OCing my AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE @4Ghz

[MattBrap]

I got a new cooler (Hyper 212) and I ran a AMD autotune test to overclock my CPU to 4Ghz and it works, as before I couldn't go over 3.7Ghz with stock fan. I got good temps while it was autotuning on 4Ghz, about 47-48C.
The thing I am asking for is I would like this to be more stable that just autotuning it, I want to know what kind of CPU Frequency, CPU Voltage, DRAM Voltage, and CPU/NB Voltage I need to run my CPU at 4Ghz. To do this I am using ASUS' TurboV program, and currently I have the CPU Ratios obviously at 4000Mhz, or 20X multiplier. I just need to know the above bolded things listed so I can run this CPU stable at 4Ghz.

Thank you very much.

 

[RGone]

1. I don't see the model of motherboard listed anywhere.

2. It is just about 95% or better that no two configurations respond to the exact settings of someone else.

3. It might be a good idea to just set the multiplier to 18x and then do as below to obtain a baseline from which to work.

4. 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.

 

[MattBrap]

Sorry, my system:
Mobo: ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X (Only one GPU).
CPU: AMD Phenom II Quad-Core 965 BE
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo
PSU: Coolermaster GX 650W
RAM: Corsair XMS3 16GB 1333Mhz (4x4GB)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Case: Coolermaster HAF 922
Sound: Onboard
HDD: 2x500GB Seagate. Not raided.

Now, what do you want me to do exactly, run Prime 95?

 

[RGone]

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.

Need the other three screen captures of the various listed CPUz screens also.

 

[MattBrap]

I done the Blend Test in Prime 95 without changing my multiplier from 20x to 18x, I kept it at 4Ghz.




This is what I resulted from the Prime 95 Blend Test using the cores clocked at 4Ghz(20x)


So, what do I need my CPU Frequency, CPU Voltage, DRAM Voltage, and CPU/NB Voltage in ASUS TurboV?

 

[RGone]

You need to update to a later, make that latest HWMonitor and check to see that Core Unlock/Core Control or ACC or similar is not enabled in bios. That way the CoreTemps which in newer and newest HWMonitor is called package temps will show up and not show as 0c.
RGone...

 

[MattBrap]

You need to update to a later, make that latest HWMonitor and check to see that Core Unlock/Core Control or ACC or similar is not enabled in bios. That way the CoreTemps which in newer and newest HWMonitor is called package temps will show up and not show as 0c.
RGone...

Update to the latest HWMonitor? 1.23 is the only highest version I can find, and the one I used during the Prime 95 test was HWMonitor 1.23. <----Forget

EDIT: So, I disabled the ACC and running my CPU still at 4Ghz(20x multiplier) and a 20 minute run of Blend mode on Prime 95 I got this:


So, now what will I have for my settings in ASUS TurboV?

 

[trents]

Your core temps are maxed out at 58c and it looks like you have pretty much found the overclock wall with your present cooling. Now run a longer Prime95 blend test (at least 2 hours) to confirm the settings are stable.

 

[MattBrap]

Same settings for my CPU, nothing changed, and done a Blend Test in Prime 95 for 2 hours:

 

[trents]

I'd call it good and start enjoying the new speed.

 

[azanimefan]

yeah. you aren't going any further with that chip. 58C on your core temps are right in the limits of what the Deneb can do... mine actually crashes if it has a constant 58C core temp (that's it's temp wall). Generally the Deneb is temp capped around 55C-60C...

your temps are alright for the voltage, so you have good contact with hyper evo 212. Your prime95 stable. i'd call it a day. about all you can do now is work on your NB/HT and Ram. You have DDR3 1333 ram, you'll need your NB up to 2600 to take full advantage of that ram. I'd work on getting your NB up to that point and see if you can't stabilize that a bit.

 

[MattBrap]

yeah. you aren't going any further with that chip. 58C on your core temps are right in the limits of what the Deneb can do... mine actually crashes if it has a constant 58C core temp (that's it's temp wall). Generally the Deneb is temp capped around 55C-60C...

your temps are alright for the voltage, so you have good contact with hyper evo 212. Your prime95 stable. i'd call it a day. about all you can do now is work on your NB/HT and Ram. You have DDR3 1333 ram, you'll need your NB up to 2600 to take full advantage of that ram. I'd work on getting your NB up to that point and see if you can't stabilize that a bit.

Alright, so I went into my BIOS to do this but the entire section for the CPU is greyed out. I have ASUS Turbo V and it has a setting where you can change the DRAM Voltage, and CPU/NB Voltage. Is that the same thing, and what voltage would I have to put it on to get the NB at 2600Mhz?

Thanks for your guy's help so far.

 

[azanimefan]

Alright, so I went into my BIOS to do this but the entire section for the CPU is greyed out. I have ASUS Turbo V and it has a setting where you can change the DRAM Voltage, and CPU/NB Voltage. Is that the same thing, and what voltage would I have to put it on to get the NB at 2600Mhz?

Thanks for your guy's help so far.

TurboV doesn't really deal with HT/NB overclocking. Nor would i suggest you use it to achieve an overclock. Head into your bios.

I just looked at your mb's manual, your bios is surprisingly similar to mine, so it shouldn't be too hard to walk you through this. Head to the advanced tab, chose jumper free configuration; go to cpu overclocking and change it to manual

make sure your cpu configuration is the same, x20 multiplier, 1.4500vcore ~ then head down to CPU/NB frequency, and bump the frequency up from it's stock 2000 to 2200, save and exit, see if your system is prime95 stable. if you blue screen you might need to bump the cpu/nb voltage or even just the basic nb voltage a small bit. Setting this asside, keep doing this till you've got your nb frequency up to 2600mhz... if you can only stabalize it at 2200-2400 then stop there... but play with it and see if you cant get it to 2600... that way your ram will be interfacing with your cpu at it's best speed.

