

this causes more problems than it ever solves.

How do you install DX10 on a machine that is running XP?

When you install the driver, it will automatically install the correct version of DX depending on the OS he is using.

Im lost here....

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Reply to OvrClkr

OvrClkr wrote :

How do you install DX10 on a machine that is running XP?

When you install the driver, it will automatically install the correct version of DX depending on the OS he is using.

Im lost here....

perhaps i should have used more apostraphes. :LOL:

'Dx10 for XP' is a crack (or something to that effect).I dont know a great detail of how it works, but i think it software emulates some features of DX10 to allow dx10 games to run on xp. but as i said, it usually causes way more problems than it solves.

the confusion is understandable though.

Message edited by welshmousepk on 04-14-2010 at 09:21:05 AM

yea now I understand, lol... I was under the impression that he had mistakenly downloaded the wrong driver, meaning he had chose a vista/DX10 driver instead of the XP/DX9 driver =)

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Reply to OvrClkr

Then what would be the results of using a 5xxx series card which require dx11 on a system running on XP? Would that make the gpu under-perform?

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------------------------------ The geek shall inherit the Earth
Reply to Starges

Starges wrote :

Then what would be the results of using a 5xxx series card which require dx11 on a system running on XP? Would that make the gpu under-perform?

nope, not at all. you would simply not be able to activate any DX10/11 features. and wouldn't be able to play dx10 exclusive games like just cause 2.

in DX9 games, performance would be the same though.

Oh.. thanks

------------------------------ The geek shall inherit the Earth
Reply to Starges

OvrClkr wrote :

If you are running at stock clock then yes you can enable CnQ, but like I said the purpose of CnQ is to save power which defeats the whole purpose of overclocking.

hey I thought the OC option was used to boost the performance using higher clock.
now I am using CnQ quiet liberally, and it seems to me that oveclocking works regardless of CnQ being enabled or not.
for ex.: my B55 running at 3.6 GHz with CnQ enabled, works between 800 MHz and 3.6 GHz depending on the CPU load. has never hampered the performance, and kept the temps low enough.
well if the CPU is running at 3.6 GHz and the loads are reaching more then 70% it tends to get hotter then 60c. which is my alarm temperature. but other then that CnQ does not hamper the performance of OC one bit.
so correct me if i am wrong in my assumption.

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Reply to maddy143ded

maddy143ded wrote :

hey I thought the OC option was used to boost the performance using higher clock.
now I am using CnQ quiet liberally, and it seems to me that oveclocking works regardless of CnQ being enabled or not.
for ex.: my B55 running at 3.6 GHz with CnQ enabled, works between 800 MHz and 3.6 GHz depending on the CPU load. has never hampered the performance, and kept the temps low enough.
well if the CPU is running at 3.6 GHz and the loads are reaching more then 70% it tends to get hotter then 60c. which is my alarm temperature. but other then that CnQ does not hamper the performance of OC one bit.
so correct me if i am wrong in my assumption.

Problem comes in when you are OCing using EXTRA VOLTAGES since CnQ will kick in and reduce the voltage and speed and then when you start stressing the system it will switch the speed back up to the OC value but will not always increase the voltage causing an unstable OC in some cases !!

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Message edited by JDFan on 04-14-2010 at 06:26:20 PM

Reply to JDFan

JDFan wrote :

Problem comes in when you are OCing using EXTRA VOLTAGES since CnQ will kick in and reduce the voltage and speed and then when you start stressing the system it will switch the speed back up to the OC value but will not always increase the voltage causing an unstable OC in some cases !!

I agree, That's right for overclocks when using extra voltage.

but what about the 555s? my own 555 seems to run optimal at 1.25v
and when its a B55 it needs some extra juice and runs the best @ 1.375v for 3.6 GHz.
now my stock voltage as shown by HWmonitor, is 1.425v in dual core mode.
so does this mean that AMD has kept my CPU at a higher voltage? I mean 1.52 is the company specified limit.

so if the CPU is stable at stock voltages with the required unlock and overclock settings as well as CnQ enabled, is it not the best thing to happen?
U can save power when doing menial tasks like web browsing or watching a movies and have high performance when playing a game...

