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AMD Phenom II x4 960T (6 Cores)

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Chester326

Registered
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Hi,

I recently boughted an new CPU, from luck and my friend assistance i ended up on the AMD Phenom II x4 960T, and after some google searching i learned and unlocked my 2 extra cores, so far running stable no problemos.

I am an enthusiastic user i like to reach the limits of whatever my rig has to offer, and now very recently gotted into the OC world wich is overwhelming to say the least.

I would like to ask advise and perhaps sugestions on OCing my CPU and my GPU, i am a complete greenhorn on OCing so keep it as less techie as possbile, it's a whole new world for me there
Thanks in advance :)





Edit: Do i need drivers for my unlocked 6 core proccesor? and if yes were in heavens name can i get them? (google Failed me)

Edit: Do you need pics from CPU-Z, Everest or CPUID?













MOBO > GA-880GM-UD2H (v1.3)
CPU & Cooler > Evolution 120 ( Don't ask were i got it) (Keeps temps at 30C)
MEMORY > 8GBs, DDR3 2x2GBs & 1x4GB.
POWER SUPPLY > Lamtech 550W
VIDEO CARD > 1x 5770 Saphire Flex Edition.
HDDs > 3x500 WD Plus one 160Gb IDE Main Drive (sucks) no raid
BURNERS > LG Burns Up to Dual Layers, Dont know specifics sorry :(
SOUND DEVICE > On board.
USB > Keyboard, Mouse, Camera, Printer, Usb Hub & Card Reader.
O/S > Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Gamer Edition.
 
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You dont need drivers for your CPU oustide of the AMD K series driver which windows loads automatically.

Dolk wrote an great guide on overclocking phenom IIs. Check it out http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023
Read it over and have a poke around your bios and try to find each of the options he talks about. When your ready start making adjustments.
 
One small Question i have regarding OCing when can it harm my pc components, and if yes wich ones and how, i need details about possible damages and in what extend
 
overclocking can kill your components. Mostly from heat. You need to keep your CPU under 55c for maximum stability and under 60c for maximum safety. Voltage should be restricted to 1.55v or less for phenom II cpus.
 
chester, i am new to this overclocking stuff to. I have a thread going called 'temps, temps what temps and have learned a bunch from it, the people here are very good at helping us not fry our high dollar boxes. on the phenoms ssjwizard is spot on. and with phenom most of the monitors are accurate. I also use amd overdrive for my training wheels, you get it at amd.com/game/downloads. most people here frown on it but to learn cause and effect it helps me.
 
Well i am at a let down atm, i have read the post and did not understand 50% of it. I used Amd overdrive still working on it :S
So far what i did was to Raise Multiplier to x17 achieving 3.6GH Stable (i think)
Now i am gonna try to Mess with the Fsb, but i dont know yet i havent understanded to much it seems way to techie for me but i enjoy the thrill of it.


I just dont wanna fry my pc, i worked my *** off to get it and its my life, and i live from it (literaly its my work place)

i wanna achiev Maximun perfomance from my cpu / Gpu maybe ram also, but i dont wanna touch Voltages any hints?
 
Overclocking without changing voltages is totally possible. It just wont give quite as much room.

First if you havent already done so, download CPUID HWmonitor it can read the temps from everything in your system. You might not be able to read CPU temps directly though because you have unlocked the extra cores. CPU socket temps though can be read and while they are not perfect atleast they give an idea how hot your CPU is.

A few tips before we start, you really need to balance your ram banks if you want to make any ground overclocking them. Either get rid of the 2x2GB kit and grab another matching 4GB stick or pull that 4GB stick out.

Some options in your bios to disable:

Under M.B.I.T tab in bios
Host clock control - manual
host clock - 200
pci-e frequency - manual
pci-e frequency - 100
C6 processor state - disable
Core performance boost/turbo mode - disable

under advanced tab in bios
AMD C1E support - disable
AMD Cool 'N Quiet - disable
Aplication Power Managment - disable(you might not have this option)
Quick Boost - disable(you might not have this option)

under PC health tab
Hardware thermal control - disable

In windows
Power Options, High Performance advanced options:
minimum processor state - 100%
cooling - active

What we are trying to do here is set the stage for success. By that I mean we want to make sure that no throttling of any kind is happening. This way we can find the actual limits of the components without dealing with crashes from power states jumping around. The final stage of tuning in a system is getting your power managment back once you figure out your overclock settings.

If you would provide a link to the RAM you are using I will look over there specs and try to figure out some safe settings to run them at.
 
Thank you for the replys and help so far :)

It's update time.
So far in chronological order i have done the following.

1) Unlocked 2 extra cores, pc stable at 3.0GHz.

2)Steadily Raised Multiplier from x15 to x18 going x0,5 per time running 10 minutes Prime95 each time, Giving a 33C under load on x18 - 3.6GHz
Minor problems system seems to hang, freeze and it feels awfully SLOW.

3) Went to x19 System Booted benchmark Showed errors, i rebooted and placed it back to x18

4)Raised to x18,5 and raised FSB to 210 from 200 and system Booted but gave an BSOD while benchmarking, reverted back to x18 and 200.

