Am I damaging my motherboard with my overclock? Help?

[Markali_88]

Hi guys. So I'm a newbie overclocker. Could really use some help here. Sorry if the question is stupid.


System specs:

phenom ii x4 955be deneb 3.2ghz Black edition 125W (c3 stepping)
Corsair h60 cooler
750watt corsair power supply
8gb 1333mhz sd ram (corsair)
Dual 5770 sapphire crossfire setup
Gigabyte 890gx motherboard which can supposedly handle 140W processors.

I overclocked using the multiplier alone to 3.6ghz with stock voltages(1.392vcore for my processor)

Ran prime95 for 8.5 hrs and all is well.
Temps 57 Celsius with prime95 ( if room AC is off goes up to 59/60)
Gaming temps 49 - 52 Celsius
Idle 40-42

Disabled cool n quiet, PCIe spread spectrum, and c1e in bios.
Changed voltages from auto to manual.

All seemed well..

Then I entered my overclocking values into the online extreme Power supply calculator And it showed that my CPU wattage for the overclock is 149W
My board was designed for 140W

Am I killing my motherboard?
Does the wattage matter?
Again I'm sorry if the question is a complete newbie question.
This is my first overclock.
Don't understand everything as yet.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I think you will be fine that is a mild overclock.

 

[Mt Power]

yeah those calculator arent always right on.

your temps seem abit high. is the 40-42 idle, with ce1 disabled? for the little overclock and the low voltage it seems high. Im oc'ed (970be) to 4.2 and i get 58c with prime95, idle 34c

you may want to revisit your tim application...

 

[Z1NONLY]

If you want piece of mind, try lowering your vcore a notch and see if everything stays stable.

If everything stays stable, you will have lowered your wattage and kept your speed.

 

[Fender0246]

Your temps do seem a little high.

 

[Markali_88]

If you want piece of mind, try lowering your vcore a notch and see if everything stays stable.

If everything stays stable, you will have lowered your wattage and kept your speed.

Hey Wow.. Thanks guys.. didn't expect such a quick response.

Here's the thing. At 3.2 Ghz temps are 1-2 degrees difference for the most. Was expecting more of a difference than that.

With the Ac on(im in a tropical climate) I'm getting 38 degrees idle temp and 57 degrees on prime95.

for games 49-51 degrees.
Now I'm not an expert. This is also my first build so there may be a chance that i've created some air bubbles when installing the H60. I plan to replace the stock CPU paste with some Arctic silver. Do you think that will make a significant difference? I heard that the paste that comes with the H60 is shu zen or something? and supposed to be pretty good.

Also i've got an extra thermaltake Fan that came with the Thermaltake V3 black edition case that i'm using. Should i add that to the H60 to create a push pull system or will the extra fan hinder the airflow of the stock H60 because of the difference in rpms/CFM/static airflow. (I still don't really understand static airflow)

And what do you mean tim application? is that the program i'm using to monitor everything (CPUID) (CPU-Z) (Core temp)
I've used all three. getting pretty much the same temps.

Forgive me guys if i'm a little paranoid and asking stupid questions,,, again i'm new at this.

Bought the monitor,,,, a year later everything else,,,, then upgraded to dedicated video card 4 months later,,,, Then corsair H60 3 months later,,,, then a second video card and extra ram 5 months later. Was a gradual build due to limited funds lol.

 

[Markali_88]

I will try lowering my Vcore and then check stability.. I will admit 8 hrs on prime is very annoying and time consuming. will 3 hrs suffice?

 

[Markali_88]

correction. Idle temps(with ac on) 36-37 celcius

 

[Fender0246]

Those idle temps look a lot better.

TIM = thermal interface material aka thermal paste.

Invest in fans. 2 or so intake and as many exhaust as you can fit. Intake from the front/bottom, exhaust out of the back/top.

 

[amuffin]

You're not going to get that much of a difference with AS5 than the corsair stock paste.

I would get another fan for the H60 for a push pull though.

 

[BSNL]

Your temps do seem a little high.

then what is the normal temps?

 

[Fender0246]

Well, my 965BE idling right now at 30c with air. He should be at least in the 35-38C range.

 

[Mt Power]

when you do a push\pull on the cpu. make sure the pull is going faster
then the push! I just had to check mine

 

[dish_moose]

Quote"Well, my 965BE idling right now at 30c with air. He should be at least in the 35-38C range."
What is your ambient - what cooler are you using - a lot of variables!!!. As has been stated - many AMD BE cpus do well with lower voltages - try lower and hopefully find joy.
-Bruce

 

[Markali_88]

Again thanks for the replies. I stated before i'm using the corsair H60 cooler. I've read that it isn't much better than a 212+ but that's besides the point.

