Help with Phenom 2 955 c3 stability

I've been battling trying to find the sweet spot for this CPU for like 5 years now, I almost always just go back to stock because I get tired of constant BSODs/crashing

My goal is 3.8ghz with a CPU-NB of 2400mhz (I can't get any higher than 2400mhz CPU-NB or it immediately goes black screen and I have to clear CMOS.....)
Motherboard is MSI 840-G45


Closest I can get right now is:
3.7ghz - 1.434 cpu voltage
2200mhz CPU-NB - AUTO
All other settings on AUTO
Can run prime95 blend for hours & is stable.
Temperatures are never an issue, even with the cpu vcore maxed (1.55v) I do not get over 60c.

What's the next step here? how I can figure out the exact cause of my BSODs?

Start at the start...

...soe we can get to see what is actually going on. This is what we need to see for sure and a real good starting point.

Normally during setup and testing we disable C1/E, C6, Cool N Quiet, APM, TurboCore and in windows performance manager itself we set to "performance" mode. ALSO if you have HPC in bios you would ENABLE it. That way there are not "other" settings messing with the overclocking process. Some of those settings are not available on all models of cpu but where in evidence we disable for setup of overclock process.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com


And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU CORE TEMPS / "package" temps fully visible. Latest versions of HWMonitor show the CPU Core Temp as " a Package Temp" and is only shown as a single temp since there were never multple, individual core temp sensors anyway.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open and running on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.



In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.

Step by Step HowTo Attach files to forum with pictures.
HowTo Attach Files to the forum.

RGone...

Hi thanks for the speedy reply! nice to have help with this as i've been tearing my hair out over it for yrs!


this is just an example, because its not stable, but this is where I currently am.

As you can see, prime95 has an error and a core has stopped after only 10mins or so. This is because I have it at 3800mhz (highest I can get on auto stable is 3.5ghz)

My next step would be to increase the vcore? but even if I can get it stable at 3.8ghz I'm only half way there, because then I want CPU-NB to be stable at 2400mhz instead of 2000 (current clock)

What do you advise? I know this screen isn't the best gauge for temps, but I've been doing tests all day and my temps haven't gone over 60.. thanks!


EDIT: Since I was getting prime errors I changed vcore to 1.5v as well as DRAM voltage to 1.67v (recommended for my ram is 1.65 but i cant select that on the bios)

And prime has now been running for ~30 minutes with no errors, so it does like higher voltage at 3.8... temps are only 48c. But another question, is it just bad luck that my processor needs 1.5v for JUST 3.8ghz? that seems really high, people are able to get 4ghz on lower voltages... well, we'll see if prime throws out anymore errors in a few hrs.. either way still only half way as my cpu-nb is still only 2000mhz

When you enter the silicon lottery, you do not know whether you get a diamond in the rough or just a rough cpu. Seen more than one 965BE that seemed to take more Vcore than a lot of others. For sure.

RGone...

CPU/NB voltage to 1.35v for more NB frequency.
Check temps frequently, this will add more heat.