Overclocking AMD II x4 Phenom 945

[3dwa]

Hi, im new here, so i need some help i want to know if my 945 is "overclockable" or not, and if yes, then how to do it.

My specs:
CPU: AMD II x4 945 3ghz 125w
Mother: GIGABYTE AM3 770 DDR3 USB2 RAID FW ATX
VGA: CLUB 3D HD5770 1GB DDR OC
Memory: A-DATA DDR2 4GB 800MHZ CL5 2x2GB RETAIL
PSU: CHIEFTEC PSU 700W 14CM ATX EPS CAB.M

Also, got custom cpu cooler: THERMALTAKE ISGC-200 1156/775/AM3/2/2+

Some additional info:
CPU:

Memory:

SPD:

HWmonitor //// HWmonitor w/10minutes of Prime95test:

P.S. this CPU cooler has low/mid/high, its now set on "mid", so probably, temperatures can be a little lower on "high" i guess.

 

[trents]

Yes, it certainly is. Any CPU is overclockable. The bigger question is, does the motherboard have good overclocking controls in bios?

I see you have supplied two pics of HWMonitor. Is the second pic taken with the CPU under full load? If you have not done so, run the Prime95 blend test for 20 minutes with HWMonitor already open on the desktop. That will give us an idea of how much headroom you have for overclocking from a temperature standpoint.

 

[trents]

Can you give us more informatin about the motherboard? We need an actual model number. It should be printed on the motherboard in white letters, usually nex to the PCI-e slot. Or, if you will display a pic of CPU-z tab: "Mainboard" that will also give us the info. Make sure you look for and include the revision number as there were several revisions of that motherboard.

 

[3dwa]

Second picture is after 10 minutes in prime95, temperatures didn't change after 5 minutes, they were stable. Also my CPU cooler don't work on max now. Motherboard is MA770-US3. Pic with motherboard's cpu-z I'll upload later.

 

[BeepBeep2]

Why is your ram in single channel?

 

[3dwa]

Name of the RAM is tricky, its 1x4 not 2x2.

Mainboard:

 

[trents]

I cannot find any information on that board when I google, not rev. 00 anyway. Is this an OEM board, that is to say, did it come out of prebuilt computer made by one of the major comupter manufacturers like HP, Gateway, Dell, Emachines, etc.?

 

[BeepBeep2]

No, it is a retail channel board:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3303#ov
PCB revision is not the same as AMD Northbridge Chipset and Southbridge Chipset revisions...

@3dwa
To find PCB revision, you need to look at the bottom left-hand corner of the board. It has been printed that way as far back as AMD Socket A (462) boards 12 years ago.

So there is only one DDR2 DIMM inserted into your motherboard? SPD info reads that there are 2x 2GB.

 

[3dwa]

I dont actually know whats PCB revision, but i see rev.2.0, so it must be this.

Also, ye, my bad, i actually got 2x2gb ram, in 1st and 3rd slots Is it bad that cpu-z shows it's single?

 

[BeepBeep2]

Put the ram in the third and fourth slots.

 

[3dwa]

thanks, now its dual, unganged, 2009.1 MHz

 

[trents]

No, it is a retail channel board:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3303#ov
PCB revision is not the same as AMD Northbridge Chipset and Southbridge Chipset revisions...

Yep, my mistake. Eyes slipped to the wrong line. But the link you provided, Sam is actually for rev. 2.1. The link to rev. 2.0 is on that same page, however.

 

[3dwa]

So, umm, how high can I overclock it? Are there any tutorials too?

 

[trents]

3dwa, since that CPU is not a "black edtion" and does not therefore havd an unlocked multiplier, the overclocking would be done with the fsb (front side bus). In your bios it can show up as "CPU Frequency" or "HT Reference". This is the master system bus and all other frequencies are tuned to it. When you make changes to it there are several other frequencies that want to change with it, namely: Memory frequency, HT Link frequency and NB (also known as "CPUNB") frequency. The default fsb is 200 mhz so in your overclocking you would slowly and incrementally begin to increase this frequency while making some other adjustments as necessary to keep the system stable. Other adjustments would include:

1. CPU core voltage or "vcore"
2. HT Link frequncy
3. NB ("CPUNB") frequency
4. Memory frequency (may be smart to do this at the beginning of the overclock)

These are the basic adjustments. Under certain circumstances it may also be necessary to adjust the memory voltage and the memory "timings" but don't worry about that at the start.

As we overclock we add voltage to the CPU cores to keep the CPU stable. This causes the CPU core temps to rise so was we overclock we monitor temps at every step to make sure they don't get too high, both for stability sake and for safety sake. I hope I am not insulting you by being so basic but I'm not sure of the level of you knowledge.

 

[trents]

These are some of those things I spoke of that we will monitor and adjust as you overclock.

 

[trents]

Here is a tutorial that is widely used around here: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023

Personally, I feel the tutorials are a lot more helpful after you've tried your hand at it once since overclocking is pretty hands on.

If you are willing, I have a simple method to help beginners that I would be glad to lead you through step by step. There are other approaches that work well too but this one has helped many.

 

[3dwa]

Thank you for your concern, I'll try this tomorrow (GMT+3)

 

[trents]

I'm GMT-8 or GMT-7 DST.

 

[BeepBeep2]

Yep, my mistake. Eyes slipped to the wrong line. But the link you provided, Sam is actually for rev. 2.1. The link to rev. 2.0 is on that same page, however.

The board page defaults to latest revision...for obvious reasons

 

[trents]

The board page defaults to latest revision...for obvious reasons

Not sure about that. From your link, if I click on the link for v.2.0, copy and paste the URL for v.2.0 page into a document and then click on it it takes me to the page for v.2.0 not v. 2.1. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are saying. At any rate, it's important that OP be directed to the right information relative to the product he is using in case he needs to download files.