[Dolk]

I have not updated this post in some time, so it seems that it should be updated

Currently I am working on some advanced benchmarks and research that I have been wanting to do for sometime. You can find most of this research in my signature links.

The idea behind this guide was to create a simple explanation for beginners on how to overclock the Phenom II. I feel like I have achieved that. This guide will no longer be updated.

However, you will soon be able to download the full guide to the Phenom II in the near future. It includes research on CPU-NB, Downcoring, ACC, and a couple other things.

GLHFOC!

--Dolk

[Dolk]

Table of Contents

Introduction

• Introduction to myself and this guide

• Introduction to the Phenom II

• A look at the Architecture

• Spider and Dragon platform

• The War between Intel and AMD

Overclocking the Phenom II

• System Setup
• The 3ghz Range
  • Memory
  • DRAM Frequency
  • RAM Timings
  • CPU
  • Northbridge
  • Putting It All Together
  • Finding your FSB Max
  • Overclocking the CPU
  • Backup Plan

• The 4.0ghz Range

• To Boot or Not to Boot
• The Heat Wall

Helpful Information

• Benchmarking and Stress testing tools
  • Stressing
  • Benchmarking
• Motherboard Compatibility
  • Das List!

Reference and Thanks

[Dolk]

Introduction



I have created this guide for anyone that has or is thinking about the Phenom II as their next processor. I first have to say that you are making the right step in choosing a Phenom II. This guide is intended to give a user massive amount of information about the Phenom II. Please take your time when reading this guide, you will most likely refer back to some of the content.

Introduction to myself and this guide


My name is Dolk and I am addicted to Overclocking. I have more than 5 years of computer IT jobs and computer work under my belt. I have done just about everything you could do with a computer. Fortunately, I was able to build my very first computer in 2007 consisting of an AMD 939 system. I immediately got into the fun of overclocking and by 2008 I had overclocked an Opteron 185 to 3.0ghz. Soon after doing that I got my first water cooling system. My admiration of overclocking lead me to the Phenom II. Right from the start I knew that the CPU was powerful and that everyone was going to enjoy using it.

As for the guide; The reason behind this guide is not only to learn how to overclock the Phenom II, but also to learn more about it. I have broken the guide up into three different parts. Please take the time to read each part and not to skip over anything. The guide was written in order from top to bottom so everything is referred to something in the past that was talked about.

The first part of this guide talks about the war between AMD and Intel, along with information about the Phenom II line up and the Dragon Platform. Although this section is not necessary to the guide, I thought it would help bring some background information to those that are new to overclocking.

The second part of this guide is about how to overclock the Phenom II. The architecture will be discussed along with the different methods of overclocking your Phenom II. There are a couple general rules that are discussed in this section.

The third part to this guide is the results that I have gathered with my Phenom II 940 BE and some helpful information that you can use later on in your overclocking. The topics discussed can help solve some issues that you may have run into in the past. Along with this section is my closing to this guide.

I will also use a bunch of terms throughout this guide. I decided that I should put this here instead of at the end of the paper so that people are not confused and then realize the cookie at the end of the paper and then read it all over again, but then that would allow people to read this paper more so now I’m at a conundrum while writing this, and I also do not want to end this really long sentence. Ha! Made you re-read that part. Anyways, here you go:

CPU = Central Processing Unit
NB = Northbridge
CPU-NB = CPU – Northbridge (redundant I know)
HTT = Hyper Transport
HT or HTL = Hyper Transport Link (do not confuse with HTT)
FSB = Front Side Bus (The FSB also refers to the HT/HTL)
OC = Overclock
BE = Black Edition (unlocked multiplier CPU)


Introduction to the Phenom II


The Phenom II is based off the K10 architecture designed by AMD. It is the upgraded CPU of the Phenom I Agena series. The Agena was AMD’s first true quad core processor. The Phenom I was designed around a 65nm wafer using up to 140 watts of power. In general, it was good for the price you paid for it. Although you were not able to overclock it like an Intel, it did what it was suppose to do.

After a year of the Phenom I, the Phenom II came out. Deneb was a true 45nm quad core processor. Before it was released, many computer enthusiasts believed that the Phenom II was the processor to nock Intel off its throne. Even though it did not fulfill that expectation, it did however bring about a new way to overclock AMD processors.

The Phenom II was first released early in January of 2009. There were two CPUs released for the AM2+ architecture. They were the Phenom II 920 and 940. The 920 was clocked at 2.8ghz with a locked multiplier. The 940, also known as 940BE or Black Edition, was clocked at 3.0ghz. Both processors were clocked higher than any stock AMD processor before it.

The AM3 Series soon followed after the release of the initial set. In February the Heka series was released. This was the X3 series Phenom II. The initial release was the 710 and 720. When the 720 hit the market, there was such a high demand that some stores ran out of the CPU almost immediately. The 720 is one of the best well rounded CPUs on the market. It allows anyone to overclock up to 30% and beyond using stock cooler, and it also handles many of the tasks a 4-core processor handles.


