Overclocking my Phenom X4 9850

[Vishera]

Okay, i got to a 10% OC which took me from 2.5GHz to 2.75GHz. i tried to do 15% which was a little over 2.8GHz, and windows didn't finish loading and i got a blue screen. what's the next step? i am currently back at 2.75, temps look okay, haven't had any issues. so what should i do to get a working 2.8 overclock? i was thinking increase voltage but i don't know how much to do it by. i have a screenshot from CPU-Z: http://prntscr.com/1e0uxf

so any ideas as to what i should do next? also, liquid or air cooling for a beginner? i have a little knowledge as to how to build a pc from scratch properly, but i'm a bit nervous about trying liquid cooling as i don't want to accidentally set it up wrong and for there to be a leak that fries my system. if anyone could help i'd appreciate it

 

[Mr.Scott]

Agena cores were notoriously bad clockers. A 300MHz increase about all you normally get. Don't be disappointed. That's just the way they are. Sell it and move up to a Deneb or Thuban core, you'll be much happier.

 

[Vishera]

ah, okay. any places where i can get a thuban core? i have a deneb phenom x4 965 in my sight right now but the x6 CPUs seem better

 

[trents]

Stay with the Phenom II X4 965. The only Thubans still available these days are the low end ones, like the 1045T and the 1055T. The PII X4 series are great overclockers if you have good cooling and a decent motherboard. There isn't much software out there anyway that takes advantage of more than four cores very well.

If you are currently running an Agena core CPU you must be using an AM2+ motherboard and DDR2 memory which will bottleneck either the PII X4 or the Thuban series. Could you list your hardware in more detail please? Motherboard, ram, PSU, video card, CPU cooler?

 

[Vishera]

Current Motherboard: ASRock A785GM-LE

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB)

PSU: 350W but not sure what brand, never knew. it's a replacement for a dead one i had a pc shop put in

GPU: Motherboard integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200

CPU Cooler: Not sure, probably stock

 

[trents]

You will get little or no overclock out of any of the CPUs you have mentioned until you get better cooling. Your motherboard and ram will be limiting factors as well but should allow a modest overclock of the X4 965 with better cooling.

What is the make and model of your case and how many/how large are the case fans. How is your case ventilation?

 

[Vishera]

well my PC was originally an HP Pavilion Elite m9350f. i bought it with less RAM and the 500GB HDD from my friend. i changed the motherboard so i could do this overclock, and put 4GB of RAM in. the PC ships with 6, my friend only had 2 in it. it only has one case fan, and i have the case open with an air conditioner blowing into it along with the case fan and CPU fan. reason being i tried overclocking once before and when i got to 2.7 the PC overheated. so i popped open the case and put it like right in front of my AC to try again. so otherwise ventilation is not very good.

 

[trents]

My friend, you have just too many short comings in that system to take on the challenge of overclocking. I don't know what your budget is like but good overclocking is built on a good foundation, starting with a quality PSU and a roomy, well ventilated case. Those are the first investments that should be undertaken. Then comes a quality air cooler. Then after those are in place go for a quality motherboard. The last purchase should be the the big gun CPU. Most people do it backwards.

 

[caddi daddi]

Mr. trents is so right on this one.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Agena cores were notoriously bad clockers. A 300MHz increase about all you normally get. Don't be disappointed. That's just the way they are. Sell it and move up to a Deneb or Thuban core, you'll be much happier.

Unfortunately, the first gen Phenoms are like OC'ing a Manchester or Toledo.

 

[caddi daddi]

we agree with that, but the 9850 is light years ahead of the 9100e and 9150e and all told they are really not that bad for a daily drive. if you want to find out i have a 9150e around here someplace i'll be glad to mail you just so i can say i don't have one.

 

[Vishera]

okay, so i have a plan for a new build. i won't buy until christmas time, maybe black friday. here are the specs, all from Newegg:

Phenom 2 X4 965 3.4GHz

Foxconn A88GMX AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX Motherboard

GPU: HIS iCooler Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16

PSU: CoolerMaster Elite 460 RS 460-PSAR-I3 460W ATX12V V2.31

RAM: Pareema 8GB (1x8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 SDRAM

Cooler: CoolerMaster DK9-7E52A-0L-GP CPU Cooler

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, 1x front 120mm fan, 1x top 140mm fan, 1x rear 120mm fan, and then an option for another 2x 120mm fans on the side

HDD: 1x 320GB Western Digital Caviar Blue and 1x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue

OS: Windows Vista, came on the 500GB HDD when i bought the PC from my friend.


Thoughts? Should i ditch my current HDDs and get a 1TB? those drives are extremely old, the 320GB is from when SATA first came out. is the PSU too small? also, if i do get a 1TB drive could i make a backup image of windows vista onto that drive and use it as an OS installation?

 

[Mandrake4565]

What is your budget?
If overclocking is your plan you need as said previously a good foundation. This is the least expensive motherboard I would consider using to overclock a P II on.

 

[Vishera]

this adds up to $393.92 USD and my budget is between $455 USD and $520 USD, roughly. maybe a little less.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Well taking into consideration that you don't plan on buying it for a few months, things will change by then. When you plan on purchasing it I'll help you put together a system to fit your needs and budget when that time comes.

 

[trents]

I agree with Drake's motherboard recommendation. I have an X4 955 overclocked to 4.1 on R.1 of that motherboard with the CPU cooler I recommend below:

Ugrade your cooler to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099. The cooler you selected will not come close to being adequate for overclocking the X4 965.

Upgrade your PSU to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139050. Coolermaster is not known as a quality PSU maker. Corsair, Antec and Seasnic do make quality units.

Upgrade your case to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233. The Rosewill Challenger may be too skinny (7.48" wide) to provide enough clearance to the side panel for the height of the good tower coolers like the one I listed above. All the tower coolers based on a 120mm fan are about 160mm tall and require a case of at least 7.5" width.

 

[caddi daddi]

I think that a 7770 card or better yet a 7850 card you can find for the same price and some 1600 ram.
thats pretty much the 965 system i have with the m5a97 r2.0 and it just does about anything i want and does it all pretty well.
I clock it well above 4.0, I game with it, and just daily computer stuff with no issues at all.