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Overclocking Phenom II X6 1045t ???

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Gardenofgrass

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
Ive never done any overclocking before and haven't yet attempted to try, im afraid im going to destroy my pc. I was just wondering if someone would kindly take me through the process of overclocking this CPU.

Specs (not sure what else you need to know)

CPU: Amd phenom II X6 1045t
GPU: Radeon HD 7770 Ghost Thermal Edition
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-M720-US3
RAM: 3x2gb ddr2 - 1.8v - 800mhz - 5-6-6-18
64 bit*
 
Overclocking seldom harms the hardware if done incrementally and systematically which includes monitoring temps and voltages while under load as you increase frequencies and voltages. You will need to download these three programs which help us accomplish this: Prime95, HWMonitor (non pro version) and CPU-z.

In your list of components you left out one of the most important: the CPU cooler. Are you using the stock cooler that came with the CPU or an aftermarket jobber?

One thing to keep in mind as you study the link Lvcoyote gave is that your CPU does not have an unlocked multiplier. That means you will have to rely on increasing the main system bus frequency (what we call the "FSB" for Front Side Bus) in order to overclock. It's a more complicated method but we do it all the time so we'll guide you through it. Main thing is to realize that when you speed up the FSB not only does the CPU frequency get faster but so do the other buses that are tuned to it like the memory frequency, the HT Link frequency and the CPU/NB frequency. These have to be adjusted in the course of things at certain points to keep them from causing the system to become unstable.
 
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Tell us about your case and fans. Good airflow is essential to keeping temps down and keeping temps down is essential to successful overclocking.

I can tell you before we start that if you are using the stock cpu cooler you will not be able to get very far at all. Those things cool only well enough to keep the temps in the safe zone at stock frequencies and voltages.

The first thing to do is run a 20 minute Prime95 blend test with frequencies and voltages at stock values to check where you are with temps. Have HWMonitor open in the background during the test and keep an eye on two temps: CPU temp (which is actually the motherboard socket temp) and core temp. Make sure those lines are in view and if not, expand the frame of HWMonitor. Then report back to us with an attached pic of HWMonitor captured immediately after the stress test.

To capture an image for a pic, use Snipping Tool in Windows Accessories. Adjust the capture frame to grab only the HWMonitor user interface. We don't want to see your whole desktop. Capture the image and save it to disk.

Next, click on Go Advanced at the bottom of any new post window. When the advanced post window pops up, click on the little paperclip icon at the top. That will load the file browser/uploader and the rest will be obvious.
 
I took the snap 20 minutes in. As for the my case i have a Antec Three Hundred Two, with 1 side fully mesh, 2 x 120mm fans inside and 1 x 120mm inside on the roof of the case.
 

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You do not mention how fast the cpu was running in your short test above but 57c on the temps from core 0 thru 5 is already 2c higher than we normally recommend to allow for stability and safe operation state. That means generally however fast the test was running in Post #6 above...it is already hotter than is considered okay.
RGone...
 
I thought the whole point of prime95 was to make it hot, put it under load. This CPU's max operating temp says 55°C - 71°C ? am i missing something here?
 
I thought the whole point of prime95 was to make it hot, put it under load. This CPU's max operating temp says 55°C - 71°C ? am i missing something here?

You will find that the max stable core temp decreases when you overclock. Yes, safe core temp might be 71c and at stock frequencies and voltages it might also be stable at that temp. But if you overclock it much it will no longer be stable at those high temps. "Safe" is not he same as "stable".

By the way, your CPU (socket) temp probably corresponds to TMPIN1.

What we have found through experience with that generation of AMD CPUs is that max stable core temp with a significant overclock is generally about 55-60c and max stable CPU socket temp is generally around 60-65c.

All this to say you'd best invest in a good aftermarket cooler first.

Our overclocking method uses the short 20 minute stress test to tentatively establish whether or not our overclock settings are stable and also to get an idea of what max temps will be. After we start to dial in on what the max overclock seems to be we then increase the test length to two hours to make sure it it good and stable.
 
To test the effectiveness of your case ventilation, remove the side panel and rerun that Prime95 20 minute stress test. If temps fall several degrees then there is a problem with the ventilation.
 
How many of your fans are for intake (bringing cool air into the case), and how many are for exhaust (pushing hot air out of the case)?

What kind of heatsink do you have? Is it the stock one that came with the CPU in the AMD CPU box?
 
I was clearly wrong to think i could overclock this piece of ****! I think i better invest in a new rig! thank you guys for all your help, ill surely remember it in the future.
 
I was clearly wrong to think i could overclock this piece of ****! I think i better invest in a new rig! thank you guys for all your help, ill surely remember it in the future.

Of course the decision to overclock or not is with yoursef. And always to overclock is the need to tidy up loose ends first it there are any. Buying a good cpu cooler. Buying and installing good fans pushing air in or pushing air out, is to be considered also.

Is it easy to overclock? Sure. Is it easy without some good pieces? Not so easy. You can buy the most expensive motherboard and processor and not have decent airflow thru the computer case and one would believe they owned a bow wow.
RGone...

EDIT:
Reread what I wrote and a thing that I did not mention is knowing how much of an overclock is needed. Is it really going to improve my computing situation greatly. For instance you could buy a pretty darn fast Intel 4 core cpu and put decent cooliing on it and in normal gaming with a good video card, one might almost never consider overclocking. The whole of the system and intended use have a
great bearing on the need to overclock and by how much.
END EDIT.
 
I was clearly wrong to think i could overclock this piece of ****! I think i better invest in a new rig! thank you guys for all your help, ill surely remember it in the future.

Why is it a piece of crap? To overclock you need a good cpu cooler, a good motherboard, good case ventilation, a good power supply. And patience............... Hate to say it but that cpu will overclock but you seem to be the weak link in the equation. I have seen guys new to overclocking persevere for weeks on these forums working on their overclock
 
The Antec 300 is a very good overclocking case if the fan options are utilized correctly.
 
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