5) Raised to x19 Multi and NB x13 Bios reported Boot faillure due to overlocking.

6) x18 Feels slow i reverted back to x17 and its still slow, now using Default Multi and everything on default.
I am getting frustrated :S

7) Voltage is set to default all this time.

Now Specs Time:

1x http://www.plaisio.gr/Computers/Hardware/RAM/Corsair-Value-4GB-DDR3-1333-Ram-Dimm.htm

2x http://www.plaisio.gr/Computers/Hardware/RAM/Transcend-2GB-DDR3-1333-Ram-Dimm .htm

Mobo: http://www.plaisio.gr/Computers/Har...GM-UD2H-SAM3-880G-DDR3-VGA-GA88GMD2H-00-G.htm

CPU Cooler http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2069

do you require anything else from info?
 
It seems very unorthodox is increasing the Ghz makes the system slower, unless i am doing something wrong :S i will need guidance, cause i am reading the article here and 2 days and i catn get it str8 what i am doing wrong :S
 
Chester, you will need to increase at least the CPU voltage to make the system stable now that you have overclocked it.

Please download and install the free program CPU-z. Run the program attach pics of these three tabs: "CPU", "Memory" and "SPD". Crop, capture and save the images with "Snipping Tool" found in Windows Accessories. To attach pics click on the "Go Advanced" button at the bottom of any news post window and then click on the little paperclip icon at the top of the Advanced post window. Another window will pop up to allow you to locate and upload the image files from your computer. These three pics will tell us much about your system settings and may reveal why your computer seems slower. I suspect some auto overclocking features are down-clocking the memory as you are overclocking the CPU. Leave all your settings like they are now so we can see what you have done.
 
Here you pics you asked, also some extras tell me if you need anything else :)
 

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Chester, everything looks appropriate for your overclock level except the CPU core voltage. It's just plain too low and that's probably why its not stable. But it could also be an unlocked core that is not completely viable.

So, let's back up. You say you unlocked those two cores and everything was stable at stock frequencies. How did you test for stability after you unlocked those two cores before you did any overclocking? I hope you didn't rely on the AMDOD stress tester. It's a weenie stress tester. Around here the standard is the Prime95 blend test.

Please put everything back to stock frequencies and voltages but leave it as a six core for now.

Then download and install Prime95 and HWMonitor.

Open HWMonitor on the desktop and leave it open.

Run Prime95 "just stress testing" blend for two hours.

Then report back to us with results: Did compute lockup, spontaneously restart, blue screen or did any of the six Prime95 core workers drop out? All are signs of failing the test. While you are running this stress test, watch the "core" temps in HWMonitor. Don't let them exceed 65 C. If they do. stop the test so you don't hurt your CPU. Actually, if they exceed 55 C by much the computer will become unstable anyway, most likely.

Finally, when you post please attach a pic of HWMonitor so we can see temps and voltages.
 
I was stress testing for 30 mins with no apparent Errors,
Prime 95 is my main tester

Aye aye Sir See ya in 2 hours :D

I can work in the backround can i? while i stress test?
 
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When you unlock cores the internal core temp probe stops working.
You need to watch the cpu socket temp from the motherboard. It should be a few C higher than the cpu cores are.
 
do you require a link from another website?

Not sure what you are asking?

Btw the core temps seems they are locked to 32 C for some reason (i hope nothin goes wrong)

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. There's a reason they're stuck. When you enable locked cores you lose the ability to monitor core temps, so we'll have to lock them again temporarily to do a work-around. The good thing about HWMonitor is that it displays both core temps and CPU (socket) temps. We also know that the differential between CPU temps and core temps remains pretty constant whether or not you are running with locked or unlocked cores. So, if we first check the differential and remember it we can do the math and figure the core temp after we unlock the cores again.

So, stop the two hour test. Undo the core unlocking for a bit. Then run a 20 minute Prime95 blend test with HWMonitor open. When finished, post a pic of HWMonitor. 20 minutes will give you max core temps.
 
i forgot to relock cores and undo the multiplier and runned the Stress test as it was ( my bad need cofee)

However i am disapointed as
TMPIN0 29 C
TMPIN1 54 C
TMPIN2 52 C

And Prime is reporting No errors at all, i am running the tester and doing some work also.

The Test was running for aprox 2:57 until 3:30 so aprox 33 mins.

i hope the results are good :S as it is cause right now i dont wanna restart and redo everything ( a bit tired)
 
Either TMPIN1 or TMPIN2 is the CPU socket temp sensor. Since they are almost the same it won't make a lot of difference which one we pick. They are probably located very close together on the board.

Please run the 20 minute test again with the core locked and this time please post a pic of HWMonitor.
 
Either TMPIN1 or TMPIN2 is the CPU socket temp. Since they are almost the same it won't make a lot of difference which one we pick.

Please run the 20 minute test again with the core locked and this time please post a pic of HWMonitor.

Wont locking and unlocking cores pose a problem or instability?

Will do, just give me 2 mins to get a damm coffee, howerever a question does this shows my six core is stable with x18 multi?
i Just wanna know if i at least did something right :)
 
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