overclocking 955 BE

[farhad24]

HI peaple
i am recently obsessed with overclocking my AMD platform with

specs :
cpu henom 2 x4 955 BE
MB : Asrock 970 Extreme 4
memory :2 * 2Gb corsair xms3 1600 (9-9-9-24)
power 785 watt seventeam
cpu cooling : zerotherm nirvana 120

after a week of reading and trying to push my system i could

finally reach stable point like this (3 h stable on p95)

CPU : 3885 (18.5*210) @ 1.475 vcore
NB : 2530 @ 1.15 v (cpu/NB)
memory : 1399 (7-7-6-18) @ 1.675v
HT :2110
NB voltage : 1.2v

but i'm not satisfied with my NB . i realy tried everything

to push my NB but it crashes on p95 mostly with BSOD (1024k

or 768k or 512k tests)
i pushed my cpu/NB 1.35 v to obtain 2700+ but faild . on the

other hand i cant increase cpu/NB more than 1.25 with my

vcore on 1.475 cuz cooling system cant handle the heat and

cpu core temp exceeds 65 on p95. somehow i figured out in

order to reach high NB on this clock i should increase vcore

too !! with definitly burns my processor to 70 on p95.
is there any chance to go over 2700 or even 2600 for NB ? or

i cant push my system any more.
i would appreciate your help

 

[trents]

Your temps are probably the problem. Too high. AMD CPUs when overclocked start to become unstable when the core temps surpass the mid 50s c range.

How's your ventilation? Tell us about your case and case fans.

Also, your HT Link frequency is too high. Keep it between 1800 and 2000.

Do you have the C2 or the C3 stepping of the 955?

I also wonder if your are not confusing the chipset NB with the CPUNB. The former has to do with the onboard video and PCI-e bus. The latter has to do with the integrated memory controller. You should not be overdriving the chipset NB.

 

[farhad24]

thanks
i have 4 ,12 cm fans in my case
first @1000 RPM located on the front sucks the air in
2nd @ 1000 RPM located on case top takes the air out
3rd @1500 RPM located on left side sucks the air to the 6870s
4th @1500 RPM at back of case takes the cpu fan air out
heres my case :
http://www.rayaneh.com/large.htm?image=http://www.rayaneh.com/pic/ProductPic/LargeWL/11670.jpg

i know it is not an overclocking friendly case but i did my best too keep in cool .
about my processor i checked cpu z and found this :
revision :RB-C3
about NB i know about it and didnt push NB voltage that much but in some reason i dont know when setting the voltage at auto my memory doesnt work well ,lets say works terrible in 3d mark and amd overdrive memory benchmark and games

oh i almost forgot....

the temp i mentioned is core temps . checked the CPUTIN at hardWare monitor and in reached 70 C
is my Vcore too much?
at stock setting i reached 45 at max for CPUTIN

 

[trents]

CPUTIN would be the CPU temp, not the core temp. CPU temps are actually read from the motherboard socket below the processor. Core temps are the best measure and are taken from the processor die itself.

 

[trents]

Please try this: With HWMonitor open on the desktop to start with and all bios settings on stock, run the Prime95 blend test for 20 minutes. I would like to know what your max core temps are on stock settings. Do you know how to attach pics with our posts yet?

 

[bigben6]

Thats odd cause my 955 will run 3.8 on multi alone, no voltage no changes to htref.... and run p95 @ 50 all day.... hmmmm how far can u get on multi and stock voltages?

 

[farhad24]

well i mentioned before it reaches 45 in stock setting at max
opened my cooling and added more thermal paste but nothing changed !
so which temp should i mention for treshhold? i mean i know i shouldnt exceed 62 C . is it core temps or cpu temp?
should i mention CPUINT at all?
is my core voltage too much ? i couldnt make it stable with anything below that amount for 3.9
thanks for reply
@bigben6
i can reach 3.8 without adding voltage but i saw huge performance boost increasing NB
increasing clock to 4 gave me 4100 on 3dmark 11 blend test (stock was 3600)
increasing NB to 2500 results in 4500 in blend test (witch core clock at 3.9)

 

[trents]

. . . so which temp should i mention for treshhold? i mean i know i shouldnt exceed 62 C . is it core temps or cpu temp? . . . QUOTE]

By threshold temp do you mean what the motherboard thermal throttle down is set to? If so, that would take its reading from the CPU socket sensor, not the core temp.

AMD says that safe temps for their processors is about 70 C. But safe is not the same as stable. Stability starts to disappear in the mid 50s C range. As long as core temps remain at or below that range it is safe to use CPU voltages up to about 1.525.

 

[farhad24]

my chip is stable with this setting and core temps remain around 60 (cpu around 70)
on p95 for 3 hours .
as long as i dont want to mess with the chip , it seems there is no more room for OC with this memory/cooling
thanks for helping

 

[Poit]

NB voltage : 1.95v

Umm this is a Typo isnt it?

