AMD Phenom II x6 1055T Thuban 2.8ghz Overclocking Help

[trents]

Also, I wonder if you applied the thermal paste correctly. A common mistake with beginner builders is to apply an excessive amount which creates an insulating effect. Thermal paste is less than 100% conductive so the more of it there is the more it insulates. You should put only enough on to create a thin layer of coverage. A blob about 3 mm in diameter is about right. Then don't spread it with your fingers or a credit card or whatever people tend too use. Just allow the pressure of the heat sink clamp to spread the blob between the two flat surfaces like a drop of water spreads between two glass plates.

Got to get ready for work now.

 

[AntBoogy90]

What is the NB frequency (CPUNB)? There were a few names with NB in front of them, and i wasn't sure which one you were referring to in case i need to lower its multiplier. It must be a different name in my BIOS and Overdrive.

So far, i've been getting temps of about 61-62°C steady with 230 HT ref. 8x multiplier @ 1.40v cpu voltage. It's gotten me up to 3.2ghz.. which is what i overclocked to last time, except it was overheating, so i think i managed to do that pretty well. I've kept the HT Link in between 1800-2000Mhz. I let Prime95 do its thing for 20 mins and things have been good so far.

I'm going to continue increasing until i hit the 65°C mark and i'll post up screenies when i get to that point.

Also, i might have put too much thermal paste then.. hahaha, this is the first PC i've ever built.

 

[AntBoogy90]

Also, considering that i might have botched up the thermal pasting.. how would you go about making it even? I'm sure the stock thermal paste is cheap and would wear rather quickly, especially after what i use it for (gaming). Would you consider I get something like Arctic 5 thermal paste and re-apply?

 

[AntBoogy90]

Nevermind my question about the NB Frequency, i found it.. CPU NorthBridge Frequency in my BIOS, i couldn't find it in Overdrive. I had to lower it closer to 2000Mhz, just like you said, and that helped with the temperatures.

Also, which reading would be more accurate.. Core Temp or HW Monitor? They both have slightly different temp readings, Core Temp is about 2°C less than HW Monitor.

 

[trents]

Good thermal paste can make a difference of a few degrees sometimes. I would suggest either Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX 4. They are both excellent products and economical. You can get a 3 gm tube for about $5 for AS5. AS5 has a curing time and you will see about a 2 C. drop in temps after about 24-36 hours of continuous computer use.

Before you apply the new paste, however, make sure you clean the old off of both HS and CPU face. The best cleaner is a paper coffee filther because it has a sheen to it and doesn't leave behind insulating fibers like soft cloth, paper towels or Kleenex. Coffee filters are cheap too! Start wit a dry one to remove the excess paste and finish up with one slightly moistened with isopropyl alcohol.

Personally, I prefer HHMonitor over CoreTemp because HWMonitor gives so much more info, including CPU temps and other motherboard sensor temp readings. But a lot of people on the forum swear by CoreTemp.

65 C. is a "safe" temp but it probably will not prove to be a stable temp as you get into higher overclocks. A stable temp is more like 55 C. (core temp, not CPU temp) at higher levels of overclock.

 

[trents]

Also, considering that i might have botched up the thermal pasting.. how would you go about making it even? I'm sure the stock thermal paste is cheap and would wear rather quickly, especially after what i use it for (gaming). Would you consider I get something like Arctic 5 thermal paste and re-apply?

Definitely. Make it even? If you mean spreading it to get an appropriately tick layer, please go back and read my earlier post. Don't try to spread it with anything. Let the clamping pressure spread the paste evenly between the two flat surfaces. Just put a small blob in the center, about 3 mm in diameter, a little bigger than a BB.

 

[AntBoogy90]

Good thermal paste can make a difference of a few degrees sometimes. I would suggest either Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX 4. They are both excellent products and economical. You can get a 3 gm tube for about $5 for AS5. AS5 has a curing time and you will see about a 2 C. drop in temps after about 24-36 hours of continuous computer use.

Before you apply the new paste, however, make sure you clean the old off of both HS and CPU face. The best cleaner is a paper coffee filther because it has a sheen to it and doesn't leave behind insulating fibers like soft cloth, paper towels or Kleenex. Coffee filters are cheap too! Start wit a dry one to remove the excess paste and finish up with one slightly moistened with isopropyl alcohol.

Personally, I prefer HHMonitor over CoreTemp because HWMonitor gives so much more info, including CPU temps and other motherboard sensor temp readings. But a lot of people on the forum swear by CoreTemp.

