Phenom II X4 925 Overclock Temps

[AeroBuff]

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to thank this great community before I ask my question, I never leave here without great information. Anyway, I decided to overclock my CPU from 2.8 to 3.01 GHz, and ran Prime95 with CPU-Z and HWMonitor. I ran Large FFT's for 48 mins, and witnessed a max temperature at all four cores of 62 deg c.

This website, http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=&f10=&f11=&f12= states a max temp of 71 deg c.

I called AMD just to confirm that my temps are safe for the moment, and they said I have a pretty large margin to work with. I plan on keeping the speed where it is.

I just wanted to see what you guys though about my temps, as I'm using the stock cooler. I don't want to buy aftermarket if I don't have to. Cheers!

 

[AeroBuff]

Also, now my memory is at 1720 MHz (2x4gb). Is this safe, or should I revert to 1333. I've done another stress test and everything seems fine.

 

[Tyerker]

The Phenoms run much better with 1333 RAM, and can sometimes die prematurely from running 1600+ RAM. Try to tighten timings at 1333, and increase your HTT and CPU-NB Frequencies above 2200 MHz.

 

[AeroBuff]

Ok, so I adjusted the timing of my ram to 1333, which is now running at an adjusted 1432 MHz. I don't quite follow your last suggestion. Am I safe with my current setup?

 

[Tyerker]

The 970 should have options for your CPU-NB Frequency. If that's above 2200 MHz, it will help pick up the slack of the RAM being slower.

 

[AeroBuff]

CPU-Z, under Memory tab, my NB frequency is roughly 2150 MHz. Am I on the right track here?

 

[AeroBuff]

OK, I'm with you now. I had to bump my CPU OC to 220x14 and now my NB and HIT are 2200MHz. Going to run a stress test from now until I have to go to class (roughly 30 mins). Let me know what you guys think! Thanks.

 

[AeroBuff]

This is so weird, now HWMonitor doesn't show anything besides my computer's name...any ideas?
HWMonitor is back up. I rebooted.

 

[trents]

Are you using the latest version of HWMonitor? Try a different version.

 

[trents]

CPU-Z, under Memory tab, my NB frequency is roughly 2150 MHz. Am I on the right track here?

Keep you HT Linkd frequency between 1800-2000. It doesn't like overclocking and won't tolerate much of it, not nearly as much as the CPUNB.

 

[AeroBuff]

Two things: What's the difference between CPU-NB frequency, and NB frequency under the memory tab of CPU-Z? Also, thee NB and HT frequency mirror each other and go up each time I increase my reference clock (200 to 220, etc).

I think I need to get in there and tweak some more. I believe I am just incrasing my CPU reference clock from 200 to 220 giving me 3.08GHz, but that's also raising my HT and NB frequencies up to 2200 MHz, which from what I've read isn't good. I'm going to try and lower my HT multiplier. Any ideas?

 

[AeroBuff]

Anybody with personal experience? I feel like I'm getting two conflicting suggestions.

 

[trents]

In CPU-z, "NB" means CPUNB.

Don't confuse HT Link with HT Reference. The HT Reference is sometimes called just "HT" and also known as fsb (front side bus). When the HT Reference is increased the CPUNB frequency, the HT Link frequency and the ram frequency rise in concert because they are tuned to it. However, they can all be adjusted apart from the HT Ref. as well - and need to be to maintain stability.

On a motherboard with a 970 chipset like yours you should have seperate bios controls for the CPUNB frequency and the HT Link frequency. Many bioses offer these controls in the form of a multiplier, 10x being the stock frequency multiplier.

 

[AeroBuff]

Ok thank you Trents. So if my HT under CPU tab and NB under memory tab are at 2200MHz, am I needing to change stuff still?

 

[BeepBeep2]

Hi Aerobuff.

Forget about HT Link. Don't worry about it. Its max multiplier is = to CPU-NB, and HT Link is stable on most boards to 3200+ on air cooling. CPU-NB usually can not reach this frequency, therefore HT Link is never a source of instability.

However, overclocking HT Link is absolutely useless except in two scenarios:
1. 3 to 4 GPUs in CrossfireX overclocked,
2. Integrated GPU, such as 790GX, 880G, 890GX chipset motherboards using onboard video and overclocking.

So, keeping HT Link at a manageable frequency is logical.

Running DDR3-1600+ does not kill CPUs. I don't know why people around here say that. You are fine running 1740 like you were before, as long as it is stable.

Keep in mind that the 3:10 memory divider is more efficient at the same clock than the 1:4 memory divider (1333 divider @ 1740 will be faster than 1600 divider @ 1740) assuming same CPU-NB speed. If you want to test this, you can run SuperPi 32M with the same CPU frequency and roughly the same CPU-NB frequency, 3:10 will win every time.

CPU-NB overclocking also overclocks the L3 cache on the CPU package, so it can provide a performance increase even when memory bandwidth is bottlenecked by slow memory speeds. However, CPU-NB overclocks also increase the throughput of the Integrated Memory Controller on the CPU due to overclocking as well. This means more memory bandwidth, and more performance.

If you'd like to know more, let me know.

 

[AeroBuff]

Thank you for your insight. So basically, I can keep my settings where I'm at, and even bump my memory back up to 1766 or whichever it was at 1600? Again, my NB and HT are 2200MHz. I do see "keep it around 1800-2000" often.
http://www.overclock.net/t/525113/phenom-ii-overclocking-guide here is a good guide.

Also, as I'm kind of new to this, after reading your response twice thoroughly I now think I get what you're saying better. How about this. What suggestions do you have for me with my current settings?

 

[BeepBeep2]

Thank you for your insight. So basically, I can keep my settings where I'm at, and even bump my memory back up to 1766 or whichever it was at 1600? Again, my NB and HT are 2200MHz. I do see "keep it around 1800-2000" often.
http://www.overclock.net/t/525113/phenom-ii-overclocking-guide here is a good guide.

1800 was stock on Phenom (I) CPUs.
2000 stock on Phenom II CPUs. HT Link is fine at 2000, overclocking it is useless, no performance increase. But those who tell you that it can cause instability are wrong...it will fly up to 3000 (uselessness included) without issue.

Just keep it around 2000. 2250 works, whatever you want.

CPU-NB...often 2600-3000 MHz can be reached. 2600-2800 is common. 3000+ on good CPUs in experienced hands. Trick is to bump it up a little at a time, run Prime95 "Blend" test for 20-30 minutes, keep bumping frequency. You can start at 2400 at stock voltage. If it is unstable there, add CPU-NB voltage until it is. Then you can easily proceed to overclock it further. Make sure that DRAM is clocked very low for this. You don't want to variables interfering with each other at once. I would limit CPU-NB voltage to under 1.35v 24/7. That much should not be necessary. Once you find your max speed that will pass 20-30 minutes, then try for at least 2 hours. Then, you can find a balance between memory clocks and CPU-NB.

Yes, you can run your memory at 1766 again, or whatever. Take note that many 700 series chipset motherboards will lose stability between 1760 and 1800 MHz. There is often a hard wall (meaning it is impossible to pass) at 1840.

Make sure to watch your ram timings.

890 series boards in general remove this wall except many ASRock and early (revision 1) Gigabyte boards. All 900 series boards do not have this wall.

 

[AeroBuff]

Awesome thank you. I'm not going to be messing with voltages, at least for now. I'm going to just bump my memory back up and run a good stress test. If I'm stable, I'll be happy with that. Thanks again.

 

[BeepBeep2]

Yep. I hope that helped.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

 

[AeroBuff]

Definitely will do.