Voltages for Overclocking a Phenom 965 B.E.

aznrichboy23 · 08-09-10, 07:39 PM

I was looking into my bios and I planned on overclocking my CPU just by slowly raising the FSB or multiplier, but realized that I was being held back by the voltage that the "Auto" setting gave me.

The bios showed me these categories of voltage to be modified.
CPU PLL Voltage
DRAM Voltage
DDR VTT Voltage
NB Voltage
NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage
CPU NB VID Voltage
CPU Voltage

I know what CPU and NB voltage is, but everything else is just mumbo jumbo to me. Could someone please tell me what these mean and what voltage I should put on each category? Thanks

Devourment · 08-09-10, 07:47 PM

If your just ocing your CPU, only raise the CPU voltage. For my overclock (4Ghz), ive start at 1.5v and i lower it until BSOD. Quickest way around, lol. Besides, only up your multiplier, because FSB will oc your memory too, and i dont think that you want this...

aznrichboy23 · 08-09-10, 07:56 PM

What about the NB?

Devourment · 08-09-10, 07:57 PM

You should oc it a bit too, at least 2400. Depending on your rig, maybe no voltage increase will be needed. But like the CPU you might want to up it a crank or 2.

aznrichboy23 · 08-09-10, 08:13 PM

How much did you increase the FSB and multiplier by?

velozzity · 08-10-10, 02:12 AM

Question is do you want your processor to last or not, is this going to be a 24/7 overclock and what type of cooling do you have???

Me myself after asking the same thing a few months ago, at least the voltage part, I ended up putting 1.44v thru the cpu and 1.26v thru the northbridge-cpu at 3.8ghz and 2600mhz respectably with my c3revision 965. The important part is, is it stable. By stable i mean have you ran prime 95 or occt for an extended amount of time followed by gaming or whatever else you normally do that would give your computer a workout. My clock speeds have been verified with 24+ hours of prime 95 followed by a prime 95/furmark run of about 2 hours to test total system stability, but my system is for gaming so i didn't want it freaking out while running some intensive game. I will say though that the great thing about black edition cpu's is the fact you can raise all the various bus'es independantly without moving the HT (reference clock) from 200mhz. So what i would do is set it on something like 1.45v for cpu and 1.25v for the cpu-nb or just slightly over (that is max recommended cpu-nb for our cpu) and see how 4.0ghz cpu speed (20x multi) and 2.0nb cpu speed goes while running prime blend. If it errors out quickly drop the multi .5 and try 3.9 if that stays relatively stable for a while (a few hours) start upping the cpu-nb speed to something like 2.6ghz (13x multi) and see if it remains stable again for a few hours. Key is make sure you get a relatively stable system while working on the cpu speed before messing with the cpu-nb, that way you are'nt guessing as to what is causing the errors. once you have the cpu and cpu-nb in the 3.8-4.0 cpu speed and the 2.4-2.6 cpu-nb speed range and stable for 2 hours or so try extended testing (12+ hours). If something fails prime note whether it is a large fft or a small fft. Large ones usually indicate memory or cpu-nb instability and small fft usually indicates cpu instability. If it fails one or the other raise the voltage for the respective component (cpu-nb vid if it fails large fft and cpu volts if it fails small fft) just a hair (.01) If all goes well you should end up with a stable system after a day or so of playing around with the system and if a notch or so of voltage does'nt help you may just have to lower to the next lowest .5 multi and use the FSB to compensate (fill the gap between an unstable 3.9 and a stable 3.8 cpu speed for example)

I forgot to mention temps, make sure while monitoring temps with something like coretemp that you stay below 55c (that is the temp which most Phenom II
processors become instable) and preferably in the sub 50 range. With a prolimatech megahalems and (2) 120mm coolermaster blademaster fans running at (pull) 1200 and (push) 950rpm respectably i get max of 51c under extended stress testing. My setup is a little odd since i did not want to run 2 fans off same fan header and i ended up running 1 off of cpu fan header with variable speed from 1200 rpm-1600rpm (the pull fan) and the other push fan is connected to a system fan header and runs a constant 950rpm (75% setting in bios)

This is a time consuming process that is not exactly easy but at least you learn alot about your system and its limits in the process. just don't add any crazy amount of voltage and you should be fine.

QuietIce · 08-10-10, 09:51 AM

I like to go from the bottom up instead of the top down. I start off at 1.35 vCore (CPU voltage) and see how high it will overclock raising the voltage as needed. You should also keep a close eye on your load core temp using OCCT or Prime95+CoreTemp to monitor that. If your load core temp gets into the low- to mid-50s you may start to run into stability problems that more vCore can't help.

