955 Overclock settings/spec's

[ru_1980]

So today I figured I would try my hand at overclocking for the first time. My system spec's are...
Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5
Phenom II x4 955 C3
Sapphire HD6970 (reference design cooler)
Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333 7-7-7-20 @1.7volts KHX1333C7D3K2/4G
2x wd black 640GB and a WD black 320 GB
Antec TPQ-850W,
Coolit ECO ALC (closed loop liquid cooler with dual 120mm's push/pull venting out of case)
corsair 600T case very nicely Modded (side window mod with 2 filtered 140mm fans blowing in, 1 filtered 140 mm fan added to the bottom of the case blowing in) <---needed these extra fans to get "acceptable to me" positive case pressure
Running windows 7 64 bit

And what I came up with is...
Core speed - 3.712 Ghz @ 1.440 volts X 14.5 Multi
Bus Speed - 256.0
HT link - 2048MHz
NB frequency - 2304.1 @ 1.2x volts <--- voltage is closer to 1.2 than anything I forget the exact number
Memory 682.7 MHz (1365.4 MHz) @ 1.69 volts 7-7-7-20 2T

Max temp 53C with 25C case inlet temps so far running prime 95 as I type. (read with HWmonitor)
C1E is still on as I like the thing to idle down when I'm not using it, I know it SHOULD be off, but I got this far with it on....and the SMART CPU fan control is off...Might flip it back on if it runs prime all night and try prime95 again with it on and see what results I get from that...

System temps seem a little high to me (am I wrong?)....hardware monitor shows temp1 @ 44C (I'm guessing that is the CPU socket), Temp2 @ 52C (Guessing northbridge) and Temp 3 @ 51C (Guessing southbridge?) or is the Voltage regs in there somewhere?

Just looking for a thumbs up or down wether this setup will last me a good while. I tried to get 3.75 GHZ out of it at the same voltages but was a no go. Tried the CPU-NB anywhere in between 2150 - 2400 @1.25 to get the CPU to take at 3.50GHz and 3.60GHz. I didn't go to 1.5 on CPU volts nor did I go over 1.25 on the CPU-NB because I hear 1.5 is max CPU and 1.25 MAX CPU-NB. Is having the CPU-NB clocked high giving any benefit? I know it controls L3 cache among other things but is it helping anything that much? The computer does seem to load into windows much faster. I might play with CPU-NB some more and do some benching to see if CPU-NB speeds help much; once i know it's going to run stable at 3.7.

I kinda want this rig to last, at least till the "DOZER" gets here, but I also wanted to see if I even had a clue how to overclock. Read a lot of threads about overclocking, and I think I did an alright job for the first time, but I need the experts opinion.

Let me know what you guys think....

 

[ilysaml]

first of all TEMP1 is system temp, TEMP2 is CPU temp, TEMP3 is north or south bridge... whatever those numbers sounds to be normal..
you can hit 4.0 GHz stable and with ease just raise the multiplier to 20.5X and lower the HT to 1800 MHz, CPU voltage 1.48 (increase 0.50v to CPU Vcore)

 

[ru_1980]

first of all TEMP1 is system temp, TEMP2 is CPU temp, TEMP3 is north or south bridge... whatever those numbers sounds to be normal..
you can hit 4.0 GHz stable and with ease just raise the multiplier to 20.5X and lower the HT to 1800 MHz, CPU voltage 1.48 (increase 0.50v to CPU Vcore)

What CPU-NB would you recommend for that? As I mentioned before I was having issues at 3.75 at 1.44 volts...you really think an extra .05 volts will get me to 4.0?

 

[ilysaml]

you'll downclock NB frequency, no need to adjust voltages... or leave it as Auto...whatever.
you have a BE CPU, you just raise the multiplier and if you find instability issues you raise the voltages a little bit. if you did some google search you would figure out that reaching 3.9 GHz is easy with stock voltages.

 

[ilysaml]

AMD BE Overclocking Guide
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/258573-29-black-edition-overclock-guide-raising-multiplier

 

[ru_1980]

ya I tried the Multi only overclock on the CPU and only managed 3.65 without touching voltages....maybe I got a bad CPU.... everything else was stock at the time....

Basically what I did was I started with overclocking the CPU by multi only to see how high it would go on stock, then upped to 1.4 volts and got JUST shy of 3.7. Dropped the CPU then proceeded to overclock via FSB keeping memory, PCI, HT and ram close to stock to see where the CPU-NB would give out. Then tweeked from there to where I am now... I will try returning everything to stock and Multi the CPU up to 4 at 1.48 volts using your recommended settings for HT and NB.

 

[ru_1980]

Well I got it to boot into windows at 4.017 GHz at 1.520 V, CPU-NB at 1800 MHz, and HT at 1800MHz, voltages on auto (except memory still at recommended KINGSTON settings and timings) I do notice the system is slower than what I had set-up at 3.7....could that be due to the lower NB speeds? For craps and chuckles I am gonna attempt prime 95. If that fails, back to my 3.7 GHz settings until I get a little more info/advice wether 1.52 volts is going to turn my CPU into a paper weight.

Edit: Instant crash in prime95 (black screen)

 

[ilysaml]

1.52V ? that's not recommended and too much for the 955 BE, what is the memory timings and frequency ? what error does the prime 95 report ?
try overclocking the NB to 2200 MHz with a 0.25V increase if it doesn't boot, increase it by 0.50v and run prime 95 for at least 6-7 hours and see what happens

 

[ru_1980]

1.52V ? that's not recommended and too much for the 955 BE, what is the memory timings and frequency ? what error does the prime 95 report ?
try overclocking the NB to 2200 MHz with a 0.25V increase if it doesn't boot, increase it by 0.50v and run prime 95 for at least 6-7 hours and see what happens

The memory was running at stock 1333 7-7-7-20 2T at a manually set voltage of 1.69volts according to Kingstons recommended settings. Prime showed NO errors....crashed the instant I hit the torture test button. I'll try again at 1.48v and play with the NB a little. Will leave HT at 1800 MHz.

 

[ru_1980]

interesting thread should become sticky with clocking settings.

955BE (BE) so all I did was raise the multi and kept stock voltage.
running @ 3.6GHz
manually set RAM timings by editing XMP, 8-8-8-24 DDR3 1600MHz
that's all I do.
with this new 990XA chipset I got now, maybe I'll try more..

I got the same by just upping the multiplier,to around 3.6 GHz. I upped the voltage one step to 1.425 volts and managed 3.65, and 1.45 got to 3.68GHZ. I dropped CPU down to 3.5 GHZ and started playing with FSB/HT speed and kept memory, pic, HT link close to stock to get a max NB overclock. I am now running 1.44v (in CPUz) at 3.712 GHz. Max temp 53C so far under prime95. NB is at 2304 MHZ, memory at 1364MHZ.

It seems to work good at this speed. Not too hot/loud and loads things MUCH faster. I am looking for more of a whole system performance boost, not benchmark scores.

 

[ru_1980]

sounds like you got it down now.
did you use straight BIOS or AMD Overdrive.?

BIOS all the way buddy. I hear it's the only way to go... :lol:
This board has a SLEW of overclocking options. It was far less painful than I thought it would be. Alot of restarting though, but worth it.

 

[ru_1980]

agreed it is better but I have tinkered with Overdrive, it too has good results and the monitoring is cool.

I have played with overdrive a little, but wasn't really sure how overclock's were applied, so I was a little concerned about software issues/crashes and what not. I tried overdrive a year ago and it didn't seem to work quite properly, could have been settings or something I had wrong. Bios seemed to be the more "familiar" interface for me. At least in bios you learn where everything is along with learning your overclock. It was actually kinda fun....If things would have started sparking/smoking, it wouldn't have been I am sure.

 

[ru_1980]

UPDATE! had to drop the bus speed from 256 to 255. Crashed about an hour into prime95 with a really warm ambient temp....case temp close to 26C. so I'm currently running as listed on my first posting but bus at 255 not 256....see how this goes.

