AMD Phenom IIx4 965BE overclocking

[adil95]

Hello all, I just took my first crack at overclocking today and after reading a whole ton of stuff about it I felt like I was ready to give it a go. My specs are as follows: 16GB RAM @1600, GTX 650Ti, Asus M5A97 motherboard, and of course my processor Phenom IIx4 965BE. After some trial and error I got it going 4Ghz @1.476V, a NB frequency of 2600Mhz, and a NB voltage of 1.3V. Am i putting too many volts into anything? From what I read the CPU voltage is a little high, but the NB voltage should be good. Also, can I get more out of this processor or is it all maxed out? I'd be grateful for any suggestions, Thanks. Also, I've been testing with prime95 and all seems to be well, temps stay at 53C max (Hyper 212+) and the motherboard temp is also around 50C, which I think is a bit hot.

 

[trents]

CPU voltage is fine and not out of line for what we typically see needed for 4.0ghz on that CPU. Temps are what I would expect for that level of overclock on that CPU with that cooler. 4.0 is about the max for that chip on good air cooling.

 

[adil95]

CPU voltage is fine and not out of line for what we typically see needed for 4.0ghz on that CPU. Temps are what I would expect for that level of overclock on that CPU with that cooler. 4.0 is about the max for that chip on good air cooling.

So having this much voltage won't wear down on the overall performance of the processor over time? That means I succeeded

 

[trents]

It will have no affect on the performance at all and any effect it may have on the longevity of the CPU will be negligible. You will have long since upgraded to something else by the time it dies.

 

[adil95]

It will have no affect on the performance at all and any effect it may have on the longevity of the CPU will be negligible. You will have long since upgraded to something else by the time it dies.

Awesome! One last thing, I also posted on toms hardware.com and a bunch of people were telling me my voltage was too high...given my system did crash after about 3hours of prime95 (just found that out). How can I tweak it to keep my 4Ghz? I feel like I'm really close but am missing something.

 

[trents]

Personally, IMO if it will pass three hours of Prime blend I would call it good. You won't have any trouble with it running normal apps. If you want to tweak my main suggestion would be lowering the memory frequency to 1333 mhz and lowering the NB voltage maybe. A lot of the Denebs had trouble running the ram at 1600 mhz in a stable way. Or. loosen the memory timings and bump up the memory voltage. It would be helpful if you would attach images of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD. Click ln Go Advanced and then click on the little paperclip icon at the top of the advanced post window to locate and attach images. Please crop them first, say with Snipping Tool.

 

[adil95]

Personally, IMO if it will pass three hours of Prime blend I would call it good. You won't have any trouble with it running normal apps. If you want to tweak my main suggestion would be lowering the memory frequency to 1333 mhz and lowering the NB voltage maybe. A lot of the Denebs had trouble running the ram at 1600 mhz in a stable way. Or. loosen the memory timings and bump up the memory voltage. It would be helpful if you would attach images of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD. Click ln Go Advanced and then click on the little paperclip icon at the top of the advanced post window to locate and attach images. Please crop them first, say with Snipping Tool.

Update!! So apparently I forgot to set my computer not to shut down after 30mins of not being used...that freaked out my windows and it didn't shut down properly bc prime95 was running. Anyway, the system is stable!! And this time I ran it on the large FFT's I think, whichever tests max temp and a lot of RAM.

Update2! SO I left Prime95 on overnight and at some point it crashed...but I'm sure it lasted at least 2 hours (The time it ran before I slept), what can I do to make the system more stable? I would prefer to keep voltages relatively down just as a precautiion, I don't want to fry anything, but I'm basically willing to do anything to keep my 4Ghz. Thanks!
Hopefully I did that right! What do you think?

 

[trents]

The blend test uses the most ram and I would suggest running that one as It simulates real life computing the closest I think.

 

[adil95]

The blend test uses the most ram and I would suggest running that one as It simulates real life computing the closest I think.

It just finishing passing through entirely for the first time, do you think it's stable enough? I Don't play hardcore games on my pc, just games like assassins creed, dishonored, rome total war etc. It just passed test 1024k, thoughts?

 

[RGone]

Sure go computing.

 

[CrackinDomes]

Just switched from a 965 BE highest clock I could ever keep stable was 4.0.

 

[adil95]

Sure go computing.

Well this is curious, I brought down my CPU voltage to 1.44 (it fluctuates from 1.42-1.43 under load) and the system seems stable?? I also brought the NB down to 2000, and its voltage to 1.1....how does that makes sense? I'm running the blend test now and so far so good. To get the most out of the processor I should also overclock the NB right? Or is the core clock enough? Thanks

 

[adil95]

Just switched from a 965 BE highest clock I could ever keep stable was 4.0.

Did you overclock your NB as well? If so, what speed did you run it and how much voltage did you put into it?

 

[trents]

Most people overclock the CPUNB on that chips to about 2600 mhz which usually requires a CPUNB (or just "NB", not to be confused with the chipset NB) a voltage bump to about 1.2-1.3 volts. Should boost memory performance.

 

[CrackinDomes]

Just switched from a 965 BE highest clock I could ever keep stable was 4.0.

Did you overclock your NB as well? If so, what speed did you run it and how much voltage did you put into it?

To be honest. Don't think I EVER touched the NB.

 

[adil95]

To be honest. Don't think I EVER touched the NB.

Yeah thats what I found as well, it went to 4Ghz with only a little bit of voltage tweaking, pretty good for a 3.4Ghz processor

 

[adil95]

Most people overclock the CPUNB on that chips to about 2600 mhz which usually requires a CPUNB (or just "NB", not to be confused with the chipset NB) a voltage bump to about 1.2-1.3 volts. Should boost memory performance.

people keep telling me to bring by 1600 ram down to 1333, why? They say it'll stabilize the system more, but won't I lose memory speed?

 

[CrackinDomes]

people keep telling me to bring by 1600 ram down to 1333, why? They say it'll stabilize the system more, but won't I lose memory speed?

I thought it was weird to but it does work. 1333 has been my golden number with OCing. Even heard 1066 can help too. But I'm pushing 16gb's of RAM anyways,

 

[adil95]

I thought it was weird to but it does work. 1333 has been my golden number with OCing. Even heard 1066 can help too. But I'm pushing 16gb's of RAM anyways,

Speaking of RAM, I just installed 16GB @1600 and it seems that quite a large chunk is system reserved. What is this and how do i get rid of it? I didnt have this problem with my old RAM.

 

[CrackinDomes]

Are you talking about it being Page Filed?