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

[RGone]

I never set anything on the memory. That is just how the BIOS set it. I may be wrong, but isn't duel channel used with 4 sticks of memory? I only have 2. Could I have then installed wrong? Both on the same channel? I put them in the first 2 slots next to the CPU. One blue and one black slot. I know when I put it together I wasn't sure on that.

Single vs Dual channel on that AMD board should be determined by HOW you have placed the memory in the slots for the memory. I bet you have 2 sticks sitting in ram slots side by side and that is normally Single channel.

In the mobo manual it shows which slots are to be used for Single and Dual channel "before" you get to 4 sticks. For most maybe not all AMD boards it is begin with slot closer to cpu for one stick of ram and then skipping one slot and putting the second stick in, sets Dual channel ram mode. Check your manual for accuracy of that statement.
RGone...ster.

 

[poco242]

Actually my manual did not show it. I looked many, many times, but you are correct, I did install them in a single channel. I will fix that tonight and start retesting.

 

[Johan45]

Most of the new ASUS boards it's slot 2 and 4 ( A2, B2) for dual channel with only 2 sticks. This information is in the manual either just before or after the QVL memory list. Just looked at your manual in section 1-9 is where you'll find it. and it is 2 and 4

 

[poco242]

I will look again.

 

[RGone]

Copied pics from your manual...

I made a note: on that captured image. Mnaual shows to begin inserting dual channel (2 sticks) in the mem slot second from the cpu, but I have found it just as effective to use the slot closest to the cpu and better if using multiple speed ram. FYI. The MAIN thing to remember is to use two sitcks in the SAME colored memory slots for dual channel.
RGone...

 

[poco242]

OK. I fixed the RAM and did some testing again. I tried both the 4.21Ghz and 4.32Ghz and both passed prime for 2 hours. I don't think it is going to make any difference. At least nothing negative. I will test the 4.38Ghz when I get home from work tonight. If it passes I will keep going up.

 

[Mandrake4565]

OK. I fixed the RAM and did some testing again. I tried both the 4.21Ghz and 4.32Ghz and both passed prime for 2 hours. I don't think it is going to make any difference. At least nothing negative. I will test the 4.38Ghz when I get home from work tonight. If it passes I will keep going up.

 

[davedree]

Great news that it's not affecting stability, If you were messing about with the cpu-nb and ram speed and timings, you would have seen a big drop in bandwidth from dual to single channel.
Keep the updates coming.

 

[poco242]

I did mess with the NB quite a bit, but kept the ram speed below 1600mhz. I still need to try 4.38ghz so I am not home free yet. It did boot fine and I ran some benches at 4.38Ghz so I am hopeful. So far I have been just going for max CPU freq. Once I find that then I will back down to the best stable speed and mess with the RAM.

I am thinking maybe I should get some different ram. I have the GSkill Sniper. From what has been said it is not the best RAM for my setup. I wonder if there would be much benefit in switching it to somthing with tighter stock timings? If so what one? They have about 50 different Ripjaw models it looks like.

 

[RGone]

Well ram has gone way up in price compared to before Christmas at the Egg. So I would try and establish in my mind if I was going to move to an FX processor or not. An FX processor "coming" would surely change "my" ram recommend.

Plus you should decide if this ram thing is for fun or work. If fun I would look at 2x2gig kit and get some much tighter timings.

Buying ram for tighter timings alone is just probably not money well spent if not doing some heavy heavy work on the rig. Strokes for folks though.
RGone...

 

[poco242]

I do plan on building another rig for an FX6300 so I will need ram anyway. I ordered a processor already. It dropped to $99 on Amazon the other day so I had to pull the trigger. Getting a Sabertooth next. I am just not sure what to get for RAM. So many choices.....

 

[RGone]

This if you have any thoughts of going FX processor. At 1.6V on am I can run CAS8 with it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550&ignorebbr=1
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-8GAB

This will run on FX and probably overclock pretty well, but DDR3-1866 is for sure my best for FX processor so far. Most DDR3-1866 will run DDR3-2000 and that is where I normally run on my FX. BUT the ram has heat-spreaders on it so be aware of that...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231536
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-8GBXM

RGone...

 

[poco242]

Everything I did so far is fine. Up to 4.38Ghz. I am trying for 4.4Ghz and keep getting a BSOD. Code 124 and code 3B. Both point to VCore needing to be upped. I am at 1.524 under load right now. I think I am going to call 4.38 my best stable and just go for the highest I can get and run SuperPi. I am concerned about upping the voltage more. Is there a big risk running at 1.55V ? Just for a few hours of Prime95? This has been such a good chip I would hate to smoke it now. Temps are still not an issue.

 

[RGone]

1.5125 Vcore would be my personal limit for any extended time period.

Going back to the 'last' HWMonitor you attached, the CORE temps are at 51c at some time. <55c is suggested for most as the Deneb processors 'can' become unstable at about 55c for many rigs. Yours may not but it could if you hit >55c on CORES. So a lot of benches may fail if you have to push a lot more Vcore (more heat) even to just play at benches up higher. Only your own testing will say for sure.

FYI: I have a self-imposed 1.475 Vcore limit set for 24/7 use. I just don't see over 1.5V for all the time use since whatever speed I reach at that high Vcore is always on the ragged edge of overheating in summer or if a fan or fins get dirty and heat rises...I just think a little further out there. 150Mhz won't hurt or help a lot in real work on my rigs.
RGone...

 

[poco242]

I just wanted to get it to run Prime95 for 2 hours at 4.4, Then drop back down, but going higher in voltage worries me. Not worth smoking the chip just to see if it will. For a 24/7 run I will keep it at 4.2 or 4.28. At 4.28 the voltage was at 1.476 and the max temp was 49 I believe.

I can get it to boot and do benches at 4.4 or higher so I will try that with just bus freq changes or the multi. No more voltage.

 

[poco242]

I want to find somthing to benchmark my CPU at different clock rates. Any suggestions? I have 3DMark11 and Aida54,but they test the GPU as well. Here are the results of the AIDA64 test at 3.4Ghz and 4.4Ghz.

 

[davedree]

Brilliant effort, well done to you and your chip in getting to where you are. I recommend cinebench 11.5, a handbrake conversion using a movie stored on hdd, and fritz chess bench, along with some games that are poorly coded, ie wow, sky rim etc. I enjoyed this thread it made me buy a cheap £38 board to see what my old b55 can still do and then an fx8320. Keep the updates coming

 

[poco242]

Thanks David! I ain't done yet I downloaded Cinebench 15 (Thanks Mandrake) I just ran the CPU test stock and got 236. Now to reboot to 4.4.......

 

[poco242]

I just did a Cinebench test at 4.4Ghz. No BSOD (whew) Score jumped to 422. The score right below it was the 3.4Ghz score. 4.5 maybe???

 

[RGone]

Good show man.
1. Luck of the cpu dice roll.
2. Went ahead and got some cooling with a decent board for non-FX processor
3. Applied yourself to the BS we were handing out and now you can tweak for yourself.
Again...nice going man.
RGone...ster.