Tickled pink yet confused OC 955

If it is working and your CPU temperatures are within manufacturer's limits, you are OK.

AMD BE's and Intel K's are simply very easy to overclock.

Why is it that others seem to have troubles hitting 3.6 or 3.8, and it results in upping the core voltage?

I'm curious what others are getting for cpu temps on there 955. Out of the box as well as OCed I'm getting idle temps from 30-34C. It maxed at 50-51C when running intel burn test. Note I only run the standard test when I run the stress test.

Anyone think I should keep going up and see where it maxes out at?

No reason not to, except don't push the voltages much. Simple multiplier BSODs won't damage your system, but ridiculous voltage can.

I haven't touched the voltage. Just the multiplier. Voltage has stayed at 1.392V. I got it up to 4.2Gh and it booted fine then I tried 4.4Gh and it failed to boot so I took it back down to 4Gh. From what I've read I'm still shocked that I got it up to 4Gh this easy without upping the Volts.

What coolers are you guys using?

Because I can't even reach 3.6 because of the heat and am using scythe katana3.

I'm think u must have gotten a very very rare high quality chip :-) but then are u really sure of the voltage??? where exactly are u reading the voltage from? and is C1E and Cool n quiet enabled?? just strain all 4 cores using prime95/burntest and use CPU-Z to double check the volts to be safe  

I am thinking that he has it on AUTO and its overvolting the crap out of it....for an AMD Phenom II X4 chip to be stable at 1.392v@4.2GHz...Is to put it mildly....impossible...you OC on AUTO volts...Well lets just say it scales as per your clock speed which can be a very bad thing.

@$hawn--rare isn't the word for it, lol

BTW....fish_86 did it just POST at 4.2@1.392v or did you burn it with prime95?

I got to see a screenie or a cpu-z validation to believe that it even passed POST at what you specified fish_86....

I was able to get it to boot to windows at 4.2 but I'm not sure if its stable there. I didn't run a burntest at 4.2Gh. I was seeing how far I could go until it failed which was 4.4Gh. If you want me to post a pic let me know otherwise here is the proof that I have it running stable at 4Gh. And I haven't ever seen the core volts change and my temps are running fine...actually haven't changed from stock temps. They idle around 31, games get to 42, and the stress tests hit 51.

I hope this link works. first time putting a pic on.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/63672093@N02/5795673402/in...

I can't get this stupid pic to load on the screen.

No I was saying where you said 4.2@1.392v....Nice volts on that 4 if its stable...Are you saying it booted all the way to 4.4 on that 1.392?

No it only booted windows at 4.2@1.392v. It wouldn't boot windows at 4.4@1.392v. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with it, but I'm running a giga 890FXA-UD5 with a silent pro gold PSU. I think they both are rated very well with voltage stability. Isn't the voltage stability what really helps with overclocking?

I'm kind of surprised my ram is letting me that high. This ram is rated 1333 cas 7. I thought 1600 cas 7 was better for OCing.

here are some other specs on the pc

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63672093@N02/5795992876/in/photostream/lightbox/

I've been running at 4Gh and have been stable with everything for a week or so. I've checked temps and they seem fine. I plan on keeping it here. I feel there is no need to go higher.

just to answer some questions before that I didn't mention I'm using a hyper 212, and I believe i've disabled cool n quiet.

You did get a nice chip if you got it stable at such a low voltage....1600 cas 7 RAM is nice either way OCing or not... its fast....CAS 7 1333 is standard

I'm running a 955 @ 3.8ghz @ 1.576 v Is that a little to high?

@skullysquirrel-->DAMN...pull the voltage back under 1.55v....your chip is gonna be toast

I did, It's setting at 1.424
Also it wasn't really that hot got to a max of 53c @ 3.8ghz

Its not the temp that kills, its current that kills

Gotcha, What voltage are you running to get 4.15ghz outa your cpu?

