945 95W C3 OC questions...

So I'm running a C3 stepping 945 95W on a Biostar Ta780GM2+ with 4x1 Patroit PC228500ELK memory and a 4850.

For a heatsink, I decided to ditch the stock 945 cooler for the one off my Phenom 9600 with the nice copper base and big fan. Today I idle at ~38 and peak about 51 as measured in coretemp.

My goal is just to max the stock voltage OC and be 100% stable.

I had a couple questions.

What sort of temperature envelope should I try to stay within? What is the reasonable max temp I could run and still get a reasonable lifespan out of the chip (2 years).

What sort of OC should I expect at stock volts?

If I keep temperatures within the envelope stated above, could I go for a voltage increase on stock cooling?

Thanks for your help in advance!

you don't want to exceed 80 degrees. other than that you are bueno my man. Making a cpu last 2 years is easy even with a heavy oc. Reasonably I would say keep it between 50C and 60C on idle.

Slash621 said:

For a heatsink, I decided to ditch the stock 945 cooler for the one off my Phenom 9600 with the nice copper base and big fan. Today I idle at ~38 and peak about 51 as measured in coretemp.

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That seems a bit hot to me. I would expect those kind of temps post OC, not prior. What kind of airflow have you got going?

Slash621 said:

What sort of temperature envelope should I try to stay within? What is the reasonable max temp I could run and still get a reasonable lifespan out of the chip (2 years).

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Why do you expect the chips lifespan to be so limited?

I've seriously overclocked everything I've owned, 100% since 1997 (Asus P55T2P4 + P120 @ 166 [2 * 83]) and they all still run.

Slash621 said:

What sort of OC should I expect at stock volts?

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10-20% has been my experience with multiple Phenoms.

Slash621 said:

If I keep temperatures within the envelope stated above, could I go for a voltage increase on stock cooling?

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Sure, why not?

Jarl? 80DEGREE for a Phenom II Never never never.
Temps should be always below 55 on an O.C phenom II higher will mean a not stable systems. these chip dont like to run at 60C
Spend 50$ on a high end air cooler. and o.c it!

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023
Read Dolks Guide.

80c and lower is for intel chips

Well. All i need to do is get a bracket for my XP-90c.

not really...
Gaming does not take advantage of HT...
And anyway dont want to start a fight. If you are gaming u better going amd u will safe money to buy a better graphic card. most of the game are Gpu depending not CPU...

Guys lets not let fanboyism start a flamewar.

As for the OP try and stay below 60c with an OCed CPU. Myself I don't like going above 50c full load with an OCed CPU.

^oh jarlmaster...

Well on stock volts im guessing at 1.375 you can reach up to 3.3-3.4ghz. I'm not familiar with the X4 945, 95W. So i guess logically u might want to put more amps after 2-3 mulitplaying.

You didnt mention you used OCCT or prime95. I would probably stress it for an hour and print screen your CPU specs (i.e. CPU ID, core temp, and prime 95 or OCCT post trials. GIve it an hour or so...)

As for temps--the x4 AMDs should avoid 50C temps. My temps at full load are 44C Max, OCCT (stress software), 2-hour duration, 3.5ghz at 1.4Vcore volts.

Whats your air flow like? case?

"For a heatsink, I decided to ditch the stock 945 cooler for the one off my Phenom 9600 with the nice copper base and big fan. Today I idle at ~38 and peak about 51 as measured in coretemp." what was on your phenom 9600?

Slash621 said:

So I'm running a C3 stepping 945 95W on a Biostar Ta780GM2+ with 4x1 Patroit PC228500ELK memory and a 4850.

For a heatsink, I decided to ditch the stock 945 cooler for the one off my Phenom 9600 with the nice copper base and big fan. Today I idle at ~38 and peak about 51 as measured in coretemp.

My goal is just to max the stock voltage OC and be 100% stable.

I had a couple questions.

What sort of temperature envelope should I try to stay within? What is the reasonable max temp I could run and still get a reasonable lifespan out of the chip (2 years).

What sort of OC should I expect at stock volts?

If I keep temperatures within the envelope stated above, could I go for a voltage increase on stock cooling?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Click to expand...

Typically the Phenoms like to be no more than 55°C at Prime95/OCCT load. Anything higher than that usually starts eating into the OC potential of the CPU.

It's not usually heat that kills a chip long-term, it's voltage, but if the CPU gets too hot (65-70°C loaded core if I recall) it could be a VERY short-lived CPU.

My 940BE clocked to 3.52 GHz from 3.0 GHz stock at 1.36v and I'd say that's pretty typical. The 955/965s tend to clock somewhere between 3.6-3.7 at stock volts and I've seen some exceptional clocks a little higher than that ...

[B said:

Slash621[/B]]My goal is just to max the stock voltage OC and be 100% stable.