CPU PLL Voltage 2.5v (seldom needs changing)
DRAM Voltage stock voltage + 0.05v
DDR VTT Voltage half the DRAM voltage
NB Voltage This is chipset specific and your chipset wasn't specified (what chipset/motherboard do you have???)
NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage 1.8v (this seldom needs changing)
CPU NB VID Voltage 1.200v to start not to exceed 1.250v*
CPU Voltage (vCore) 1.350v to start not to exceed 1.450v*

*vCore and cpuNB VID will both increase load core temp. You should use load core temp as a guide to how much vCore and cpuNB VID you can use.

PS
If you haven't read it yet I suggest browsing through Dolk's Guide ...

aznrichboy23 · 08-10-10, 01:33 PM

Velozzity, I do want this to last at least 3 years. When you mean 24/7 overclock do you mean my computer will be on 24/7, or will the overclock always be applied when I turn on my computer? My cooling as of now is Arctic 64 pro, but I am getting a Zalman 9700 very very soon.

QuietIce · 08-10-10, 01:51 PM

The Zalman is not a very good option unless your case is very restrictive or you're getting it free ...

aznrichboy23 · 08-10-10, 04:07 PM

well what do you think is the best CPU cooler that HAS LEDs?

Devourment · 08-10-10, 04:39 PM

Just get any cooler (good one) and replace the original fan with one that have LEDS. My coooler works really good my overclock (4,1Ghz, @1,450v) never goes over 51-52 (hours of occt and prime). Idle @ 36-37(summer time). Ive swap the fan with a UltraKaze fan. I got the cooler for 40$CND. Fan for 6$CND.

Great LED fans (green, blue, red) : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-063-_-Product

Nice budget cooler: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-003-_-Product

Best: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835242001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...5143&Tpk=yasya

aznrichboy23 · 08-10-10, 04:54 PM

well I got my zalman 9700 for only 29$ and all of these seem pretty expensive.

Devourment · 08-10-10, 06:52 PM

Well the Xigamtek s1283 is 28$ and perform better than Zalman... I personaly hate Zalman, if you overclock, they fail.

aznrichboy23 · 08-10-10, 08:08 PM

Ooh that sounds like a good choice. It seems to get better reviews than the 9700. Is it possible to mount a second fan on the otherside of the xigamtek?

Devourment · 08-10-10, 08:52 PM

yes

velozzity · 08-10-10, 09:07 PM

What i really meant and have probably used a term out of context when stating 24/7 is do you want to set your overclock in the bios and then just leave it for the entire time you own your computer or just use it from benching/apply it thru AOD only when running certain apps, if it is the first option that is what i was referring to by 24/7, basically a overclock setting that you would feel safe to use even if you never turned your computer off... mine stays on for about a good 16-18 hours a day and has never blue screened nor had any game crash etc.

Oh and about your question about coolers with leds, most if not all coolers and fans with led's are for looks only (e.g. a cheap engineered fan with bling added to make it sell better) and the better ones usually dont have them (note noctua fans and some of the scythe ones also, there are other brands that people will recommend that dont have led's either). However you can buy a high end heatsink like the TRUE or Venemous X (i think you need mounting bracket on both) or the Prolimatech megahelams (also need arm-02 amd adapter) like i did and choose whatever fan you want led or not.

aznrichboy23 · 08-10-10, 10:07 PM

Well I couldnt afford the prolimatech or the noctura, so I ended up buying a xigmatek s1283 and hope to add another 120mm fan on the other sides where one fan pulls air in, the other pulling air out.

Devourment · 08-11-10, 04:50 PM

i say good call!

Devourment · 08-11-10, 04:51 PM

but ull get better results if u swap the fan with a scythe ultra kaze fan!

08-09-10, 07:39 PM	Thread Starter #1
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	Voltages for Overclocking a Phenom 965 B.E. I was looking into my bios and I planned on overclocking my CPU just by slowly raising the FSB or multiplier, but realized that I was being held back by the voltage that the "Auto" setting gave me. The bios showed me these categories of voltage to be modified. CPU PLL Voltage DRAM Voltage DDR VTT Voltage NB Voltage NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage CPU NB VID Voltage CPU Voltage I know what CPU and NB voltage is, but everything else is just mumbo jumbo to me. Could someone please tell me what these mean and what voltage I should put on each category? Thanks
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-10, 07:47 PM	#2
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	If your just ocing your CPU, only raise the CPU voltage. For my overclock (4Ghz), ive start at 1.5v and i lower it until BSOD. Quickest way around, lol. Besides, only up your multiplier, because FSB will oc your memory too, and i dont think that you want this... __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-10, 07:56 PM	Thread Starter #3
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	What about the NB?
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-10, 07:57 PM	#4
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	You should oc it a bit too, at least 2400. Depending on your rig, maybe no voltage increase will be needed. But like the CPU you might want to up it a crank or 2. __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-10, 08:13 PM	Thread Starter #5
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	How much did you increase the FSB and multiplier by?
	QUOTE Thanks

Voltages for Overclocking a Phenom 965 B.E.