A look at the Architecture


Phenom I
Agena (65 nm SOI)

• Four AMD K10 cores
• L1 cache: 64 KB + 64 KB (data + instructions) per core
• L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
• L3 cache: 2 MB shared between all cores
• Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz with unganging option
• MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4a, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX bit, AMD-V
• Socket AM2+, HyperTransport with 1600 to 2000 MHz
• Power consumption (TDP): 65, 95, 125 and 140 Watt

Phenom II
Deneb (45 nm SOI with Immersion Lithography)

• Four AMD K10 cores
• L1 cache: 64 KB + 64 KB(data + instructions) per core
• L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
• L3 cache: 6 MB shared between all cores
• Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz(AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333(AM3) with unganging option
• MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4a, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX bit, AMD-V
• Socket AM2+, Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 1800MHz
• Power consumption (TDP): 125W

Phenom II number naming scheme:
·900-series – quad core – 6MB L3 cache
·800-series – quad core – 4MB L3 cache
·700-series – triple core – 6MB L3 cache

Secondary number naming scheme:
·X55 – 3.2GHz (AM3)
·X45 – 3.0GHz (AM3)
·X40 – 3.0GHz (AM2+)
·X20 – 2.8GHz
·X10 – 2.6GHz
·X05 – 2.5GHz

Stock Voltages:
·CPU voltage ≈ 1.35v
·CPU-NB voltage = 1.175v
·HTT voltage = 1.2v
·SB voltage = 1.26v
·NB voltage = 1.1v
·CPU VDD = 2.5v



Spider and Dragon platform


When the Phenom I came out, AMD introduced a new concept to the computer enthusiast market: The Spider Platform. The Spider Platform was one of the first steps into the Fusion Technology that AMD has been talking about for a long time. It is a multi-hardware combination to create a faster, and better computer all around. The first Spider Platform consisted of a Phenom I processor, an RV670 GPU (Radeon 3800), and a 7-series chipset.

At its release, AMD was in a tough spot. Being hit on both ends by Nvidia and Intel, AMD believed that by combining the three most important hardware in your computer, a faster and better platform could be created. The idea was great, but the performance was not quite there. The Radeon 3800 showed progress in the graphics department. The 7-series chipset allowed users to do more with the motherboard, graphics, and CPU, which promised for a better future. And the Phenom I was nothing compared to what people were thinking it would be.

The idea was great, but it seemed that AMD could not pull it off with its current hardware. When the RV770 [Radeon 4000 family] came out things perked up for the platform. When the RV770 was combined with the Spider platform, the card started to perform better. Once again progress. It was not until the Phenom II when the platform finally made success.

In the coming of the Phenom II, AMD started to show off a lot of its new technology. One of the technologies was the new Fusion software. Put with a Spider platform, a GPU was given more tasks to run rather than sit idle. Ultimately it gave a higher performance for the system.

Once the Phenom II came out, the platform was renamed to Dragon. In an AM2+ system, it is still considered Spider, with a better CPU. On the AM3 system it is now considered Dragon. The Dragon platform consists of the new RV800 chipset, the Phenom II, and RV700 Graphics card.

The idea of the Dragon platform is still moving strong and shows a bit of a performance boost when all three hardware is combined together. Hopefully in the future we will see the true Fusion technology AMD has promised us.


The War between Intel and AMD


This is an old topic for anyone who has been in the computer business for longer than 5 years. The Intel and AMD war has been going on since the late 90s and still goes on today with heated topics of Phenom II vs. the i7. First I am going to state this now: In no way is the Phenom II close to the i7. (Intel fan boys rejoice) The Phenom II was a step up in the AMD world and to compete against the mighty Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad.

In the beginning there was AMD, and this snake Intel… (sorry couldn’t resist). Anyway, for a long time Intel was the king of the castle in the CPU market. If you had a computer it had an Intel CPU in it. In 1996 AMD made its way into the PC market with the K5 architecture. There was nothing special about the AMD processors until the K7 came out in October of 2001. For those that remember it, the AMD Athlon XP was one of the best CPUs then. I believe it was this processor that help start the war.

In September of 2003 AMD crushed the mighty Intel with one CPU: AMD Athlon 64. Everyone knows about this processor, it was what started the 64-bit era for the personal computers. The processor was a huge leap into the CPU world, allowing more information to flow without having to increase clock speeds. With the 64-bit processors AMD had nowhere to go but up. Intel tried to catch up by releasing Pentium 4 64-bit CPUs and by claiming that their 3.0ghz CPU could do more than AMD’s 2.5ghz CPUs.

For the next, short, few years AMD was the king of the castle, and Intel was nowhere to be seen. During this time, AMD was able to create better Athlon 64 CPUs. The release of the socket 939, and 940 was another blow to Intel. The new CPU supported HyperTransport up to 1000mhz, and an IMC that supported DDR2. Soon after the revised Athlon 64 CPUs came out, Intel took a stab with their Pentium D. Think Celeron + Gateway laptop + Windows ME. In no way was this CPU a good idea. The idea was to put two cores onto one die and still use Netburst as their main architecture. AMD’s response: Athlon 64 X2. I do not need to go into much detail with this CPU. I still own a X2 3600+ and an Opteron 185; that is how amazing that architecture was compared to Intel’s architecture.

In the year 2006 Intel finally caught back up with AMD, they came out with the Core 2, like the Athlon 64, it destroyed all of the competition. The Core 2 was everything Intel had dreamed when it came to a dual core 64-bit processor. It featured many new architecture features, along with the 65nm die, and very soon the 45nm die.

