OC Newb looking for advice

[derrickm420]

Hey everyone I recently upgraded my stock Phenom II x 4 965BE heatsink/fan with a CoolerMaster 212 EVO. I figured I would play around with a little processor overclocking to try and keep up with my XFX HD7950. Here's my current build specs:

Zalman Z11 Plus Case - 3 exhaust 120mm ; 1 intake 120mm ; 2 side HDD 80mm
Gigabyte GA-MA 790GP-UD3H
Phenom II x 4 965BE - oc'd to 4.0Ghz stable
CoolerMaster 212 EVO
G-Skill Sniper Series 16GB 1600
OCZ Agility III 120GB SSD - OS Win7 x64
G-Skill Pheonix III 120GB SSD - Games
Toshiba 250GB 7200 HDD - Storage
DVD Burner w/ lightscribe 24x
XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384Bit 925/1350
Thermaltake 850w modular

I have so far only changed the multiplier in the BIOS to reflect 4.0Ghz and left the voltages on AUTO. I have ran prime95 for 2 hours and no crashes, all successful tests, 0 errors with a high temp of 60 degrees C ( I live in the hot part of southern California so ambient room temps range 70-80 degrees F). If I can improve on the efficiency at all I am open to suggestions. How is my heat given my room conditions? All advice is welcome. Thanks everyone.

Validation : http://valid.canardpc.com/2745457

 

[truegenius]

temps looks good

i will advice to lower the cpu voltage to 1.45v or atleast under 1.5v

and try to overclock the cpu-nb to 3ghz (may need to raise cpu-nb voltage to 1.3v)

btw
what are the rated timings of your ram, 9-9-9-24-2t ?

 

[4Ryan6]

I had my 965BE clocked to 4.3ghz rock solid on air, but you'll have to do it manually to get that far, Good Luck! Ryan

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274820-29-black-edition-overclock-raising-multiplier-guide

 

[derrickm420]

temps looks good

i will advice to lower the cpu voltage to 1.45v or atleast under 1.5v

and try to overclock the cpu-nb to 3ghz (may need to raise cpu-nb voltage to 1.3v)

btw
what are the rated timings of your ram, 9-9-9-24-2t ?

The timing on my ram is 9-9-9-24 2n tested. Here are the specs http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=338

I am very new to OC'ing so please bare with me, but I am planning on upgrading to an intel (i53570k or i73770k not sure yet) in the next couple months so I figured why not see what I can get out of this cpu. So if I raise the CPU-NB to around 3ghz and 1.3v will this allow me to lower my CPU voltage and in turn will that lower my heat? Also what about the HT, my board supports upto 2600 and its currently at 2000. Can I raise this to lower my CPU voltage?

UPDATE:
Using Gigabyte Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T)
Ram timings are at 11-11-11-28t @ 1.5v
CPU-NB is at 2000 @ 1.3v
HT is at 2000

I had my 965BE clocked to 4.3ghz rock solid on air, but you'll have to do it manually to get that far, Good Luck! Ryan

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274820-29-black-edition-overclock-raising-multiplier-guide

Nice to know, I was only wanting to goto 4.0 which is where I have gotten. Now I am interested in achieving the best performance/heat at this speed. And to learn as much as I can from this great community!! Oh yea, and I have already read that post, very informative, it was the 2nd post I read when I decided to give OC'ing a try. Thanks!!

 

[truegenius]

Using Gigabyte Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T)
Ram timings are at 11-11-11-28t @ 1.5v

if this is the case then your ram is running at higher latency means less responsive
so manually set them at 9-9-9-24-33-2t@1.5v

if it does not post then you need to clear cmos and try again

So if I raise the CPU-NB to around 3ghz and 1.3v will this allow me to lower my CPU voltage and in turn will that lower my heat? Also what about the HT, my board supports upto 2600 and its currently at 2000. Can I raise this to lower my CPU voltage?

increasing cpu northbridge frequency will increase ram bandwidth
it will make your system more responsive and will increase the effectiveness of every ghz speed of your system