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08-10-10, 02:12 AM	#6
velozzity Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Athens, Georgia	Question is do you want your processor to last or not, is this going to be a 24/7 overclock and what type of cooling do you have??? Me myself after asking the same thing a few months ago, at least the voltage part, I ended up putting 1.44v thru the cpu and 1.26v thru the northbridge-cpu at 3.8ghz and 2600mhz respectably with my c3revision 965. The important part is, is it stable. By stable i mean have you ran prime 95 or occt for an extended amount of time followed by gaming or whatever else you normally do that would give your computer a workout. My clock speeds have been verified with 24+ hours of prime 95 followed by a prime 95/furmark run of about 2 hours to test total system stability, but my system is for gaming so i didn't want it freaking out while running some intensive game. I will say though that the great thing about black edition cpu's is the fact you can raise all the various bus'es independantly without moving the HT (reference clock) from 200mhz. So what i would do is set it on something like 1.45v for cpu and 1.25v for the cpu-nb or just slightly over (that is max recommended cpu-nb for our cpu) and see how 4.0ghz cpu speed (20x multi) and 2.0nb cpu speed goes while running prime blend. If it errors out quickly drop the multi .5 and try 3.9 if that stays relatively stable for a while (a few hours) start upping the cpu-nb speed to something like 2.6ghz (13x multi) and see if it remains stable again for a few hours. Key is make sure you get a relatively stable system while working on the cpu speed before messing with the cpu-nb, that way you are'nt guessing as to what is causing the errors. once you have the cpu and cpu-nb in the 3.8-4.0 cpu speed and the 2.4-2.6 cpu-nb speed range and stable for 2 hours or so try extended testing (12+ hours). If something fails prime note whether it is a large fft or a small fft. Large ones usually indicate memory or cpu-nb instability and small fft usually indicates cpu instability. If it fails one or the other raise the voltage for the respective component (cpu-nb vid if it fails large fft and cpu volts if it fails small fft) just a hair (.01) If all goes well you should end up with a stable system after a day or so of playing around with the system and if a notch or so of voltage does'nt help you may just have to lower to the next lowest .5 multi and use the FSB to compensate (fill the gap between an unstable 3.9 and a stable 3.8 cpu speed for example) I forgot to mention temps, make sure while monitoring temps with something like coretemp that you stay below 55c (that is the temp which most Phenom II processors become instable) and preferably in the sub 50 range. With a prolimatech megahalems and (2) 120mm coolermaster blademaster fans running at (pull) 1200 and (push) 950rpm respectably i get max of 51c under extended stress testing. My setup is a little odd since i did not want to run 2 fans off same fan header and i ended up running 1 off of cpu fan header with variable speed from 1200 rpm-1600rpm (the pull fan) and the other push fan is connected to a system fan header and runs a constant 950rpm (75% setting in bios) This is a time consuming process that is not exactly easy but at least you learn alot about your system and its limits in the process. just don't add any crazy amount of voltage and you should be fine. __________________ MSI P55-GD80 I7 875k @ (160 x 25) 4ghz @ 1.336 (load) 4GB (2 x 2) Patriot Gamer Edition 1600mhz ddr3 (8-8-8-25 2t) Prolimatech Megahalems with Gentle Typhoon 1850's push/pull Antec 900 custom painted with S-Flex throughout WD Caviar Black 1TB ~ Zotac Gtx 580 Antec Signature 850 Last edited by velozzity; 08-10-10 at 08:36 AM.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 09:51 AM	#7
QuietIce Disabled Join Date: May 2006 Location: Anywhere but there	I like to go from the bottom up instead of the top down. I start off at 1.35 vCore (CPU voltage) and see how high it will overclock raising the voltage as needed. You should also keep a close eye on your load core temp using OCCT or Prime95+CoreTemp to monitor that. If your load core temp gets into the low- to mid-50s you may start to run into stability problems that more vCore can't help. CPU PLL Voltage 2.5v (seldom needs changing) DRAM Voltage stock voltage + 0.05v DDR VTT Voltage half the DRAM voltage NB Voltage This is chipset specific and your chipset wasn't specified (what chipset/motherboard do you have???) NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage 1.8v (this seldom needs changing) CPU NB VID Voltage 1.200v to start not to exceed 1.250v* CPU Voltage (vCore) 1.350v to start not to exceed 1.450v* vCore and cpuNB VID will both increase load core temp. You should use load core temp as a guide to how much vCore and cpuNB VID you can use. PS If you haven't read it yet I suggest browsing through Dolk's Guide ... Last edited by QuietIce; 08-10-10 at 09:58 AM.*