AMD’s response came late with a revised Athlon X2 that featured the new Socket called AM2. The new X2s where nothing new, just a bit faster, using 65nm and on a new socket. As AMD tried to design a CPU to crush Intel’s Core2 duo, Intel decided that it would keep going with its victory lap. Intel released the Core2 Quad in November of 2006 and in a couple of months they released a 45nm version of the Core2 Duo. There was nothing AMD could do during these times.

In 2007, AMD launched their first attempt at the Quad core market with the Phenom series. In most eyes the CPU was nothing compared to the god chips Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad. With the release of the Phenom X4, AMD decided to create a new market, one that was in the middle of Average and Extreme. The Phenom X3 was released to the public with the idea that people who used their computer for just about everything, but to the point that it was not extreme.

From 2007 to 2008 these CPUs where basically ignored in the computer industry. The Phenom series was a good CPU in that it did what it was suppose to do, make a computer work. It was not the fastest, and it was not the best, but it did offer a competitive price. During this time AMD could only boast about the idea of Fusion technology and their Spider platform. With the ATI 4800 series, the 790FX + SB750 and Phenom X4, AMD claimed that you would see an improvement with performance.

It was not until January of 2009 when AMD made a comeback. Now most people will disagree with me for this part, but the kidney I speak of has the name “Enthusiast”. Since November of 2008 AMD was boasting that their Phenom II 940 BE could hit 6.0ghz with no problem, and it does just that. From then on the war has been stirred back into overdrive. Across the world of the internet, there are countless arguments saying that X is better than Y with Z factors.

In the world of Enthusiast, the CPU that can be clocked the highest wins. Power, and temperature are considered but are never primary factors. Intel used to be the only one in this market. Their Pentium 4 processors could go as high as 8ghz (with lots of hardware modifications and lots of Liquid Nitrogen). The Socket A, and 939 was AMD’s best CPUs for any enthusiast. For a long time Intel held the crown with the Core 2s. For AMD their AM2 processors was not the very best for enthusiasts. Now in 2009, AMD thought of enthusiasts and brought from the heavens the Phenom II 940 (I try to not speak so high and mighty about the processor). As for Intel, they still hold the title for best CPUs, only because their i7 can create some ridicules benchmarks.

[Dolk]

Overclocking the Phenom II

Overclocking the Phenom II is a simply complicated task. What I mean is that you will be able to overclock right from the start with no problems. As you go higher in clock speeds things become more difficult.

In this section I have created two guides. The first guide is for beginners that have no clue how to overclock. The 3.0 GHz range is the perfect place for you to learn how to overclock and learn what each hardware part does. The second guide is for advanced users trying to learn how to get past a point with their Phenom II. The 4.0 GHz range is meant for advanced users only. I recommend that if you are new to overclocking you stay away from the section. It may cause an unexpected urge to buy hardware you might not need. Also included in the 4.0 GHz range guide, there is information on what I was able to accomplish with my Phenom II 940.

Note: Please be familiar with your motherboard BIOS. All settings that I talk about will be located in your motherboard BIOS. Each motherboard is different and you should learn what each setting is before beginning to overclock.


System Setup

Alright so before all of this information hits you, here is the hardware I used.

• Phenom II 940 Stepping 2
• Asus M3A79T-Deluxe Bios Version 0602
• OCZ Reaper 1066 Cas 5 4gigs (2x2gig sticks)
• MSI 8600GTS
• 1TB (multi-partitioned) SATA HDD
• Rocketfish 700w Power supply
• Antec 900 with 3 120mm fans and 1 250mm fan
• Cooling:
  • Stock AMD heatsink + fan + thermal paste (if stated)
  • Swiftech H20-220-APEX-GT CPU Liquid Cooling Kit
• Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows XP 32-bit (if stated)

The 3.0 GHz Range

In this section I will finally teach you how to overclock the Phenom II. In general, the Phenom II is typically an easy processor to overclock. In no time, you should be able to go from 0% - 29% using your stock cooler and thermal paste. But going above and beyond, things will start to become more complicated. Things become even more complicated as you try to factor in a higher benchmark scores with your benchmarks.

For the rest of this section I will talk about each individual part that you will need to overclock. For beginners, I suggest that you read everything before acting. It will allow you to understand how things work.

Memory


First thing is the basics of RAM. Your RAM has a direct link to your CPU; there is no chip in between. This means that the CPU has an IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). There are two parts to the RAM : DRAM Frequency, and RAM Timings.

DRAM Frequency

The DRAM Frequency is the speed of your RAM. For the Phenom II there are four different basic frequencies. They are: 400, 667, 800, and 1066. Each of these speeds has a ratio. These ratios are what determine the speed of your RAM. The ratio is the FSB (Front Side Bus) and the DRAM Frequency [Seen as FSB : DRAM] . Table 1 should help explain everything. The DRAM Frequency can be changed based on the FSB. Using one of the ratios and a simple equation, you can determine the speed of which your RAM is running.



