[PatriBrod]

Hey guys. Let me start off by saying that I haven't been overclocking for long and I'm still learning.

So, I bought a Phenom II x4 965 and a Sapphire 7870 XT Boost and wanted to OC them. First problem came with the CPU. Most people around the web say they can get theirs up to 4Ghz or higher, but whenever mine passes 3.8 I get a BSOD. I've tried fiddling with BIOS settings, voltage, multiplier, etc. It just won't go past 3.8 ! I bought a Hyper 212 for cooling thinking it might be temps but even at 40°C under load it gave me the BSOD. Now, I know that OCing is unique to each and every CPU, but it's the latest edition, and I thought that it would go past that...

But that's not it ! My GPU also refuses to overclock well. I've looked on this site and over the web, and most people say they can get theirs up to 1200/1600 with the 20%+ power adjustment in Catalyst but mine wont go past 1100 without making my games go black and having to rest the PC.

My motherboard is a MSI 770-G45.
My PSU is a OCZ Fatal1ty 550W.

What am I doing wrong? Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[zulk]

First of all you should take a note of the fact that not all chips overclock the same, yeah most phenom ll's do get to 4ghz but some don't get to that speed, Also for a good overclock you would need a good powersupply and I don't think ocz psu's are that great although I have little to none experience with ocz power supplies.

For the phenom try increase the voltage in small increments till you get stability and do not cross the core voltage of 1.55V which is the max safe voltage for denebs but I'd say that anything above 1.5v is not recommended for 24/ 7 use.

Also could you note what you are using to overclock you card, instead of using the default amd overclocker in the driver try using third party softwares such as trixx or MSI afterburner.

 

[thorian88]

a lot of people also lie.

 

[PatriBrod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zulk

First of all you should take a note of the fact that not all chips overclock the same, yeah most phenom ll's do get to 4ghz but some don't get to that speed, Also for a good overclock you would need a good powersupply and I don't think ocz psu's are that great although I have little to none experience with ocz power supplies.

For the phenom try increase the voltage in small increments till you get stability and do not cross the core voltage of 1.55V which is the max safe voltage for denebs but I'd say that anything above 1.5v is not recommended for 24/ 7 use.

Also could you note what you are using to overclock you card, instead of using the default amd overclocker in the driver try using third party softwares such as trixx or MSI afterburner.

Alright thank you. Can I ask why there's a difference in the software used to OC?

 

[PiOfPie]

Aside from the PSU, another potential problem with your CPU overclock might be your motherboard. It only has a 4+1 phase VRM and has a high failure rate according to OCN's database. I wouldn't try pushing voltage at all; the more you bump, the greater the risk that you'll fry something.

 

[PatriBrod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiOfPie

Aside from the PSU, another potential problem with your CPU overclock might be your motherboard. It only has a 4+1 phase VRM and has a high failure rate according to OCN's database. I wouldn't try pushing voltage at all; the more you bump, the greater the risk that you'll fry something.

Sounds fair. I guess my next upgrade will be PSU and Mobo. I'll stay at stock GPU and 3.8 CPU for now. Thank you for your input.

 

[PatriBrod]

Update : Managed to overclock the GPU to 1200 while leaving the memory at 1500 and the power & at 0 in Catalyst !!! Helped a great amount to eliminate slowdowns in Far Cry 3 with V-Sync on !

 

[zulk]

I think you should rather upgrade your whole system and just keep the gpu, because the processor you have right now is a bit of a bottleneck for your card.

 

[zulk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thorian88

a lot of people also lie.

Nah 4ghz is quite easy on denebs, 4.2 is a bit tricky but can be done if you have sufficient gear and beyond that is the playgrounds of the xtreme overclockers. There are some out there beyond 4.4 but those clocks are just insane and you can't normally expect most denebs to clock like that.

 

[NeoReaper]

You guys would be suprised at what OCZ psu's can handle... Ive OC'ed my cpu to 4.4 Ghz and GPU to over 2Ghz and 1.2 Ghz Vram and my Anti Surge Hasent Even Gone off once at all.

 

[zulk]

^ Yeah but their variance from unit to unit is a lot and their qc isn't all that great, I did hear that they have improved in the recent times but I can't vouch for that unless I actually use something from them

, perhaps I'll try out a vector ssd.

 

[PatriBrod]

I'll be upgrading this month. I'll get a FX-8350 and a new mobo (Gigabyte 990). I'll also upgrade my PSU eventually but I don't think it's holding me back to much right now.

Is the FX-8350 easy to OC? Will it be a good gaming upgrade from my 965?

 

[PatriBrod]

I'll be upgrading this month. I'll get a FX-8350 and a new mobo (Gigabyte 990). I'll also upgrade my PSU eventually but I don't think it's holding me back to much right now.

Is the FX-8350 easy to OC? Will it be a good gaming upgrade from my 965?

