• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

How can I tell if my PhenomII 955 BE is defective?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

OC_N00b

Registered
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Ok a quick snapshot of the specs:


WIN XP 32bit.
4gigs DUAL channel OCZ Intel Extreme Edition DDR3
AMD PHENOM II 955BE DENEB 45nm
Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P Bios F3
EVGA GTX275 w/1.8gigs video ram.


This is a system I built myself, when I fired it up stock it registered on windows as running at 1.6ghz. I scratched my head and wondered if mabee that was a mistake. I thought these chips came stock running at 2Ghz+, however, I went ahead and set up my software, and evin tried to play crysis. Fully expecting this game to run relatively smooth at 1920x1080 resolution on max. Boy was I in for a surprise, I understand that this a monster of a game. But I should be able to get better than 10-15 FPS. I had to bump it down to 800x600 and settings on medium before I evin got close to playable smooth.

Since the game was running like garbage, I went into my bios and changed the multiplier to x15 and kept everything else factory settings. now the machine is running at 3.0 GHZ...practicly no improvement whatsoever.

Now I wonder if its possible I got a defective chip. My dad has a 2 year old intel system build off an Intel core 2 duo and a 9800GT w/4gigs of corsair DDR2, which I swear gets better performance on crysis. This makes no sense to me, I cant imagine how the latest from AMD, OCZ,and NVIDEA is getting beat by an aging Intel chip, and older generation card w/ like half the video memory.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to download software to test the CPU? I got HOT-CPU Tester Pro, CPUZ,CPU stab test,and MEta Bench. But I am by no means an expert, so I dont evin know how to read the data that these progams spit out...nor do I know if they are evin the right kind of program. I installed Company of heros, it rated my CPU as "Poor" :(

If you need more information on my system, please let me know. Ill do my best to accommodate.(especially things like which chip set drivers etc are installed....ill need a little help finding that information)


Im trying to watch Streaming videos online and the system bogs down horrible...choppy choppy choppy(evin tabbing to another window makes this machine have to stop and think) yes im watching an HD stream...but its comcast 20mbps connection...that should handle a 720p signal smoothly.
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/ (if the link is not allowed please remove it. I apologize)


I hope I gave you enough information to help me come up with a solution...or am I just expecting too much from my machine? I really don't think so...since its pretty nice and brand new.

I
 
Oh one more thing.....
CPUZ shows my Ram running at 534.5mhz. isnt DDR supposed to be faster? I can dig into the bios...or evin print the full CPUZ report...but its a big long page I didn't want to waste your time by making a difficult read...I was aiming for informative, yet to the point.
 
Dolk to the rescue!!

First for your second post: DDR stands for Dual Data Something. Which means that if said ram is running at say 500MHz it is actually 1000MHz.

As for the top post. It seems it is not a defective chip but more of a simple problem inside the BIOS. It sounds like you probably have CnQ on. Which stands for Cool and Quite. Its a setting in the BIOS that down clocks the CPU when its not needed for the full potential. This should be the answer to your first problem. As for why you are not getting extremely good settings with Crysis, this sounds more like a video card problem ratherthan a CPU problem. To test this theory, we can run a simple test.

Download Super Pi mod. Next make sure that CnQ is off and that your CPU is running at 3.2 GHz (which is standard factory speed). Go into your OS, and run the program at 1M. You should get something around 17 some what seconds (maybe don't count on it). After that go into your BIOS again and this time raise the CPU Multi to 17x. This will bring the CPU up to 3.4GHz. You should not need to rais the CPUv due to this being a very small increase in the speed of the CPU. Run the program again and this time you should see at least 1 second shaved off the time.

If for whatever reason you get a score in the 20 seconds, than something is wrong with your setup and we will have to delve deeper. If this works than its a GPU problem and you will have to ask the Evega people for some help, or the Nvida section of this forum.

BTW, I ran Super Pi on my 1.3GHz Intel Centrino cpu and I got a 25.403 lols.
 