DRAM Frequency = [ (FSB * DRAM Ratio) / FSB Ratio ] * 2

For example I will calculate 1066 RAM: (Using standard AMD Settings)

200 * 8 = 1600
1600 / 3 = 533.333
533.33 * 2 = 1066.666

Now let’s say you have a 266 FSB. Still using 1066 RAM Ratio we would get these new results:

266 * 8 = 2128
2128 / 3 = 709.333
709.333 * 2 = 1418.667

You now have some really fast RAM, in fact this is most likely not possible for most RAM. But now you get the general idea. The FSB of your CPU will determine the speed of your RAM. By using the equation from above you will be able to calculate your RAM speed. This will serve as a very useful tool as you overclock your Phenom II.

NOTE: When configuring the ratio of your RAM, not all BIOS’s will not be the same. Each motherboard maker has their own way of making their BIOS. Please consult your motherboard manual to determine how to configure your RAM ratio.
The RAM ratio will be shown in one of two ways depending on your motherboard maker. First way is the basic ratio, just like my table from above. The menu will allow you to choose the ratio you want. The second way will be the showing of the four basic DRAM Frequencies. They will go in order 400, 667, 800, and 1066. These numbers represent the ratio you want.

RAM Timings


Now that you know how to determine the speed of your RAM, you can now set the Timings of your RAM. Depending on your motherboard maker, you will be able to fine tune your RAM timings. Your RAM timings represent the number of cycles it takes for information to be processed. There are several different types of timings you can modify but there are only six that you will want to work with. I would suggest that you do not touch the others unless you know what they do.

The six timings that you will tweak are: Cas Latency (CL), RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD), RAS# Precharge (tRP), Cycle Time (tRAS), Bank Cycle Time (tRC), and Command Rate (CR). These timings are directly affected by the speed of your RAM. Depending on your RAM manufacture there are a couple basic timings that you will most defiantly use while overclocking the Phenom II. Each timing works with a corresponding DRAM Frequency. NOTE: Please consult your RAM manual to find your RAM timings, my list is considered a default for each speed, but your RAM could be different.



The timings are most commonly represented as CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS. For example: 5-5-5-15. For now, the default timings of your RAM should prove to be the best for overclocking in the 3.0 GHz range.
In some cases you will have to change the RAM timings to something unusual. In most cases it creates a more stable environment. I have found that using a 5-7-7-27-32 1066 Ram Setting in a 64bit environment is more stable than a 5-5-5-15 1066 or 800 Ram Setting.


CPU

The Phenom II is separated into two parts: Part 1 is the cores of the CPU. Part 2 is the NB, and HTT. In fact the Second part of the CPU is actually just the CPU-NB. The HTT and a couple other things are what make up the CPU-NB but to make things easy on you, I will talk as if the CPU-NB and the HTT are two different entities. (Which they are in reality but in hardware not so much, but then again are one in the same. Confusing isn’t it…)

For the first part of the CPU, you have the cores. The cores are connected by the FSB or HT Link (HTL), even the CPU-NB runs on it. The FSB always has a stock frequency of 200 MHz. The core is then multiplied by the CPU Multiplier to create the actual speed of the core. This is also applied to the CPU-NB, and HTT.

In order to overclock your computer, most people would simply increase the FSB. In 90% of all cases this is true, the other 10% of people have something called a BE or Black Edition CPU. These CPUs have an unlocked multiplier and will allow the user to just increase the multiplier of the cores thus increasing the speed of the CPU. So let us look at how the FSB and Multiplier can be used to overclock the CPU. For my first example I will use the Phenom II 810. This CPU has a stock speed of 2.8 GHz.

Stock: 200 * 14 = 2800 MHz
In other terms
FSB * CPU Multiplier = Speed of CPU

With the 810, I can only increase the FSB in order to overclock the CPU itself. So for this next example I will increase the FSB to create a 3000 MHz CPU or a 3.0 GHz core speed.

OC: 215 * 14 ≈ 3000 MHz

You roughly have a 3.0 GHz CPU now, in fact it is a tad bit faster, but that is ok.
For this next example I will take a Phenom II 940 BE CPU and overclock it. Remember the BE CPUs have an unlocked multiplier so you will not have to increase the FSB to get a higher clocked CPU. There are many benefits to this and they will be discussed in detail later in this section.

OC: 200 * 15 ≈ 3000 MHz

With just using the CPU – Multiplier I was able to up the CPU speed to a clock
speed of 3000 MHz or 3.0 GHz.

One question that is probably in your mind is: Is there a difference between increasing the FSB rather than the Multiplier and vice versa? In truth no. If you have a BE CPU, there is no difference other then what will be talked about later in this section. But for a CPU that has a core speed of 2.8 GHz that and is increased to 3.0 GHz either technique will not create a faster CPU if you increased the FSB or the Multiplier or both. Just know that the FSB will affect other things then the CPU core speed.

Now that you understand how to overclock your CPU. Let us look at the second part of the CPU. The second part contains the CPU-NB, and HTT. In here everything is still connected by the FSB of the CPU, and each part has its own speed. So, the CPU-NB and HTT have their own speeds, and they work the same way as the CPU cores. Simply put, they both have their own multiplier and they go off the FSB. For example let us look at the 810 once more at stock speeds.

