Phenom II X4 945 Won't Go Over 3.9GHz

[NGen]

No matter what I do, I can't get this thing to hit 4.0 and still be stable. I'm using an ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard, with 3x2GB DDR3 RAM @ 1333MHz. I have the FSB set to 260 currently, with the multiplier at 15x.

I've tried lowering the clock speeds of everything else, so the only thing left that would be causing these system crashes would be the CPU speed. I have the voltage set to 1.485V, but even then it still isn't stable. When I set the voltage to Auto, the motherboard sets it to somewhere around 1.6V (if I have the FSB at 240, it's at around 1.38V, but if I try 260 it shoots up to 1.6V), so I had it manually set to just below 1.5, which is what AMD specifies as the CPU's max voltage.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get some more power out of this? I have a water cooling system, so heat generally isn't an issue.

 

[shawn157]

Go 5mhz at a time on the fsb and whenever u crash, up the voltage just don't go over 1.55V.

 

[NGen]

I know the process. But even going up 5MHz crashes it.

 

[NGen]

1.6V set cpu fan to 100% and try it.

... I have a water cooling system ...

... Did you read my whole post?

I just want to make sure that I don't end up frying the damn thing. 1.6V seems like a bit too high over the limits, don't you think?

 

[szymek]

Haven't you thought that maybe that's the highest clock your cpu can go? I'd give it 1.6V set cpu fan to 100% and try it. It won't fry or anything and you'll know if it's just a matter of voltage or going farther is just a dead end. Good luck!

 

[Raidur]

Then up the voltage. With water you can break the limit a little. The main thing you need to watch for is heat. As long as you keep your temps down you can up the voltage.

*edit* I wouldn't go 1.6 either. *edit*

 

[JofaMang]

Are you adjusting the NB, HT, and Memory mulitpliers when you mention downclocking "everything else"?

 

[erdinger]

I heard that sometimes you need to increase the NB frequency to get a good overclock...

Don't go to 1.6V I would say

 

[4Ryan6]

1.6V set cpu fan to 100% and try it.

... I have a water cooling system ...

... Did you read my whole post?

I just want to make sure that I don't end up frying the damn thing. 1.6V seems like a bit too high over the limits, don't you think?

1.6Vcore is definitely in the danger zone even water cooling, 3.9G is not a bad overclock for that CPU, you need to learn when to quit or prepare to suffer the consequences.

 

[JofaMang]

1.6Vcore is definitely in the danger zone even water cooling, 3.9G is not a bad overclock for that CPU, you need to learn when to quit or prepare to suffer the consequences.

+1

Too many people shoot for 4ghz without realising that there are few AMD chips that hit 4ghz reliably. I personally wouldn't expect anything older than a c3 stepping CPU to be hitting 4ghz without landing in the exceptional range of CPU variety.

 

[4Ryan6]

+1

Too many people shoot for 4ghz without realising that there are few AMD chips that hit 4ghz reliably. I personally wouldn't expect anything older than a c3 stepping CPU to be hitting 4ghz without landing in the exceptional range of CPU variety.

"That would be ah, Well Said!" Jar Jar Binks

Been re-watching Star Wars. :lol:

 

[notty22]

There is some binning that goes on at AMD, even its location selection on the wafer.
Meaning the 965's come from the same spot, probably the center of wafers. They reach their target frequency with the least voltage. Its the 955's 65's that get the highest o/c
Before the C3 steppings, 3.9 WAS more or less the max.
The lower phenoms usually max clock a little less.
The Athlons less than that, even without cache (one would think it might be easier) not so.
There is a couple new Athlon reviews that bore this out, Athlons not reaching 4.0, I'm showing this one because they even push the voltage MORE than usual

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1297/13/

this is my opinion and conjecture

 

[NGen]

Are you adjusting the NB, HT, and Memory mulitpliers when you mention downclocking "everything else"?

I'm downclocking everything, including what you mentioned.

I heard that sometimes you need to increase the NB frequency to get a good overclock...

I used to have my NB and HT speeds at the max possible when OCing, with the RAM at ~1333MHz normally (capable of 1600MHz, but even slightly over the max causes instability). I thought that I could increase my CPU clocks by decreasing everything else, guess not.

Too many people shoot for 4ghz without realising that there are few AMD chips that hit 4ghz reliably.

That's what I thought. I always see people with i7s hitting 4.0GHz+, but I rarely see any AMDs (except for the 1090T). That's why I asked here.


I'll screw around with my other settings a bit more without increasing the voltage, which was primarily what I was trying to get at here - whether or not I would be able to safely increase my voltage past AMD's specifications. Guess not. But thanks for the help!