[HELP] Phenom II X4 B55 Overclocking

[jacosajh]

Okay, so I just successfully unlocked a Phenom II X4 B55 and started overclocking it. I'm pretty new to AMDs in general and even more, overclocking. I've been lurking a lot and reading as much as I can but I'm still really confused on a lot of terminologies (since they differ so much on various boards and such). I was hoping you guys could help me.

Currently, I have it running at 3.6ghz just by upping the multiplier. But I've read that some people are leaving the multiplier lower, but upping the FSB. I know upping the FSB also ups the RAM and everything else communicating with the CPU (right?), but I'm still kinda confused and would like this CPU tuned to near perfection since it's a present for my dad in another state, and would not have access to it if anything goes wrong in the future.

Current hardware:
CPU: Phenom II X2 (unlocked to B55)
Cooler: Cooler Master 212+
Mobo: MSI 870-G45
VGA: HIS HD5770
PSU: OCZ ModXStream 600W
HD 1TB Hitachi 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
RAM: 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws 1333mhz
Case: Rosewill Destroyer
Extra: PCI Wireless G Card

Soon to be Additional hardware:
AverMedia HD DVR
Asus DVDRW
Additional 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws 1333mhz

I ran prime95 for 8 hours and it was stable using the settings in the attached pictures. I would like to know if there is anything else I can tweak to make this better (i.e. some have used 240 FSB and 13 Multiplier for less heat?). Also, I would like to up this to 4.0 GHZ if possible.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[henydiah]

Your oc and unlock core get 3.8 is good , keep cool your temp ! And don't go 4ghz many risk damage than succes overclock. Many people not lucky unlock core. If u want 4 ghz use it once for bencmark but this need upgrade your cooler and sure your psu enough supply power to run it.
,

 

[jacosajh]

Some people have warned me about using an MSI board to overclock with. They said something about VRMs not having the same quality, and that it could catch fire. They even said that it can do that at stock, if I unlock 4 cores since they can't handle 125W? Or something like that?

Is this true? I'm really worried since I leave my computers on 24/7 (I will do that with this one until I give it to my dad) and would not want this to do catch fire while I'm away from home.

What about if I just leave it at stock speed with 4 cores? Will that be fine?

 

[henydiah]

- yes
- right
- unlock core with little oc don't too much , max temp 65c don' over
- if want oc just use 2core and you can get max system + performance ( I think this way better for you )

 

[simon12]

MSI says your board can handle 125W processors (there are 125W processors on the list of supported ones). Your temps look good to. I have no idea about the catching fire possibility but if you want to keep tweaking does the Vcore voltage in the picture above say maximum 1.72? If so this is way to high and you should set the voltage manually in the bios to a maximum of 1.5 and get the best speed you can at that voltage or below.

 

[henydiah]

And I see other c state still enableb. In bios spread spectrum, c1e cool n quite must disabled

 

[jacosajh]

What do you mean by C State?

I have CNQ Disabled, but I believe C1E isn't.

 

[henydiah]

other Cstate is like Spread Spectrum, AMD core turbo technology , Power management but i just see in your bios Spread Spectrum

 

[jacosajh]

So should I just disable spread spectrum or any other sub-options in spread spectrum?

 

[henydiah]

disabled spread spectrum & AMD core turbo technology (find it in CPU specification )

 

[damric]

If you can't access the computer after you give it to your dad, I wouldn't overdo it. A stable 3.6GHZ Phenom II is pretty strong already. Besides, it's going to be bottlenecked by that slow mechanical hard drive anyway.

But if you want to add more performance, be sure to also tune the memory controller (cpu-nb).

http://game.amd.com/us-en/content/pdf/AMD_Dragon_AM3_AM2_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf