Phenom II B50 + 785G chipset OC

[Necrofire]

So, I wanted to overclock my shiny new unlocked quad core, but still have CnQ enabled.

Result so far:
HT ref clock is 205, I don't know how much higher I'd be able to go.
CPU multi is at 16.5x @ 1.36V. I can do 17x, but only with voltage at 1.43 or higher.
Although I don't have individual core temps (all read -255C), the regular cpu temp doesn't go higher than 42C.

Almost everything in bios is default or auto, and my custom CnQ is being setup by PhenomMsrTweaker.
Current settings are 16.5x @ 1.36 performance, 4x @ 0.8V powersaving.

Northbridge voltage is 1.15V.

Anyone have any experience raising NB voltage past default and HT ref clock well over 200MHz?

Screenshot of settings so far:

 

[brandonwh64]

nice clocks! i hate it when you use unleash mode and it doesnt show the temp

 

[fritoking]

i pushed my unlocked x3 440 to 3.4..i think it could go higher actually

 

[Formula350]

Pretty sure the "standard OC setting" for the chipset voltages are 1.2v Northbridge likes 2400-2600mhz for optimum performance. Also I don't think you have to worry about the CPU voltage for 1.43v unless you're running the stock cooler. Otherwise 1.45v (and even 1.5v on a top notch cooler) is pretty much the norm. And the no-core temp is a 'feature' of unlocking to a quad Generally just add 2c idle and about 5c load, to that CPU temp, for a general idea of the core's. While no, that isn't right on the money and it could easily be 10c higher on load under the right conditions (like Intel BurnTest), it is at least a general idea

 

[Corduroy_Jr]

my advice stick with the bios to overclock, amd overdrive is garbage

 

[Lionheart]

my advice stick with the bios to overclock, amd overdrive is garbage

You can say that again!

 

[erocker]

It's good for reading values and doing bench runs. Not something I would use to find a 24/7 overclock. Apparently you guys never used older Windows based overclocking software.

 

[Formula350]

I am quite a huge fan of Windows OCing... I never could boot my S939 (until after I had to rebuild it and the change being less HDDs connected) above 250mhz HTT @ 10x CPU. So I would boot @ 9x and once in windows, jump up to 10x and then crank it up to 270mhz. If I tried through the BIOS, it would either crash at load or not make it past the BIOS. Now generally you'd say "Then clearly it's not stable!" to which I'd counter with "clearly it was since I ran it at those speeds for 3 years!"

I hate OCing through the BIOS because I can't check the performance change with the settings I'm adjusting. Generally I attribute that to memory timings though. And if a setting turns out to not be stable, well it'll instant-lock or lock with in a few moments. So depending on which happens I know I have to either not use that timing or reduce the clocks slightly.

Another thing you can try with that AOD is overclocking the rest of the cores higher and leaving the unlocked core at a lower multiplier

I think saying AOD is garbage or (not that anyone here mentioned it) OCing in Windows is stupid to do, is just ignorant or naive

 

[erocker]

I think saying AOD is garbage or (not that anyone here mentioned it) OCing in Windows is stupid to do, is just ignorant or naive

I agree, or just posting for the sake of sounding knowledgeable. Either way their comments don't make much sense and they sound just the opposite of intelligent since they don't really say why it's garbage. Chalk it up to random interwebz blah blah.

 

[Formula350]

I agree, or just posting for the sake of sounding knowledgeable. Either way their comments don't make much sense and they sound just the opposite of intelligent since they don't really say why it's garbage. Chalk it up to random interwebz blah blah.

Wuuuuhhhh o_0 their word for it isn't enough?!?!

 

[Necrofire]

Oh, I agree, overdrive is garbage. I use it for monitoring.
PhenomMsrTweaker is great though, since I can set cpu and chipset voltage and cpu multis.

My cooler is a V1, ran it passive for a while, but with a fan cpu doesn't get above 42C like I said.

I could bump cpu voltage, but I think the chipset is what's holding me back.

I recently bumped the HT multi to 12x, since AOD can't go past 10x I had to do it in bios :\

I also had to back the HT ref clock back to 200, since I bluescreened after an 8 hour run of folding.
so I'm currently back at 3.3GHz, but I want to squeeze every MHz out of this system, while keeping CnQ.

So, should I bump the CPU voltage and see if I can raise the multi higher?

EDIT: I also agree with Formula350 regarding BIOS overclocking, which is why I set the multis using phenommsrtweaker in windows, it runs as a service and changes multis at boot time anyway.

 

[Formula350]

Well what are all your voltages set at right now?
(Fill in just what you BIOS has for listings)
Anything CPU related like PLL and core voltages
Anything NB or HT related, like CPU-NB or HT-Link
DRAM and/or DDR voltage, like DDR VTT
PCIe voltages (which could take the place of a NB listing above, so couldn't hurt).

Then what you've got the multipliers running at, or just what their reported speeds are.

CPU Base clock for yours is 2.8ghz right?

 

[Deleted member 67555]

If you adjust your Voltages in the Bios AOD will work..
V adjustments in AOD usually lead to crashes..

I've used AOD to find my peak OC's several times..
If you set your OC and realize your not completely Stable you can use AOD to trim down an OC..
I agree it's not the best But it does have it's uses..

ON a 785 you should be able to HIT at least 230 on the HT (most will do 250)..But it depends on your memory
I found it is usually easier to set your memory at a lower multi such as if your running at 1.4 1600mhz turn it down to 1.33 1333mhz and trim up your memories timing and then raise your memory to just outside it's limits by raising the HT

 

[Necrofire]

CPU stock is 1.35 I believe, since it's at 1.36, I guess I could bump it up past 1.4, maybe 1.5.
NB is at 1.15, ram at 1.95.

I think ram is holding me back. I have two sticks of Patriot DDR2-800, and the other two are Corsair same speed.
I've had them at 1066 with my old athlon 7750, but I was only stable at stock cpu clocks.
The patriot has a "ddr2-1000" profile though.

Base clock for phenom ii x2 550 is 3.1.
I might try keeping multis of the 2 unlocked cores at 16.5, and raise the first 2 cores' multis a little.

I'll report back in a bit.

EDIT: Well, I'm holding stable for about 15 minutes now with first 2 cores at 17.5x200, and the other 2 at 17x200, gonna let this stability test run for a little while longer.

 

[Necrofire]

Seems like I'm stable with first 2 cores at 3.7, and the other 2 at 3.5.
I just ramped voltage up to 1.48, haven't tested lowering the voltage at all yet, but temps still only get up to 48C during full load.

 

[Formula350]

I don't know if the Phenom II's have DDR2 fixed, but as far as DDR3 goes they aren't able to do 4@1333 and I know Phenom I couldn't do DDR2 4@1066, so keep that in mind. Also if your board supports it, might as well jack the memory voltage up to 2.1 at least. DDR2 I believe is supposed to be fine up to 2.6v to pass JEDEC or something. Either way I run my DDR1 @ 2.88v and it's crappy ProMos, default being 2.5v.

CPU should be fine, quite a few people run 1.5v just as long as it's kept cool. Only problem with reading temps when unlocked is that the onboard sensor isn't a totally reliable reading. So just bare that in mind. I can't imagine 48c being anything to worry about though.

No reason the NB can't be 1.2v either And I think if it's not already, you should run it at 2400mhz at least. I believe that is the CPU-NB Link speed I'm referring to. Not the HTT (FSB) speed.