EDIT: forgot to add, cpu temps still under 55C

 

[ru_1980]

trial and error amigo...
I'm having issues clocking my Intel rig at the moment too..

Oh I know. haven't had a chance to actually let it run on prime95 for more than a couple hours. Gonna leave it run tonight on prime....see if it's still running in the morning.

 

[ilysaml]

so what is the settings you are on now, i'm lazy to read the above posts ?

 

[ru_1980]

so what is the settings you are on now, i'm lazy to read the above posts ?

Core speed - 3697
Multi - 14.5
Bus speed - 255.0
HT - 2040
CPU-NB 2295.1
Volts still at 1.44 on the Cores
CPU-NB is still around ~1.2
Memory at 1360 7-7-7-20 2T at ~1.69volts

 

[ru_1980]

I have the CPU-NB up because, according to DOLK's phenom overclocking guide this particular frequency on the NB will net better performance....

Link --> http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023

 

[ru_1980]

Not to hijack my own thread, but what's a good photo storage site so that I may "ATTEMPT" to post screen shots, case pic's and the likes?

 

[ru_1980]

www.photobucket.com

sweet mal, thanks. Good to see you find time from the bulldozer rumour mill to make some posts on this thread..

 

[ilysaml]

UPDATE! had to drop the bus speed from 256 to 255. Crashed about an hour into prime95 with a really warm ambient temp....case temp close to 26C. so I'm currently running as listed on my first posting but bus at 255 not 256....see how this goes.

EDIT: forgot to add, cpu temps still under 55C

I don't know why do you have to mess with FSP ? you just raise multiplier and you're all done

 

[ru_1980]

I don't know why do you have to mess with FSP ? you just raise multiplier and you're all done

ya I am going to try dropping the FSB down and up multi's to keep close to the same speeds I have now. I was thinking that also, but in my process of playing with it, this is what I got...LOL

Hard to find time during the week to mess with it....it works right now, I'll deal with it on the weekend.

EDIT: Ok fixed it. Now runs 3.7 GHZ Core, 2000 HT, 2400 CPU-NB and 1333 ram.... Multi's at x18.5 core, x10 HT, x12 CPU-NB, and ram 3:10. FSB is at 200MHz....Here I go with prime again...

 

[ilysaml]

try 204 FSP, 19.5 multiplier @ 1.45V will give you 3.9 if it works fine raise up the FSP to 206 and raise voltage to 1.47... it should get you to boot into windows, test stability and if you experience freezing or BSOD raise up the voltage little bit max 1.5v

 

[ru_1980]

try 204 FSP, 19.5 multiplier @ 1.45V will give you 3.9 if it works fine raise up the FSP to 206 and raise voltage to 1.47... it should get you to boot into windows, test stability and if you experience freezing or BSOD raise up the voltage little bit max 1.5v

I couldn't keep 4GHz at 1.52v or 3.75GHz at 1.48v....I think this may be max for this CPU....after all it is only on a MILD water cooler....

 

[ilysaml]

max for 955 ? hundreds of people are running stable at 4.0 GHz
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/499526-official-phenom-ii-x4-9x5-oc.html

 

[ru_1980]

max for 955 ? hundreds of people are running stable at 4.0 GHz
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/499526-official-phenom-ii-x4-9x5-oc.html

According to that link, there are more at 3.7~3.8 than 4GHz. My CPU WILL NOT GO ABOVE 3.72 GHz at 1.44 volts and 1.48v WILL NOT GET ME OVER 3.75 and stable in prime95. Your recommendation of 1.48 at 4 GHz was a fail and it took 1.52v to get it to even BOOT at 4.0 GHz. I am quite happy with what it is now, seeing it is quite a bit faster than what it was last week. I am simply testing now, and gonna try dropping voltages from here to see if I can get it a bit cooler. Other than that, this is the CPU I was dealt with. Maybe I'll get a nice watercooling kit (GOOD ONE for the next computer build) but for now...it runs great. No regrets.

Didn't mean to sound rude, and I thank you for your advice. 4 GHz just may be out of my reach for a first time overclocker. Maybe once I get another machine I can blow this one up! LOL