OC'ing a AMD Phenom II X4 945, Help New User/Overclocker

[Johnhenry]

Have had my pc for awhile and never thought to overclock it looked into and got very interested and started trying to self teach myself.

My specs are as follows

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Code Name Deneb
Motherboard - MSI DKA790GX (MS-7550) VER: 1.21
Motherboard Bios - American Megatrends Inc. V1.16 (Aka 1.G) 10/28/2010
RAM - 4 Gig 2X2 Gig Super Talent T800UX4GC5 STT DDR2-800 PC6400 CL5
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 1 Gig Code Name G92 Revision A2
PSU - Antec 430W Max Model EA-430D
HDD - Segate 500 Gig
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit SP1

Stock coling

I have OC'd from stock 3.0 Ghz to 3.6 Ghz and is stable well atleast I think it is I used Prime95 and just general playing games to test it I want to know if what I have everything set to is rite and safe and at its best settings.
I have read some people have got phenoms II x4 945's to 3.8 ghz stable but my motherboard bios only has the option at max to put it to 3.6 ghz does that mean that's the max I can get my one to?
CPU temperature is usually round 40-45 with these settings but when I turned on Unlock CPU Core and Advanced Clock Calibrations it my made my CPU temperature show up as 0 in the Core Temp program.
Here are some screen shots of my in bios settings and CPUZ cpu and memory tab.

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In this screen shot I don't know what Advanced Clock Calibration is I set it to max +12% on all cores is this dangerous? also I don't know why Core 1 is greyed out and un selectable underneath CPU Core Control is that normal?



Couple questions from this screen shot what is CPU VDD Voltage & CPU-NB VDD Voltage and do they ever need to be adjusted? also sort of non related to this area of the forum but I turned up Adjust PCI-E Frequency from 100 to max 150 without being sure of what it does =/



My RAM is 800 mhz and its overclocked to 960 MHz there is one option above that that takes it to 1000 something but it won't post if I change it to that not sure what the max my RAM's are able to be overclocked to.

Here is screen shots of my CPUZ CPU & Memory Tab



Any help or advice on any incorrect settings or anything I have missed or just general information would be much appreciated as I want to get the most out of this rig with stock cooling as possible.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Disable 'unlock CPU core'. There is nothing to unlock.
ACC set to '0's'. Core 1 will always be gray, you can't disable the master core.
HT link is too high. Lower the multi to X9 or x8. Try to stay as close to 2000 as you can.
PCI-E back to 100. 150 can hurt your card.
Under 'Advanced DRAM', set to unganged.

These are just a few things I noticed. Read a sticky or two.

 

[Johnhenry]

Cheers ok I disabled Unlock CPU Core, set ACC to all cores and set the vale 0, turned HT link to x9 2160 x8 took it below 2000, changed Advanced DRAM to unganged and set PCI-E frequency back to 100, now I'm going to run Prime95 with blend test with HWMonitor open then will post results.

 

[Johnhenry]

only ran prime95 and hwmonitor for 10 mins are these temps to hot?

 

[Johnhenry]

Heres temps of just idling in desktop

 

[Johnhenry]

Oh and when I ran the prime95 I had the side of my pc case off would that matter or affect anything?

 

[ShrimpBrime]

only ran prime95 and hwmonitor for 10 mins are these temps to hot?

That is way hot. 79c I'm shocked the board didn't thermal protect.

What cooler are you using?? The stock cooler? If so, find a new cooler friend before you cause damage.

 

[Johnhenry]

That is way hot. 79c I'm shocked the board didn't thermal protect.

What cooler are you using?? The stock cooler? If so, find a new cooler friend before you cause damage.

Im using the stock amd one that came with it yea I thought they were to high one thing I think may be contributing to it is about a month ago I took my old CPU out of my rig and put the phenom ii x4 945 in it and didn't reapply any thermo grease cause I didn't have any at the time could this be contributing to the high temps it kinda looked like it still had a bit of grease on it and the side of my pc case was open when I was doing the test, I don't know why the temps are so high other people are managing to over clock there phenom ii x4 945's to 3.6/3.8 ghz on stock cooling fans.

 

[Johnhenry]

the temps when I am just in desktop are around 35-39 that's pretty normal isn't it? ill test what the temps are like when I am playing games league of legends and wow nothing too cpu intensive.

 

[Johnhenry]

could the v core at 1.455 @ 3.6 ghz be cause the high temps is that too much voltage? after reading up a bit I think I definitely need to reapply some thermo grease come to think of it did look kind of dried up.