Stock:
200 * 14 = 2800 MHz Core Speed
200 * 9 = 1800 MHz CPU-NB Speed
200 * 9 = 1800 MHz HTT Speed

As you can see its just as simple as the CPU core speed calculation. One thing you should notice right away is that the CPU-NB and the HTT are using the same multipliers at stock settings. Remember they have their own separate multiplier but they do in fact run at the same speeds at stock. One thing to note and always remember is that the HTT can never go higher than the CPU-NB speed. The speed of your CPU-NB is the max speed of your HTT.

There are several different methods to overclock the HTT and CPU-NB. First way and what should always be done, is just increase the multiplier. No matter what Phenom II CPU you have, you can always increase the multiplier of the HTT and CPU-NB, but there will be a constriction, albeit a constriction you should never see. The other way is to increase the FSB. I will use the 940BE in this example to overclock everything.


Overclock using Multiplier:
200 * 15 = 3000 MHz Core Speed
200 * 10 = 2000 MHz CPU-NB Speed
200 * 10 = 2000 MHz HTT Speed

Overclock using FSB:
215 * 14 ≈ 3000 MHz Core Speed
215 * 9 = 1935 MHz CPU-NB Speed
215 * 9 = 1935 MHz HTT Speed

As you can see, very simple to understand. Now do not start overclocking your CPU just yet. There is still one more section to read before Putting It All Together. In the next section I will talk about the CPU-NB a lot more.



Northbridge

Whenever one is talking about the North Bridge (NB) of a Phenom II, it is safe to assume that they are talking about the CPU-NB. The CPU-NB is a section of the CPU that controls the L3, Memory Controller and the Hyper-Transport (HTT). As mentioned before the CPU-NB and the HTT have different multipliers, please remember this.

When you overclock your CPU, the higher you go the more likely you will need to stabilize the CPU-NB. What do I mean by this? As the CPU increases its speed to calculate data, so must the speed of which the CPU communicates with other components on the Motherboard: chipset, memory, etc. Let me take the classic example of a 4.0 GHz 940BE and its CPU-NB. If you were to leave the CPU-NB at 1.8 GHz stock then the data calculated by the CPU would create a bottleneck and thus resulting in errata errors or CPU errors. So in order to balance these speeds a CPU-NB clock of 3.0 GHz would be needed. In most cases of high OC’s that result in crashes; the CPU-NB is usually the culprit.

I have constructed a table at which your CPU-NB should be at with ‘Y’ CPU Speed. Please note that there is a +/- 200 MHz difference for each step. In order to find your speed without my table, you can use my formula: CPU-NB Frequency (+/-200) = (CPU-Frequency * 2 ) / 3.15.


Highlighted areas are the recommended speeds of which to run the CPU-NB

As you can see with Table 3, these are the support frequencies of your CPU-NB at X CPU frequency. Of course, as you increase the CPU-NB frequency, you have to increase the CPU-NB voltage.

Let me put this in practice, before you start to debate my theorem.



Highlighted areas are the recommended speeds of which to run the CPU-NB

Now that you have seen actual data charts you can criticize my theorem, do not worry I already do it myself. In practice it does not work 100%. Actually I have Super Pi 1M, 3D Mark 06, PC Mark 05 and Geekbench charts as well showing that the 2800 MHz NB usually is top of the charts rather than the recommended speeds by my calculations. Which to me, is fine. The idea behind the formula is a rough estimate of what you should be at with ‘Y’ CPU Frequency.

What you should get from this section is an understanding of the importance of the CPU-NB and how it effects your overclocking process. By all means you should think about looking at the CPU-NB each and every time when try to push for a different CPU Frequency.



Putting It All Together


So now that you have an understanding of how to Overclock your Phenom II, it is finally time to Overclock [rejoice].

If you have an unlocked or Black Edition Phenom II, you can skip the step: “Finding your FSB Max.” For the majority you will be overclocking the CPU by using the multiplier rather than the FSB. This is for most cases and up to a certain percent in CPU Frequency gain.

Finding your FSB Max


First thing to do is find the limit to your FSB [Front Side Bus]. You will increase the FSB by a factor of 10 then by a factor of 5 after that. With each bump, make sure to keep your CPU speed as close to its stock speed. For example if my stock speed is 3.0 GHz which is 15 multi and 200 FSB, when I get to 210 FSB my multi should be 14.5. Same goes with your HT, CPU NB Frequency, and the RAM timings, and ratio. Once your computer does not boot up any longer, this means you have found your FSB maximum. Now you can move on to seeing how far you can push your CPU.

Overclocking the CPU


For those that have an unlocked multiplier, do not increase the FSB, rather increase the CPU Multiplier by a factor of one and follow the steps as written below. You do not have to worry about the FSB until later on in the game.

Now that you have found your FSB Maximum, you can now push the CPU to see how high of an overclock you can accomplish. Before we begin, you must understand that there will be a limit to the CPU, and you will have to accept it. Depending on your PSU, cooling, and hundreds of other factors, if you try to continuously push your CPU over the max, you could end up harming it. With that in mind let us get started.