65 C. is a "safe" temp but it probably will not prove to be a stable temp as you get into higher overclocks. A stable temp is more like 55 C. (core temp, not CPU temp) at higher levels of overclock.

I see. Very useful info, i'll remember all of this when i'm performing maintenance. There was a problem after 235 HT Ref.. Windows Startup Repair came up after i set the HT Ref to 240, i had the choice of launching Windows normally or repair.. i reverted my HT Ref back to 235. Strange though, i believe that's a hard drive disk issue. Anyways, I've managed to overclock it to 3.3ghz with everything stock. I think i might leave it here until i get the proper cooling and tools. I've given it a 20 min stress test and here's how it turned out.. i took these while it was still in full load..







I think this is as far as i'll go.. i got extremely cautious when the Windows Startup Repair came up.

 

[trents]

Your dram frequency jas gotten too high. Look at what its running currently under CPU-z memory tab and compare that to its rating as displayed under the JEDEC to the right in the SPD tab. You need to go into bios and lower the base memory speed if you want push the CPU higher when you get better cooling and ventilation.

 

[AntBoogy90]

Your dram frequency jas gotten too high. Look at what its running currently under CPU-z memory tab and compare that to its rating as displayed under the JEDEC to the right in the SPD tab. You need to go into bios and lower the base memory speed if you want push the CPU higher when you get better cooling and ventilation.

How do i do that? Is that where all that timing stuff is at in the BIOS? I think it said like DRAM Configuration or something along those lines.

Right above that it says "Set Memory Clock" with a few multipliers. I lowered that from 6.66x to 5.55x.

Is the frequency supposed to be within the JEDEC readings?

 

[trents]

Are you mostly overclocking from bios or using software cheaters?

 

[AntBoogy90]

Are you mostly overclocking from bios or using software cheaters?

Mostly from the BIOS.. i have no problem doing it because my restarts are pretty fast. I've only used Overdrive to monitor a few things while Prime95 was running.

 

[trents]

Yes, memory speed dividers are found in bios. Ram frequency is one the things that increase autmatically as you overclock the system bus. If you start the ram at its top rated speed its frequency will soon grow to the point where it is unstable. Start it at 533/1066 instead of 666/1333.

Edit: Note the typo. Changed from 544 to 533. Its hard to type on a 4" android tablet.

 

[AntBoogy90]

Unfortunately, i am confused lol. What exactly am i setting? I went into DRAM Configurations and i didn't find anything like "666/1333" to change.

I could take a few pics of my BIOS if you'd like.. i was digging around everywhere to find what you were talking about. I'm gonna go take another look.

 

[AntBoogy90]

So basically just set the Memory Clock to 5.33x? That's the option, among others, but i believe that's the one you're referring to, because i see no sign of the other number "1066". I set it to that. I'll post up what my CPU-Z says now..

 

[trents]

Here it is. Called Memory Clock in your bios. Choose a higher (I believe) multiplier which, I believe will give you slower memory speed. Sorry for the confusion. Biososes vary tremendously in the terminology they use and the way they have things set up. With more experience you will be able to wade through terminology and sniff out what you are looking for. But that awaits getting a better grasp and feel for the concepts themselves. Again, more experience will take care of that.

Also, please put the system information you included in post #1 in your Sig so that it travels with every post.

 

[AntBoogy90]

Ah, so i was right. Thanks for clarifying btw.. you've been really helpful this entire time. I'm grateful.

 

[trents]

5.33x200=1066 where 200 is the stock system bus speed. You now have it at 236 so your ram speed with the 5.33x setting would be 5.33x236=1257 mhz (approximately). Its just different ways of expressing the same thing. Is it beginning to make any sense?

 

[AntBoogy90]

AHHHH, yes.. it's the multiplier for a reason! Multiplied by the FSB to get the RAM frequency.

It's starting to make sense now. Why was my earlier setting wrong? You mentioned the JEDEC reading and the Memory reading, saying that the frequency was too high.. what made you say that? I just want a grasp on this, so that i also can pick up on what you picked up in the future.

 

[trents]

You got it! Sometimes its called the divider because you can also look at it in terms of t he ratio of the memory speed to the CPU frequency (or as I like to call the CPU frequency, the "system bus" which is also known as the HT Reference and the fsb or "front side bus"). Lots of terms to learn, huh?

 

[trents]

By the way, CPU-z reports memory speed at half the DDR3 transport rate because it's reporting in terms of the memory bus speed (ugh! Another term!) which is a more basic idea. That's why I expressed it as 533/1066.