Disabling 2 Cores on Phenom ii 965 to overclock higher

What cooler you working? Temps @ 4.2? Good job

Its not worth it, you'll lose a lot of general performance for maybe a 200mhz more of an overclock. Which would translate to maybe 1fps in a game at most.

Im using stock cooling and dont get over 50C on prime95 3 hours stable. Im at 1.450 voltage, at 2 cores. Even if i jump 100 mhz up then i have to make voltage to 1.475. I want to get over this 4.2 Ghz limit and make it to around 4.7-4.9 ghz.

Any further bump in voltage will increase your temps at load, I would reccomend a cheap after market cooler, such as a the 212 evo.

@esrever, overclocking isn't just about the FPS boost, it's about the bragging rights!  

People have gotten as high as 1.5v core, but I wouldn't reccomend it. I presume you've disabled stepping and CNQ?

According to AMD, max is 1.55V, but it depends on your temps as well. Have you fed your NB a few extra V's?

personally I wouldn't touch 1.5v, 1.45 is already high enough...

Ill try adding voltage to my mobo. My mobo is at a cool 20C. Im using a 20 inch desk fan with my case side off for cooling  . I have a Cooler master Evo on order and this is temporary. Everything is nice and cool. But i will add more volts to my North Bridge and mabye bump up my Ref. Clock and put my Hyper Transport speed to 2500. Whats a good clock for N.B?

I can go to 1.2's with my 4.2 ghz but its only a 1C change in temps and not worth losing the stability that 1.45 has for me.

I'd try to keep it under 1.45 if you plan on using it for a long time. Are you using this as a 24/7 OC or just pushing it to see how high it can go?

I like to play old games like Oblivion and Morrowind. 4 cores are useless and my computer does not run 24/7 and overheating is a problem with 4 cores. So I can hit 500 mhz faster at 10C less with 2 cores when compared to 4. Plus for these old games i like to do 100V100 battles so I want all the GHZs i can get   . I sometimes will only enable 1 core and i can hit 4.8 ghz+ while maintaining a max temp of 45C on stock cooling. So im always trying to push my cpu to the max without creating heat. My clocks are constantly changing and i can keep the cpu relatively cool. I can post some pictures tomorrow to help you assist you

Hmmm, well you really should test if the overclocking is even helping. Those games may not use more cores but 500mhz isn't really that much either for running them.

I'd stay away from more than 1.45. Most people would rather run at 1.425 or lower for a phenom II OC from what I seen.

NB should be about 2.4-2.5ghz. I've seen 3ghz, but only if you have an actively cooled NB heatsink.

what's your mobo?

Mobo is asrock 970 extreme. My northbridge runs at around 20C because of my cooling. What kind of voltage do I need to get 2.5+? Alsowhat are the ideal volts for the hyper transit to get to 2.4 ghz?

Best answer selected by seanhallam.

Did 1.110 work for higher clocks?

Thanks for chosing me as your best answer  

I love the phenom chips, they're the gift that keeps on giving!

Yeah thanks