Overclocking a Phenom, II 965 BE, How far can I go?

poco242 · Dec 14, 2013

I have been working with computers far many years, but never did my own build until now. I would just upgrade off the shelf PC's as I needed. I have always heard about over clocking but didn't know anything about it. I have been reading every chance I get, trying to learn about it.

As the title says I have a 965. As I type I have it running at 4.0 ghz. I have been running prime95 for 4 hours now, watching Netflix, and typing this with zero issues. My temp is around 50C. The thing that surprises me is the CPU is maxed at 100%, but I can still do many other things with no lag. Just how far can these things be pushed? 4.1ghz, 4.2ghz ??

My system and setup-

MB- Asus M5A97 R2.0
RAM - G Skill Sniper DDR3 2133 (2x4gb)
CPU - PII 965 BE
Cooler - Cooler Master 212+
C Drive, Samsung 840 SSD 250gb
GPU - Sapphire 7770 Ghz Edition
PSU - Corsair 500 watt
Case - Corsair Carbide 200R

Bios settings-

Multiplier - 19
VCore - 1.4V
FSB - 210
HTT - 2100
RAM V - 1.6V

All other voltages and settings are stock.
Oh, and my WEI score went up to 7.5 on the CPU and RAM....big woop

Mandrake4565 · Dec 14, 2013

You should have a read of this guide it is arguably one of the best Phenom II overclocking guides.

On Air you are probably going to be heat/Voltage limited before you are Mhz limited. For 24/7 overclocks 1.5 Cpu V is about as high as you'll want to go but you're going to want to keep the Core temps below 55-62c as well as the Cpu Socket temp. The Phenom II's can start to become unstable around 55c. Additionally, if you want to get the best performance out of it you'll want to also increase the NB Frequency, with that you'll have to add some more Cpu NB Voltage. Read the Dolks guide I linked it is very helpful.

poco242 · Dec 14, 2013

I have been reading through that guide. It is the best I have seen by far. I did increase my NB to 2100 (I think), but may need to go a little higher according to that guide. I have it printed out now so I can study it better. A ton of good info in there. I have a lot to learn considering 2 weeks ago I had no idea what a north bridge was

The thing is to figure out the names. My BIOS seems to use different names for things than the guide does.

Been on Prime95 another hour or so now and temps are around 48-49C now.

trents · Dec 15, 2013

Take digital pics of the overclocking sections of our bios and attach them with your posts. We will help you pick out what you are looking for.

poco242 · Dec 15, 2013

I will do that. I want to get 8 hours of Prime 95 in at the current settings first. The only time I have has a BSOD is when I tried to OC my GPU. It didn't take much to get it to become unstable. This CPU I have had up to 4.2 and ran prime for a few minuts with no trouble, but I chickened out and dropped it down. That was using AMD Overdrive. I don't use that anymore. Just BIOS after reading about the proper way to OC.

I will also say I once had my temp at 76c running the stock cooler before I knew better.(2 weeks ago) Even then no BSOD. I got a tough one.

trents · Dec 15, 2013

You can do screen captures while in bios with the F12 key I believe and then you can save them to a thumb drive. Or, you could use a digital camera.

Mandrake4565 · Dec 15, 2013

To really help us "see under the hood" you should do the following. Download Cpu-Z and Hwmonitor "non pro". Open Hwmonitor, run prime 20 minutes, then post screen shots of the Hwmonitor and the following tabs in Cpu-Z, Cpu, Spd and Memory. That information along with the screen shots Trents suggested, will give us a better idea of what is going on under load as well as help you with your settings. Additionally, can you create a signature like Trents and I have that follows your posts. It is helpful for us to see whats in the rig without scrolling back to the top of the page. Here is how to attach the pics.

poco242 · Dec 15, 2013

OK. I will do ll of that. I didn't have time today but will. I will say it passed the prime95 test for 8 hours with zero errors so it seems it is stable at 4ghz at my settings. I would like someone who knows more to take a look though. Also I did manage to figure out all of the voltages once I printed out the guide and used it for reference while looking at BIOS. There are a couple of settings I am not sure of so I will post as soon as I get a chance to play again.

I tried to upload the BIOS shots but they are too big. I will try a host.

poco242 · Dec 15, 2013

BIOS. I do not know what the 2 spread spectrum settings mean so I did not touch them.

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trents · Dec 15, 2013

Images are way too small for my eyes to make out the values.

poco242 · Dec 15, 2013

If you click on them they will open up full size.

poco242 · Dec 15, 2013

Screen shots after 20 min of Prime 95.

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RGone · Dec 15, 2013

Bios Images attached to forum as requested...

.

RGone...ster. :bang head

RGone · Dec 15, 2013

Makes answering about overclocking an AMD cpu easier.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU Core Temps; which are n0w called Package Temps, fully visible.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.

In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.

I uploaded all 5 of your bios files at one time after converting to jpg and not png so they are 1/3 the size of the png files. Just keep clicking on browse until you get all 4 files as requested above and click on paper clip to display them in the order of uploading.

poco242 · Dec 16, 2013

Here is the HW monitor pic after 20 min on Prime95-

poco242 · Dec 16, 2013

Here are the other 3 pics -

trents · Dec 16, 2013

Your core temps are approaching what we normally consider max for stability. We often quote 55c for that but some chips will be stable at 60c.

I would reduce the HT Link frequency one notch to make sure it won't be the cause of instability. This would have no material affect on performance.

My biggest concern is that you may be pushing the Memory frequency beyond what the CPU's integrated memory controller is designed to handle. Often we see that the Deneb core CPUs won't quite run the memory at 1600 MHz and be truly stable and you are up to 1684 MHz already.

What you need to do now is confirm that the system is stable by running a longer Prime95 blend test, say two hours.

Once you settle on a maximum CPU overclock you would do well to work in bumping up the CPUNB frequency to around 2500 mhz. That has a beneficial affect on memory performance. It would likely require you to add some voltage to the CPUNB however.

poco242 · Dec 16, 2013

I ran Prime95 for a full 8 hours with no errors. The temp showing only shows up for the first part of the test. After an hour or so it stayed right around 48-49. Not sure why, but the first hour is when it gets the hottest.

I was reading the article by Dolk. According to that article I should be upwards of 2500 on the CPUNB. I will play with that and maybe lower the FSB to get the memory under 1600 if I run into trouble.

I am very surprised by this CPU. I must have gotten a tough one because I had the temps at over 70 before I changed the cooler and it never skipped a beat.

trents · Dec 16, 2013

Yep, looks like you got a good one.

Mandrake4565 · Dec 16, 2013

poco242, you're doing all the correct things. The people on here can only lead you and help you along the way, it's really up to you to learn what your setup is capable of. Playing around with settings and running benches to see if you received and performance gains is the best way to figure out how good the overclock is. So keep doing what you're doing and ask any questions if you get a bit lost. Taking notes can be very helpful as well.

The Phenom II's are good chips and a lot tougher then most people give them credit. I have always liked to play around with my 955be, it is a lot of fun to overclock. Additionally it seems as some of the Phenoms can also run the memory a bit higher then 1600 stable, mine was able to run just over 1700 without a problem.

Overclocking a Phenom, II 965 BE, How far can I go?

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