• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Any difference to 955 , 965, 970, 980 from an OCer's view?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

aoj

Registered
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
First let me say gaming performance is my main concern. I'll be upgrading from a 720BE.
I was planning to get a 970BE from newegg because they are $129 right now but if the 955BE at $104 is essentially the same chip just with a lower stock multi then there seems to be no point in getting anything higher than the 955BE? Is there something else that sets these chips apart or am I right in thinking that if you plan to OC then there is no reason to go above 955. I dont mind spending the extra money(within reason) for a chip that will OC much better or stay way cooler.
 
You should think about the 960T. It is a thuban with 2 cores disabled. You might be able to unlock those cores, if not I think thuban has a better memory controller than deneb.
 
they are all the same chip, just some have bigger base clocks. save urself some doe and get the 965BE happy as hell i got mine for 115.00 from newegg with instant savings. got this badboy oc'd to 4.1 stable just uped the multiplier
 
they are all the same chip, just some have bigger base clocks. save urself some doe and get the 965BE happy as hell i got mine for 115.00 from newegg with instant savings. got this badboy oc'd to 4.1 stable just uped the multiplier

I've seen 955BE's running similarly. 955, 965, 960T -- can't go wrong with any of them.
 
I've read that the C3 stepping was the best silicon and that you have a higher chance of getting newer silicon from a 970BE vs an older 955 or 965. Is any of that true. 960T is just a locked thuban right? I thought the x4s were outperforming them in games?

Also for those saying the 955,965 ect are the same then why are you recommending a 965 at $15 more than the 955? Dont want to gimp myself as I only upgrade ever 3 or so years but I also dont want to spend money on nothing.
 
Check the model numbers on the 955. Some 955BE chips are C2 while some are C3. Unless I am mistaken, all the 965 chips should be C3.

Of the 955BE the models HDZ955FBGMBOX should be C3.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong please.

I would still be tempted by the 960t though just to see how a 4 core thuban will go compared to the deneb 4 core. From everything I've seen or read on I would assume the 4 core thuban would be the way to go for overclocking basing off what the X6 can do. I see a lot of unlocking threads on forums about the 960t but not to many on overclocking it without unlocking the cores so I'm not too sure how heat plays a role in this.
 
I went with the 965 myself, couldn't be happier. Was very easy to get it to 3.9 with no changes needed to voltage. Was a bit trickier to get it to 4.0 stable, but a slight bump in voltage to the processor fixed those stability issues. Probably could of went higher, but the whole windows 7 64 bit doesn't like speeds above 4ghz thing made me figure it wasn't worth the trouble.

I am with Mantis, get a 965 and you should be happy.
 
The thubans are "more advanced" and the 960T OCs better then a 965 and 955 due to its low TDP and its high Base clock.

OP, if you want a good chip to OC, grab a 960T you wont be disappointed.
 
I've been running the 960t for a month or so now and it's a great chip. OC'ed to 4.0 right off the bat at 1.344 volts. Temps are really low too. I'm using just a Zigmatek Loki with a 92cm fan and it keeps it around 30c idle and around 48c under Prime95/Orthose/etc...with ambient temp around 22-24c. (Those are core temps with a 10c offset added to account for the lower than ambient idle temps)

It seems like it still has a bit of room to go. Both the voltage and temps are low enough at 4 GHz it should hit 4.2 but I don't have any reason to shoot for that yet. 4 nice and fast.

There is a possible bug with the new Asus boards though. It does not seem to want to let you change the CPU-NB or HT multiplier. The system fails to boot when I do. I haven't heard of anyone having this issue on other boards though...
 
I too am considering an upgrade to the CPU, running the same 720BE as the OP.

A couple of years ago (maybe longer) when I originally bought the 720, it was a good CPU. After overclocking, it became even better.

With the newer games coming out though, I'm finding the performance slacking.

How much of a difference would I notice (if there's a means to tell) going from a 720BE x3 @ 3.36GhZ to a 970BE x4 @ 4.0GhZ?

I realize that's a subjective question, but there's potentially a number of people on here who have done this exact upgrade.

Thanks in advance! Good thread!
 
My 955BE runs 3.8 on stock voltage and only using Multi.... Thats what I would do personally.... save the extra 10-15 bucks for a hyper 212+, now, IFthe 960t can be unlocked to a hex that deserves consideration, haven't seen it myself or even heard of it but that don't make it a lie so I WOULD look into that possibility!
 
My 955BE runs 3.8 on stock voltage and only using Multi.... Thats what I would do personally.... save the extra 10-15 bucks for a hyper 212+, now, IFthe 960t can be unlocked to a hex that deserves consideration, haven't seen it myself or even heard of it but that don't make it a lie so I WOULD look into that possibility!

I had the same OC on my 955...Unfortunately cause of summer i had to remove my OC :(
 
Back