Help Overclocking Phenom 9850 Black Edition

Hi all!

I am new to overclocking and was wondering if I could get some initial overclocking recommendation settings. I read numerous articles about overclocking but I'm just not sure what to change, as I don't want to mess up anything.

Here are some screenshots to help. Thanks!






Here's after changing Multiplier/ Voltage Change to Manual. Maybe this is where I need to change something? I'm not sure what to adjust.

to the forums.

Please post system information. The only thing I can tell is that you have a Phenom 9850 CPU and a board that uses an AMI BIOS. I don't know anything about the RAM you have, power supply, cooling, motherboard, even the case (good to know for ventilation, etc).

Know Nuttin said:

to the forums.

Please post system information. The only thing I can tell is that you have a Phenom 9850 CPU and a board that uses an AMI BIOS. I don't know anything about the RAM you have, power supply, cooling, motherboard, even the case (good to know for ventilation, etc).

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Oh sure, thanks.

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit Edition
Motherboard: ALiveNF7G-FullHD R3.0 nForce 630A chipset
CPU: Phenom 9850 2.5GHz Black Edition
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) SDRAM DDR2 1066
HDD: 160GB
Graphics: Galaxy GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit
Power Supply: EarthWatts EA 500 watt

The case is generic and I suppose it has decent ventilation. There is no water cooling or anything like that. The heat sink is the stock one.

Here are some screenshots. Thank you!

P.S. Almost forgot. The memory that is pictured below will be removed and upgraded to what is listed in the specs above. I'm not sure if this affects overclocking but it will be changed as soon as it arrives in the mail.

The first thing you need is a CPU stressing program and CPU core temperature monitor. Prime95 and OCCT are both great stressing programs. OCCT will monitor it's own temps, P95 requires another program for monitoring.
OCCT
Prime95
CoreTemp

When the stress program is running your CPU will be at or near 100% load. (OCCT runs through a system test that takes 60 sec and after that will load your CPU.) This is when your CPU temps should be read and recorded. Idle temps mean very little to OC'ers. By stressing the CPU this way you can be assured anything you throw at it in normal operation will not exceed your testing.


To OC try this out. Raise your vCore (CPU voltage) to 1.35v then change your CPU multiplier to 13X and reboot. Run P95/OCCT for 5-10 min and record the maximum core temp. If this is at or below 50°C and everything looks good then raise the CPU multiplier to 13.5X and try again. Keep repeating this until your stress test fails (BSOD, hang, freeze, anything out of the ordinary) or your temps go above 55°C.

If your temps go above the limit then you've gone as far as you can with the cooling you have. If you get a freeze/hang/BSOD and your load temps are still below 50°C then raise the vCore to 1.40v and try again keeping a close watch on those temps.

That's the starting formula for OC'ing your CPU. Other things will come into play later but at this point, with the stock CPU cooler, you'll probably run out of temperature room long before you hit other OC'ing issues. For more information see OC'ing an AM2.


Good luck and keep us posted on your progress ...

Hey thanks for the response. There's just one thing that I don't understand. In the picture below, there are four settings, and after changing the Overclock Mode to from "Auto" to "Manual", it reads as this:

1. CPU Frequency Multiplier [25]
2. CPU Frequency Divider [1]
3. CPU Voltage [1.25]
4. MB Frequency Multiplier [10]

Why did it change the CPU Frequency Multiplier to 25? Isn't that ridiculously high? What about the other settings below it - are they okay? That's what I don't understand. I'll go run the stress test and post back. Thank you very much for the help!

Well, it looks like it failed the stress test quite miserably. Guess I won't be able to overclock without some better cooling. Anyhow, thanks again the the help.

Whoa! 60°C+ at that voltage and speed is really high even for a stock cooler. I'd say you've got something else going on there.

Is SmartFan turned off? If not, turn it off. If it was on, disabling it should bring down your temps.
(You should also turn off Cool'N Quiet but that's not related to the cooling issue.)

The next thing to try is taking the side off your case and using a room fan to blow air into the case. If that brings down your temps then you need to work on case airflow.

If that doesn't help then I'd suggest re-seating the heatsink.


I don't know what's going on with the multiplier. It's hard to tell looking at screen shots. OCCT is showing 2500 MHz regardless ...

After opening the case and preforming the test, it did slow it down somewhat. At 5 minutes instead of being nearly 65c, it was 60c. I read that the maximum operating temperature for the 9850 (it's a 125watt) is 61c, so maybe it's not all that abnormal, I don't know. It does start to make a humming noise when it gets that hot though.

I only use this system for Adobe CS4 applications and was hoping to get maximum performance out of Photoshop and so forth.

Could you possibly recommend a good heatsink or water cooler? I was looking at this one.

