[pgneon]

Hello everyone, I am new to the community and to OCing so bare with me. I been reading a lot of post regarding OC to 3.8 on a AMD 955 and most of them reach such speed with not much voltage. My system is running a AMD 955 Rev C2, OC to 3.8 with x19 multiplier, CPU voltage of 1.53v (anything less it crashes after 30 min) NB 2400.
I am using an H50 with push/pull fans and my CPU will idle 32-34 C, Gaming about 44-47 C and movie encoding about 53-55c. Prime95 30 min 54-56c

Are those settings correct? isnt the voltage too high for the clock? shouldnt the H50 run a little cooler than that? Sorry about the many questions I just dont want to blow up my stuff.




CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Rev C2 | MB: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe | RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB DDR3 1600 | CPU FAN : Corsair H50 (push/pull Scythe fans) | PS: Thermaltake 850W | Case: Cool Master RC-590

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


From what settings you showed they look about right. You're OC'ing a C2, not C3, so the voltages will be a little higher for that speed. It looks like everything is on the green! How's your RAM speed and timings?

The H50 is a fine cooler if you can't fit in a 120mm tower cooler but it's really not all that great. It does have an advantage over air to some extent in regular use (not 24/7 load) since the water takes awhile to heat up and come to equilibrium. That gives you overall lower temps during, say, a gaming session where an air cooler would max out fairly quickly ...

[pgneon]

I have not played with RAM speed or timings at all.

[Marshmallow64]

Welcome!! Have you taken a look over at Dolk's guide yet?

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=596023

[Seebs]

Get these programs
CPU-z
HWMonitor
Both can be found here: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares.html

Run them and take screenshots of the HWMonitor information and the CPU-z "CPU" and "Memory" tabs...

Post your screenshots here; that way people in the know can have an idea of what your setup is like and give you more detailed advice.

Also take the time to make a signature with your computer components so that people know what you're running from the get go.

That would make it much easier for you to get help here.

[QuietIce]

Originally Posted by pgneon

I have not played with RAM speed or timings at all.

Grab CPU-Z and post screen shots of the Memory and SPD tabs (the CPU tab wouldn't hurt, either). That will show what the speed/timings/voltage should be and where there might be room for improvement.

[pgneon]

[Seebs]

Here's the first thing I notice...

You seem to be running 3 x 2GB stick of RAM... Isn't your motherboard rated for dual channel ram (2 sticks or multiples of 2 at a time)? I would guess that having three might hurt your performance, but I'm not an expert.

One more thing... Do the 955BEs really need that much voltage? Again, not an expert on this, but 1.56V seems high for 3.8GHz.

Your temperatures... Are those idle temps? Or load temps? You may be able to get lower temps if you lower your core voltage... Again, not an expert on this yet.

Maybe someone more experienced with the PII X4s can give you more detailed advice.

Sebastian

[pgneon]

Isn't your motherboard rated for dual channel ram (2 sticks or multiples of 2 at a time)?

not sure, CPUZ shows dual channel but I am not sure.

1.56V seems high for 3.8GHz.

where does it show 1.56? I only see 1.537 and I also think is a little much but this is the reason I am asking

Are those idle temps? Or load temps

those are idle. The next screen is after playing some BC2

Now I made some changes after I checked some more posts and cpuz, NB speed was at 2200, now at 2400. Cpu/NB Voltage is at 1.175. RAM speed is at 1600. Now all these were changed in the BIOS.

[QuietIce]

OCZ Plats - good choice! You don't have to use kid gloves with that RAM.

Start by setting the timings to 7-7-7-24, the speed to 667 MHz (1333), and the vDIMM (RAM voltage) to 1.65v then reboot and run 15 min of P95 Blend. If that passes change the vDIMM to 1.70 and the speed to 800 MHz then run P95 Blend again for an hour, at least.

[pgneon]

ok, the RAM passed the 15 min blend test from prime 95 at 667 speed with 1.64v (couldn't use 65) So Tried the 800 speed at 1.70v the test stopped 2 workers within minutes. here.