 

[FlashFir]

Your motherboard is known to explode.
1) It'll cause you to have to use higher voltage due to a very weak VRM setup
2) It has a chance of blowing up, motherboard dying via MOSFETS exploding as seen in link #1

www.overclock.net/t/943109/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-125w-tdp-processors/0_100
http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/946407-amd-motherboard-power-phase-list.html

I'd say get an i5-3570k especially if you live near a MicroCenter for gaming. The Ivy Bridge IPC performance brings gaming performance in the lead for most scenarios as most games are not extremely mutli-threaded.
Also a 970a-ud3 is the best solid AM3+ budget board, I owned it myself with a 965 clocked to 4.2ghz @ 1.44v @ Hyper212 @ 70F. No need for 990 chipsets unless you need to have dual cards.

 

[PatriBrod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashFir

Your motherboard is known to explode.
1) It'll cause you to have to use higher voltage due to a very weak VRM setup
2) It has a chance of blowing up, motherboard dying via MOSFETS exploding as seen in link #1

www.overclock.net/t/943109/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-125w-tdp-processors/0_100
http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/946407-amd-motherboard-power-phase-list.html

I'd say get an i5-3570k especially if you live near a MicroCenter for gaming. The Ivy Bridge IPC performance brings gaming performance in the lead for most scenarios as most games are not extremely mutli-threaded.
Also a 970a-ud3 is the best solid AM3+ budget board, I owned it myself with a 965 clocked to 4.2ghz @ 1.44v @ Hyper212 @ 70F. No need for 990 chipsets unless you need to have dual cards.

Holy *****. Definitely my next upgrade then I don't want it to go and bring down my other components with it. Thank you for the warning greatly appreciated.

I did hear GREAT things about the i5, but I've been AMD since Athlon II and I kinda like them. And by the looks of next gen consoles, I think we will see more and more games using all the cores more efficiently so I liked the idea of a good bang for the buck card on AMD's side with 8 cores @ 4ghz. What I was curious about tho is if I can bring it to 4.5...

Also the reasoning behind the 990 was so that I can buy another 7870XT down the line. Then I will need a new PSU right?

 

[FlashFir]

Your power supply... 550w could be okay.

It's your judgment call. To be safe I'd go 3570k just because the FPS will be better but it is true that things are becoming more and more multi-threaded:

Toms is now recommending quad cores over faster clocked Intel dual cores and with consoles upcoming having many cores it could be a better bet. The question is, will you want to upgrade from an 8320 or 8350 in ~1.5 years? I know I'd probably upgrade in that time frame in which time I think it'd be better for me to get an i5 rather than an OctaCore now.

All up the air.

Personally I'd get an inexpensive motherboard that only supports single GPU setups (either 1x PCIE slot or it lacks PCIE x8 x8) to save money. Get a 7970.
The 970a-ud3 is an example of an inexpensive board that doesn't compromise on overclocking, a solid 8+2 phase setup nicely sinked. again, owned it with my 955, i have a friend running a 8320 on it.

AMD - www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/946407-amd-motherboard-power-phase-list.html
INTEL - sinhardware.com/images/vrm.jpg

Both 8320 and i5-3570k should go to 4.5ghz easily. 8350 might clock a few hundred higher up to 4.8~ but the i5-3570k is better bet for not highly threaded games like BF3. And the highly threaded consideration is applicable if you're not going to upgrade for many years. (more than 2 years in my book)

 

[PatriBrod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashFir

Your power supply... 550w could be okay.

It's your judgment call. To be safe I'd go 3570k just because the FPS will be better but it is true that things are becoming more and more multi-threaded:

Toms is now recommending quad cores over faster clocked Intel dual cores and with consoles upcoming having many cores it could be a better bet. The question is, will you want to upgrade from an 8320 or 8350 in ~1.5 years? I know I'd probably upgrade in that time frame in which time I think it'd be better for me to get an i5 rather than an OctaCore now.

All up the air.

I see what you mean. I guess I'm also a bit scared of switching sides because I never built with Intel. Would ATI graphics work well with an i5? Because I always have in mind that ATI is to AMD what Nvidia is to Intel.

 

[FlashFir]

Edited my post and that's a myth.

Hardware is all agnostic, it doesn't care what it's paired with. Pair the best with the best for value. That's what I did 3570k + 7970.

 

[PatriBrod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashFir

Edited my post and that's a myth.

Hardware is all agnostic, it doesn't care what it's paired with. Pair the best with the best for value. That's what I did 3570k + 7970.

Alright I think I'll do just that. I was OCDing on brands!!! Thank you for all of your input by the way. Gotta love the community on this website !

 

[PhilWrir]

Getting a Phenom II to 4GHz has never been particularly easy.
I barley got my old 1090T that was under water to 4.

And thats only made worse by your motherboard.
With the exception of their Flagship stuff like the XPower boards, MSI boards usually have AT BEST mediocre power delivery.
And that board only has 4+1 phase and poor quality mosfets.
i.e. its not a board that will get you to 4GHz without putting up a massive fight.

Doesnt mean it cant be done, just that its going to be a headache.

Im no expert on AMD overclocking.
Especially under less than Ideal hardware circumstances.

Ill let the experts help.