 

[bigben6]

my chip is stable with this setting and core temps remain around 60 (cpu around 70)
on p95 for 3 hours .
as long as i dont want to mess with the chip , it seems there is no more room for OC with this memory/cooling
thanks for helping

I would not be comfortable @ 60c at all, cut it as 55 seems to be common knowledge

1 try the coolermaster 212+ its cheap and on paper appears to be a lil better than what you have, it would seem MOST Phenim II x4 users have the 212+, its just sooo good and soo cheap... is the one you have a direct heat pipe style?

2 have you considered re arranging your case fans and changing intake vs outlet for better flow, does your cpu cooler fan blow in line with your case cooling flow? Does your cpu fan blow back into the case or directly to a case outlet vent?

3 you said you applied MORE thermal compound, clean it all off, ALLL of it, put on as little as needed as possible, more is NOT better

Read the link in my sig labeled "overheating, click me" and go through that process to make sure you have identified your limit, is it CPU cooler, case cooling, mounting?

 

[farhad24]

I would not be comfortable @ 60c at all, cut it as 55 seems to be common knowledge

1 try the coolermaster 212+ its cheap and on paper appears to be a lil better than what you have, it would seem MOST Phenim II x4 users have the 212+, its just sooo good and soo cheap... is the one you have a direct heat pipe style?

2 have you considered re arranging your case fans and changing intake vs outlet for better flow, does your cpu cooler fan blow in line with your case cooling flow? Does your cpu fan blow back into the case or directly to a case outlet vent?

3 you said you applied MORE thermal compound, clean it all off, ALLL of it, put on as little as needed as possible, more is NOT better

Read the link in my sig labeled "overheating, click me" and go through that process to make sure you have identified your limit, is it CPU cooler, case cooling, mounting?

unfortunately i ran out of the paste and about the airfllow i guess you are right. definitly worth a try.
my cpu cooling seems to be bettter than that and is direct heatpipe

update .....
changing one fan direction to the cpu cooling made my cpu 5 deg cooler on p95 i also changed my setup to this
CPU : 3780 (18.5*210) @ 1.425 vcore
NB : 2730 @ 1.35 v (cpu/NB)
memory : 1399 (7-7-6-18) @ 1.675v
HT :2100
NB voltage : 1.12v

now it remains under 59 on p95

 

[farhad24]

Umm this is a Typo isnt it?

oh it was mistaken
this is 1.2 not 1.9

 

[bigben6]

The one you have may be fine, the only reason i suggested the 212+ is that it has a lil more CFM, if it was 5 cfm its nothing prolly statisitcal noise, but 15 cfm is a 25% improvement over your current unit, and other wise statisically they are about identical, yours is a touch heavier but once tamps are reached and stable mass becomes much less important than air flow, also if you can try adding a fan for a push/pull configuration on your cpu cooler.

The reason i like the 212+ is that its proven over and over, as evidenced by 2000+ reviews to your units 412, but again I am not convinced it will make a huge difference, but it may slightly better, you have to decide how much more you wanna get out of your proc and what your willing to spend.


Glad switching the fan direction helped!

 

[maxone]

970 BE @ 4240.3mhz

Hi folks, i am running a 970 BE at 4.2 mhz, first i`d try to running higher just by only using multiplier, it goes ok up to 4.1, refuse to boot at 4.2, i am using now a lower multiplier (16) and a higher FSB (265) 265x16= 4200, i`d also lower the frequency of the 800 mhz DDR2 kingston memory, the multiplier is at 3.3 wich come at at a frequency of 860 at this fsb, (HT Link 2120) my temp is 43 idle, 51 playing games with a Cooler Master Case with 2 120mm and 1 80mm fans, CPU is cooling with air with a Freezer 7 PRO Rev. 2 from Artic Cooling and a OCZ 700Watt PSU with a extra 120 mm fan, i will try to push it further to at list 4.4 mhz or to a temp that i will consider safe (59), happy christmas to you all.
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2161753

 

[trents]

Hi folks, i am running a 970 BE at 4.2 mhz, first i`d try to running higher just by only using multiplier, it goes ok up to 4.1, refuse to boot at 4.2, i am using now a lower multiplier (16) and a higher FSB (265) 265x16= 4200, i`d also lower the frequency of the 800 mhz DDR2 kingston memory, the multiplier is at 3.3 wich come at at a frequency of 860 at this fsb, (HT Link 2120) my temp is 43 idle, 51 playing games with a Cooler Master Case with 2 120mm and 1 80mm fans, CPU is cooling with air with a Freezer 7 PRO Rev. 2 from Artic Cooling and a OCZ 700Watt PSU with a extra 120 mm fan, i will try to push it further to at list 4.4 mhz or to a temp that i will consider safe (59), happy christmas to you all.
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2161753

Have you tested the stability of your overclock settings by running the Prime95 blend test for at least 2 hours? Prime95 is the defacto standard around here for stability testing.

 

[maxone]

Have you tested the stability of your overclock settings by running the Prime95 blend test for at least 2 hours? Prime95 is the defacto standard around here for stability testing.

Hi there, no, i did not, but i am playing BF3 and COD 4 and 5 for 2 days with other apps in the background and so far so good, i will run prime 95 later on.