[Seebs]

Sorry about the 1.56V thing... It was a typo... Late last night and I was tired.

@ QuietIce: That ram is Triple Channel... And the board is Double Channel... Any advantage to using them on his setup? Any disadvantage? Risk of instability?

[QuietIce]

Originally Posted by pgneon

ok, the RAM passed the 15 min blend test from prime 95 at 667 speed with 1.64v (couldn't use 65) So Tried the 800 speed at 1.70v the test stopped 2 workers within minutes. here.

As xXSebaSXx has already hinted that third stick of RAM could be a source of instability at 800 MHz but 667 MHz @ CAS 7 is nothing to sneeze at.

Instead of increasing RAM speed see if you can change the cpuNB to 2600 with the RAM running 667 MHz @ CAS 7. The performance that way should be very close to the same as 2400/800 @ CAS 7. If that doesn't work would you consider pulling one stick of RAM to try for 800 @ CAS 7 again?

Originally Posted by xXSebaSXx

@ QuietIce: That ram is Triple Channel... And the board is Double Channel... Any advantage to using them on his setup? Any disadvantage? Risk of instability?

I know, I linked the triple channel kit in post #10.


It's running in dual channel so I didn't say anything about it. The extra stick could be causing instability at 800 MHz though.

[pgneon]

ok, i'll try 2600 and run prime for a bit. if that doesnt work I will take 1 out and test at 800 and cpunb at 2400.

like what xXSebaSXx said, would I benefit from 1 more stick ?

[QuietIce]

It's more RAM so it depends on what it is you do. I'm sure Windows will eat up more RAM if it's available, which should make the OS a hair faster, and some apps will use memory based on the total available so they would be a little faster, too. Overall you won't see much difference, though, unless you're using Photoshop with big pics or have large CAD files or process long videos.

[pgneon]

so 2600 cpunb didnt work. prime failed after a few minutes. I removed 1 stick. changed it to 800, 2400cpunb and 1.70v and it ran prime for 1 hour 20 minutes (until I stopped it) my CPU temp peaked at 57c and stayed around 55 -56.

[saphic]

Hi i looked over some of my everest results for benching 2gb 0f 800mhz low latency giel set at 4,4,4,12 as opposed to 4gb of 800mhz set to default 5,5,5,18 using the 2x1gb giel and a 2gb stick of corsair basic value ram.
mem read 2x1gb=7525mbs
" " 4gb=7074mbs
mem wright 2x1gb=7817
" " 4gb 7817
So if ddr3 follows ddr2 in a similar fashion i would opt for the tighter timings and remove one stick of ram.
Your temps look good im seeing 48% max in cupid is that correct?
Could you explain what vin1 means in cupid as my cpu voltage is shown where that is on your last screen of cupid.
Regards

[pgneon]

So if ddr3 follows ddr2 in a similar fashion

I am not sure if DDR3 follows DDR2 in the same way

Your temps look good im seeing 48% max in cupid is that correct?

48 degrees was max on TMPIN0
my Core Temp was 56c max. except on the last prime test (not shown) I reached 57 but it stayed at 55-56 for most of the time.

Could you explain what vin1 means in cupid as my cpu voltage is shown where that is on your last screen of cupid.

I dont know where this VIN1 reads from at 1.74v if you look at the other screens it changes to 1.94v

[QuietIce]

Originally Posted by pgneon

so 2600 cpunb didnt work. prime failed after a few minutes. I removed 1 stick. changed it to 800, 2400cpunb and 1.70v and it ran prime for 1 hour 20 minutes (until I stopped it) my CPU temp peaked at 57c and stayed around 55 -56.

I was afraid the cpuNB would need more voltage, which you can't add, to run that fast. But if you can run the RAM at DDR3-1600CL7 that's fine, too!

[saphic]

Your temps are still ok but i wouldn't let them get any higher as the max is 62 deg for the 955.