(Yet Another) Overclocking Thread - Phenom II X4 820 - Page 3

Thanks again truckerguy Appreciate all your help with everything.

The reason I asked, is because I was strongly considering replacing this CPU with a 965 BE (since right now there appear to be tons of people selling their used ones for cheap) and taking it to 3.8GHz tops; then replacing my HD6850 with a 6950 2GB or 7850 and just being happy with that setup for a little while (at least until Piledriver comes around and I start seeing some reviews/benchmarks). Heck, even a brand new 965 BE at the 'Egg is only running at around $109 shipped right now ($95 atm with a promo code). I think that would be all the gaming "muscle" I would need to keep me satisfied for the games I mostly play (BF3, Arkham City, Deus Ex: HR... everything else is older stuff like Dead Space).

Would that not be advised given my motherboard?
Edited by RevOne - 7/26/12 at 11:21am

@truckerguy Thanks again. Good suggestion. It's funny too, because the GeminII was one of the first coolers I was initially considering. I was thinking that I might try doing a little custom modding to one of the RAM coolers and sit it right over the heatsinked VRM/Mosfets, etc..Maybe not this particular one, but something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835236002

Just a thought At least as a cheap temp fix until it becomes time to get a new board altogether (like an ROG would be nice).

@Mongen That's exactly what I've been thinking too. It's weird because I'm in an odd position as far as CPU upgrades are concerned. I feel that since I've already got a Deneb X4 sitting at 3.4GHz... there's not much real benefit to anything else out there. I can get an X6 for the extra cores and better IMC, but for gaming... there's not a lot of games (or any that I play anyway) that will utilize the 6 cores. By the time there are, I'll hopefully be far enough past the AM3 platform to even have to worry about "Damn.... I should have bought that Phenom II X6 back then". For other stuff that I much more rarely do (video encoding, for example), yeah, the extra cores would be nice, but unless I get an 1100T @ 3.3GHz stock (which would put me out at least $150 right now) and OC... still not a whole lot to gain in terms of what I primarly use my machine for - gaming. Getting something like the 965 - or if I could, for cheap, a 970 or 980 - I thought it might be nice simply because at stock one of those would already be at or slightly beyond the frequency of my current CPU while it's OC'ed... not factoring in whatever OC potential I could possibly get out of the 965 C3 chip or higher with their unlock multipliers. But my motherboard and cooling would definitely keep me from hitting the desirable 4.0GHz + range anyway...

And then there's Bulldozer... but, to put it bluntly... "meh". If I aim high and go for the FX-8150, for the price I'd pay for one, I'd go a bit more and just buy an i5-2500k/i5-3570k plus a z77 board and switch platforms.

So, it's a pretty tough predicament to be in. "CPU limbo" is what I've been calling it -=laughing=-. While any one of those AM3/AM3+-based processors I mentioned would indeed be better than my current one, when you factor in what I'd pay for one plus the small return on selling my current one, I don't know how much better it would be for the price/performance and whether it'd be truly worth it in the end. :/ The only reason I picked up this 820 over anything else at the time, is because it seriously only cost me $26.50 shipped when I bought it a little over a year ago. So, yeah - I definitely believe you are absolutely right and sticking with this CPU is probably the best way to go (for now).

Small update - the X4 820 failed the Prime95 blend test after 4 hours using the last settings I posted. Oh well It wasn't a BSOD this time; it was a "black screen" reboot. I loosened the timings on the RAM, tried again and it failed after only two hours this time, but it was simply a worker that stopped, not a BSOD or reboot. Not really sure where else to go from here to try to get it stable.... Might try increasing the CPU voltage to 1.4v and seeing if that works; but I really didn't want to run that many volts through it for a day-to-day OC. Max listed voltage is 1.425v for this processor according to AMD, though from what I've read around, I could go as high as 1.55v with a C2 chip. 1.45v might work if I aim for 3.6GHz, but seems kinda high and not worth the extra heat to me for only 3.2 - 3.4GHz.

I didn't realize it before, but trying to take a 2.8GHz 820 to 3.4GHz using just the FSB is probably just like or perhaps a bit more challenging than taking a 3.4GHz 965 BE to 4GHz (both are a 600MHz OC)... So I may be aiming a little too high. and underestimating what it takes to achieve such an OC. I also still think the RAM is what's holding me back here.

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@Mongen - Some very valid points to consider there. It's also interesting to see that there others on the AM3/AM3+ platform that kind of find themselves in the same position as far as upgrades - or the lack thereof - even with Bulldozer out.

In much the same way as you described, while I'd likely benefit from the unlocked multiplier of a Black Edition X4, I'd be trading up a potentially cooler running 95W chip for a 125W chip - which as truckerguy aptly pointed out a cpuple posts back - will likely introduce an entirely new set of issues to take into consideration when attempting any kind of OC. I'm sure my Hyper TX3 might do okay at best keeping a 125W chip moderately cool at stock settings; much less being able to keep up even with a mild OC.

Thanks for sharing your insights! + Rep
Edited by RevOne - 7/28/12 at 10:45am

Good stuff I hadn't considered that (or I should say, I didn't know that ). I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Thanks again truckerguy
Edited by RevOne - 7/28/12 at 12:17pm

Alright...

I gave 1.65v a go on the RAM (1333MHz 9-10-10-25 34 2T; which are the default timings listed for the XMP profile).
1.4v on the CPU (1.368v @ load w/ vdroop).
1.38v on the CPU-NB.
And cranked the HT to 250 (which gave 3.5GHz for the CPU) w/ the CPU-NB @ 2500MHz and HT Link @ 2000MHz
Disabled CnQ, C1E, Virtualization, CPU Spread Spectrum, and Load Line Calibration for both the CPU & CPU-NB.
50°C max core temp (HW Monitor/CoreTemp) at full load.
Didn't enable the the "hidden" extra 2mb of L3 cache yet since I wanted to rule that out.

Before, anytime I tried 250 on the FSB/HT/reference clock, it would fail before even finishing the first line in Prime95 (meaning, almost instantly).

This time, it was going for half-an-hour with no BSOD's, sudden restarts, or workers stopping. It didn't fail... but...When I looked in CPU-Z and Windows System Information, it showed that one of my sticks of RAM had somehow apparently just fallen off the map entirely.

It was only registering 4GB instead of 8GB, so I quit the test and reverted back to stock. The full 8GB is now showing again (i had to use the motherboard 's physical RAM reset button in order to get it to post again). Guess before I try anything else, it's Memtest time. I might just give up on OC'ing this chip altogether given my luck thus far
Edited by RevOne - 7/28/12 at 2:33pm