Having problems overclocking..

[XGh0st]

Im not sure why, but my processor isn't overclocking as much as it should. I have an AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black edition. Those are suppost to OC pretty high. I also have a Corsair H50 Liquid cooler, which i heard works pretty well. Right now im running at 3.7Ghz (Base is 3.4) I brought it up to 3.9 with no problem, but when i start playing games, it just crashes. What could be the problem?

 

[StrangleHold]

You using the multiplier overclocking? If you havent, you probably need to bump up your CPU voltage.

 

[Aastii]

Im not sure why, but my processor isn't overclocking as much as it should. I have an AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black edition. Those are suppost to OC pretty high. I also have a Corsair H50 Liquid cooler, which i heard works pretty well. Right now im running at 3.7Ghz (Base is 3.4) I brought it up to 3.9 with no problem, but when i start playing games, it just crashes. What could be the problem?

You using the multiplier overclocking? If you havent, you probably need to bump up your CPU voltage.

by the smallest possible increment, don't go whacking it way up, sure fire way to fry your chip.

You say it crashes when you play games, had you actually stress tested your chip after you got it to 3.7 and know it was stable?

If you used FSB to overclock and memory speed is linked, your memory will have been overclocked too which would be causeing instability

 

[XGh0st]

by the smallest possible increment, don't go whacking it way up, sure fire way to fry your chip.

You say it crashes when you play games, had you actually stress tested your chip after you got it to 3.7 and know it was stable?

If you used FSB to overclock and memory speed is linked, your memory will have been overclocked too which would be causeing instability

I used my bios to OC. ASRock has their smart bios thing which helps me OC easier. Im not very expirienced in OCing so i forgot about the stress test. What kind of software might i need? Im using Cinebench R11.5 (64bit) So up the voltage a bit huh? ill try this too i guess. My multiplyer right now is at x17. How much farther should i bring it? (With my H50 Liquid cooler could i reach 4Ghz w/ stability?)
Edit: I tried putting up the voltage just a tiny bit, but ass soon as windows loaded, (after the password), it all just crashes.

Edit: Heres a pic of my CPU-Z. (I put everything back to base settings)

 

[Twist86]

Screenshot of your memory (hit the memory tab on cpuz) also what is your "stock" timings/speed on memory? Also Prime95 will test your hardware to its maximum and beyond. If it doesn't BSOD within 2 hours your overclock SHOULD be stable but most will encourage you stress 6+ hours for 100% certainty.

 

[XGh0st]

Alright, well i got my OC to work nicley (seems stable) Im at 3.9Ghz w/ 1.45voltage. Does this seem right? I ran many benchmarks and it seems okay. Heres a pic of my memory.

 

[Twist86]

There is no "set" settings to get those overclocks sadly...each chip is different and so different settings will do different things.

Prime95
32 bit
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

64 bit
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205

Run it for 2 hours if you don't have a error then id say you passed and are fine and shouldn't get random bsod errors. Since it was only 1 hour since my last post I don't think you ran it did you? Do a mixed test (default settings) so it will also test your memory. Benchmark programs are not the same as they wont strain your CPU nearly as much as prime95.

 

[XGh0st]

There is no "set" settings to get those overclocks sadly...each chip is different and so different settings will do different things.

Prime95
32 bit
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

64 bit
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205

Run it for 2 hours if you don't have a error then id say you passed and are fine and shouldn't get random bsod errors. Since it was only 1 hour since my last post I don't think you ran it did you? Do a mixed test (default settings) so it will also test your memory. Benchmark programs are not the same as they wont strain your CPU nearly as much as prime95.

Yeah. You were right. I put it to test for 2hrs and i was about to leave the house for a bit. Just before i left i got a BSOD. after 5mins i guess. Should i give it a bit more voltage or what?

Edit: Im also trying AMD Overdrive's stress test.
Edit: Im about 10mins in with no problems. Got farther than last time. (Using my laptop while desktop is testing)

 

[Twist86]

Yes BSOD usually means a voltage boost but only go up by 1 at a time till it stops. Lot of people will jump 3-4 and are shocked when they cause damage.

