AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE Overclocking

[jahn6]

hey guys I am pretty new to overclocking,
I have a phenom ii 965, I set the multiplier to 18 and running at 3.6 ghz.
Ran prime95 and temperature is stable at 54 degrees with stock cooler.
So I have a few questions to the experts....

1. What temperature is best for this processor to be running at?
2. Can I stay at 3.6ghz with the stock cooler keeping at 54 degrees?
3. How much can this overclock to? I don't want to push it but want to overclock it where its 100% stable. I know it depends on every processor and you need to get lucky, but I want to know what the general trend is.
4. If I buy a cooler for this cpu, what should it be? Do I need to also get a thermal paste?

Thank you!!

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

1- AMD site recommend 62C or less, but with 70C or less you are safe.
2- If the 54C are on idle (without heavy work), IMO is high. It's in load, is a little high temperature, but is good.
3- This is a guide to overclock the X4 955, you can follow the same steps to OC your X4 965. I think that you can get 3.8GHz-4.0GHz stable. Maybe more if you can get a correct configuration and a good cooler.
4- Well, the cooler depends of the space in your case. But a very good cooler for that processor is the Coolermaster Hyper 212+, I have one with my X4 955 and I can OC until 4.0GHz stable, you can take a look of my signature. This is my rig and the process to install that cooler.

Finally, you can see here a recommended list of AMD coolers. But like I say up, all depends of your case.

 

[jahn6]

Best answer selected by jahn6.