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Clockspeed, voltage, and temperature are all related to each other one way or another, I've not owned an AMD chip in years so I can't contribute specifics. I would definitely use a stability testing program like prime 95. If Prime95 fails then you'll need to either decrease the clockspeed, decrease the temperature (better cooling), or increase the voltage (remember increasing voltage increases heat output). Determining which of those 3 things to do can be a little tricky especially if you just dive right in and set a super high voltage and super high frequency and expect 100% stability. I am a big advocate of taking baby steps while overclocking. If you make smaller steps in your quest to find the optimum settings, there is alot less risk of damaging something. For example, if I were to set my CPU's voltage to maximum and tried to boot it up, not only is there great risk of destroying the silicone gates on the cpu die with the huge voltage potential but the chip would easily be running at well over 100c (if it could run at that high of a temp and be stable that is). You should make small increments and only bump voltage when it's required. You will learn alot about what settings will make your computer stable and which settings wont and also you will only end up needing the amount of voltage to make your chip stable instead of setting it to max.

jarlmaster47 said:

Trolling removed by muddocktor

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A game that can only use 2 cores will not benefit from more cores. Hyperthreading does in fact decrease performance in games (when the cpu is the bottleneck) because most games are not designed to utilize the extra cores HT provides.

jarlmaster47 said:

Trolling removed by muddocktor

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This comment and the other one have no useful contribution to the discussion. Please stay on topic or the mods may get ya for trolling.

QuietIce said:

Typically the Phenoms like to be no more than 55°C at Prime95/OCCT load. Anything higher than that usually starts eating into the OC potential of the CPU.

It's not usually heat that kills a chip long-term, it's voltage, but if the CPU gets too hot (65-70°C loaded core if I recall) it could be a VERY short-lived CPU.

My 940BE clocked to 3.52 GHz from 3.0 GHz stock at 1.36v and I'd say that's pretty typical. The 955/965s tend to clock somewhere between 3.6-3.7 at stock volts and I've seen some exceptional clocks a little higher than that ...

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OH wow 3.52ghz on stock volts! nice chip. are you using 64-bit windows because to get a stable 2-hour OCCT i need my vcore to be at 1.4Vcore. Nice...

SO voltage can reduce the life--not heat? so im at 1.4V core what do you estimate my life is on the X4 940Be OC @ 3.5ghz full load 45-46C, playing Bad Company 2 for an hour half brings it to 43C.

jarlmaster47 said:

yea yea muddocktor I get it. I was going to apologize but since you insult me by calling my posts a pile of krap, and granted they were, in front of everyone I rescind any attempts at apologizing. YOU should get an infraction for insulting me like that. And you say I'M trolling.

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^ lol vacation time =)

shotokun16 said:

OH wow 3.52ghz on stock volts! nice chip. are you using 64-bit windows because to get a stable 2-hour OCCT i need my vcore to be at 1.4Vcore. Nice...

SO voltage can reduce the life--not heat? so im at 1.4V core what do you estimate my life is on the X4 940Be OC @ 3.5ghz full load 45-46C, playing Bad Company 2 for an hour half brings it to 43C.

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I use XP Pro on every rig except my HTPC - I use Vista Ultamate64 on that one for it's video add-ins - so, not 64-bit. Loaded core temp of 40°C or about +18°C ambient. Haven't really tried juicing it yet, I'm waiting for my computer center rebuild to change it over to water before I do that.


Usually it's voltage that reduces active life-span of electronics. Heat can also play a part if it's too high - like pushing the design limit a lot - but overall it's high voltage. The K8's run years at +0.2 vCore but AMD has changed it's method of posting specs. 1.30-1.35v was the range for K8's but we all knew they would take much more than that. Phenom vCore range is huge by comparison so I'd still limit vCore to 1.5-1.55v full-time at the far upper end and treat 1.35v as stock ...

@jarlmaster47
The moderator was criticizing the quality of your recent posts, not you yourself. Please PM the mod and discuss the matter privately. The moderators do not take kindly to trolling around here and you are not making a very good case for yourself by making a large scene. The moderators work tirelessly without any pay to maintain these forums and sometimes they can make mistakes just like you and me. I guarantee you that you are going to be 1000 times more successful resolving the matter if your respectfully and maturely work towards a resolution than making a large scene. This is not just true on these forums but throughout life.

To expand on the voltage and heat issue, If you want to see a real example where overvoltage has killed many processors, look no further than "Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome"

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115166

In contrast, I ran my i7 CPU at 90c 24/7 3 months straight, that was several months ago since I had it running that hot but it still works to this day. Of course the intel chips are designed to run much hotter than AMD.

Just to clarify some of the questions..

I am using a stock cooler from a Phenom 9600 on my 945. The 945 stock cooler looks tiny and is made of worse materials. The 9600 sink is huge with copper and 3 heatsinks in comparison.

I am thinking of ordering a AM2+/AM3 bracket for my old XP-90C which should MORE than cool this chip.

I do use prime95 AND OCCT. I had great success at 3.4ghz until temps hit ~54C and now I think my real ceiling is keeping it under that temperature. I'm going to try just setting the existing fan to MAX first however.