Lower your FSB back to 200 stock speed, and bring your CPU multi back up to its stock value. Start pushing the FSB by a factor of 10, and then by a factor of 5. For each successful boot, make sure to run some sort of bench mark tester or stress test. Check the section titled: Benchmarking and Stress testing tools for more information. Once your computer starts to crash during boot or during the benchmarks, you will need to try 1 of 3 different options. Your first option is to raise the CPU Voltage. While this will work for the majority of the time, it does not work all the time. I would first try to increase the Voltage before exploring the other two problems. Your second and third option is to increase the CPU NB frequency and/or voltage. Please use table 3 and table 4 for more information on what NB frequency and Voltage you should be at. You should first try increasing the voltage before increasing the frequency. It tends to work better. You can push the CPU-NB voltage to a max of 1.40v. If you are having troubles with your overclocked CPU instead of increasing the CPU-NB try to bring it down. This same process will work as well with the HTT. For the most part you will not have to do much with the HTT but sometimes lowering it below stock will get you to the CPU speed you want. As a rule of thumb you should keep your HTT between 1200-2200 MHz when overclocking. The third option that you may want to try is messing with your RAM. You can do a couple of things with your RAM. First increase the Voltage from stock by 0.2v. This usually does the trick. You can increase the RAM voltage up to 2.1v or something similar for RAM that is already at 2.1v at stock. If this does not do the trick try working with the Timings and a different Ratio. Sometimes a 800 ratio is better than a 1000, or 1066 ratio and vice verse. Overclocking is not a very simple task. Sometimes it takes time to find the sweet spot for your CPU. Make sure to try a variety of different settings until you feel comfortable. Just make sure to work inside the limits of your computer and the limits I have mentioned in this guide.

As you continue to increase your CPU speed, make sure to watch the CPU temperature. Once it hits a maximum of 60C LOAD, you MUST STOP! You are close to damaging with the CPU if you go any further. If your goal is to make your CPU stable, you NEED to lower the settings to have the CPU LOAD temp at a max of 55C.

Backup Plan

So what happens if you hit a wall, but yet you still have really solid temperatures on your CPU, and everything else? Well that is a bit difficult. Most likely you are heading to the 30%+ range of your CPU. At this point I suggest that you read the section “The 4.0ghz Range”. In that section you will learn how to work with the CPU and the other parts to gain a much higher overclock.

[Dolk]

The 4.0ghz Range

This section is meant for advanced users only. You must be willing to push your computer further then it is recommended. You should also have Liquid Nitrogen on hand (*snicker*). In all honesty, you should have cooling that can keep the CPU below 30C at the 30% mark. If you cannot do that, I would suggest not going above the 30% mark due to the high voltage and temperatures. Please read all of this information before trying to do anything with your system.

You know how to overclock, now it is time to learn how to go above the comfortable zone of your CPU. In most part, it will rely on you to find the optimal settings for your CPU with your computer make up; It is never the same for each person. The first step is to check your cooling. Even at 15C load, my Phenom II 940 would not go above 4.2GHz. These chips hate temps above 0C when being pushed further and further above the 30% mark. At the right temperature, these chips will do whatever you want, even run Crysis at the highest settings and get no errors. Please test your cooling to make sure you can get extreme cooling temperatures.

The next step is to check stability at 30% mark. Cold boot your computer into your 30% settings and try and run benchmarking tools such as Vantage, 3DMark 06, etc. If your computer is stable enough to run these benchmarks, then you should be able to continue pushing your CPU. Even if you want to just push your CPU and not make it stable, it is best to make sure your CPU can handle a 30% increase. If the benching results in BSODs or similar crashes no matter what you do, you may just have a faulty CPU.

The next step is to test your RAM and FSB. Make sure to do this step using your normal cooling. Do not use Phase Change, LN2, etc. You want to find what your CPU can handle without needing the extreme cooling. In “The 3.0 GHz Range” I told you to either increase the FSB or increase the multiplier of the CPU depending on your CPU. No matter what, I want you to increase the FSB of your CPU as far as you can. Control your CPU multiplier so that the CPU speed is still less than the stock settings. Same applies to your CPU-NB, HTT, and RAM. Also, increase your CoreV when needed. It does not matter how much CoreV you use. If everything went accordingly, you should have a table just like Table 5. Basically it shows the RAM speeds that you should have gotten, sometimes theoretically. Table 5 is meant to be a reference, make sure you created your FSB limit table, or things may not work out to well in the end.



Now it is time to check your RAM at the highlighted settings in Table 5. Each of these RAM speeds is related to what you might use at stock settings. It is the comfortable zone for your RAM. To check your RAM at these settings do a simple cold boot using stock everything (Note: You should know what timings to use at each RAM speeds. If you do not please go back to “The 3.0GHz Range” and read the RAM section). Run Prim95, Pi 32M, or something similar. You want to see what your CPU can handle at these FSB settings. Mark which settings work best for you. These settings is what you will use for now on when trying to push the CPU above the 30% range.

With your FSB limit table completed it is now time to finally push your CPU to the absolute max. Grab your IPod, and start playing Rage Against the Machine. It is now time for trial and error. Load up your lowest FSB settings and then bring your CPU speed up to the 30% mark. For the CPU-NB, HTT, etc. use the same settings you used before when benching your 30% mark. Now check to see if you can boot.

