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How to push Phenom II X4 to the max?

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K

kiriki-kun

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Apr 18, 2017
Hi,

recently i got new motherboard, and again, I tried to OC my computer.
After few days and a lot of tutorials, i managed to achieve:
-Core clock - 3,7 Ghz
-Cpu multi - 18,5
-CPU-NB - 2600 Mhz
-CPU-NB multi- 13
-HT - 2400 Mhz
-HT multi - 12
-FSB - 200 Mhz
-DRAM - 1600 Mhz
Anything above that is unstable.

My voltages (from MSI Command Center):
CPU - 1,5 V
CPU-NB - 1,3 V
SB - 1,5 V
NB - 1,7 V
DRAM - 1,78

In BIOS i can monitor only CPU voltage.

CPU temp after 12 minutes of Prime95 stabilized at 49-51, so i still have some room.

Now i'm not sure what change next. I already raised voltages, and i'm a little afraid to do that again.
I tried 2800 NB, but it didn't boot. After DC DRAM to 1066 MHz, i get stable CPU multi 19, but overall it worked worse.
What should i do now to get a little more?

I will be thankful for any help.

My specs:
Phenom II X4 955 BE
MSI GTX 560 TwinFrozr 2 1GB
MSI 970A SLI Krait Edition
Kingston HyperX Beast 2x4GB 1866 Mhz
650W power supply
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't go any higher than 1.5 vcore. If you lower your RAM frequency to 1333 you may be able to get another notch on the core speed. The IMC is pretty weak on that CPU family and is rated for 1333 mhz.

I would certainly run Prime95 for at least 20 minutes to get an idea of max core temps and for two hours to confirm stability.
 
Your NB and SB voltages are very high. Realistically, your NB should be no more than 1.3-1.4 and I've never had to move the SB off of stock 1.2
 
Pushing Phenom II X4 to the max

Deceiving. Thought we was gonna see LN2 runs or somthin....
 
@trents
After 12 minutes temps were stabilized at 49-51, i can run prime for longer, but i dodn't think it will do much difference.
I can get another notch if i lower DRAM speed to 1066, but overall it worked worse.

@Mr.Scott
In MSI Command Center stock Voltages for SB and NB were 1,5V. I will try lower them to values you mentioned

@ShrimpBrime
You are right. Changing the title :)
 
There is more to confirming stability than just finding out what max temps are. If you have not done so you need to run a much longer Prime95 test than 12 minutes to confirm stability. Two hours anyway.
 
You are right, 20 hours of prime95 doesn't guarantee stability either.
I'm not intersted if my settings are fully stable, but why i can't achieve 3,8 Ghz. I have good temps (there are not the problem, at 3,8 Ghz computer crashes after few seconds, there is no time to heat the cpu), i have HAF 922 housing with 200mm fans on front and top, 2x 120mm on side and one 120mm on back. Thermal paste is fresh Arctic MX-2. I saw people pushing 955 to 4 Ghz, and i know that is achievable.
I think that at 3,8 Ghz my CPU have problems with communicating with something on MB or DRAM. Now i'm trying pushing it higher at different FSB speeds, but again, when i set 3,8 Ghz, I got insta crash.
After that i will try loosing my DRAM timings at 1333 Mhz.
 
People doing 4ghz had a better motherboard and better cooling. It was rare to see a Phenom II at 4ghz on air cooling. We'd tell people 3.6 through 3.8ghz is about the best you can do on air cooling. You're there already.
 
I found:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/691569-AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-OC-Temps-4ghz-Question
http://www.overclock.net/t/1395593/amd-phenom-ii-x4-955-4ghz-which-cpu-nb-frequency
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/265160-29-phenom-4ghz

You can find 4Ghz on stock colling, and much worse temps. Probably it's MB fault, but maybe i can do something with settings.
I tried ram at lower speed with latency 12, without luck.
Do you have any suggested software to save voltages in real time to .txt?
 
I gave average numbers. You having issues is a combination of the motherboard, you cpu capabilities and the unknown PSU could be an issue also. On top of that you gave us one temp.

Suggestion:

Include screen shots with cpu-z and temp monitoring program. I don't suggest using MSI software either.
 
You need to realize that not every Phenom II X4 955 has the same overclock potential, even when using the same memory, motherboard, cooling, etc. This is true of every model CPU because the quality and purity of the silicon wafer they are made from varies from batch to batch. There may also be variances in the build process as well. It's also true that once you get to a certain overclock frequency the scaling of the frequency increase to vcore increase changes dramatically. To get one more .1 ghz out of it will require a much bigger increase in vcore than the previous .1 ghz.
 
Ok, there is screen from CPU-Z and one hour of prime95 while watching something online. I know it's not fully stable, but i still have rough voltages. It's in OpenOffice format.
I know that this can be a limit for my Phenom, but why can't i try few things? Maybe it's bad combination, but it can be wrong voltages or settings. That's why i'm testing everything i can, and looking for help from people, who overclocks a little more than me.
When looking at HWinfo file, i found that my CPU voltage drops to 1.44V. I will try rising it a little (at least for knowledge).

I'm using MSI Command Center, because my BIOS shows only CPU voltage. Sometimes i have huge differences betwen voltages set in BIOS, and those in MSI. I'm also contacting MSI support, to find if it can be fixed.

cpuz.png
 

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kiriki-kun said:
Ok, there is screen from CPU-Z and one hour of prime95 while watching something online. I know it's not fully stable, but i still have rough voltages. It's in OpenOffice format.
I know that this can be a limit for my Phenom, but why can't i try few things? Maybe it's bad combination, but it can be wrong voltages or settings. That's why i'm testing everything i can, and looking for help from people, who overclocks a little more than me.
When looking at HWinfo file, i found that my CPU voltage drops to 1.44V. I will try rising it a little (at least for knowledge).

I'm using MSI Command Center, because my BIOS shows only CPU voltage. Sometimes i have huge differences betwen voltages set in BIOS, and those in MSI. I'm also contacting MSI support, to find if it can be fixed.

View attachment 190365
Click to expand...

LLC might fix that if you have it as a setting in bios. You might need to adjust the LLC amount.
 
HT link frequency is too high. That needs to stay at 2000 or as close as you can get to it. There is no benefit gained by overclocking the HT.
 
HT lowered, but i think i found the culprit.
I have huge voltage drops, 0.06-0.07V.
I need something about 1.48V to get stable 3.8Ghz, so i need 1,55V in idle.
LLC should help, but i don't have it. Thx for hint trents ;)
I was watching voltage dropouts during 3Dmark, and there are much lower. 0.01-0.02 max.
I think i will try get higher clocks with lower voltage, and test it in games.
CPU shouldn't be so stressed, and dropouts should be acceptable.
I know i will get insta crash in prime95, but it should works in games and benchmarks, and i want to use it in games, not in stresstests.
 
Is your motherboard down throttling to protect itself? Afterall, that is only a 970 chipset board and an MSI board at that.
 
Wow, awesome OC. What temps you have? How good colling i need to set 1.55v, and how bad it's for cpu? That high oc i would use only while gaming, so my CPU would work on stock settings most of the times.
What voltages you have on nb, and do you know good way to monitor them? In hwinfo i have only vin1, vin2 and so on. I don't know which one is which.
 
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