If you want you can even play with the HT frequency and HT voltages as well. But thats up to you. I've read it can make a difference on cpu performance, but my system isn't stable with the HT over 2000 so i don't know for sure.

 

[MattBrap]

Aright well I put the CPU at 20x (4ghz) and the CPU overvoltage at 1.45000 and the CPU/NB to 11x(it didn't say whether that was 2200 so I just looked at what multiplier 2200 would be under CPU). When I restarted it crashed, so possibly I need to up the VDDNB voltage? And how much should it be? I can't tell because it says auto.

 

[azanimefan]

Aright well I put the CPU at 20x (4ghz) and the CPU overvoltage at 1.45000 and the CPU/NB to 12x(it didn't say whether that was 2200 so I just looked at what multiplier 2200 would be under CPU). When I restarted it crashed, so possibly I need to up the VDDNB voltage? And how much should it be? I can't tell because it says auto.

mmm... your power options are a little less detailed then mine in my bios... but yeah. use the VDDNB, it should be stock at 1.3875 (at least that's what my cpu/nb voltage is on my computer, and from what i know this is set by the cpu you're using). use the +- keys to bump it one step. save and restart. see if you can load into windows and run prime. As for your cpu/nb... it's a multiplier * your FSB speed. Since your fsb speed is 200 (or should be) a multiplier of 11 should bump you up to 2200 speed on your CPU/NB.

 

[azanimefan]

EDIT: my bios doesn't use the VDDNB "label" There should be 3 nb voltages somewhere in your mb settings... i'm looking at the bios now to figure this one out.

CPU/NB
NB
NB 1.8V

give me a minute to reason this one out before you play with this much.


EDIT: ok, i got some of this figured out...

Your VDDNB is likely the CPU/NB voltage, so i'm not wrong (i think, this one should be at 1.3875V stock in the bios)
Your Chipset Over Voltage is likely your NB voltage. that one should be at 1.1V stock Double check it in the bios to make sure i have it deciphered correctly.

those two are probably all you need to play with anyway for clocking up your NB

 

[MattBrap]

So, I have it at 11x still and getting blue screen at start. I have to bump up both the VDDNB and Chipset Over Voltage?

Edit: The VDDNB I currently have is 1.225 with the Chipset Over Voltage on auto still.

 

[azanimefan]

So, I have it at 11x still and getting blue screen at start. I have to bump up both the VDDNB and Chipset Over Voltage?

yeah. i'm not 100% certain the vddnb = cpu/nb and the cov = nb... but it looks like that's the most likely assignment. The nb 1.8v option isn't a common one, and i don't see a vdda in your bios setting... and if a bios doesn't have a vdda setting it probably won't have a nb 1.8v setting.

understand, once you start to play with the cpu/nb (or vddnb in this case) you'll start to bump the temps on your cpu a little. So lets leave that one for a moment alone... and see if bumping the chipset over voltage (nb) can't stabilize you.

So, I have it at 11x still and getting blue screen at start. I have to bump up both the VDDNB and Chipset Over Voltage?

Edit: The VDDNB I currently have is 1.225 with the Chipset Over Voltage on auto still.

that confirms the VDDNB is the CPU/NB... now i'm feeling pretty good about it. Ok... first of all your VDDNB is too low. the stock setting for your cpu is 1.3875, bump it up to that, then go into your Chipset Over Voltage (COV) and give it a small bump to 1.2V see how that works for you. If you still blue screen, try pushing the VDDNB up one step to 1.4000V; chances are you won't need to bump your VDDNB up much if at all while pushing your NB frequency up a little. it's more sensitive (in my experience) to the COV (nb) voltage.

 

[azanimefan]

Well, I put the COV up and I booted up with no issue on 11x. I am at 12x now with COV at 1.5v.

oh... yeah... your cov shouldn't be that high... i'm pretty sure 1.3 or 1.4 is about as high as you want to take that (i'm not sure i ever set mine higher then 1.28V).

If you need to push that much voltage through it, you might want to try a small bump in the vddnb and see what happens to stability. You might be able to back down that voltage a bit and accomplish the same thing. NB clocking is funny and temperamental. don't go too fast or far with it.

My system really doesn't like a nb higher then 2400mhz... i'm sure if i wanted to take a week playing with it i could get it higher... but its a quick and easy change for me to get it to that point, and everything is stable, so it doesn't seem like it's worth the fight to take it further.

 

[MattBrap]

Well. I think this all I need is my CPU to be. The RAM I think is good and don't need to Overclock it as I am running into Bluescreen too much, and I don't want to bump things up too much and screw something up. Besides, I will be upgrading my RAM, GPU and CPU next year so I don't have to worry about OCing the RAM. The main focus I had was the CPU and the Overclock is working for that. The RAM I will worry about getting a faster RAM next year, higher than 1333Mhz.

I thank all of you for helping me figure out to correctly do this. I learned a lot too how to correctly OC a CPU as I didn't know before.
Azanimefan, I thank you too for helping me understand a lot more about the BIOS and especially the RAM stuff. I just don't feel comfortable over clocking so much of the voltage for stuff and risk screwing something up. But thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to help me understand this stuff better.

Thank you all!