Overclocking 955 on water

[hayden5757]

Hi guys, I have a general question about overclocking my cpu. I have read the tutorials on this site because I am fairly new to overclocking. My AMD phenom II 955 is currently clocked at 3.5 with about 44 C at full load. I have tried getting to 4 Ghz, but it always crashes. I set the voltage to 1.55 v and it STILL crashed. My question is, if my memory is 1600 speed and it is default clocked to 667, could this be the bottleneck to my cpu OC?

At 3.9 Ghz I am getting roughly 55-56 C at 100%, so I know it can run stable at a higher clock, but just HOW?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My other specs. are listed on my profile. THANKS

Hayden5757

 

[Frizzo]

what are your memory timings? you can try setting the memory to 1333 @ 9-9-9-24 , it might stabilize the overclock, though i don't remember but i don't think the 955's are a sureshot for 4ghz the way the 965's are.

 

[hayden5757]

Yeah I think you are correct on that one. Did some more research and it seems like my timings on the memory are as good as I should go for. 1333 @ 9-9-9-24. Same thing I heard about the CPU. Think I am upgrading to the 1090T in a couple weeks anyways. Thanks though

 

[amirp]

are you using the computer for gaming?
1090T is not much of an upgrade if you're....unless you enjoy wasting money

 

[HostileDonut]

Well, I have heard putting your PCI bus higher can stabilize an OC, just don't do it too much. Also, try tuning your FSB a little bit for that "fine" tuning. You could probably achieve 4Ghz. Most 955s make it to 4Ghz fairly easily. Also, 9-9-9-24 RAM timings @ 1333Mhz should help. Happy overclocking!

 

[hayden5757]

well I am selling my 955 to a friend. What would you guys recommend for gaming. I am already on the AM3+ platform. Just built my friends computer with the 1155 i7. It is so much faster than mine. But I am kind of stuck with AMD for now. Ill get back to you guys on the tweaking progress

 

[HostileDonut]

well I am selling my 955 to a friend. What would you guys recommend for gaming. I am already on the AM3+ platform. Just built my friends computer with the 1155 i7. It is so much faster than mine. But I am kind of stuck with AMD for now. Ill get back to you guys on the tweaking progress

Well, The 1100t is the best AMD CPU including AM3+ options. the 1090t is by far the best value out of them all and should overclock to 4Ghz like a charm. Also, if you are selling your CPU, you don't want to degrade it's life by upping the voltage before you sell it. Also, 1.5v is way high for that CPU, so you really don't want to break it.

 

[hayden5757]

I've still been testing out different things for the OC. I did reduce the voltage to 1.4v at 3.9Ghz. memory is how you guys said to set it. I was curious what the NB VID was. So from what I found in other forums it is supposed to increase stability at the cost of extra temps. I went up 1 tick from 1.1 to 1.125 and it instantly crashed. I am also confused how I am seeing people with like 4.0 Ghz on this same cpu ON AIR with 37C max. while I am getting 30C at idle on 3.2Ghz ON WATER!

Also, if I bought RAM at 1600Mhz why doesn't my computer even start if I set it to that advertised speed?

 

[HostileDonut]

I've still been testing out different things for the OC. I did reduce the voltage to 1.4v at 3.9Ghz. memory is how you guys said to set it. I was curious what the NB VID was. So from what I found in other forums it is supposed to increase stability at the cost of extra temps. I went up 1 tick from 1.1 to 1.125 and it instantly crashed. I am also confused how I am seeing people with like 4.0 Ghz on this same cpu ON AIR with 37C max. while I am getting 30C at idle on 3.2Ghz ON WATER!

Also, if I bought RAM at 1600Mhz why doesn't my computer even start if I set it to that advertised speed?

I don't know much about the NB and how much voltage you should give it, but as for the RAM, your machine will read memory @ 1333Mhz standard, you have to manually set it to 1600Mhz in the BIOS. Also, make sure the timing and voltages are good.

 

[simon12]

Do you have the C3 955BE? The C2 would normally only reach 3.7-4GHz while the C3 is more like 4-4.2GHz. What water cooling do you have, if its a sealed unit its most likely only at best equal to an air cooler. Also what motherboard do you have and are you adjusting the CPU frequency at all or just the multiplier.

 

[hayden5757]

To Hostile donut. If I tell it to run at 1600 my OS won't load.

To simon, I bought it when it first came out. I assume the C2. My cooler is a sealed unit on my pny 580. It is disappointing that it wouldn't be better than on air. But I did pay to not have a full water cooling system. As for the cpu, I am using AMD overdrive/BIOS. But I have only been tweaking the multiplier.

 

[HostileDonut]

To Hostile donut. If I tell it to run at 1600 my OS won't load.

To simon, I bought it when it first came out. I assume the C2. My cooler is a sealed unit on my pny 580. It is disappointing that it wouldn't be better than on air. But I did pay to not have a full water cooling system. As for the cpu, I am using AMD overdrive/BIOS. But I have only been tweaking the multiplier.

Download CPU-Z to check if you are using a C2 or C3 chip. The PNY Cooler would most likely be better than a air cooler though. Make sure your RAM is set to the correct voltages along with the timings.

 

[Haserath]

To Hostile donut. If I tell it to run at 1600 my OS won't load.

To simon, I bought it when it first came out. I assume the C2. My cooler is a sealed unit on my pny 580. It is disappointing that it wouldn't be better than on air. But I did pay to not have a full water cooling system. As for the cpu, I am using AMD overdrive/BIOS. But I have only been tweaking the multiplier.

If you have an early C2 chip, you would be lucky to get it up near 4ghz. C2 had trouble reaching high clockspeeds and early chips moreso.

C2 also had problems working with ram above 1333mhz, so that could be why you cant run it at 1600.

A thuban might be a decent upgrade from that chip since you could get a much better overclock from the thuban.

 

[hayden5757]

I never really noticed since I wasn't looking but it is C2. So the upgrade to the 1090T could be significant? This solves my issue more than anything. thanks

 

[hayden5757]

Best answer selected by hayden5757.