My first build 955

[vega2]

Hello everyone. A friend gave me a coolermaster tower and some other components so i decided i would make my first build. The MB he gave me was a bit old (asus m2n-e sli rev 1) so i bought:

Gigabyte 78lmt-usb3 £35
Phenom ii 955 black edition £50
zalman cnpa 990 max £31.48
Corsair XMS3 Classic 4GB CMX4GX3M1A1600C11 - £32.56
Crucial mx100 128gb £59.99

This is the first time i put one together so i thought id go with not so up to date stuff but still good enough for me(i dont really play games yet). Putting it together went well except i
found mounting the heatsink required a little too much pressure to start the screws for my liking however ive read that this is normal for this heatsink/bracket. Also i suppose the force gets spread across the whole socket?

Strait away i wanted to overclock it so i upped the multiplier in steps to 3.6 GHz. The next step is where i started having problems. I read dolks guide and tried to understand as much as possible. I basically concluded that i needed to

increase cpu core voltage in steps
increase cpu-nb frequency (not to create bottleneck) and voltage
Increase ram voltage or lower frequency and lower timings
Use prime95 to check for stability

Obviously i know there is more to it than these basic steps but this is where i started my first attempts.
I found it quite easy to get to 3.7 Ghz but i cant remember my settings/temps.

Now at 3.8 Ghz I have:

CPU-NB 2.4 Ghz
HT Link 2.2 Ghz
Ram at 1600 Mhz 11 11 11 30

CPU volatge 3.8
CPU-NB 1.2 volts
Ram voltage 1.53

Idle cpu temp: 25 C
Prime95 peeks at 42 C

I ran prime 95 for about an hour and everything seems stable so im happy but
my Question is do these setting seem good to you?
I want to get the optimum Settings for 24/7.
In the beginning i increased the cpu-nb voltage and the ram together and then later i thought maybe i didnt need the increase in ram voltage but that
was actaully keeping me stable.

Ive tried altering the ram timings to make it easier to increase cpu speed but it doesnt seem to have any benefit. Im not sure having the HT link at 2.2 Ghz is really helping. My temps seem really good but is my cpu voltage a little High? I want the best performance overall so its not just about cpu speed?

If anyone could could help me tweak my setup to get the best overall performance that would be brilliant!

 

[Mandrake4565]

vega welcome to the forum.

Screens shots are more telling of whats going on inside. So if you could download Hwmonitor and Cpu-Z, open Hwmonitor and run prime blend 20 minutes. Then post screen shots of Hwmonitor and the following tabs in Cpu-Z, Cpu, Spd and memory. Host the pics using the inforum tool, which is in the "go advanced" posting screen then click on the paper clip to load them.

 

[vega2]

Screen Shots

I took the screens again this time with hwmonitor. All this time I didn't actually realise that tmpin2 was actually the cpu tempreture. Now the temps seem a little high but im sure you guys could help me optimise my settings.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Ok so things look ok, the one issue is this. Most of us that run AMD chips on this forum and help others out use Hwmonitor, not Open Hwmonitor. Reason being is that way we can all be on the same page. Nothing wrong with Open Hwmonitor but I don't see what the voltages are doing under load, like I would with Hwmonitor. So if you could, use Hwmonitor it will be easier for us to see the readings we know.

I will assume that the Temperature #3 is your core temp and the temperature #2 the socket. They are both under the recommended max temps of 62c. Though you do not have much headroom to go higher. Some of these Phenom II's will get a little wonky around 55c. Therefore, the first thing I would do is see if you can pass two hours of prime blend at these settings. If you cannot pass two hours of blend, I would do is raise the command rate on your Dram timings to CR 2T it is set at CR 1T right now. If it does pass, see if you can raise the NB Freq to 2600, then re run the test for two hours.

When overclocking for 24/7 stability it can be a time consuming process, but if done correctly it is well worth it. A suggestion is take notes of the changes you make. These 955 be's are great chips to learn how to OC on, they tend to be a bit more forgiving then a lot of the chips I own/owned, I learned on one as well and still own it.

I will be heading off to bed and be back on in the morning to answer any question you have.

 

[trents]

Manny,

The core temps are in the core temp section, not the TMPINx section. On most Gigabyte boards the socket temp is TMPIN2 but on some it is TMPIN1. In his case the two are so close together it really doesn't matter.

Vega2, we consider passing a 2 hr. Prime95 blend stress test to be the standard for confirming that your overclock settings have given you a stable machine. So, if you have not done so I would run that long test with the current settings before making any other changes. Your temps look good and may be able to stand another bump in CPU voltage if necessary. At any rate, most of those 955 CPUs max out at 3.8-4.0 ghz when overclocking.

 

[Mandrake4565]

The core temps are in the core temp section, not the TMPINx section. On most Gigabyte boards the socket temp is TMPIN2 but on some it is TMPIN1. In his case the two are so close together it really doesn't matter.

Thanks Mr. T but the screen shots above were edited, they were originally Open Hwmonitor not Hwmonitor.

 

[trents]

Ah! I see. The old image switcharoo trick!

 

[Mandrake4565]

Ah! I see. The old image switcharoo trick!

Indeed he's just trying to trick us