 

[Johnhenry]

droped the cpu voltage down to 1.4 and re ran the test with hwmonitor open and prime 95 running blend test the temps were down but like 5mins into it thread 4 got an error and stoped working?



are those temps round normal for a phenom ii x4 945 3.0ghz overclocked to 3.6ghz with stock cooling?

 

[RGone]

You always should/must/need to apply new thermal compound after removing the cpu cooler from on top of any cpu. That means if you changed the cpu, you certainly need to have REapplied fresh thermal compound.
RGone...

 

[Johnhenry]

You always should/must/need to apply new thermal compound after removing the cpu cooler from on top of any cpu. That means if you changed the cpu, you certainly need to have REapplied fresh thermal compound.
RGone...

Gave my pc a good clean and wiped off old dried up thermal grease then reapplied a decent amount of new thermal grease then run the same test and got these temps are they ok for a Phenom ii X4 945 over clocked to 3.6ghz from 3.0 ghz with stock cooling? and why does HT Link Frequency need to be as close to 2000 as possible why cant I have it at x10 2400 when CPU-NB frequency is also at 2400?

settings

cpu voltage 1.455
cpu-nb voltage 1.30
dram voltage 2.05
nb voltage 1.30
ht link voltage 1.30

are my voltages ok?

 

[Johnhenry]

here's a screen shot of my cpuz cpu and memeory tab

 

[trents]

Those core temps are still too high. You need a better CPU cooler. The OEM cooler is not made for overclocking. You may also need to address case air ventilation. Poor case ventilation will defeat the best of CPU air coolers. If you are not getting rid of the hot air in the case you are just using hot air to remove hot air from the cooler and it's futile. Tell us about your case (make and model) and your case fans (number of, size, placement, and which ones are intake and which ones are exhaust fans). Here is a picture of what proper case ventilation looks like.

 

[trents]

Since you have a gold star under your name and now have access to this feature, please put your system info in a "Sig" by going to the top of the page and clicking on Quick Links>Edit Signature. Include info about your motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler, memory, PSU, video card and case. This is a common courtesy on the forum.

 

[Johnhenry]

Those core temps are still too high. You need a better CPU cooler. The OEM cooler is not made for overclocking. You may also need to address case air ventilation. Poor case ventilation will defeat the best of CPU air coolers. If you are not getting rid of the hot air in the case you are just using hot air to remove hot air from the cooler and it's futile. Tell us about your case (make and model) and your case fans (number of, size, placement, and which ones are intake and which ones are exhaust fans). Here is a picture of what proper case ventilation looks like.

I cant find any model or make on my PC Case its a standard one I got about 5 years ago from a build your own PC course I did It has 1 large ARX PC BRUSHLESS FD121-S3133E DC 12v 0.32A ZP fan at the back underneath the PSU not 100% sure but I think its the fan that takes the air out the other 2 fans are just my stock amd cpu fan and the fan on my GPU, the side part of the case that comes off has a circle and square with grates over it I think the circle is a spot where another fan can be put, the front has a silver mesh stuff with small holes in it all over it and small square grill at the bottom for air ventilation, all the slots where your GPU goes in are closed over no unneeded spots are open but I did mention that when I did those test the side of my pc case was open.

 

[Johnhenry]

Can anyone explain to me or tell me why HT Link frequency needs to be close to 2000 when my CPU-NB frequency is at 2400, I thought HT Link frequency was ok as long as it was = or > then CPU-NB frequency

 

[Johnhenry]

Those core temps are still too high. You need a better CPU cooler. The OEM cooler is not made for overclocking. You may also need to address case air ventilation. Poor case ventilation will defeat the best of CPU air coolers. If you are not getting rid of the hot air in the case you are just using hot air to remove hot air from the cooler and it's futile. Tell us about your case (make and model) and your case fans (number of, size, placement, and which ones are intake and which ones are exhaust fans). Here is a picture of what proper case ventilation looks like.

is 66c is till to high while using prime95 what temps should it be close to roughly?

 

[RGone]

UNTIL the FX processors that were first released in Fall of 2011, the standard and common rule of thumb was for the CPU_NB to be greater than or perhaps equal to the HT Link Speed.

Now with the advent of the FX processors their HT Link Speed is stock at 2600Mhz and in the case of this newer cpu, the CPU_NB can be slower Or faster than the HT Link Speed.
RGone...