Help O/C a Phenom II X4 on Gigabyte UD2H

[DVL]

I could use some help, I'm trying to overclock a new system I got, and would like to see it's full potential released. Bear with me I'm not that used to AMD o/c'ing, but I'm gonna give them another go. Okay the system I'm working with...

Gigabyte UD2h AM3, microatx pos, a phenom II x2 545, all four cores unlocked and stable, reads x4 b45, starts at 3.0 GHz, crucial DDR3 1333 Ram.

Now one big problem I'm having is since I unlocked the cores none of the tempature reading programs work for me anymore? realtemp, coretemp, neither works. Speedfan gives me what I believe are just the generic 'cpu' not the core temps, they cross referance figures I was getting in everst, but I can't seem to get my actual core temps to read. So if anyone has any suggestions for me on that, I sure could use them.

Secondly, if I even take my voltages off auto it starts flahing red voltage unstable, or something like that, and it won't post. I just bumped them all up like .01, from 'normal', and no post. So I've had to leave them all on auto, which means they're probably way overvolted. I try matching them up to what I'm reading in windows but not having any success.

So basicaly what I've done so far is crank up the fsb, and leave the voltages on auto, but I really don't feel comfortable enough given the situation to proceed without advise. I'm really not that used to AMD overclocking, so any advise would be welcomed.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I could use some help, I'm trying to overclock a new system I got, and would like to see it's full potential released. Bear with me I'm not that used to AMD o/c'ing, but I'm gonna give them another go. Okay the system I'm working with...

Gigabyte UD2h AM3, microatx pos, a phenom II x2 545, all four cores unlocked and stable, reads x4 b45, starts at 3.0 GHz, crucial DDR3 1333 Ram.

Now one big problem I'm having is since I unlocked the cores none of the tempature reading programs work for me anymore? realtemp, coretemp, neither works. Speedfan gives me what I believe are just the generic 'cpu' not the core temps, they cross referance figures I was getting in everst, but I can't seem to get my actual core temps to read. So if anyone has any suggestions for me on that, I sure could use them.

Try reverting to your dual core and then testing the temperatures at the same speed. Try and find someone with a *similar* system, but with a quad and check the temps at that speed. Most of the time you should be able to get a pretty good idea of where you are.

Secondly, if I even take my voltages off auto it starts flahing red voltage unstable, or something like that, and it won't post. I just bumped them all up like .01, from 'normal', and no post. So I've had to leave them all on auto, which means they're probably way overvolted. I try matching them up to what I'm reading in windows but not having any success.

When you say it won't post, is that with or without an oc'? Because it's best to work your way up in voltage just like you do with you speed. But if you mean that it won't post without being on auto even at stock, look at your voltage and compare to a *similar* system (with a quad).

So basicaly what I've done so far is crank up the fsb, and leave the voltages on auto, but I really don't feel comfortable enough given the situation to proceed without advise. I'm really not that used to AMD overclocking, so any advise would be welcomed.

Cpu-z of your ram? The ram and Nb are up for some tuning before you move on.

 

[DVL]

"Try reverting to your dual core and then testing the temperatures at the same speed. Try and find someone with a *similar* system, but with a quad and check the temps at that speed. Most of the time you should be able to get a pretty good idea of where you are."

I did, just to check, but isn't the heat produced by a quad core much greater than a dual core? Wouldn't the dual core readings be off?

"When you say it won't post, is that with or without an oc'? Because it's best to work your way up in voltage just like you do with you speed. But if you mean that it won't post without being on auto even at stock, look at your voltage and compare to a *similar* system (with a quad)".

With or without. it goes from auto, to normal, to like +0.25 or the other way -0.25

"Cpu-z of your ram? The ram and Nb are up for some tuning before you move on."

 

[DVL]

Wow Cool! What a nice glitch to have, check this screen shot out...

I've unlocked a TWKR now! lol

 

[DVL]

Oh man, that was wicked, it was basically an engineering sample, it had an unlocked multiplier, way high vcore, i was playing around with it until I couldn't boot, then it booted me back to having a locked multiplier and re-identifying itself.

 

[DVL]

Ok so far I've bumped up the fsb to 246, decreased the HT multiplier to x8, bringing it to 2469, think I need to lower it some more. voltages are still on auto till I can figure out something to do with them but my cpu temp, not the core temp, but the other 'cpu' temp is at 50c.

1 Hour of prime 95 small fft stable so far...

 

[QuietIce]

Your HT Link should be kept at or below 2.0 GHz and even lower won't hurt performance unless you're running dual GPUs. About half the time a low HT Link (like 1.4 GHz = 6x for you) improves stability - 10% of the time it hurts stability - each system is different.

cpuNB speed is good at 2400. That's one nice thing about clock OC'ing.

vCore can go as high as 1.45v or so without even flinching. Anything higher is on you though there are many here that run up to 1.55v full time, which is fine as long as your load temps don't break 60°C.