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Reply to maddy143ded

maddy143ded wrote :

I agree, That's right for overclocks when using extra voltage.

but what about the 555s? my own 555 seems to run optimal at 1.25v
and when its a B55 it needs some extra juice and runs the best @ 1.375v for 3.6 GHz.
now my stock voltage as shown by HWmonitor, is 1.425v in dual core mode.
so does this mean that AMD has kept my CPU at a higher voltage? I mean 1.52 is the company specified limit.

so if the CPU is stable at stock voltages with the required unlock and overclock settings as well as CnQ enabled, is it not the best thing to happen?
U can save power when doing menial tasks like web browsing or watching a movies and have high performance when playing a game...

But if it is running it at 1.425v instead of what you say is optimal (1.375v) then you are producing extra unneeded heat when runnning under stress which is the worst time to be generating extra heat and may actually be reducing the life of the CPU due to increased temps so is CnQ really helping you ??

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Reply to JDFan

JDFan wrote :

But if it is running it at 1.425v instead of what you say is optimal (1.375v) then you are producing extra unneeded heat when runnning under stress which is the worst time to be generating extra heat and may actually be reducing the life of the CPU due to increased temps so is CnQ really helping you ??

sorry if you misunderstood me,
i said 1.425 is the stock vcore that amd gave with the CPU, as in I plug in the CPU and with no changes whatsoever in the mobo bios .

I reduced it to 1.25 for 555. it works like a charm upto 3.6GHZ while in dual core mode @ 1.25.
Now when I unlock it needs more voltage to get a boot. i can get a B55 @ 1.325v @ 3.2GHz. and got a stable Overclock of 3.6 GHz @ 1.375v.

so even if CnQ is running enabled the Vcore voltage is locked @ maximum of 1.375v. so it will go uptill 0.94v @ 800MHz (lowest) but it wont go above 1.375v @ 3.6 GHz. (highest stable OC with normal tempratures)
I can get 3.8GHz @ 1.4v but temps jump around 45+ while idle. and I am not comfortable with that.
so in the end CnQ doesnt go over the limits you have placed. it just makes it possible to save power when I am not playing Games which is like 90% of the times. ( I have my Computer ON 24/7 everyday. infact I only restart it evry 3-4 days.) its a download server for movies and such.
so I can have my pie and eat it too. ( I can have a high end gaming CPU and have the power svings of an low end CPU)

just try it for a couple of days and then post your observations here. I would like something to compare you know.

here some data from the HWmonitor.
I would love it if you have some sujjestions for the GPU heat. Its and EVGA 9600 GSO 384. running at stock settings and stock cooler.

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Message edited by maddy143ded on 04-14-2010 at 08:06:07 PM

Reply to maddy143ded

maddy143ded wrote :

sorry if you misunderstood me,
i said 1.425 is the stock vcore that amd gave with the CPU, as in I plug in the CPU and with no changes whatsoever in the mobo bios .

I reduced it to 1.25 for 555. it works like a charm upto 3.6GHZ while in dual core mode @ 1.25.
Now when I unlock it needs more voltage to get a boot. i can get a B55 @ 1.325v @ 3.2GHz. and got a stable Overclock of 3.6 GHz @ 1.375v.

so even if CnQ is running enabled the Vcore voltage is locked @ maximum of 1.375v. so it will go uptill 0.94v @ 800MHz (lowest) but it wont go above 1.375v @ 3.6 GHz. (highest stable OC with normal tempratures)
I can get 3.8GHz @ 1.4v but temps jump around 45+ while idle. and I am not comfortable with that.
so in the end CnQ doesnt go over the limits you have placed. it just makes it possible to save power when I am not playing Games which is like 90% of the times. ( I have my Computer ON 24/7 everyday. infact I only restart it evry 3-4 days.) its a download server for movies and such.
so I can have my pie and eat it too. ( I can have a high end gaming CPU and have the power svings of an low end CPU)

just try it for a couple of days and then post your observations here. I would like something to compare you know.

here some data from the HWmonitor.
I would love it if you have some sujjestions for the GPU heat. Its and EVGA 9600 GSO 384. running at stock settings and stock cooler.

