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Finicky Phenom II 955


actionstan

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Hello All, 

 

I think I just need some clarification about the steps to take, and also have a few questions. 

 

I am currently running the PC in my signature, I have never had much luck getting this CPU to overclock. I know I wont get amazing results as its a stepping 2, but.. I think with my cooler I should be able to get a stable 3.7/3.8 ghz and a decent OC on the cpu-nb. So far it seems I was able to get a 3.6 ghz over clock stable at 1.38 voltage, strictly using the multiplier, I also had the cpu-nb at 2400 with I believe 1.2 v (bear with me I am working from memory.. its all back at stock as I updated the bios).  

 

I run the HT link at stock as well as the ram, it seems like oc'ing the HT link really only helps with benchmarks, and I am not too worried about going any better with the ram, I am just looking to make some headroom for a video card upgrade. 

 

 

 

My first question is.. Should I start out only overclocking the CPU, get it stable, and then move onto the cpu-northbridge, or vice versa cpu-nb first, then cpu? Or should I be trying to do both of these at the same time? The guides I have read don't seem to mention this, unless I overlooked it... I figure getting a stable 2400-2600 cpu-nb is about all I need..

 

Another question/thing I have noticed, If I set the voltage to 1.4v for example.. in the Bios.. I will get into windows launch cpuz and it will report a voltage of.. 1.38ish.. and fluctuates a bit, then under load it drops even more.. Is this normal, or is there any way to stabilize this? 

 

The last thing: Is there a faster way to test overclock settings that running prime95 for hours on end? As far as synthetic stress test, prime95 typically seems to find issues better than intel burn test, but it takes much longer. I don't really like the idea of using all that power for 12+ hours to verify a stable overclock..

 

 

EDIT:

 

I just realized my specs were not completely accurate at the time I posted this, so for reference my build is as follows:

 

Visiontek Radeon 5870
Phenom II 955 Black Edition Quad Core 3.2ghz
Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
8gb Gskill DDR3 1600mhz Ram (4x2)
M4A79XTD EVO MotherBoard
x2 640gb 7200 rpm Harddrives
750 Watt Corsair Power Supply
HAF 932 Case

 

 

Thanks for your help, and any more input is welcome!

Edited by actionstan

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Hello All, 

 

I think I just need some clarification about the steps to take, and also have a few questions. 

 

I am currently running the PC in my signature, I have never had much luck getting this CPU to overclock. I know I wont get amazing results as its a stepping 2, but.. I think with my cooler I should be able to get a stable 3.7/3.8 ghz and a decent OC on the cpu-nb. So far it seems I was able to get a 3.6 ghz over clock stable at 1.38 voltage, strictly using the multiplier, I also had the cpu-nb at 2400 with I believe 1.2 v (bear with me I am working from memory.. its all back at stock as I updated the bios).  

 

I run the HT link at stock as well as the ram, it seems like oc'ing the HT link really only helps with benchmarks, and I am not too worried about going any better with the ram, I am just looking to make some headroom for a video card upgrade. 

 

 

 

My first question is.. Should I start out only overclocking the CPU, get it stable, and then move onto the cpu-northbridge, or vice versa cpu-nb first, then cpu? Or should I be trying to do both of these at the same time? The guides I have read don't seem to mention this, unless I overlooked it... I figure getting a stable 2400-2600 cpu-nb is about all I need..

 

Another question/thing I have noticed, If I set the voltage to 1.4v for example.. in the Bios.. I will get into windows launch cpuz and it will report a voltage of.. 1.38ish.. and fluctuates a bit, then under load it drops even more.. Is this normal, or is there any way to stabilize this? 

 

The last thing: Is there a faster way to test overclock settings that running prime95 for hours on end? As far as synthetic stress test, prime95 typically seems to find issues better than intel burn test, but it takes much longer. I don't really like the idea of using all that power for 12+ hours to verify a stable overclock..

 

 

EDIT:

 

I just realized my specs were not completely accurate at the time I posted this, so for reference my build is as follows:

 

Visiontek Radeon 5870
Phenom II 955 Black Edition Quad Core 3.2ghz
Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
8gb Gskill DDR3 1600mhz Ram (4x2)
M4A79XTD EVO MotherBoard
x2 640gb 7200 rpm Harddrives
750 Watt Corsair Power Supply
HAF 932 Case

 

 

Thanks for your help, and any more input is welcome!

Your cooler should be fine for what you are looking to do. 

I overclock one aspect of the system at a time to limit variables. Then once all the maximums are a known commodity you can start combining them to get the highest performance possible.  You can either do this by reaching the maximum clock speed without adding voltage or add voltage to get where you want to go a manage the cooling.

 

With the voltage you are seeing what is called VDroop. You should have an option under the CPU section to enable and set load line calibration to minimize the droop to some extent but not totally eliminate it. 

 

IBT is good for finding the problem relatively quickly but I prefer Prime 95. I use IBT on maximum for 10 runs and make adjustments to get this to pass. I then head to Prime 95 to do my final tweaking.

 

Hope that helps. 

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you said that oc'ing the HT only helps in benchmarks.  But any more I think an argument could be had that oc'ing anything only matter in benchmarks!

 

 

Not really, The faster you transfer data while using the CPU in a compute function the faster your results will be completed. When using large file sets this saves time and time equals money. Now not many of us use our primary rigs overclocked for work but some do and it helps. The key is do you notice the difference in what you are doing. Does the system feel quicker, respond faster and just overall feel faster? The answer is yes for the most part since you are shaving time and time is where you notice it the most. Overclocking a CPU does not really give you the big jump it used to in games as the architecture has improved to the point where you don't see it but if chasing benches and looking for every advantage then yes its a worthwhile exercise. Every system I have is overclocked. It;s just what I do!  

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