Finding my weak link

813 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Matt*S., Nov 25, 2009

cosine83

Discussion Starter · Nov 23, 2009

Hi guys, long time reader first time poster.

I'm trying to find my system's weak link and maybe pull some recommendations from people that know what they're talking about when it comes to OCing.

I recently upgraded my AMD system's CPU and Mobo, complete specs:

Phenom II 965 BE 140W
ASUS M4A78 Plus
XFX Radeon HD 4870 1GB
4GB DDR2-800 5-6-6-18 (OCZ "Vista Upgrade", rated at 1.8v on website, 2.1v on packaging)
Cooler Master eXtreme 500W PSU
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro w/ Arctic Silver 5 HSF
Thermaltake WingRS 201 w/ 2 120MM fans push/pull

Previously, I had a mATX board with a Phenom 9950 140W and the same other components. Overclocking the 9950 to 3.0GHz and be stable was fairly easy on air with a small jump in voltage and temps hovered around 40C on idle and maxed 54C on full load.

Now when I even bump the multiplier up by .5 on my 965 if I run any test or game it'll crash the system but will be "stable" for normal usage. Temps will hover around 45C on idle and hit about 58C on load at stock.

I'm thinking my two weak links may be my memory and my PSU but I'm still kind of a newbie to OCing so I'm not sure and wanted to bump heads with you all before I start spending money.

What do you think my weak links are and what are your recommendations? I'd really like be able to push my system as much as possible.

Edit: Cool n Quiet is enabled in the BIOS, btw.

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The_Rocker

· #2 · Nov 23, 2009

Well, increasing the multiplier by .5 is increasing the CPU speed and it crashing under load is almost certainly caused by a lack of voltage to the CPU.

Overclocking is a trial and error process. You will have to increase the voltage in small increments until it appears stable. This will in turn increase your idle and load temps.

I must also tell you to keep an eye on what the RAM is running at when OC'ing as the RAM frequency usually increases in relation to CPU frequency however I am not very familier with AMD set ups.

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cosine83

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 23, 2009

I've read in a lot of situation on PhIIs that an increment to voltage isn't really quite necessary for a meager bump like .5x. Even so, I did a an incremental voltage jump and it was still unstable.

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Craiga35

· #4 · Nov 24, 2009

Well try to turn off Cool and Quiet, its been known to cause stability issues with OC's. Turn Cool and Quiet, and C1e off, it should be under Advanced->CPU Configuration. (lol, we have the same board so I know where everything is.)

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cosine83

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 24, 2009

I've just turned off c1e and cnq. What I'm doing right now is using AOD to do my OC and prime95 for a 5min test each bump. I also manually set my ram in the bios. At 18.5x with a voltage bump to 1.44v from 1.40v the system crashes but is stable at 18x without a voltage bump. At 18.5x or higher the system bsods right when the test starts in prime95. My idea is to use AOD to test and then put the settings in the bios once a stable and satisfying oc is achieved.

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TyrantTru

· #6 · Nov 24, 2009

I would get a bigger HSF, but thats just me - I'm not sure if AMD hides their true core temps still on the Phenoms...that made me sad;(

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Craiga35

· #7 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by TyrantTru

I would get a bigger HSF, but thats just me - I'm not sure if AMD hides their true core temps still on the Phenoms...that made me sad;(

Lolwut? I have never heard of this, ever. Are you talking about cores? They have never hid their temps, AFAIK coretemp does not work with Phenoms until the latest revision, are you using an old version of coretemp or something?

OT: That 18x clock is definitely the highest it will go on stock voltage. If you want you can up the voltage to up to 1.5V to try to get more out of it, but keep it under 60*C!

That AOD idea was the same I used, but I have heard AOD overclocks require more voltage so you may be able to push it further in the BIOS.

Good luck!

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cosine83

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craiga35

Yeah, when running Prime95 my temps were over 60C within several minutes. I either need a better HSF (the one I have doesn't cover the die all the way) and I reported my temps wrong. HWMonitor reports that at idle it sits around 48-50C (55 with WoW and a flash-based AV chatroom open) which I believe is a bit high even for the 965. I think I'm going to have to pick up a new HSF as well. Any recommendations for this beast? When it comes to hardware, putting **** together, and troubleshooting software I'm damn good at (it's my job) but cooling and some other things leave me guessing most of the time.

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Matt*S.

· #9 · Nov 25, 2009

I have to recommend the Megahalem. I believe it's still the best air cooler on the market today in a small package. I've heard that the IFX-14 is better, but this is still a reasonable size if you ask me and the mounting system is second to none for LGA775, didn't pay any attention to AM2+/3.

If that's out of your price range, there is the Xigmatek Death Knight that I would suggest. I have seen a few Megas selling in the FS section lately, so maybe try and snag one from there.

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jackeyjoe

· #10 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt*S.

I have to recommend the Megahalem. I believe it's still the best air cooler on the market today in a small package. I've heard that the IFX-14 is better, but this is still a reasonable size if you ask me and the mounting system is second to none for LGA775, didn't pay any attention to AM2+/3.

If that's out of your price range, there is the Xigmatek Death Knight that I would suggest. I have seen a few Megas selling in the FS section lately, so maybe try and snag one from there.

Really, you don't need a new cooler, the freezers are very good coolers for the price and should cool just fine.

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cosine83

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackeyjoe

Really, you don't need a new cooler, the freezers are very good coolers for the price and should cool just fine.

Then how can I get my temps down with my current setup?

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jackeyjoe

· #12 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosine83

Then how can I get my temps down with my current setup?

what are your ambients, although mine is a different model to yours we should get similar performance, i can get mine around 10c above the ambient. If its lower you are doing well.

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cosine83

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackeyjoe

what are your ambients, although mine is a different model to yours we should get similar performance, i can get mine around 10c above the ambient. If its lower you are doing well.

My current temps in HWMonitor. These temps were taken shortly after I closed things down for the night. GPU is down to around 55C (turned fan speed up from 70% to 80% with negligible noise increase) and CPU temp down to around 45C. Ambients both went to low 40s.

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Matt*S.

· #14 · Nov 25, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackeyjoe

Really, you don't need a new cooler, the freezers are very good coolers for the price and should cool just fine.

I gotta say, that was a good one. In my defense, was 2a when I was typing the response and I haven't played WoW in something like 3 months.

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