To Boot or Not to Boot

If everything went according to plan, you should now be able to boot. If you did go ahead and push your CPU multiplier until you can boot no more. After that, it is a simple increase voltage, or increase/decrease your CPU-NB and/or HTT etc. I have seen a lot of peoples’ accomplishments with their Phenom IIs. Some people use below stock HTT and CPU-NB to accomplish 5.0GHz, while others follow the patterns in Tables 3 and 4. As far as I know, I cannot say which way you should go. Your CPU will let you know. Try and try again with different settings until you cannot go any further. To those that did not manage to boot initially, I would try using another FSB setting, or messing with the CPU-NB, HTT, etc. Like I said before, I cannot help you any further. This is the part where you just keep on trying different settings until you find the sweet spot. Keep on pushing and I hope you get some nice results.

The Heat Wall

Throughout the better part of my overclocking I have repeatedly hit the same wall over and over again, and never realized what was going. This wall is what I like to call the Heat Wall. It is pretty simple: the Phenom IIs love to be cold, just like the Opterons from the socket 939. You go any higher than 55C on your CPU, usually you will have problems with keeping your OS stable. Now that the Phenom IIs have no cold bug, these new CPUs seem to has taken a liking to the cold more so than before.

To explain all of this in detail, I am going to bring you on a long journey through my frustration at trying to achieve 4.0 GHz on a 32 bit OS. From the very start of owning the 940BE I have constantly been trying to get 4.0 GHz, which should have been achievable with my setup. I have a decent water-cooling, RAM along with a great motherboard. But no matter what I did, I could only boot up for about 5 minutes, or instantly crash, or repeated BSODs. I have seen many people get to the 4.0 GHz using less efficient cooling, some using air setups. My guess is that they received a really good batch of CPUs, which happens. But for the rest of us, there was no way to get to the 4.0 GHz range without using extreme cooling. I finally lugged my computer outside to the freezing cold where I saw cold boot ups close to 5C. And what do you know, I could boot up into 4.0ghz and do whatever I wanted to do. After trying to go higher, I found that I could only go as high as 4.2 GHz. I tried this same process a couple days later but this time the temperature outside was a bit warmer so I did not get the same crazy low temperatures. This time I could only get up to 4.1 GHz. I tried the same settings I did before and there was no luck. I concluded my work saying that the computer must be colder.

When the 720BE came out I started to get data on what it could do as far as overclock. The data seemed to be the same and followed most of my rules, but there were those that went outside of everything. The 720BE data that was being ran on the AM3 socket, resulted in higher overclock with less voltage. But they still had a limit even if it was 35% above stock. This limit was the same I experienced with my 940BE. In which, no matter what settings you used and even though the CPU was only using 1.45v, you could not go any further without having to resort to extreme cooling.

Thus, there is a limit to the Phenom II at ‘X’ CPU temperature. No matter what you do, you will not be able to go any further with your CPU when it hits this wall. You should be able to notice when it hits this wall on a AM2+ system. Because normally your CPU should be somewhere near a load temperature of 55C. On an AM3 system, it is a bit more difficult to notice, but there is a general rule that you can use. If your CPU is not on extreme cooling, if your CPU has hit close to25-35% increase, and your load temperatures are below 50C but above 30C than you have most likely hit the wall.

My only suggestion to aground this wall, is to get better cooling. The main idea behind this section was to give you an understanding that there is a wall, and no matter what you do, you will not be able to go around it. I have seen many cases where people complain that even with no heave voltage and low temps, no matter what they do they cannot go further, unless they resort to extreme cooling. There may be another way but so far I have yet to see one.

[Dolk]

Benchmarking and Stress testing tools

Depending on whether you want a stable computer, or just benchmark it before it dies, you need the tools to do it. Here is a common list of tools and a strategy to both situations.


Stressing


For most people, they want to use the overclock settings they obtained 24/7. To make sure these settings are stable you should use the tools below:

• Prime 95: Use this tool to check full stability. Use it for 10 mins to learn if it is somewhat stable. Use for 12+ hours to learn if settings are fully stable
• SuperPi 32M and 1M: Use this tool to check for somewhat stability. Best used to see if your computer can handle some benchmarks before shutting down.
• Intel Burn In: A tool that is recommended by most to test for stability as well
• Seti / Folding at Home crunching: Probably the best way to test if your computer is fully stable. Let run for 24+ hours, and you will know if your computer is 100% stable.

Benchmarking


On the other hand some of you just want to score some great scores using benchmarks. This tends to be a lot of fun for most people. I personally love doing this in my spare time. For most people the following are the most common tools used for comparison of benchmarks.

• PCMark 05
• 3DMark 06, 03, and Vantage (Only for Windows Vista and 7)
• CineBench
• SuperPi 1M and 32M
• wPrime

[Dolk]

Reserved for Results

[Kuroimaho]

K10 does not have FSB, I would recommend to use HT instead, FSB is so thunderbird barton era.

For finding your max HT drop the multi lower so the CPU max clockspeed can't limit you in finding the max HT which is likely to be limited by the board, dropping the ram can also help as 270+ can be easily too much for 800Mhz rams.

It is also a good idea to test each of your components as separated as possible (low multis for parts you do not want to stress) and find their limits before venturing to OC, this can save a lot of tinkering time with settings, to find out what holds you back. Then you know your limits and just dial in the config you want and see if it works altogether.

[Dolk]

The HT Link also refers to the FSB of the CPU in most motherboard BIOS.

