[bunnyslayr]

I have been overclocking my AMD Phenon II x4 955 BE and I'm getting stable results at 3.9 GHz and 1.5250 V without touching the NB. I really want to get it up to 4.0 GHz or a little above. I tried 4.0 GHz on 1.55 V (the highest BIOS allows) and it was extremely unstable. But here's the problem with the NB:

I can up the frequency only one step. If I increase it any more, Windows fails to load and whenever I restart, I get only a black screen. I need to wait like 5 minutes to turn the computer on again and reset the NB frequency. The same problem occurs if I increase the NB voltage at all.



Could it be a problem with my motherboard? It was a budget build and this one might be kinda cheap, but I don't know if that would have an effect at all.

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD

Thanks for any help-I'm pretty new to the overclocking thing, but I'm loving it

[Efonzerellie]

You might not be raising the correct voltage. Sometimes there are different NB voltage in the BIOS. CPU/NB is what you are looking for. Keep a close eye your temps because it will raise it

[Bobnova]

Yup, CPU_NB is the voltage for the memory controller/CPUNB, give it a little bit extra and see what the NB will do clock wise.
AMD really needs to rename the motherboard NB.

[Seebs]

A few suggestions/questions/requests before I(we) can help you get where you want to.

- Download the following programs and install them:
-- CPUz -> http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.59-setup-en.exe
-- HWMonitor -> http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.18-setup.exe
-- Core Temp -> http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Once you have installed those programs.
- Run 3 instances of CPUz. Set one to the Main tab, one to the Memory Tab and the last one to the SPD tab (make sure that in the SPD tab the drop down menu is set to one of the slots where you have your RAM installed).

- Open CoreTemp to the main window.

- Take a screenshot of your desktop with those programs running. PrntScn button on the keyboard does the trick. Save that screenshot with MSPaint, or any other graphics SW you have and upload it here.
Post a reply on this thread with that image so that we can see what settings you have running at the moment. Once we have that information we will be able to help you.

PS: There are two different NB Voltages. For 4GHz; you will need to raise your CPU-NB frequency and that means you will need to raise your CPU-NB Voltage. Not the NB Voltage; they are different things.

[bunnyslayr]

So I guess I lied. My processor is NOT stable at 3.9. It's at 3.7. I can't seem to get it stable at 3.8 without increasing the NB either. That seems a bit different from other people's results, but oh well. One other thing: I'm running with stock cooling, but it seems to be working fine. My temps aren't getting too high, but I wish to upgrade soon.

My BIOS doesn't have the option to change the NB/CPU voltage, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

[Seebs]

I guess your motherboard actually uses NB to refer to the CPU-NB. The setting you're going to want to adjust is that NB Frequency Multiplier and the NB Voltage you show on the BIOS picture.

You forgot the CPUz instance with the memory tab and we need that one to see other crucial information on your system.

If you look at the CoreTemp window; you'll see that part where it says CPU VID and it reads 1.45V. That is what the CPU was found to "need" to be able to function properly at stock speeds during quality testing. That means that your particular chip will likely need more voltage than others in order to function properly at the speeds you wish to run it.

I would suggest raising the NB Frequency to 12 for 2400MHz frequency and raising the NB Voltage from 1.1V to 1.15V.
Keep the CPU Frequency multiplier at 18.5 for now.
Run son testing with Prime95. Run a Blended test of it; if the computer crashes you know you'll need more volts.


Oh and please find the time to give this guide a read. It has most of the information you need in order to successfully overclock your CPU>

[bunnyslayr]

Well before, I had the voltage set wrong. That's why I could only get it to 3.7. It's now at 3.9. I tried increasing the NB clock to 2400 on 1.15v like you suggested, but I couldn't really get it stable until I increased the voltage to 1.2. Then I tried putting the cpu multiplier to 20 from 19.5 and it crashed after two minutes of prime95. So now I really want to increase the NB voltage to somewhere around 1.25 and set the NB clock to 2600 to get the cpu multiplier up to 20, but that seems like a lot of voltage.

EDIT:

Ok, after about a half hour on the above stable (I thought) settings, I got the BSOD again, so I brought the NB down to 2200 from 2400 and 1.15v from 1.2v.

On that guide you gave me, It talked about it being really hard to get to 4.0Ghz on stock cooling. Do you think that could be the problem? When I was running prime95 with my cpu at 3.9Ghz/1.55v and NB at 2400/1.2v, I was reaching temperatures as high as 64.

**FIRST is BEFORE the BSOD, SECOND is AFTER**
Sorry I forgot the SPD in the first...It BSOD on me before I got to fix it.

[Seebs]

Originally Posted by bunnyslayr

On that guide you gave me, It talked about it being really hard to get to 4.0Ghz on stock cooling. Do you think that could be the problem? When I was running prime95 with my cpu at 3.9Ghz/1.55v and NB at 2400/1.2v, I was reaching temperatures as high as 64.

Do yourself and your chip a favor and back it down to stock speeds and voltages while you are on the stock cooler. Those things are not designed to hold the kind of heat that the chip starts to put out once you overclock it.
I would suggest looking into an aftermarket heatsink for your CPU before you continue on your adventures. The last thing you want to do is damage it because the cooling was not strong enough to hold it at acceptable temperatures.

[Bobnova]

Anything over 55c is generally bad for OCing on PhII cpus.

[bunnyslayr]

Great. Thanks, guys. Will this one work with my case and mobo? I'm not sure whether or not it's too big.

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176

NZXT M59 - 001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146058

Do you think then I will be able to reach 4.0Ghz+?

[Seebs]

The Hyper212 is about 6.3" tall, your case is 7.48" wide. It would be cutting it close, but I think it would fit.