thlnk3r

Kairi_zeroblade, your current power supply (HEC Zephyr 750w) has 60amps across the 12volt rail (720/12) which is plenty for two video cards. This power supply is also capable of providing quite a bit of wattage. Either the power supply isn't operating correctly or the quality of this particular unit is poor.

Have you verified that the rails (12v, 3.3v and 5v) are within specification? A great way to check would be with a multimeter. Here is a great guide that explains this process: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/guide...ing-guide.html.

Let us know

Good luck

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BADFASTBUSA

-Phenom II type (920, 940, etc)
940

-CPU stepping (printed on the CPU IHS) and manufacturing date (i.e. MCBBF 0109MPM, or whatever you have)
AMD PHENOM II STEPPINGS
HDZ940XCJ4DGI
CACVC AC 0850EPDW
9100902L80015

-Revision (check CPU-Z)
RB-C2

-max CPU clock speed, reference clock and multiplier
3913.2mhz / 200mhz / x19.5

-CPU voltage
1.536

-CPU-NB voltage
1.100v (im not sure if this is the right one)

-Northbridge clock (check CPU-Z) and voltage
1805mhz / ???

-HTT link speed and voltage
1806mhz / 1.2 (im not sure if this is the right one)

-motherboard used
ASUS M3A79-T

-motherboard BIOS revision
0703

-type of cooling
Air




I added my AMD overdrive screenie to hopefully help fill in the blanks, sorry, i am kind of new to this stuff.

Attached Thumbnails

     

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Ranked 7th in AMD 3DMARK06 TOP 40

gsk3rd

what did you use to test the stability?

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BADFASTBUSA

ummm, about 32 runs of 3dmark06... Do i need to do something else, or post my 3dmark06 scores?

-edit, make that 34 runs now LOL

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No bugs in my machine, i use raid, raid0 that is MUHAHAHA
Ranked 7th in AMD 3DMARK06 TOP 40

thlnk3r

BADFASTBUSA, have you had a chance to run any stability tests with Orthos or OCCT? Both of these applications are great for stress testing the processor and memory. I typically run OCCT for an hour on "High" and then a I run Orthos for about 8 to 9 hours at "Priority 9" with the "blend" test. This will definitely reveal any type of stability if it exists.

In most cases 3DMark06 is a great tool for testing a video card overclock. For processor and memory I would try the above applications.

Good luck

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BADFASTBUSA

i did the prime95 thing for about 1.5hrs if that counts on blend (tests some of everything, lots of ram) setting, i was wondering if it was really doing anything though because all it done was several tests over and over and made my cpu run up to 53c and it just stayed there and kept doing the same thing so i thought it might have been bad or something because it never done anything else other than make my cpu temp run up to 53c and saying the same thing over and over but different #'s on each of the tests after every minute or so... I'm not exactly sure what orthos or occt is, and i really don't know what i am doing on this prime thing, i am just doing what my buddy told me to do and frankly it got really boring sitting and watching that thing keep saying test 1 test 2 test 3, and it not doing some cool video thing like 3dmark06 does. i just found out about prime not long ago from my buddy and he told me how to do it and what to set my settings in the bios on etc, but didn't tell me it was going to be this boring.

like i said, sorry for being such a noob.

Also, i'm not sure if this matters but i remember him telling me he got it to boot into windows at 4.0ghz his first try with the noctua push/pull hs if that helps.

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thlnk3r

BADFASTBUSA, no problem buddy. It's best that you run Prime 95 for at least (in my opinion) 6 to 8 hours. Some other users may have their own opinion on how long to run stability tests. The above suggestion is what I typically recommend.

Orthos is very similar to Prime 95. I believe it runs under one instance but can stress all cores? Someone please correct me if I am wrong. OCCT typically runs for an hour. It's been said that 1 hour in OCCT is equal to several hours in Prime 95.

Having the temperatures go up during testing is completely normal. This is actually good. This will reveal any cooling issues you may have when running at full load. If your machine freezes/locks up during testing then we know your overclock isn't stable. The stability tests can be boring but are beneficial in the long run. I'd much rather know that the machine I am gaming on is stable.

Good luck

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experimental

First post, new to overclocking. I've been experimenting with a new Phenom II in a Gigabyte MA-790X-DS4 motherboard with the stock cooler. No clue on stepping, sorry. 4 gigs g.skill DDR800 and a sapphire ati radeon 4870 1 gb. Testing OSes are XP 32 bit and Ubuntu linux 32 bit.

All my testing confirms the consensus wisdom you guys have worked out on the chip. Here's a summary, followed by some more details and observations:

1) 3.4 ghz (at least) is basically automatic on stock voltage with just multiplier increase.
2) 3.5 - 3.7 ghz is easily achievable on air with just a small overvoltage.
3) Getting past 3.7 depends on careful and intelligent adjustments based on your particular chip and hardware.

As a new overclocker without special equipment, I have been limiting myself to fairly conservative adjustment of the multiplier, cpu voltage, and cooling environment. For testing in windows, I have been using Prime95, OCCT, wprime, and gta IV. In linux, I have mostly used my own original (and primitive) benchmarks written in C, and a bit of lmbench. CPU-Z and Speedfan have been used for monitoring, although speedfan currently hard locks my system when launched on the 'scanning ISA bus' probe. As this is new behavior, I am slightly concerned.

Stock voltage OCing: adjusting only the multiplier on the cpu and leaving other settings 'auto' (which seems to result in purely default voltages and timings at the multipliers i have used) produces a system that is completely stable to 3.4ghz, and bootable/usable almost to 3.7. However, on stock voltage at 3.5ghz and above, prime95 is basically a 'reset button'. Linux is bootable and usable at higher multipliers than windows, most likely due to somewhat less efficient use of the CPU (temperatures under load are lower.) In a cool room running prime95 at 3.4ghz, core temp stays around 50c, with idle in the mid 30s.

Stabilizing to 3.7: getting stable at 3.7 (18.5x200) requires 0.075-0.100 extra voltage and a bit of extra care with cooling (antec 300 fans on high and a window open to let in some cool february air). Prime95 drives temps to 55-57c. Without enough voltage, linux can still boot even when windows fails. Again, the most likely reason is less efficient CPU usage.

I didn't make much of an attempt to push things any higher - with only the stock cooler and no previous experience experimenting with more advanced OCing techniques (changing base clock away from 200, underclocking memory, etc) I didnt think I was going to get very much further without being more experimental with my new machine than I wanted.

Reading this forum and experimenting with overclocking (for the first time in a LONG TIME of using computers) has been a lot of fun. Any questions or suggestions?

thlnk3r

Experimental, welcome to OCN

Thanks for posting. Very interesting read on your findings. Were you able to get any CPU-Z screenshots with your 3.7Ghz overclock? I'm bit curious about the other settings, mainly HT (hypertransport) and perhaps the memory sub-timings/frequency.

If you have time, please add your system specifications to your signature. In terms of hardware this will give us a better understanding on what you're running.

Good luck

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AMD Overclocking Guides · Terms of Service · My CM690
Socket 939 Appreciation Club and Knowledgebase

kairi_zeroblade

quad rail 12v which has 19amps each..
3.3v supplies a hefty 30amps
5v supplies a 25amps

i already bought a Cougar 1000w PSU.. will try to burn this one later..

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Phenom II 940 Validation@4014Ghz

My everyday use clocks