Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Wassup fellas! I just purchased yet another PII 940 BE and I decided to post my overclocking / tweaking results here as I've seen quite a few lately floating around the forums. I will keep this thread updated with my results as well as the tweaks I perform to try and stretch those extra MHz out of this chip. I'm going to try and keep all the hardware the same but I may be forced to switch motherboards if I decide that is a limiting factor. First off here are the system specs: CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 BE CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja Mini Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP Bios F4 RAM: 2GB GSkill DDR2 1066 Video: eVGA GTX 285 PSU: Mushkin XP-800AP 800W PSU OS: Windows XP SP3 (No tweaks or adjusting. Bone stock XP SP3 install) I'm going to begin by overclocking only with the multi and vcore. After I've found my max I'll begin upping the NB and HT speeds to increase performance and bandwidth. I'm running 3DMark06 to help judge overall performance increases because it is still a very CPU bound performance test. My results should help convey this so I won't explain that now. Stock: CPU @ 3GHz, RAM @ 2.1v 533MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings, GTX285 at vanilla stock speeds 3DMark06: 15765 940 at Stock Run 1: CPU @ 3.4GHz with 1.4v, NB & HT @ 1.8GHz, RAM @ 2.1v 533MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings, GTX285 at vanilla stock speeds The temp increase from 1.35 to 1.4v is almost negligible. The 940 is idling around 29-31C and loading under 40C. 3DMark06: 17228 940 at 3.4GHz Run 2: CPU @ 3.8GHz with 1.45v, NB & HT @ 1.8GHz, RAM @ 2.1v 533MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings, GTX285 at vanilla stock speeds Temps are still holding great and have only changed about 2C. Load temps are around 42C which is still very acceptable for this chip. The system will boot at 3.8GHz with 1.4v but randomly crashes back to the desktop during benchmarking and stress testing. 3DMark06: 18987 940 at 3.8GHz That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I plan to tweak the NB and HT speeds as well as tighten up the timings on the RAM. Thanks for looking! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baulten Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) Well, I think I figured out why you're getting better clocks than me. Much lower temps. I was seeing 57C at load with 1.5V. How are you keeping temps so low? The s1283 should be a better cooler than the Mini Ninja. Edit: If you ever get sick of having all those PhII's laying around you can send me a few Edit number two! Do you plan on doing any clocks on XP 64/Vista 64? Edited February 26, 2009 by Baulten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Well, I think I figured out why you're getting better clocks than me. Much lower temps. I was seeing 57C at load with 1.5V. How are you keeping temps so low? The s1283 should be a better cooler than the Mini Ninja. This rig is running a Antec 300 with 2 120MM intake fans, 120MM and 140MM exhaust fans, and an additional 120MM in the side panel blowing cool air over the video card so it has very good ventilation. The motherboard is a mATX board which puts the socket and heatsink very close to the exhaust fans which greatly helps in keeping the CPU temps down, that's why I love running it in this setup. The airflow is optimal and provides me with the best air-cooling solution while keeping the noise levels at a normal level. The GTX285 idles around 38C so that shows I'm getting plenty cool air quickly in and out of the case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) Edit: If you ever get sick of having all those PhII's laying around you can send me a few Edit number two! Do you plan on doing any clocks on XP 64/Vista 64? Haha, I was replying while you were editing your post. This is the 8th 940 I've had in my hands but only the third still in my possesion. I'll buy a large batch of chips and sell off the ones I either don't need or don't meet the goals I was planning on. If I decide to sell this one or my other great clocking 940 I'll shoot you a PM I will load Vista in a few days to get some Vantage scores in but not before I finish finding the max limits of this chip. I have no reason to install Vista x64 since this system is only running 2GB of RAM but I guess I could use it instead of 32bit like I was planning and see what I can get out of it. I've found that the OS doesn't limit my OC as much as the amount of RAM I have in my system. 2GB in Vista clocks much the same as XP, but getting 4GB to run stable in x64 usually forces me to down my clocks by 100MHz or so. Edited February 26, 2009 by Nuclear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 good overclocks sir, I'm wondering if you can top my 4ghz . I am super interested in the Phenom II's so I wish you the best Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 good overclocks sir, I'm wondering if you can top my 4ghz . I am super interested in the Phenom II's so I wish you the best 4GHz should be attainable with this chip but I'll have to wait and see how this board holds up to more voltage, I've got plenty of headrom to play with on the vcore side. Anything over 4GHz will probably require me to set a lower clock in the BIOS and upping it with AOD after booting into Windows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 4GHz should be attainable with this chip but I'll have to wait and see how this board holds up to more voltage, I've got plenty of headrom to play with on the vcore side. Anything over 4GHz will probably require me to set a lower clock in the BIOS and upping it with AOD after booting into Windows. what's AOD, a program for in windows overclocking? cant you just up the voltage and run the clocks from the bios? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 what's AOD, a program for in windows overclocking? cant you just up the voltage and run the clocks from the bios? AOD stands for AMD OverDrive and it is a tool that allows you to adjust just about any OC setting from Windows just as if you were in the BIOS. It only works on AMD chipsets but it is a great tool. I could set the clocks in BIOS and work from there but using AOD really helps when you are trying to squeeze every ounce out of system by allowing me to monitor and adjust settings on the fly. It also allows for each core to be clocked independently so I can find the absolute of each core and use that to work my overclock around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjloki Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 AOD stands for AMD OverDrive and it is a tool that allows you to adjust just about any OC setting from Windows just as if you were in the BIOS. It only works on AMD chipsets but it is a great tool. I could set the clocks in BIOS and work from there but using AOD really helps when you are trying to squeeze every ounce out of system by allowing me to monitor and adjust settings on the fly. It also allows for each core to be clocked independently so I can find the absolute of each core and use that to work my overclock around. wow Nuclear you are seriously crankin' that thing...how high do you think it will go...?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 wow Nuclear you are seriously crankin' that thing...how high do you think it will go...?? Honestly, I'm not sure yet and I really don't like making guessimates because it always seems like someone will be there ready to say "but you said..." Right now I'm at 3.8Ghz on 1.45v. I can easily run this chip up to 1.55v and as long as the cooling hold 1.575v shouldn't be a problem. With that said I'm hoping that extra headroom can allow me to reach 4Ghz or slightly above. My other 940 can boot into Windows at 4GHz and it took 1.5v to get it even 3D stable at 3.8Ghz. If I don't reach 4GHz then that's okay because even at 3.8 with this GTX 285 it absolutely screams. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baulten Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) Man, I'm at a loss of how you are getting so much better temps than me. I've got a modified mid-tower with dual 120 mm intakes on the front, a bottom 120 mm intake, and a top and rear 120 mm exhaust, with push/pull configuration on my Xigmatek. I've got the same temps as you at stock (~30C idle, ~40C load) but the second I push voltage through this chip I push into the high 40s/low 50s. I suppose part of it could be the fact that I can only mount the s1283 facing vertically. I may have to reevaluate my cooling setup to get better airflow! Edit: I've also heard rumors that running 64 bit generates a little more heat than 32-bit. Is there any merit to this? I don't have access to a 32 bit OS unfortunately Edited February 26, 2009 by Baulten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Edit: I've also heard rumors that running 64 bit generates a little more heat than 32-bit. Is there any merit to this? I don't have access to a 32 bit OS unfortunately I have never paid close attention to the temps when switching from a 32 bit to 64 bit OS, but that's because normally if I need a 64 bit OS I'll jump straight to that and skip 32 bit. I'll record some temps in XP SP3 during 3DMark and compare those to the temps I get when I switch to Vista x64. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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