Ahh - I just misread the info !! - IF you are running it under the stock voltage and CnQ keeps it within that limit then I see no reason to disable it - I can't get into my Bios right now to try enabling it to see how it performs on my system (I have a wireless USB keyboard and it works on getting into the BIOS as the system boots but then the keys do not work once in the BIOS to make changes etc. - so the delete key is active at boot but then for some reason it disconnects and does not reconnect until it boots into windows ) - and the Cat chewed through the cable on my old ps2 wired keyboard that I had been using to make BIOS changes the other day - but will give it a try in a few days (when I get a new ps2 keyboard or splice\solder the old keyboard wire back together) - Since I am using 1.312v on my X3 720 with the 4th core unlocked @3.2Ghz which is also below the stock voltage for the chip ! (I currently idle at 36 - 42C depending on the room temp (it's getting pretty warm now here in Texas) but load temps remain pretty consistent at 56C max under prime95)

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Reply to JDFan

JDFan wrote :

Ahh - I just misread the info !! - IF you are running it under the stock voltage and CnQ keeps it within that limit then I see no reason to disable it - I can't get into my Bios right now to try enabling it to see how it performs on my system (I have a wireless USB keyboard and it works on getting into the BIOS as the system boots but then the keys do not work once in the BIOS to make changes etc. - so the delete key is active at boot but then for some reason it disconnects and does not reconnect until it boots into windows ) - and the Cat chewed through the cable on my old ps2 wired keyboard that I had been using to make BIOS changes the other day - but will give it a try in a few days (when I get a new ps2 keyboard or splice\solder the old keyboard wire back together) - Since I am using 1.312v on my X3 720 with the 4th core unlocked @3.2Ghz which is also below the stock voltage for the chip ! (I currently idle at 36 - 42C depending on the room temp (it's getting pretty warm now here in Texas) but load temps remain pretty consistent at 56C max under prime95)

yeah we need some better cooling
do you have air conditioning in your room?
I am here in Mumbai, India. room temps currently hower @ 30 -33c and its night time. during the day i can expect 34c - 40c.
and I don't have any kind of room cooling except a Fan.

my loads frequently touch 58c and quiet easily go over 60c. even @ 50 - 70% CPU usage.

I definitely need a better cooling. but instead of investing in a CPU cooler for 50$ I will wait a few days and go for a room cooler that can get ambient temps below 30c. better for me too. :lol:

Reply to maddy143ded

LOL - figure if your going to cool things down might as well let it cool you off as well!! - I'm not quite that warm here yet (room is currently 27C at 11AM ) -but they're calling for isolated thunderstorms in the area today so it's a it cooler than it has been lately and summer isn't quite here yet.

I was lucky and got a Coolermaster TX3 for $4.99 from Newegg (they had them on sale for $14.99 including shipping and had sent me a $10 off next purchase code !!) - so it keeps things pretty cool when it is running under load and the new system with a 5770 GPU is much cooler than my old system with a 7800GS (that thing could of been used as a room heater during the winter while gaming !) Here's a HWmonitor screen of my system currently with the room temp at 27C :

Reply to JDFan

Last night, after mw2 crashed again, I've decided to lock back the 2 cores. The results were visible at first sight. The CPU fan never reached 4500RPM while with the quad it got to ~5500RPM. When I play games the CPU doesn't even reach 55*C while the quad(the individual cores are cooler by -6 degrees celsius), in the last period of time, reached 60*C. I've played MW2 like for a couple of hours and no crash, no loud fan noise, the same performance. It seems I have a defective core. Now, here are the usual questions of mine:

1)When I've entered BIOS after the crash, the +12V was at 11.80 or so.
2)Now that I am running a dual core, should I decrease the voltage back to 1.25?(now it's 1.35)
3)How can I see which core is defective?
4)Can an overclocked X2 555 reach an unlocked X4 B55?

That's about it.

Read several threads on the internet about mw2 crashes. They all sounded like "whatever game here freeze on ati radeon xxxx",. No crashes till' now but gonna see in the future. Maybe I do have a good x4. Gonna report soon.

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