3GHz cpu northbridge freq is possible with almost in every amd phenom2 (am3) system
that too with 1.3-1.35v

increasing cpu-nb will increase performance but it will also increase heat generation

and keep ht at 2000mhz


so try these settings
for ram (probabily under dram configuration heading in bios)
dct mode [unganged]
ddr3 timing items [manual]
1t/2t command timing [1t]
cas# latency [9t]
ras to cas r/w delay [9t]
row precharge time [9t]
minimum ras active time [24t]
row cycle time [33t]

channel interleaving [enabled]
bank interleaving [enabled]

for cpu northbridge (probabily under m.i.t heading in bios)
cpu northbridge freq [x15] (note: first try x11 then x12 then upto x15 in every boot/post)
system voltage control [manual]
cpu nb vid control 1.35v (note: not to be confused with northbridge volt control)
cpu voltage control 1.5v

try these let let us know

 

[derrickm420]

Using Gigabyte Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T)
Ram timings are at 11-11-11-28t @ 1.5v

if this is the case then your ram is running at higher latency means less responsive
so manually set them at 9-9-9-24-33-2t@1.5v

if it does not post then you need to clear cmos and try again

So if I raise the CPU-NB to around 3ghz and 1.3v will this allow me to lower my CPU voltage and in turn will that lower my heat? Also what about the HT, my board supports upto 2600 and its currently at 2000. Can I raise this to lower my CPU voltage?

increasing cpu northbridge frequency will increase ram bandwidth
it will make your system more responsive and will increase the effectiveness of every ghz speed of your system

3GHz cpu northbridge freq is possible with almost in every amd phenom2 (am3) system
that too with 1.3-1.35v

increasing cpu-nb will increase performance but it will also increase heat generation

and keep ht at 2000mhz


so try these settings
for ram (probabily under dram configuration heading in bios)
dct mode [unganged]
ddr3 timing items [manual]
1t/2t command timing [1t]
cas# latency [9t]
ras to cas r/w delay [9t]
row precharge time [9t]
minimum ras active time [24t]
row cycle time [33t]

channel interleaving [enabled]
bank interleaving [enabled]

for cpu northbridge (probabily under m.i.t heading in bios)
cpu northbridge freq [x15] (note: first try x11 then x12 then upto x15 in every boot/post)
system voltage control [manual]
cpu nb vid control 1.35v (note: not to be confused with northbridge volt control)
cpu voltage control 1.5v

try these let let us know

I adjusted the memory, the multiplier and voltage as suggested. Here are the results: http://valid.canardpc.com/2749042 stable under prime95 2 hour test. I set the memory clock to x8 to achieve 1600 but its still reading at just 800 in CPU-Z.

I have yet to change the NB clock or its voltage, right now the voltage increase to 1.3 would be .25 more than what it is at now. Is .25 too much of an increase?

 

[truegenius]

cpuz is showing correct ram reading
it is 800x2 =1600mhz because it is ddr (double data rate)

means your ram is running at correct speed and timings

in many amd cpus i noted that to achieve 3ghz cpu-nb we need 1.3v

though you can try it in steps
like first try 2200mhz then keep increasing speed
if it gets unstable then you can increase some cpu-nb voltage
and this way try to get cpu-nb to 3ghz or atleast 2.8ghz

you can use maxmem software to check performance increase in ram bandwidth due to overclocked ram
and cinebench r11.5 to check cpu performance

 

[derrickm420]

Ok so, before I changed any of the northbridge, last night I was gaming ( MWO ) and my system froze and bluescreened on me. I put all my settings back to default and rebooted to a black screen. Went back into BIOS double checked everything to be on AUTO, saved and rebooted to a normal windows desktop. Do you htink that the northbridge may be the cause of this?

For now I like to game so I think that until I actually DO get my new intel mobo/cpu I'm going to leave it at stock. Because if I fry it now, then I won't be able to game on my pc till I get the new parts in a couple months. But once I do then I'm going to have a full 2nd gaming rig and I'll get back to OC'ing this tower.

Thanks Truegenius!!

 

[truegenius]

maybe your cpu is not stable at 1.45v
it may require higher like 1.5v

if it don't exceed 60'C and cpu voltage remain below 1.55v then probabily it won't fry

northbridge may not be the culprit here

you can get back to overclocking at anytime
you are welcome derrickm420