1.525v....Thats my limit on voltage

I'm still shocked that I have achieved 4.0ghz so easy. sometimes I feel like seeing how high it would let me go if I started upping my volts.

what are you fan speeds set to. are they on auto or did you set it manually.

Hey, I got this result


I overclocked my cpu by just using the multiplier and set it to 4ghz and i did not try the auto voltages. instead i set it to 1.424 and got it stable while running the intel burn test.

my idle temps are 37 to 38 degrees and the load temps while running the test were max 47 degrees celcius.

here are the results:

1st test 48.5 gflops
2nd 47.8
3rd 48.6
4th 48.2
5th 47.5

I have set my fan speed to manual at 50% minimum and 100% when it reaches 50 degrees.

is it a good overclock.

@fish_86-->4.0 GHz is pretty common for these chips...its that extra 100-200 MHz over 4 thats a challenge....4.4 is my max boot yet 4.11 GHz@1.5v is my max stable OC...the CPU-Z validation in my sig of 4.15 actually is not a stable clock...I just haven't changed it....So these chips can get really picky above 4.0 GHz

@irfan88-->Yeah thats a good OC...especially the voltage setting...Have you ran prime95 small fft's to check stability? Also my 4.11 GHz 965 BE got 53 g/flops as per sisandra..just mentioned the g/flops as it looked a little low

Hey, I undervolted the CPU further. Now I set it to 1.392 volts at 4 ghz and get the idle temps from 32 to 36 degrees and load temps max at 46 degrees. they dont go further.

is it a stable overclock. I ran the intel burn test and it passed the test.

any suggestions. I am still getting less gflops.

nevermind the g/flops......Run prime95 small fft's for two hours or more or OCCT LinX if you get no errors or bsod. Then your stable IMO...some say run prime95 for 24 hours..I tend to think that 24 hrs. is Overkill...

BTW...Your MOBO and RAM play an integral part in OC stability, as does the PSU.

I ran linX and found no errors with all the 20 tests. Is it any good. are my temps good enough. 32 to 36 on idle and max of 46 on load with linx and intel burn test.

I also ran prime large FFT test for 1 hour and passed all the tests with temps ranging at 36 idle and 51 full load. It does not go past 51.

are my temps good.

should I change my fan settings. I have them on 50 % min and 100% when the temps reach 50 degrees.


One more problem, when I check my bios, the CPU voltage is 1.40 but when I check CPU Z its 1.392. why is it so???

Temp. is good..voltage is great.....voltage tends to flux just a bit on all machines...so your good to go...I would run prime95 small fft's and blend for at least two hours just to make sure its all stable

Hey one more thing. I haven't overclocked the fsb and the HT link. They are set to defaults. I have just increased the multiplier to overclock. Is it the right way. should I leave the FSB and the HT link as it is.

I have my NB @ 2800 MHz-->1.21v and my HT @ 2600 MHz-->1.21v...It is very important to not exceed 1.3v on the NB and HT...Always set your voltages manually in BIOS...USE EXTREME CAUTION when OCing the chipset they are not as forgiving as the CPU...Always know what the maximum allowed voltages are.

Hey I ran Prime 95 for 2 hours and my computer is fully stable now. no errors.

one more thing. Is it mandatory to overclock the NB and HT link even if I am stable by just overclocking the CPU using the multiplier.

Its not mandatory to OC the NB/HT...although OCing the NB gave me a very noticable increase to performance,... the HT not so much...Its great that you have it stable at that voltage.

So I will leave them as auto itself.

and I also underclocked my CPU to 3.8 ghz from 4.0 ghz. The reason why I did that is because I am not getting any notable difference in FPS except 2 to 3 fps (hardly) compared to 3.8 ghz and also the windows experience index shows the score as 7.5 itself for both 3.8 and 4.0 ghz.

So in order to be on a safer side, I underclocked my cpu to 3.8 ghz so that the temps stay better. at 4.0 ghz the voltage set was 1.40 and now I have set it to 1.3375.