As for decreasing the RAM while increasing the FSB/HT Link: I do agree that you should first lower the RAM to something like 1:2 Ratio (800 MHz) and then increase, but you will most likely not hit at 270+ increase on the FSB, unless you have a good WC or anything better then that. For right now, that FSB setting is more then the 30% increase of a 920. If you are going above and beyond 30% increase of your CPU, you will have to wait for my second part of this guide.

I'll add your suggestion later Kuro, I just woke up and its time to eat

[jonwall]

Dolk i came across something odd which may only be a bug in the m3a79t, but when i was messing around with the northbridge and ht ref clocks i had set the nb multiplier to 4 to see if it still set the northbridge speed using the 250mhz i had the ht ref set at or the original 200. Anyways, i set it to 4x, then the post screen tells me a new cpu is installed, in the bios is called it an AMD engineering sample. Switching the multiplier up to 10 got me the same message on the next boot and it was now a phenom II 940 again in the bios.

[Dolk]

Thats a bit odd, I don't think I have seen that before. Any chance you can recreate it and record everything? I have been looking into the absolute minimum amount of NB needed for a CPU OC, and your contribution will help.

[jonwall]

change ht ref to 250, change nb multiplier to 4x, save and exit. I may be getting a vendetta 2 tomorrow so ill be alot more help after i get that installed

[Dolk]

Its not the cooling, you may have stumbled on something, can you boot into it? Can you do anything with it? I don't believe this will hurt that CPU at all, but it may.

[jonwall]

ya iwasnt sure if i would hurt anything so played it safe and set it back to default settings lol

[Dolk]

ok that is very intersting I'm all most tempted to try it.

[jonwall]

heh, using this guide i got booted into windows at 3.7, for some reason 3.7 will always lock windows up if i go that high in AOD, or not boot at all into windows if done in the bios. Adjusted the nb according to the guide, got a few runs of super pi in, really didnt want to do anything in the way of stress testing as i was at 1.50v and idling at 50c New cooler will really help

[Dolk]

Good to here that it worked at least one positive feed back

[ChillPhatCat]

Dolk, you've done a hell of a job with this research, I tend to float in and out of this board every year or two when I upgrade with the latest and greatest bang for the buck components... I've been overclocking for a good 12 years and I can't remember seeing someone lay it out this well... and they did throw some things for a loop with the release of the K10, admittedly I've had to learn a couple things.

Anyway, I'm since I apparently bought one of the few boards that can't adjust the NB multi (even though the option is listed) and because the FSB tops out at 240 MHz, nomatter the voltage on the chipset. Personally, I just think EVGA half assed this latest BIOS to quickly patch for the PII... I'm hoping they'll fix the BIOS issues by the next release... Everybody on the EVGA forums praises this board, sure it can clock the CPU like hell, but the rest of the options are SOL... Regardless, I'm quite happy with this CPU's dominating performance.

[Dolk]

I have heard a lot of people not doing well with the Evga boards, along with BIOSTAR, and some other ocmpany.

[ChillPhatCat]

Yeah, I shoulda stayed with my tried and true brand... Gigabyte, they've never dissapointed me... but I had to save $20 bucks. Still, I can't complain about a 17100 3DMark06 score.

[Dane Tveito]

Nice Job Dolk, I've been in agreement with your theories as they play out as I trial and error. Must have read all these threads regarding the PHNMII 100 times. One question though, there's point when I'm going up that I can't get passed (lets say around 3500 on my 920 unless I drop the HT below 1200... watching others results I see they've done the same to get over the 30%, when I'm at about 3500 my NB freq and HT are about the same. Going above I can keep the NB @1800-2600. . . I don't get it and haven't benched yet to see if that low HT is holding me down

[Rick James]

Gigabyte is one of the best overclocking boards i have ever used for every platform. Amd and Intel

[jonwall]

Should add the NB table to the guide here, it was probably one of the most helpful things out of all your research

[Rick James]

Originally Posted by jonwall

Should add the NB table to the guide here, it was probably one of the most helpful things out of all your research

Agreed.

Dolk.. Aka "The Professor".. You're still the mother****in man

[Dolk]

Originally Posted by Dane Tveito

Nice Job Dolk, I've been in agreement with your theories as they play out as I trial and error. Must have read all these threads regarding the PHNMII 100 times. One question though, there's point when I'm going up that I can't get passed (lets say around 3500 on my 920 unless I drop the HT below 1200... watching others results I see they've done the same to get over the 30%, when I'm at about 3500 my NB freq and HT are about the same. Going above I can keep the NB @1800-2600. . . I don't get it and haven't benched yet to see if that low HT is holding me down

Hmm I can verify some of this information. I was able to bring my computer outside into the cold for a couple hours, had temps as low as 5C while at 4.0ghz .

Anyway, When I was stabling 4.1ghz I could not load XP without increasing the NB to 2600. As I tried 4.2ghz Everything stopped working, and I had to quit. Very interesting though...

[satansangel114]

Bump

Sticky?

[dark bishop]

x2 for sticky

[Dolk]

dark bishop I love your sig

Thanks for the support too guys! I'm working on finishing up most of the material and getting some of the new content up tonight. That is if no parties are happening on campus

Added some new tables, info that goes along with them will come in this weekend.

[dark bishop]

update? sticky?

[ChanceCoats123]

+1 on the sticky. That would really unclutter then 'noob' posts.