Also when you boot prime95 up select the "Small FFT" (top option when you boot it up) if that crashes then its your memory. If you pass it try the default ram/cpu test and if it crashes you will either need to downclock your memory or up the voltage.

Reason why I overclocked via FSB 400x8 = 3.2ghz + 800mhz on my memory (stock for me). Other then benchmarks I noticed zero increase by having overclock memory so I decided not to risk it


*edit*
Also I forgot to add I was told not to go past 1.5v on the Phenom II you might want to verify this. Also it can be random I have passed 1 hour prime95 tests but failed 2 hours down. Sometimes your just at the threshold.

*edit again*
http://www.techreaction.net/2009/05/28/phenom-ii-am3-overclocking-essentials/ a interesting read it might pay for you to read this and perhaps learn something new. Also I don't use ANY other program. If it can't pass prime95 then its stable enough in my book (you can get 1 hour prime fine and start getting random bsod which happen 1-2 times a week or less from low voltage) I learn that out on my Q6600 so 2 hours + stable or keep going

 

[XGh0st]

Yes BSOD usually means a voltage boost but only go up by 1 at a time till it stops. Lot of people will jump 3-4 and are shocked when they cause damage.

Also when you boot prime95 up select the "Small FFT" (top option when you boot it up) if that crashes then its your memory. If you pass it try the default ram/cpu test and if it crashes you will either need to downclock your memory or up the voltage.

Reason why I overclocked via FSB 400x8 = 3.2ghz + 800mhz on my memory (stock for me). Other then benchmarks I noticed zero increase by having overclock memory so I decided not to risk it


*edit*
Also I forgot to add I was told not to go past 1.5v on the Phenom II you might want to verify this. Also it can be random I have passed 1 hour prime95 tests but failed 2 hours down. Sometimes your just at the threshold.

*edit again*
http://www.techreaction.net/2009/05/28/phenom-ii-am3-overclocking-essentials/ a interesting read it might pay for you to read this and perhaps learn something new. Also I don't use ANY other program. If it can't pass prime95 then its stable enough in my book (you can get 1 hour prime fine and start getting random bsod which happen 1-2 times a week or less from low voltage) I learn that out on my Q6600 so 2 hours + stable or keep going

Oh. I still havn't reached stability. I BSOD like 15mins down the test, when i test with 3.8GHz~4Ghz. O really? I cant go past 1.5v? I just put it to 1.5v for like 5mins before i read this. I put it back to normal settings for now. Just letting everything cool down, (If i tweak the settings too much it just crashes after booting) So it usually works after 10mins of keeping the pc off. I read this article: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenom2_965_refresh/3.htm The person said they were able to get 4ghz with 1.5V. 4ghz was my target also.. So what should i do?

Edit: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2428&page=4 Found this and it said it could only go up to 3.9ghz while stable. Im still not sure what voltage to keep it at.

 

[El Gappo]

http://www.computerforum.com/179367-stable-overclock-your-deneb-thuban-setup.html

Whats the message on the bsod?

The best way for us to know whats going on is showing us otherwise this thread will end up 20 pages long before you stop blue screening.

Screenshots with cpu-z open and temp monitoring etc etc. List your voltages also.

 

[XGh0st]

http://www.computerforum.com/179367-stable-overclock-your-deneb-thuban-setup.html

Whats the message on the bsod?

The best way for us to know whats going on is showing us otherwise this thread will end up 20 pages long before you stop blue screening.

Screenshots with cpu-z open and temp monitoring etc etc. List your voltages also.

ill post my results on test tommorow. Iv been tweaking my settings for most of the day and im tired now. I found this article really helpful http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/499526-phenom-ii-x4-9x5-oc-thread.html
It shows what voltage to match with each frequency (its pretty much what iv been trying to do this whole time). So i guess i will try some of these settings before i sleep, and keep a stress test going on for sometime while i sleep.