Overclocking Phenom X4 965 Black Edition

SevenSacredSins

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I'm currently running the stock cooler on my 965 and I'm thinking of grabbing the Coolermaster V8 soon, currently my temps are 31C at idle, is this about right? I heard it has to be roughly 10C above ambient and my ambient is 18-20C. I wanted to slightly OC it to 3.6Ghz, what would be the best way to start. Could I just try upping the multiplier to 18x in the AMD Overdrive application or go into the BIOS and edit HT/FSB? Also the CPU won't fry if you don't change the voltage right?
 

JofaMang

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Auto-voltage will often allow more volts than what is needed to be stable (depending on the motherboard), and extra voltage means extra heat. Without an aftermarker cpu cooler, you may encounter excessive heat levels using auto voltage.

I can run my 965 at 3.6ghz just by raising the multiplier (always in bios for me) to x18, and can even undervolt to 1.35v (.025v under the stock specs of 1.375v) with complete stability. Now, no two chips will act exactly the same, so your experiences may differ, but I can tell you that in my case, 3.6ghz @ 1.35v runs cooler than 3.4ghz @ auto voltage in my computer.
 

jesman1985

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and you dont have to goto the bios for an overclock.. you can just use amd overdrive and turbo v.. overdrive to monitor and turbo v to overclock.. thats what the guys using in the video.. its that easy.. and your chip is one step above his so its even better than the one hes overclocking..
 

jesman1985

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actually its the total opposite.. when using amd overdrive and turbo v.. IF you do get an unstable crash.. its no biggie.. the computer restarts and you clocks are stock speed as if you never overclocked them..
 

unclefester

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Don't know that much about TurboV, other then some things in the BIOS may not stay the same every time out.
True AOD will revert back to stock if you "do not" enable it at Start-up, but then it's only a "temporary" Overclock.
Don't get me wrong, I use AOD as a guide to find some of the perimeters/limitations of my OC and then hard-set them in the BIOS. Saved a lot of time not having to pull my Video Card to get to the CMOS jumper-pins. lol
 

Troubles1313

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Apr 21, 2012
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I'm curious, I keep reading all these websites that state the highest that the 965 will OC is 3914MHz, I've overclocked above 4MHz, 1.400v, fully stable with a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Motherboard keeping the temps at a max temp of 51C. I am writing this with the system OC at 3926.06MHz, 1.4000v, rendering a video, burning a CD and browsing the Internet all at 50c. My GTX 285 is hotter at 56C. What is the true max for the 965 BE?
 

Troubles1313

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I tried searching for you post but couldn't find it. I'm at 4127.65MHz right now still at 1.4000v and it's running a full Benchmark with the temps and system fully stable. Not sure I want to try to stress it more, as it's seem to be running it's sweet spot. Temp is at 36c peaked at 51c during the stress test. I need to work on cooling my GTX a little as it gets in the low to mid 60's under stress and won't idle below 50c.
 

Troubles1313

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You need to stress test with Prime95 for 1 hour.
I've been using PassMark and WinStress. I'm currently using Prime95 and still stable using only 1.4000v temps 56c for the processor and 58c for my video. Not bad I guess. I just upgraded from a Phenom 9550 BE, which wasn't too bad either. It ran a lot cooler though. Thanks for your info.
 

gity69

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I am also running a 965 x4 i love this chip for oc'ing, however i definitely recommend a aftermarket cooler ( i do the hyper 212 with arctic silver ) i can run at 4.2 stable rarely breaking 50C $30 well invested