P.S. After typing this, I noticed that with the case open it's a little cooler than idle temps were before. Around 36c instead of 41.5c. Thanks again.

hollyw0od said:

Could you possibly recommend a good heatsink or water cooler? I was looking at this one.

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The AIO-S80DP isn't worth half of its price, cooling-wise. Coolers that are better AND cheaper:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Basically, any of the large, direct-contact heat-pipe designs that mount to a 120mm fan are more efficient, better-performing, and cheaper than Xigmatek's foray into miniature liquid cooling... On top of that, the fan is the only point of failure on the heat-pipe heat sinks. With the AIO, you have a pump to worry about not working, as well...

ETA : If you have a Microcenter nearby, they have the OCZ Vendetta 92mm heat-pipe cooler for $10. Definitely a "can't go wrong" type of deal. It's not the best out there, but it's quite good, and extremely inexpensive...

theflyingrat said:

The AIO-S80DP isn't worth half of its price, cooling-wise. Coolers that are better AND cheaper:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Basically, any of the large, direct-contact heat-pipe designs that mount to a 120mm fan are more efficient, better-performing, and cheaper than Xigmatek's foray into miniature liquid cooling... On top of that, the fan is the only point of failure on the heat-pipe heat sinks. With the AIO, you have a pump to worry about not working, as well...

ETA : If you have a Microcenter nearby, they have the OCZ Vendetta 92mm heat-pipe cooler for $10. Definitely a "can't go wrong" type of deal. It's not the best out there, but it's quite good, and extremely inexpensive...

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Wow, thanks for the info. I just ordered the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and some Artic Silver 5 thermal compund. Maybe this will solve the problem. I'll post back here here after it's installed.

It won't solve your problem completely since you've got some case airflow issues as shown by the room fan test. Look over your wiring to see if it's stopping air flow. You might also consider better case fans - especially the rear exhaust fan if you have any other vents in your case ...

QuietIce said:

It won't solve your problem completely since you've got some case airflow issues as shown by the room fan test. Look over your wiring to see if it's stopping air flow. You might also consider better case fans - especially the rear exhaust fan if you have any other vents in your case ...

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Hey you're right. I went ahead and ordered 2 APEVIA CF12S 120mm case fans at 63.85 CFM a piece. Hopefully that will do it!

Good stuff! Give that AS5 a few thermal cycles to set, then you'll really see your temps start to tumble. Both my X3 710s have Xiggy 1283s on them; the one at 3.6GHz loads at 41C, the one at 3.3 is at 39C full load. Both were 55C-60C with stock Phenom II coolers.

Hey guys!

Well, I got everything installed and the new heatsink appears to be working! It now idles at 35C, and at full load, it doesn't seem to go over 53C. Not sure how much I'll be able to overclock, but as someone else had mentioned, the Artic Silver 5 may need some time to set in. Everything was installed yesterday evening.

The only thing I'm not sure about is what to change in the 4 settings below. I think someone mentioned 2 of them (if they are still valid), but the CPU frequency divider and MB frequency multiplier is what I'm not sure about.

Thank you!

I ended up trying a few things on my own. Left the multiplier/voltage set to [auto], then changed the overclock mode to [CPU, PCIE, Async] — what the manual says to change, in order to support United Overclocking Technology.

Okay, so slowly I increased the bus speed in increments of 5, eventually reaching 245 (from the original 200). At 245, it wouldn't do a whole lot of anything. 240 started to boot Windows but rebooted before it could load. 235 booted the OS, then gave a blue screen, until finally reaching 230 which seems to be stable.

With the current settings it idles at about 36C, and at full load it doesn't seem to go beyond 58C.

I really only use this PC for Photoshop, Dreamweaver and perhaps other applications all at once, never any gaming or video editing. So I doubt if the CPU would ever reach a full load. But it sure is nice to have it get up and go when you need it to...and it is faster!

Perhaps at this point I'm looking for opinions about the current settings. Is it stable and safe? Thanks again for all of the great advice.

It's a 2.8Ghz now!

You really need to be on manual to OC.

Did you (can you?) set the RAM timings manually?

Is "0" an option for CPU Frequency divider?

Did you try lowering the "motherboard" down to 4 to see what that changes ...?

QuietIce said:

You really need to be on manual to OC.

Did you (can you?) set the RAM timings manually?

Is "0" an option for CPU Frequency divider?

Did you try lowering the "motherboard" down to 4 to see what that changes ...?

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From what I've been reading, overclocking through the FSB gives better overall performance, unless that's no longer valid.

I've also heard that most people with the Phenom 9850 are lucky to get to 3.0Ghz before running into stability issues.

So, unless you think there is a better way, I seem to be pretty happy with it at 2.8Ghz.

If you're happy, I'm happy ...!