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 01:33 PM	Thread Starter #8
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	Velozzity, I do want this to last at least 3 years. When you mean 24/7 overclock do you mean my computer will be on 24/7, or will the overclock always be applied when I turn on my computer? My cooling as of now is Arctic 64 pro, but I am getting a Zalman 9700 very very soon.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 01:51 PM	#9
QuietIce Disabled Join Date: May 2006 Location: Anywhere but there	The Zalman is not a very good option unless your case is very restrictive or you're getting it free ...
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 04:07 PM	Thread Starter #10
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	well what do you think is the best CPU cooler that HAS LEDs?
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 04:39 PM	#11
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	Just get any cooler (good one) and replace the original fan with one that have LEDS. My coooler works really good my overclock (4,1Ghz, @1,450v) never goes over 51-52 (hours of occt and prime). Idle @ 36-37(summer time). Ive swap the fan with a UltraKaze fan. I got the cooler for 40$CND. Fan for 6$CND. Great LED fans (green, blue, red) : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-063-_-Product Nice budget cooler: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-003-_-Product Best: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835242001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...5143&Tpk=yasya __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 04:54 PM	Thread Starter #12
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	well I got my zalman 9700 for only 29$ and all of these seem pretty expensive.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 06:52 PM	#13
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	Well the Xigamtek s1283 is 28$ and perform better than Zalman... I personaly hate Zalman, if you overclock, they fail. __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 08:08 PM	Thread Starter #14
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	Ooh that sounds like a good choice. It seems to get better reviews than the 9700. Is it possible to mount a second fan on the otherside of the xigamtek?
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 08:52 PM	#15
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	yes __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 09:07 PM	#16
velozzity Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Athens, Georgia	What i really meant and have probably used a term out of context when stating 24/7 is do you want to set your overclock in the bios and then just leave it for the entire time you own your computer or just use it from benching/apply it thru AOD only when running certain apps, if it is the first option that is what i was referring to by 24/7, basically a overclock setting that you would feel safe to use even if you never turned your computer off... mine stays on for about a good 16-18 hours a day and has never blue screened nor had any game crash etc. Oh and about your question about coolers with leds, most if not all coolers and fans with led's are for looks only (e.g. a cheap engineered fan with bling added to make it sell better) and the better ones usually dont have them (note noctua fans and some of the scythe ones also, there are other brands that people will recommend that dont have led's either). However you can buy a high end heatsink like the TRUE or Venemous X (i think you need mounting bracket on both) or the Prolimatech megahelams (also need arm-02 amd adapter) like i did and choose whatever fan you want led or not. __________________ MSI P55-GD80 I7 875k @ (160 x 25) 4ghz @ 1.336 (load) 4GB (2 x 2) Patriot Gamer Edition 1600mhz ddr3 (8-8-8-25 2t) Prolimatech Megahalems with Gentle Typhoon 1850's push/pull Antec 900 custom painted with S-Flex throughout WD Caviar Black 1TB ~ Zotac Gtx 580 Antec Signature 850
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-10, 10:07 PM	Thread Starter #17
aznrichboy23 New Member Join Date: Aug 2010	Well I couldnt afford the prolimatech or the noctura, so I ended up buying a xigmatek s1283 and hope to add another 120mm fan on the other sides where one fan pulls air in, the other pulling air out.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-11-10, 04:50 PM	#18
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	i say good call! __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

08-11-10, 04:51 PM	#19
Devourment Registered Join Date: Jul 2010	but ull get better results if u swap the fan with a scythe ultra kaze fan! __________________ Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 rev.2.1 - F6 BIOS PhenomII 965@4100Ghz, 1.450v / Scythe Yasya/Ultra Kaze fan NB@2800 4Gb G.Skills Ripjaws & 4Gb OCZ Platinum@1600Mhz, 7-7-7-21 1T HD 5870 XFX XXX Corsair TX750 Antec 902 120Gb SSD OCZ Agility 2 1TB Seagate 7200 Storage
	QUOTE Thanks

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