Push/pull is out of the question because my case is just too damn small. I tried fitting another fan, complete nono cuz the giant power cable is getting in the way.

The radiator is up against the ram so that could be a possible reason why my temps aren't ideal but they rarely go above 51 degrees and mostly at 49 when gaming.

Idle 36-37 with ac on.. doesn't seem that bad.
And with ac on prime reaches 57, depending on how cold the ac is 55 .

Will work on getting a program that shows ambient temperatures. Any suggestions?

I've got one fan at bottom(cooler master R4 leds) one in front(with filter) the corsair at the top because it won't fit at the back and another R4 at the back.

I've got an extra 120mm thermaltake fan that i can put next to the corsair so i'll go ahead and do that. that fan kinda sucks and is very slow but i guess it's better than none.. I only put fans where the case picture specified to do so initially.

If i invest in better exhaust fans will that make much of a difference at all?
Is my setup good as it is
or do i really need to interfere with the vcore.
and shud i just run prime95 for 3 hrs vs 8 hrs..

Again thanks for all the input guys. Much appreciated.. Gonna install the third exhaust fan now.

 

[Markali_88]

One more thing. Undervolting your cpu. What's the worst that can happen?

I've read that some 955s stock voltages are 1.35 and others are 1.392

is that true or not?

Mine is at 1.392. (it's the c3 processor)

Thanks guys

 

[Markali_88]

I like undervolting but the max voltages are also influenced by the actual load percentage.
remember every chip is different..

Oh.. well that explains it.
I'm reading everywhere that stock v is 1.35 and mine is 1.392..

thanks.

 

[Markali_88]

Update:

sooooo.. I kinda broke piece of my case off when installing my first video card accidentally...

there was a rectangular hole above the video card as a result.....

I just taped it up with electrical tape to block it off cuz it occured to me that it may be affecting the airflow inside the case..

in addition to that i installed the 5th thermaltake fan adjacent to the H60 cooler on the roof of the comp case...

And now i'm prime95ing at 51-52 degrees(only 36 mins just to check temps) with ac on(room ac)

wow...

Can one lousy case fan really make such a difference?

I'm at 3.5Ghz and i haven't touched the Vcore

But I'm pretty happy with this.

Might bump up to 3.6 and lower vcore later. Will perform a 3 hr prime95 to check that stability .


U guys are telling me that i should not be concerned with the wattage that the PSU calculator is telling me right?

motherboard supports 140W ... PSU calc saying at 3.6 stock vcore(1.392v) is 141W(made an error with this earlier) and 3.7 stock vcore was 145W

3.8Ghz at stock Vcore will be 148W
(I haven't tried 3.7 or 3.8 as yet.)

Does the Wattage have the potential to damage my motherboard or affect it's longetivity?
That was the original question i wanted to ask guys..

Thanks for the feedback...

 

[Markali_88]

3.7Ghz sounds like a nice overclock provided that temps are good and there are no errors in prime 95 . if errors occur i'll bump my Vcore up to see if that helps or go back to 3.6 cuz i'm stable there..

only concern is the longevity of my motherboard.

 

[Markali_88]

Those idle temps look a lot better.

TIM = thermal interface material aka thermal paste.

Invest in fans. 2 or so intake and as many exhaust as you can fit. Intake from the front/bottom, exhaust out of the back/top.

And thanks man. Took ure advice and temps are much better now.

 

[Markali_88]

This is my motherboard:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3516#ov

 

[Markali_88]

This motherboard designs with Split Power Plane, 4+1 phase VRM to support AMD

yuk.!!!!

Why yuck?

 

[amuffin]

This is my motherboard:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3516#ov

Less power phases=worse.

Think of it this way:
Power phases are like highway lanes, the less you have, the more chance cars can get jammed in them. The cars can get jammed like traffic, because there aren't enough lanes for those cars to get to. In this case, car=clean power to the CPU, the more lanes you have the more cars you can carry, resulting in more clean power to the CPU!

 

[Markali_88]

Less power phases=worse.

Think of it this way:
Power phases are like highway lanes, the less you have, the more chance cars can get jammed in them. The cars can get jammed like traffic, because there aren't enough lanes for those cars to get to. In this case, car=clean power to the CPU, the more lanes you have the more cars you can carry, resulting in more clean power to the CPU!

I see... So basically i got a crappy motherboard... That sucks..

Shud i not overclock then?

 

[amuffin]

You can, just a board with more power phases will be able to get the same CPU stable easier.