The Intel Core i7-955 gets slow when you use a lot of power, so it drops the speed down to 800MHz.
The Intel Core i7-955 gets slow when you use a lot of power, so it drops the speed down to 800MHz.
Hello everyone, I'm sorry for any confusion about OC-ing and my language skills. It's actually my first time trying to overclock on a fully unlocked CPU, so I'm using non-native English here. Let me tell you what happened. I managed to get my Phenom II X4 955 running at around 3.7GHz in Prime95 for about an hour without crashing or errors. The core temperatures were fine, staying between 49 and 58 degrees Celsius (61 is the official max recommended). Since I lowered the voltage down to 1.32V, things stayed cool even though they should usually stay lower than that limit if not under stress.
If my math was right, I could still go up to 4.0GHz without any issues and actually boot into Windows at that speed too. But then again, just like before, the CPU automatically slowed down to 800MHz whenever it hit 61 or 65 degrees Celsius ONLY when running a stress test with heavy load (100% usage). However, normally while gaming without being stressed out, it didn't slow down and stayed at its set speed. So this is just something that happens during extreme stress testing.
To figure out the real problem, I already took the Cool N Quiet driver off completely and disabled it in my BIOS settings too, as well as maxed out the fan speeds to their highest point and changed the power plan to high performance mode. Here are some details about my setup: The CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 955 with a 125W power supply rating (I thought it was BE I think because I haven't checked the exact part number yet). My motherboard is an Asus M4N68T-M LE V2. The cooling system is a Coolerman M-X4 Tower Cooler with two fans and four heatpipes. My RAM is Kingston DDR3 6GB (split into 4GB plus 2GB) running at 1333mhz. The operating system is Windows 10 Pro, and the graphics card is a Gainward GT220 with 1GB of video memory.
I know I'm using a pretty weak motherboard for overclocking because it lacks VRM heat sinks and isn't top-quality, which is why I don't try to push too hard right now. But even at my stock clock speed, the problem keeps coming back. Also, I know that my aftermarket cooler isn't super famous but it definitely works well as a tower cooler; I don't think that's causing any issues. Finally, my power supply is a generic 700-watt unit (this one was temporary; I'm buying a Corsair CX soon before adding the GPU).
If your stable speed at 3.7GHz in P95, just leave it there. Your CPU slows itself down past 61 degrees Celsius to stay safe from too much heat. You won't see higher speeds because your motherboard isn't made for overclocking; the VRMs (power lines) get hot and turn off before you can. A few people might go faster but they need better cooling than what you have right now, especially on both the Northbridge chips and the CPU itself.
If your stable speed at 3.7GHz in P95, just leave it there. Your processor slows down naturally above 61C to stay safe from too much heat. You won't get faster because your memory board isn't built for overclocking; the power connectors will get hot and the computer will turn off. While some people might push harder clocks with better cooling systems than you have right now, that requires both Northbridge VRMs and the CPU to be handled well.
There are some real hiccups with this request. For one thing, old AM2/AM3 motherboards you actually want to overclock on can be very expensive when you buy them second-hand. For example, an old used 990FX board to power a 125W FX CPU usually costs between $100 and $200, sometimes even more. It is often so much more pricey than it was ten years ago. The other problem is that things are hard to find. You don't pick any old motherboard you want; you have to pick from what's actually in stock versus what might be available later. That availability can change a lot depending on where you look and when you check. Another issue is that the CPU is so old right now that if your speed isn't good today, it will still be slow after you try to overclock it. So you spend money but never get to make a real upgrade to a Ryzen. That's not very fun; I still have a Phenom IIx4 965 Black here and those were great CPUs when they came out, way better than the boring AM3+ ones that followed.
You are absolutely right here. It feels like I could reach those boards easily, but they still cost a lot even though my age. I know places to buy these parts for less than $5 bucks but I really don't know if I can find them cheaper than an am4 board who knows. If I can get it super cheap why not? Thanks for the advice, that was very helpful. Thanks @MeanMachine41 , I'll remember that!