Safe voltage for a Phenom II x6

[vanibanez]

Currently I am trying to max the speed on this CPU. I have the voltage at 1.5V and CPU frequency at 3.86GHz in the BIOS right now. Temps are fine (53 deg max when running prime95). I am not sure where the safe top end is for the CPU voltage, prime fails on cores 5 and 6 when I go to 4GHz. I would like to know where the safe zone ends, more voltage may help but I don't want to smoke the CPU.

Thanks in advance....

 

[rescuetoaster]

I think people have generally recommended 1.55 as a top point, temp permitting of course. Of course, there are plenty here that will go a touch higher than that.

I've got mine running at 1.47 when LLC is fully kicked in.

 

[vanibanez]

Good to know that I still have a little room to play with. I don't think my MB has LLC. I'll do more checks tomorrow after I install my Fractal design 108 controller. Thanks

 

[rescuetoaster]

I would actually be shocked if it didn't. Make sure you find out, the last thing you want is for that to kick in when you are already at your safe maximum.

 

[trents]

Is the 53 max temp a core temp or a CPU (socket) temp? And how are you overclocking this thing? With the multiplier only or with the FSB only or with a combination of both?

It would be very helpful if you would post back with pics attached of these three CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD.

 

[vanibanez]

I'm doing a combo of CPU multiplier and FSB, here's a couple of BIOS shots...

 

[Mandrake4565]

A pic of Hwmonitor under prime load would be helpful to see what temps you are talking about and to also see what the voltages are doing under load.

 

[vanibanez]

Here's what I have, I can run prime fine at 1.525V but if I go lower the voltage will either show issues or cause a reboot. Other than that all my gaming and Futuremark benches run fine at 1.5V.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Still don't see what your temps are like, Hwmonitor would be helpful.

 

[Johan45]

That's not exactly what Mandrake was asking for. HWmonitor ( not pro version) is a free program available from CPUid here's a link
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
Download install and keep it open while you run P95 and post a snip of it so we can see your temps and volts.

 

[vanibanez]

Sorry, my bad. I was using the wrong "HW" software. I have a pic for HWinfo (I ran prime 95 for about 15min, I ran for 2 hrs last might and temp never goes above this)but it should be noted it that it shows 7 deg lower than actual. I can tell because in the BIOS the temp read 30 deg for cpu. But in Windows my temp monitors always show 23 deg (all at idle). So I used core temp with a 7 deg offset for monitoring.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Well the BIOS usually monitors the socket temp, on my Phenom my core temps were always higher then the socket temp. That was on a 955be though I don't know if it's the same with the 6 cores. With that said your core temps look fine, I'm not sure on that board which one TMPIN is the socket temp though. Your Cpu-V is going to 1.536 under load, I believe 1.55 is "considered safe". Could you post a pic of cpu-z, memory and spd tabs?

 

[vanibanez]

Sure, here they are, I'm pretty sure 3.96GHz @1.5v is the max on this chip. Any speed above that and things get nasty, too bad though.

 

[Johan45]

For now you should set your ram to JEDEC #6 since your in the 1760 range it should help eliminate the ram as a source of instability. Also try and bring the NB frequency up that processor is only rated for 1333 ram but the higher NB should help stabilize it.

 

[vanibanez]

I will give that a try, I'm still not a pro at the whole ram timing with the NB philosophy. Thanks

 

[rescuetoaster]

For now you should set your ram to JEDEC #6 since your in the 1760 range it should help eliminate the ram as a source of instability. Also try and bring the NB frequency up that processor is only rated for 1333 ram but the higher NB should help stabilize it.

Not quite - the Thuban has a better IMC than Deneb, so at least 1600 is fine.

Regarding socket temp vs core temp - my core temps are consistently about 7-8 degrees Celsius below the socket temp. I however do not know for sure if there is what would be considered a safe upper limit for the socket itself. Trents, do you know?