So temps don't cross 48 degrees at full load Prime95 for 2 hours.

Is it ok to leave the CPU at 3.8 ghz because I dont see my CPU bottlenecking a single GTX 560 Ti. I will probably overclock it further to 4.0 ghz when I get another 560 TI for SLI.

Is it ok to leave the CPU at 3.8. What do you suggest.

I am glad I found this forum. I recently just did my first build, however I still need to get a good gpu, planning on buying a radeon 6950. currently using onboard video. Anyways, I would like to say that I also achieved a 4ghz stable overclock on my 955. All I did was up the multiplier to x20 with the default 200 bus. left everything else on auto voltage. currently my voltage is 1.45 passed stability test after 2 hrs on prime95 torture test. planning on doing a 24 hr burn in tonight just to make sure. I do have a question about temps though, Core temp tells me im idle at 28-32, moderate use 33-38, and max load 55-56, Asus uses pc probe and the idle and moderate temps are the same but when doing prime95 there is a 10 degree difference and says im at 44-46 under load. does anybody know which is more accurate? id love to see the bios temps during stress testing but impossible.

my build consists of :
Case - Antec 1200
Cpu - Phenom 955 OC to 4.01ghz
HS/Fan - Thermalright Venomous X-RT, mx-4 thermal paste
Mobo - Asus m4a89gtr pro/usb3
Ram - 2x4gb G.SKILL Ripjaws 1600mhz 9-9-9-24 (will be tightening the timings)
PSU - Corsair tx 750watt
SSD - Intel 510 120gb (boot drive)
HDD - Western digital 1tb 7200rpm sata 3 64mb cache (storage)
GPU - XFX Radeon 6950 2gb (in 2 weeks)

use hardware monitor. It will give you the accurate temps.

@irfan88-->3.8 is plenty fast...like you said the gain is not that appreciable over that 200 MHz scale...I would leave it at 3.8 and start workin and playing on it...Good Job

@drock2017-->Welcome to the forum--->coretemp is the most accurate monitor I have seen...BTW...When asking a question on Tom's, please start your own thread for your problems

Hey sorry to trouble you

one last question:

I have a cooler master hyper 212 plus with its stock fan on the cpu. SO I was thinking of adding another one of those fans in a push pull config.

So I want to know how much of the temps would be expected to decrease if I add another fan in push/pull.

I would expect 3c-7c difference with an extra fan

wow 3-7C temp change. I wouldn't of thought it would of even been that much. If you do it let me know how your temps turn out irfan88.

Its nice to see other people having good results in OCing to or over 4.0ghz. A lot of the other threads I read seem to have people struggle to that point.

I had a few questions if anyone can answer....Which is a better stress test, Intel burn or Prime95? I thought intel burn test was because it was more sensitive, plus I like that I can run it in windows.

I'd like to play with the NB or HT but 1. my lack of experience tells me to stay away, and 2. I feel my bios screams at me if I mess with hardly any settings. Where is a good place to maybe read about some other OCing capabilities other then the Multiplier?

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/

@Fish_86-->Hey the best stress test is prime for testing stability...IBT is not even close to finding stability....OCCT petroika is another good reliable stability test....and for Graphics testing Heaven and Furmark are the ones of choice...Temp. monitors of choice are coretemp and speedfan although speedfan can be quirky at times...and finally hardware monitors would be : HWmonitor, CPU-Z, and GPU-Z...BTW...Prime95 can be run in Windows GUI....NP...Also from way back up at the top of the thread....Yes, your MOBO,CPU,RAM,PSU, and OS play an integral part in OC stability

I must be thinking of memtest86 that runs in dos mode. I will have to run prime when i get some time.

So what about OCing the NB and HT? Should I start searching the threads here or is there a place you would recommend starting?

Thanks for the list of software. I know most of them but I might check a few of the others out.