Safe cpu voltage?
Safe cpu voltage?
Currently I'm pushing my CPU to higher speeds and I'm curious about the correct voltage settings. I tried 3.5 and 3.75 volts but it didn't work well. Now I'm using 4 volts and will share my findings later.
My system details:
Amd Phenom II X4 960T 3.00GHz
Asrock N68 vs 3 UCC
Hynix 4GB DDR3 1333MHz single channel
64GB SSD
R7 260x
It's an older machine but it still runs some games. I'm using Prime95 for overclocking and HWinfo to check temperatures. The only change I made in the BIOS was disabling Turbo, everything else is default. Please don't post comments like buying a new PC or something like that, because I'm just 14 and my parents don't want to buy me one.
What voltage is safe for my motherboard and CPU?
AMD advises staying below 5V for that series of K10 processors. However, achieving a strong overclock on that board may not be feasible. It isn't built for overclocking, even with BIOS options available. The VRMs don't support heat synchronization when voltage increases, making it unsuitable for OC attempts. Not a good fit for overclocking.
AMD advises staying below 5V for that series of K10 processors. However, achieving a strong overclock on that board might not be feasible. It isn't built for overclocking, even with BIOS options available. The VRMs don't support heat synchronization when voltage increases, making it unsuitable for significant OC efforts. It's not an ideal choice for overclocking.
Does the BIOS allow unlocking cores? If yes, you could check if disabling two cores remains stable (the Ph II X4 960T has two disabled cores).
Is this the 960T Black Edition with a multiplier enabled?
Additionally, the final OC result may not improve performance compared to running the processor at stock speed with turbo enabled. Depending on core usage, it can reach up to 3.4GHz in turbo mode.
Thank you for your reply clutchc. I tested 3.5ghz at 4 voltage as described earlier, and it remained stable in AIDA64 and prime95. Then I tried playing CSGO and noticed some freezing in Windows. After around 30 seconds the game dropped to 20fps. Since you mentioned it's not an overclocking motherboard, I won't experiment further to avoid any damage. My BIOS supports unlocking cores, which worked on my old Athlon but caused high temperatures near 75 degrees during full load. On this CPU, it doesn't even boot into Windows. Yes, it's a 960t black edition with unlocked cores. Just like you suggested, it's better to keep it stock with turbo enabled.
Did you observe any slowing down when stability reached 3.5 GHz? If throttling occurred during high demand, it could account for the reduced frame rate. Which graphics card were you employing, and what were its specifications and configuration?
I was working with HWinfo for temperatures, but the highest recorded temperature was 49 degrees which seems incorrect. I was using an MSI R7 260x OC edition with a resolution of 1366x768 and settings such as Low, High, High, Low, 2x msaa, 16x anisotropic filtering, all below disabled. After reverting my BIOS to the default, everything is functioning properly now, but I will keep an eye out for cheaper AM3 boards that might perform better.
I was working with HWinfo for temperatures but the highest recorded temperature was 49 degrees which seems incorrect. I was using an MSI R7 260x OC edition with a resolution of 1366x768 and settings such as Low, High, High, Low, 2x msaa, 16x anisotropic filtering, all except disabled. After reverting my BIOS to the default, everything is functioning properly now, though I’ll keep an eye out for cheaper AM3 boards that might perform better. Typically, on Phenom IIs (K10/Dragon) when you disable cores, temperature feedback disappears, showing either "0" or a very low value meaning nothing. However, 49C appears to be a valid reading. Was this with the cores unlocked? Perhaps the K10/Leo chips behave differently?