Do I have more room to overclock?

Hey everyone! I'm new to overclocking but I think I'm close to where I want to be, I've already learned what an unstable overclock was the hard way and I'm still learning, since I live by trial and error, but I don't want to do actual damage, even answering is very appreciated!

My highest stable OC so far is 3.8GHz on the Phenom II X4 965BE using the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 cooler with 1 push fan, since the rear case exhaust is very close to the cooler's opposite side, acting as a pull. I heard it was a very good processor of it's kind for gaming so I went for it since it was on sale for $84. When I first started after I got my new cooler, I decided to go from the stock 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz in the BIOs. That ran just fine and I've had no issues, but then I found AMD OverDrive and tried 4GHz, raising it slowly, and did a stability test, as soon as it started, the program crashed and the gadgets on my desktop started glitching up and OverDrive had missing text and weird window sizes and always force closed. I rebooted then raised it to 3.8GHz from 3.6GHz and I didn't think about doing a stability test for some strange reason, Bioshock Infinite crashed after about 30 minutes, showing the same glitchy symptoms from before after force closing that, even Steam had missing text. I once again rebooted, but raised to 3.8GHz again plus raised CPU voltage from 1.45 to 1.5 and did a stability test for an hour, it finished without any problems. Here is an image of the Core Temp gadget below with the temperatures. This screenshot was taken 3 minutes before the test ended.



And here are my current settings on AMD OverDrive. If you know whether I can or can't, that would be awesome!

1. Core Temp only gives a temp reading for the "core" temp and we usually by monitoring with free HWMonitor also look at the Socket temp called cpu temp on some boards other boards have the cpu temp camoflauged as TMPxxx.

2. We almost without fail suggest strongly against windows overclocking with software. Crashes and worst of all strange oddities in windows can plague some users.

3. 51c seems okay for a 'core temp', now called "package temp" in HWMonitor. Some used to see errors on the Deneb core processor at around 55c and you are not far from that point for a 'core temp'.

4. For me personally you seem fine at this point. Further incremental speed increases by trial and error are all that one can do where you are with P95 Blend testing at each increase for stability sake. 2 hours P95 Blend stable is usually the least time we would consider to be a pretty strong indicator of stability.

5. If you are actually "using" the 1.5Vcore during cpu load it is normally suggested that about 1.525Vcore be a pretty good limit for the Vcore. There again free HWMonitor has the ability to monitor Now/Min/Max Vcore as well as the same for both of the temps that are important overall.
RGone...

According to AMD types at Tom's Hardware 1.5v is the max voltage for the 965BE.

tigurius said:

According to AMD types at Tom's Hardware 1.5v is the max voltage for the 965BE.

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That so-called safe max Vcore swings and changes, depending on where you are. When actually beginning to over-volt, the situation honestly is all bets are off. Everyone who asks what is a safe Vcore max is trying to shift the blame for a failure off on someone else anyway in all honesty.

I have reduced "myself" the Vcore that I will use on my FX-8350 because I have a "good one" and I see no reason to compound the risk that it might fail. Should I have just a mediocre one, then yes, the Vcore would be greater in all likelihood.

When overclocking, the user must decide how much he wishes to risk in doing the deed. That is not something anyone else can do for them. And is why I have now reduced the limits of my Vcore on what I feel is my really good FX-8350. Others are free to do what they decide is best for them. I must do what I have decided.
RGone...

Rgone.
Like he said every chip is different The OP has his 965 up to 1.5v for 3.8GHZ for me I can get 3.9something on 1.46. But if I try to crest the 4.0 mark it takes alot more Vcore to get me there. To me that extra vcore just isn't worth it to get another 60 or 70 MHz out of a chip. I've had this puppy for a long time and I intend to keep it.

Either way safe voltage is hand in hand with temperature. Some extreme OC'ers pump alot more than 1.55v into a chip and it doesn't kill it. But they have the means to keep it cool like DICE or LN2 or a really good water loop.

Now my FX8350 unlike Rgones specimen isn't the cream of the crop. To go form 4.5 to 4.64 I had to bump it from 1.4v to almost 1.47v which is a huge jump in voltage but that's my chip and it never goes over 50°. I'm sure that Rgone has his alot lower. But my point is, almost every chip has a point where you need a really large bump in Voltage to go faster. It's up to you if you feel comfortable running it like that 24/7.

There really is no "safe" limit, If it blows up I only have one person to blame.

^+1 FTW^

tigurius said:

According to AMD types at Tom's Hardware 1.5v is the max voltage for the 965BE.

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This isn't Tom's Hardware it's OVERCLOCKERS! More V Coreeee!!!!

Mandrake4565 said:

This isn't Tom's Hardware it's OVERCLOCKERS! More V Coreeee!!!!

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"If you ain't livin on the edge you're taking up too much space"

Tom's Hardware overclocking techniques are very basic, I've noticed and show a lack of familiarity with AMD architecture. For instance, you never see them do things like tweak the CPUNB or combine frequency with multiplier overclocking to get the most out of the CPU. They are so biased against AMD they seem not to care to do it right.

TyMiles2012, that Hyper TX3 is not adequate for a good overclock on that CPU and if all you are using is the AMDOD stress test to check for stability then I would not trust that your overclock is truly stable. The AMDOD stress test is wimpy. Truly test the stability of your overclock with a Prime95 blend session at least 2 hours long. And as RGone said, start using HWMonitor to get a more complete picture of what's going on with temps.

trents said:

They are so biased against AMD they seem not to care to do it right.

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Gee is it really that obvious
And Trents is absolutely right about AMD Overdrive. You really should just uninstall it. Nothing but headaches