Phenom II 740 - x3 @3.5GHZ, or x4 @3.4GHZ

[maxwellwa]

Hi All,

I am trying my hand at overclocking for the first time, and have achieved a stable overclock using the below equipment with both the fourth core locked and unlocked, but with a higher stable frequency with only three cores active. For gaming, with an eye to prepping for SWTOR in December, what advice can you offer as to which direction I should go, unlock the fourth core and run 3.4GHZ @ 1.4V or 3.5GHZ with three cores at 1.4V.

I could probably push the three cores to 3.6, with getting the voltage to 1.42, but since this is my first time, am a bit nervous about going too far.

Other than locking in the memory frequencies, I left everything else untouched, including the CPU freq at 215 MHZ.

ASROCK 870 Extreme3 MoBo
AMD Phenom II X3 740
8GB RAM - PC3-10600 CL9 set at 8-8-8-(tRAS 20, tRC 27)
AMD HD 5850

Thanks!

 

[henydiah]

3.4 4cores (unlock) faster and better than 3.5 3cores, your voltage still safe and worth

 

[maxwellwa]

Thanks,

I have been able to get the 4 unlocked cores stable at (215MHZ) 3.5GHZ, and the VCORE at 1.45. Is this pushing it too far?

 

[henydiah]

It's still safe if your peak temperature below 60C when do stress test. Sure your unlock get pass in prime95

 

[maxwellwa]

Thanks, yeah, my unlock ran for 12 hours on prime95 with no problem.

Looks like a success, then!

 

[maxwellwa]

Best answer selected by maxwellwa.