Love AMD Phenom 965 125w BE

[pjmoses]

This is my first true build as I have often upgraded a hard drive or a DVD-RW, but never built one from scratch. So here is what I have and where I have taken it over the past 2 weeks.

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
2 cards Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3N9/4G
RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case – fold-out disabled because of huge cooler
Noctua NH-D14 Dual fan CPU cooler w/contained TIP
MadDog DVD+-RD drive
500 Gb Segate SATA HD
350 Western Digital SATA HD
Vantec UGT-CR905 58-In-1 Internal Card Reader/Writer with Built-In USB Port for 3.5-Inch or 5.25-Inch Drive Bay (Black)
6Gb DSL connection.

And her are some of the settings I have that run very stable. I am using the included AI Suite to overclock with that came with my mobo.
CPU frequency 216; My CPU ratio @ 18.0; and my voltage @1.365 to get a great overclock thats is super stable at anything I throw at it
3.9 Ghz. Now my question is that I hear of people getting 4.2Ghz all the time. Is that will special cooling? or just temporary and not completely stable? What have been your experiences at overclocking the 965 completely stable and not over 52c?

 

[WR2]

Here is another person's experience with 4.2Ghz on X4 965BE.

More here.

 

[pjmoses]

Yea, he is way going over recommended max voltage. I am staying well below for the chips sake. I know I could get more that way, just not willing to move voltage over 1.37.

 

[WR2]

IMO going from 3.9 to 4.2 is a bit 'more for show than go'.
Hey! it's four cores @ 3.9Ghz!

 

[pjmoses]

Was looking to overclock the Kingston RAM, but too many variables. I love what I ended up with 3.9Ghz and am willing to leave enough alone, for now. Asus AI Suite with Turbo EVO is awesome for overclocking. The best part is that I have only spent
$600 so far, I had the OS.

 

[pjmoses]

One last thought before I get into another tough spot and Tom's will be there, way to go Tom's!
As this was my first build and experience at overclooking so I think I will quit while I am ahead. It runs stable under AMD OverDrive stability test forever and never has gotten over 52c. I would recommend ASUS to anyone for there first build and using all the software included. The overclocking world is eaiser on the fly than BIOS or AMD Overdrive. The HT clock is @ 218; the multiplier is @ 18x's; the voltage is set to never exceed 1.38v, to stay within AMD safety limits of 1.4v. That is all I have changed using the included software and am happy with the results. I doubled checked all the settings using Cupid-Z and they were identical, except the temps were 1c to 2c of each other. I just think one updates more efficently. So who else loves this processor?

 

[pjmoses]

Best answer selected by pjmoses.