AMD Phenom IIx4 970 OC help

[Roxas2030]

Hi I have an AMD Phenon IIx4 970 Black Edition and I want to over clock it. I have the Cool Mater Hyper 212 Evo as as a CPU cooler and ASrock 970 extreme4 mobo, meaning I have AXTU. I want to OC the CPU and was wondering how I'd go about doing that. I don't want to fry anything D:. Please help, thank you!

*New to OCing

 

[nagol567]

its a pretty basic cycle you go through.
1. raise multiplier in bios by .5 at a time
2. see if system boots
3. test temps and run benchmarks to test stability. rinse and repeat till failure
when you hit a wall and your system wont boot or crashes(unstable) raise the voltage by one click(hit the + on the number pad once). then start at step 2.
When you can no longer raise your multiplier then you may want to raise your FSB to get those last few mhz. i suggest raising it by 2 at a time then testing.
When you have to increase your voltage past 1.55V your reaching your max voltage, so if you keep increasing the voltage and don't gain stability then you hit your max!
Things to look for and think about:
prime 95 is good for temps but try running a benchmark like pcmark11 or sisandra to make sure its stable.
You dont want to push much past 70C at this point your really pushing that processor.
You should be able to break 4ghz and maybe push it even further but every chip is different.
While you are overclocking try to use auto settings on everything except (Core Voltage/ Ram voltage/ HT/ Ram timings) and also turn off power saving options on your board.
best of luck and plz be careful!
Nagol

 

[megamanx00]

Read an overclocking guide before your begin. Important things to remember are to lower your HT link to 1GHz (5x), disable cool n quiet, don't leave the voltages on auto, and keep the temps below 60C. Use Prime 95 to stress test it and some kind of software (such as the old yet free lavasoft everest) or AMD overdrive to monitor the temps. All you really have to do is increase the multiplier, test it, watch the temps, and give it a little more voltage if needed.

I say don't go over 1.425 on the vcore or 1.3 on the north bridge. When I OC an AMD system I'll actually lower the north bridge vcore slightly to lower the heat if I'm not also using high clocked RAM. As for the HT link once you settle on a final CPU speed you can then begin raising the HT link to see if it can get to the original speed, or just ends up slightly below, while keeping system stability.

 

[Roxas2030]

Hi there I did as you guys said I increased the frequency and was able to boot at 4.1GHz, at 4.2 I get BSOD.

I'm really close at 4.2 though at 4185 MHz and my temps are at 40C max. I mean right now I'm at 30C. I used Prime95 and ran Benchmark and highest I got to was 37C. I ran benchmark and got all these funky numbers I do not know what to make of them.

One more question how does increasing the CPU voltage help? I remained at 4185 MHz after I increased my voltage to 1.45

 

[bloc97]

Increasing the voltage helps to maintain some stability, but sacrificing some cooling and some power efficiency, thus making your CPU even Hotter...

Its like making someone run really fast if he didn't eat for days, he won't even be able to run really fast before getting exhausted...

 

[Roxas2030]

so should I increase my voltage?

UPDATE: While running benchmark on Prime95
FFTs using 3 threads half into it I got BSOD. SO went down a little to 4.0GHZ and I finished the benchmark. I'm guessing I'm stable? I'll try to increase the volage and try gain at 4.1ghz

 

[megamanx00]

What are your temps? 1.45v is a little high. Don't go over that if you want it to last. If you're stable at 4.0Ghz leave it like that. Make sure you monitor your temps because if you're going over 60C you might kill it.

 

[bloc97]

Being able to overclock to 4Ghz without an Intel CPU and making it pass the Windows Booting Screen is REALLY LUCKY from my point... You shouldn't overclock to over 4GHz since the World Record for a AMD CPU cooled with Liquid Oxygen is 6.1GHz, so if you have Air Cooling, you shouldn't even overclock it past 3.5GHz since it Will overheat and burn your computer...

And, yes 1.50v is the max that an Phenom II can support, any voltage over that for an long time might kill your CPU.

Hope it helps!

 

[bloc97]

You can also use an CPU Stress Test software, monitor your temps while stress testing, and if your computer doesn't crash after being stressed over 5 hours and not getting temps over 65, you should be fine at that clock.

Only overclock to the point that your CPU's Temps Stabilize at around 60 C (At Full Load or While being Stressed), it will make you sure that you won't go over 65 C.

 

[alohascott]

3.5ghz is not an overclock for that chip
that is stock.
4ghz is nice
shoot for that.
at some point you just to get a .1ghz increase you will need to raise vcore allot and temps under load will go up quite a bit also.
at that point go back .1ghz and be happy with a nice oc and a chip that will last a long time.
it is not worth the time or extremely tiny performance gain you might achieve to get that last .1ghz in my opinion.
personally i go back .2ghz from my top stable clock rate and leave it there.
just to be 100% sure that any problems that might happen with my computer are not related to an extreme OC.

 

[Earnie]

Being able to overclock to 4Ghz without an Intel CPU and making it pass the Windows Booting Screen is REALLY LUCKY from my point... You shouldn't overclock to over 4GHz since the World Record for a AMD CPU cooled with Liquid Oxygen is 6.1GHz, so if you have Air Cooling, you shouldn't even overclock it past 3.5GHz since it Will overheat and burn your computer...

And, yes 1.50v is the max that an Phenom II can support, any voltage over that for an long time might kill your CPU.

Hope it helps!

wrong!O/C an AMD cpu to 4Ghz on air is easy and not a problem.my 1090T.and 965 both were at 4.0Ghz without any issues.now,If you are talking stock air cooling,I agree.

 

[Roxas2030]

Okay here is whats up

I'm at 1.5V ATXU says max I used so far is 1.496volts
I'm standing at 4.2ghz highet 61C under full loads testing about an hour and 30 minutes so far. I guess I'll go back down to 4.0 ghz just to be safe :]

 

[Roxas2030]

Alrighty after reading all the suggestions, I went to

4.0 GHz at stock voltage.
The heat never went above 40 really.
I will be running stress test through out the night for confirm, thanks everyone!

 

[loneninja]

Being able to overclock to 4Ghz without an Intel CPU and making it pass the Windows Booting Screen is REALLY LUCKY from my point... You shouldn't overclock to over 4GHz since the World Record for a AMD CPU cooled with Liquid Oxygen is 6.1GHz, so if you have Air Cooling, you shouldn't even overclock it past 3.5GHz since it Will overheat and burn your computer...

And, yes 1.50v is the max that an Phenom II can support, any voltage over that for an long time might kill your CPU.

Hope it helps!

I think your information is way out of date. AMD sells multiple processors clocked past 3.5Ghz now, most Phenom II processors are able to overclock to 4.0Ghz, and the FX processors typically hit 4.5Ghz+. AMD also has an overclock record past 8.0Ghz now too.

I've got 4 AMD processors clocked past 3.5Ghz...none of them has over heated or burned my computers either. lol

 

[Roxas2030]

Best answer selected by roxas2030.