There's nothing that can be done about the core temp. Once you unlock the cores on those you can't read the internal temp sensor ...

 

[DVL]

Your HT Link should be kept at or below 2.0 GHz and even lower won't hurt performance unless you're running dual GPUs. About half the time a low HT Link (like 1.4 GHz = 6x for you) improves stability - 10% of the time it hurts stability - each system is different.

cpuNB speed is good at 2400. That's one nice thing about clock OC'ing.

vCore can go as high as 1.45v or so without even flinching. Anything higher is on you though there are many here that run up to 1.55v full time, which is fine as long as your load temps don't break 60°C.


There's nothing that can be done about the core temp. Once you unlock the cores on those you can't read the internal temp sensor ...

Ht At or below 2.0Ghz gotcha, not running dual gpu's so not a problem. Ok, so I'll try at or below 2.0, if that's not stable I'll try something lower like 1.4. Well... I'm pretty much already there. I figured out the right combination to get ahold of my voltages, so at 1.488 volts I'm at 3.8Ghz, 255 fsb, x15. HT is at 2040, Northbridge is at 2294. Should I lower the HT so I'm below 2000? Volts may be high but, now bear in mind this is just the 'cpu' temp, not the core temps, but for cpu I'm hitting 50in full load take awhile to get there but that's what I've seen it max at, so I should be good for a bit more eh?

Here take a look...

Basically I've hit a wall it seems at 3.8, can run this stable but can't seem to get 3.9+ stable. Any suggestions.

 

[QuietIce]

It wouldn't hurt to experiment with a lower HT Link. It may or may not help.

Have you dropped your RAM speed setting down another notch or are you running your sticks at ~850 MHz ...?

 

[arkan]

I have that same motherboard in my current main rig, also with an unlocked x2. You're going to want to find a way to cool the voltage regulators and inductors on the motherboard by the cpu socket because it only has 4 phase power. Without extra cooling your cpuvrm temp with start to exceed your cpu temps as you push for higher clocks or need to up system voltages. In my case it was resulting in random freezes when running prime
About the temps, give this a try. In speedfan the temp next to CORE with read as 0 when your chip is unlocked. TEMP2 correlates to the cpuvrm temps from what I can tell. Turn the cpu back into a dual core. Stress test it with prime or Linx. Make note of the difference between the core temperature and the vrm temp under full load. Reboot, change acc to get back to a quad core, then use the temp difference you noted to guestimate the cpu temp. It's not perfect but it works well enough.

 

[DVL]

I have that same motherboard in my current main rig, also with an unlocked x2. You're going to want to find a way to cool the voltage regulators and inductors on the motherboard by the cpu socket because it only has 4 phase power. Without extra cooling your cpuvrm temp with start to exceed your cpu temps as you push for higher clocks or need to up system voltages. In my case it was resulting in random freezes when running prime
About the temps, give this a try. In speedfan the temp next to CORE with read as 0 when your chip is unlocked. TEMP2 correlates to the cpuvrm temps from what I can tell. Turn the cpu back into a dual core. Stress test it with prime or Linx. Make note of the difference between the core temperature and the vrm temp under full load. Reboot, change acc to get back to a quad core, then use the temp difference you noted to guestimate the cpu temp. It's not perfect but it works well enough.

Ok, I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the advice.

 

[DVL]

It wouldn't hurt to experiment with a lower HT Link. It may or may not help.

Have you dropped your RAM speed setting down another notch or are you running your sticks at ~850 MHz ...?

Yeah I tried lowering it at several levels, but would still blue screen and such during stress testing. When I pushed my cpu, I put the ram at it's lowest speed, and left the timings on auto.

here's where I'm stuck...

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=888364

 

[QuietIce]

I'd say you've probably hit the top end of the CPU. Not sure what you expected when you bought a dual-core with a stock speed of 3.0 GHz but getting a 3.8+ GHz quad out of it is pretty good ...

 

[DVL]

I'd say you've probably hit the top end of the CPU. Not sure what you expected when you bought a dual-core with a stock speed of 3.0 GHz but getting a 3.8+ GHz quad out of it is pretty good ...

Oh I'm in no way complaining. I hit the mother-load with this chip. I just bought something simple to give AMD another try, and I got my monies worth no doubt. I love AMD again for sure. This was a $90.00 chip, that for as much as I can tell with a little bios work turns into the same deneb 945 with 6MB L3 cache. Not bad at all! I had been sticking with dual cores because I figured with less heat, I could overclock it better, and I didn't really 'need' four cores, right? Wrong I love having a quad, I can burn movies in less than five minutes now, and it used to take me 30, and for all the worry about heat, I only lost .2GHz from my dual to the quad, and this AMD setup got me into DDR3 for a steal! AMD truly is the best value going.

Thanks everyone for your help!