Overclocking Phenom ii x4 960t on ASRock 970 Extreme3

[celticsfan011]

I have no idea on how to overclock, i don't want to mess anything up. I built my first PC about 4 days ago, i unlocked my Phenom ii x4 960t's extra 2 cores, now i want to overclock a bit. I am using it's stock cooler, which is kinda bad, worse than the Phenom 955's stock cooler.

My idle temps are always in between 38 Celsius and 41 Celsius. Load is about 59 Celsius, never seen it go above 60.

I don't know anything about the voltages or any of that stuff, i only want to overclock to about 3.2 GHz, it's already at 3 GHz stock.

Should i increase voltages or anything else?

Original voltage is 1.320v.

My full specs are:

ASRock 970 Extreme3 w/ UEFI Bios
PNY 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
AMD Phenom ii x4 960t ---> AMD Phenom ii x6 1605t @ 3 GHz
OCZ ZS 650w 80+ Bronze

Can i also overclock my ram? Would it make a big difference in performance?

 

[henydiah]

i recommend use aftermarket cooler for OC. and find guide in sticky forum
using stock cooler maybe can't get too much and must be carefully, overclock without adding voltage just increase multiplier step by step and tighen timming of ram ( 1600/ 8-9-23 or 9-9-24 ) you will get 3.2Ghz

 

[celticsfan011]

Best answer selected by celticsfan011.

 

[elbert]

You will actually need to reduce voltages. My 960T unlocked runs on 1.2 volts stable at stock speeds with the stock cooler. You could get 3.3GHz at 1.25volts possibly stable without running into high temperatures. I suggest you stay below 55c as more will reduce the CPU's life span. At 3.2GHz with 1.25 volts it should be stable. To overclock much more you will need an after market cooler. I suggest you buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and some ASAA. You will need to work the thermal past in between the heat pipes and aluminum base good and a very thin layer all the way across.

My setup gets 3.72 GHz at 15.5X multiplier with the FSB at 240 and PCI at 80. I used 240 as my RAM is 1600 which matches up great. My voltages are CPU vid 1.3625, NB vid 1.1250, and another voltage change ill have to get from bios. It can go 16X on the multiplier but temps go a little past 50c and will force me to increase my heat sink fan past level 8. I like it on the quieter setting.

I have the same motherboard also and you will need a lower side mounted fan. The ASRock 970 extreme3's chipset really gets hot even at stock settings.