Dolk to the rescue!!

First for your second post: DDR stands for Dual Data Something. Which means that if said ram is running at say 500MHz it is actually 1000MHz.

As for the top post. It seems it is not a defective chip but more of a simple problem inside the BIOS. It sounds like you probably have CnQ on. Which stands for Cool and Quite. Its a setting in the BIOS that down clocks the CPU when its not needed for the full potential. This should be the answer to your first problem. As for why you are not getting extremely good settings with Crysis, this sounds more like a video card problem ratherthan a CPU problem. To test this theory, we can run a simple test.

Download Super Pi mod. Next make sure that CnQ is off and that your CPU is running at 3.2 GHz (which is standard factory speed). Go into your OS, and run the program at 1M. You should get something around 17 some what seconds (maybe don't count on it). After that go into your BIOS again and this time raise the CPU Multi to 17x. This will bring the CPU up to 3.4GHz. You should not need to rais the CPUv due to this being a very small increase in the speed of the CPU. Run the program again and this time you should see at least 1 second shaved off the time.

If for whatever reason you get a score in the 20 seconds, than something is wrong with your setup and we will have to delve deeper. If this works than its a GPU problem and you will have to ask the Evega people for some help, or the Nvida section of this forum.

BTW, I ran Super Pi on my 1.3GHz Intel Centrino cpu and I got a 25.403 lols.


Yes cool and quiet is on...ok thanks Ill shut it off now. and since the multiplier is set at 15....im gonna bump it to 16x200mhz. that will do me to 3.2


bear with me a few min Ill be back. thanks for the speedy reply^^
 
I believe that when it runs at 1.6ghz the bios needs updating, CnQ runs it at 800 if i remember correctly.

DDR is Double Data Rate, with DDR data is sent on both the rising edge and falling edge of the clock signal.


Go to your motherboard manufacturer's webpage and find out how to flash the bios to the most recent version, that will get the 955 working correctly, this is a very common problem.
 
I believe that when it runs at 1.6ghz the bios needs updating, CnQ runs it at 800 if i remember correctly.

DDR is Double Data Rate, with DDR data is sent on both the rising edge and falling edge of the clock signal.


Go to your motherboard manufacturer's webpage and find out how to flash the bios to the most recent version, that will get the 955 working correctly, this is a very common problem.


Yes bob, you hit it on the head...i can tell already Im in a good place, with great minds. Thanks

I am looking at CPUZ it says Core Speed 801.7(Im assuming that s the 800 you were talking about) Multiplier x4.
Cool and quiet is disabled in my bios. Shouldnt it show a different clock speed?

Dolk, Its now running at 3.2. be back in a min with results of the before and after Pi count.
 
Ok 1M took 1minute, 48seconds....thats bad right?

CnQ is off. Im gonna bump it up to 17x. and re do it.
 
Second round...system is running at 3.4Ghz. Pi took 1minute 48 seconds again. like a 3/10 of a second improvement.

So...bios flashy time?

Also on the Gigabyte page you linked me too...it said something about "Only compatible with AM3 processors , not AM2+"
My MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378
MyCPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674 <note: description says socket AM3>
CPUZ reads my "Package": Socket AM2+(940)
does this mean I have the wrong CPU entirely? would the system even boot if i had the wrong chip/mobo combo? Or is there anohter answer?


Could new egg mistakenly ship the wrong CPU?
 
Last edited:
You need to make sure you have an updated bios with the 955 BE. Many motherboard manufactures shipped their boards early on with bios that doesn't support the 955. They have since come out with several bios additions that solve these issues. Before doing and overclocking be sure to run the ram on memtest and do some 3+ hours on prime to ensure 0 issues with your hardware before attempting to overclock. Hopefully a bios flash will fix your issues as well as the other recs people here gave you.
 
thanks. Im currently trying to use Gigabytes "@BioS" program. Its supposed to let you pick and choose your bios over the internet, then flash it without having to leave windows.(handy since I dont have a floppy...ironic...but I really wish I had one now^^)
Unfortunatly i cant seem to get it to run...the download didnt include an executable. it ony had a setup program..which unstalled a bunch of files...but no executable. Im gonna head over to the MOBO section of the forums, mabee this @BioS utility is found elsewehre...or mabee Im doing something wrong.
 
