Am I running out of power trying to unlock/overclock?

[nikon858]

System specs:

MSI 870a-G54 mainboard (latest firmware)
Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition w/ coolermaster hyper 212+
2x2gb ocz black edition ram 8-8-8-24 1333mhz
sapphire radeon 5770
1x dvd/rw
1x WD 640gb Black
1x OCZ Vertex 2 60gb
3x 120mm lighted case fans
Antex neohe 500w psu ~3-4 yrs old

All the reading I've done this processor overclocks easily...all I can overclock to is 3.4ghz stable, which is pathetic.
Tried unlocking cores with no luck....most of what I tried was just adjusting the multiplier.
Memory timing is set to ocz specs....
I'm kinda at a loss, not much to screw up if all your adjusting is the multiplier, everything (but memory) is set to auto.

newegg psu calculator puts me at ~414w.....

So question is am I running out of power? Or am I doing something else wrong?

With everything I've tried it will post but bsod as soon as windows tries to boot.

Any help greatly appreciated, really not run out and spend 100$ on a psu if it won't fix my problem.

 

[natefostersr]

if new egg has you at 414 id say your dangerously close. Youd have to assume that yur goign to have a problem that close. YOu always want to have more then enough wattage available.
HOWEVER check the Guide for stability.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-phenom-pentium,2366-6.html

 

[nikon858]

Would it stop me overclocking though? I can understand unlocking cores as it takes the power from 80w to ~120w for the processor....but w/out touching the voltage and just upping the multiplier does the processor consume more power?

 

[jsc]

I'm not familiar with AMD BIOS', but the but the power calculator is greatly overstating the power requirements of your system.

I say that because one of my systems has an OC'd Q9550, 4 GB RAM, a GTX260 - a card with greater power requirements than yours, a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P motherboard, 3 hard drives and an optical, and a Soundblaster card all powered by a Corsair 750TX.

Running 3 instances of Prime95 to load the CPU and 3DMark06 to load the GPU, it pulls 375 watts from the wall as measured by my Kill-a-Watt meter. Figuring 80% PSU efficiency, the system pulls 300 watts from the PSU.

The main power drain of your system, I estimate, is CPU no more than 7 or 8 amps and GPU about 8 or 9 amps. That's no more than 200 watts. I estimate total power consumption at less than 300 watts.

 

[nikon858]

Well then, any ideas why I'm getting such a low stable overclock?

How big of a factor does memory play into it? Every guide I read says set memory to stock timing, should I set it back to auto which sets some tighter timing, yet drops the speed to 1066....memory is rated a 1600mhz.

Btw I could never get the system to run stable with my memory clocked at 1600mhz 8-8-8-24...ocz forums were no help.

 

[wolfram23]

Don't leave everything on auto maybe? Specifically voltages.

 

[nikon858]

I upped the voltages for cpu-nb, dram voltage is already set to 1.65...now it's running stable at 3.6ghz.....could bad memory be the problem?? I can't get the memory to clock to its specified speed of 1600, I already tried lowering the memory down to 1066 to see if it would let me overclock then but no luck. Overclocking the cpu voltage doesn't seem to help.....

What gets me is everyone else with this processor can hit 3.8ghz without touching voltages....just don't get it.

 

[christop]

You have to bump your volts to your cpu the higher you go.

 

[simon12]

If you overclock on the multiplier it does not affect the memory have you tried that? I suggest you set the CPU voltage to 1.45V and increase the multiplier 1 increment at a time until it becomes unstable then either drop it back 1 or increase the voltage (to a max of 1.5V) Always checking the max load temps.