Overclocking Phenom 2 X4 965 BE

[trekkie00]

I've been trying my hand at overclocking my 965 recently, and was wondering if you all had any safety tips or advice on getting a higher speed out of it. I am using an aftermarket fan.

For awhile yesterday I had it running at 3.96ghz (18x220) with 1.425V, and it would pass an Intel Burn Test fine, but trying to run Folding@Home SMP client on it crashed it this morning. I've taken it down to 3.85ghz (17.5x220) at 1.425V and it seems to be doing alright.

1) During the burn test, the CPUID Hardware Monitor would show the "CPU core temperatures" reaching about 63C. However, EasyTune6 (using Gigabyte motherboard) shows a "CPU temperature" of less than that - right now while it's folding, the cores are at 48C while the CPU is at 44C. I've heard that it's best to keep the processor temperature below 62C, and think that is the "CPU temperature", but I'm not entirely sure.

2) What kind of voltage is it safe to give these processors? In the spec sheets, it shows that their "nominal voltage" is up to about 1.40V, so I'm already giving it a bit more than normal. Some review sites I've seen have taken it all the way up to a bit past 1.5V - is it common to run the processor that high?

3) If anyone here is running one of these processors, how fast have you gotten it, and what are your voltages? Any other advice?

Thanks for your help. This is the most powerful computer I've built yet, and I'd really hate to fry the processor from my own stupidity.

EDIT: Figure this might help.
Motherboard
Heatsink/Fan
Memory (running underclocked a bit)

 

[Slaymate]

I'm not up on AMD cpu's to give you any overclocking advice, but I know the CPU Temperature is the temp of the cpu socket and not the actual cpu. The Temperatures you need to concern yourself with are the "Core" temps, the cores are the actual working components of the cpu itself.

 

[Peter.Cort]

slaymate's right, core temp is where you're focus should lie. With your original clock of 3.96, it would make sense that you're just undervolting the processor, in which case add more voltage. If you're only at 44C you've got a lot of overhead to take that thing further, and with that board I think you can get a bit more out of it. I'd try by bumping up the voltage bit by bit. Go by .005 unless you're impatient like me then crank it all the way up to 1.5v and see what happens. *As a note, if you bump it up to 1.5v and boot it up and it does overheat, don't worry it won't hurt the processor dramatically if the temp is above 80C (which I doubt it would), but calmly restart your computer and lower the voltage.