OK got the new F4G bios installed. INSTANT...AND I MEAN INSTANTLY NOTICEABLE!!! ty all so very much. my programs and bootup screens fired away. CPUZ shows the multiplier set 16x200(the new bios is set to auto) core speed now reads 3,214mhz.

I fell AWESOME right now!!! gonna go play some crysis. thanks again. Ill catch you all lata^^


only one concern before I go...the CPUZ shows it as a socket AM2+, I ordered an AM3...is it possible an error on CPUZ's part? or can I verify I got the wrong socket...i mean it fits in the motherboard right? Im not familiar with everything technical....so thanks for any input.
 
OK got the new F4G bios installed. INSTANT...AND I MEAN INSTANTLY NOTICEABLE!!! ty all so very much. my programs and bootup screens fired away. CPUZ shows the multiplier set 16x200(the new bios is set to auto) core speed now reads 3,214mhz.

I fell AWESOME right now!!! gonna go play some crysis. thanks again. Ill catch you all lata^^


only one concern before I go...the CPUZ shows it as a socket AM2+, I ordered an AM3...is it possible an error on CPUZ's part? or can I verify I got the wrong socket...i mean it fits in the motherboard right? Im not familiar with everything technical....so thanks for any input.

a 955 will fit on an AM2+ board but a 940 will not fit on an AM3 board so you got the right cpu
 
could you explain how you flashed the bios...

i will have the same CPU/Mobo as you in a couple of weeks and i may have to do what you did.

thanks
 
Just a heads up...got done with a good solid session of crysis....max settings I could get for DX9, running at 1080p resolution on my 67" 2xAA I never once dropped below 30fps. 40-45 seemed the average...that is what im talkin bout!! game runs like silk evin in the thick of it.

To asnwer the question about how i flashed it....its an easy process, go to gigabytes site in the link above...get "@BioS".

The file is small and the program supposedly is simple...der, well i installed it and when i opened the folder...it had no executable...lame. after 20min of frustration reading everything i could...on a whim i looked on my start menu...sure enough right insde the "Gigabyte" tab was @BioS. 5min later i was resetting my machine and viola!!! i don't evin need to over clock it. I am now getting what I expected...a great piece of PC for a relatively low price.
 
CPUZ shows that I have an AM2+ board as well even though as you can see in my sig it's really an AM3 only mobo. No biggie just an update for cpuz needed still. Now get to overclocking that sucker and make it hum a bit faster :)
 
You're stock multi is at 16, not 15. You said in the title, 955 BE and those are stock at 3.2ghz. Just to pop that in there as not to confuse.
 
You're stock multi is at 16, not 15. You said in the title, 955 BE and those are stock at 3.2ghz. Just to pop that in there as not to confuse.


thanks for clarifying it. ya its running at x16 now. I used to be a big fan of over clocking. read up on it...but got discouraged when i tried to understand ram,latency,timings, ect. ...it all started getting hard to assimilate, and I kinda just gave up on the hobby.
a good way I remember someone putting it was "Anyone can overclock it an extra couple Gigs, but can they get it to run stable? Thats the real trick" it was the stability part that started feeling overwhelming, and as such...the hobby died :(
 
Set your ram timing and speed to manufacture spec and then just up the multi only, but make sure you set the Vcore to 1.35 then up it until you start getting crashes then back it off. Just straight multi OC is simple, but effective if you don't wanna toy with other aspects like IMC speeds, ram tweaking or other areas.

You should be able to get 3.6 without issue at stock Vcore of 1.35
 
Back