AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

[cookiebun]

Hi I have just upgraded my CPU cooler to a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus before that i got my processor to 3.8Ghz without touching the voltage do you think i should leave it or try to push it a little bit further, I was advised to turn up the NB to 2600- 2800 but it wouldn't go past the boot screen. any advice would be appreciated. 
                                              cookiebun

NZXT Lexa S
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H (rev 2.0) motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, Deneb Core, S AM3, 3.8GHz
8gb Crucial Ballistic DDR3 1333mhz/PC3-10600 (7-7-7-24) 1.65v
XFX HD 6970 ATI - AMD Radeon Graphics Card - 2GB
Western Digital WD6402AAEX 640GB Hard Drive SATA111 7200rpm 64MB Cache-OEM Caviar Black.
WD 250GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cache
Corsair 750 PSU
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
Liteon DVD Writer
24” Samsung SM2433BW Black Widescreen LCD, 1920x1200
5.1 Creative Surround Speakers
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech MX516 Gaming Mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Epson DX8400 All in one.

[absic]

Hi again cookiebun,

Getting past 3.8GHz can be a bit tricky and a lot of the time it is really a case of trial and error with a lot more errors than successes.

Usually the first thing to do is make sure that your BIOS is up to date and having checked the downloads page for your motherboard I would suggest going to FF and not the latest which is FGF as this one has removed some features that you may need.

Instead of going to 2600MHz or above on the Northbridge try going to 2400MHz. You may need to increase the Northbridge voltage a little to get stability but don't raise it by too much in one go, Gradually increase it, one step at a time and test for stability. If the system crashes raise it to the next step if the system is stable then leave it where it is now set.

When you go above 3.8GHz (x19) on the CPU multiplier you may find that the CPU voltage drops back to 1.3V which is why the system is falling over. You will probably need to manually set the CPU voltage to between 1.425V and 1.45V to get above 3.8GHz but bear in mind that increasing the voltage will also increase the temp of the processor so make sure you keep an eye on this by using CoreTemp, CPUZ or some other software. Be careful as the Max Temp for your CPU is 62C and you don't want to go above this if you can avoid it.

[cookiebun]

Hi absic mate I updated the bios but everything I tried after that I got the blue screen, it was worth a try but i am afraid i will just have to wait at 3.8Ghz where it is stable. There is just one last thing I had hoped Bulldozer worked out better but would upgrading to a AMD CPU Phenom II 1100T Black Edition Six Core Processor with Turbo Core make much of a difference or would you advise waiting to see what comes next. 
                                                                        regards cookiebun

[absic]

Well I'm not rushing into getting a Bulldozer and I will be waiting until I see what happens with them over the next few months.

There is a difference between running an X6 over an X4 CPU but I'm not sure if it is worth the extra money. I swapped, quite some time ago, from a 965 to a 1090T and I have found that things like Video rendering and working with Photoshop is a bit quicker. I have disabled Turbo Core and have my 1090T constantly running at 3.8GHz but it will go higher.

Whether or not to get a six core CPU now is something only you can decide. Personally I would wait and see what happens with Bulldozer but, by doing that, you may find that the Phenom X6's become harder to get. A quick look at Scan shows me that the FX 6100 (Bulldozer) is actually nearly the same price at the moment as the Phenom ii 1090T (actually the new FX is 35p cheaper!). But of course, if you go for the FX CPU you will need an AM3+ motherboard to go with it as your current motherboard doesn't do so.

[cookiebun]

Hi absic thanks for the advice, why do they never make things easy, I was all set waiting for Bulldozer but that didn't last long. I must admit in a moment of weakness ( don't tell Dark Mantis ) I have looked at Intell i7 but i have recovered now and i think i will wait what is another 6 months.
                                                                                                     regards cookiebun.

[absic]

Don't worry about thinking of moving to the darkside cookiebun, a lot of other AMD user's have been having the same thoughts since Bulldozers release!

Personally, I don't think Bulldozer is as bad as the reviewers have made it seem to be and their biggest complaint seems to be that it hasn't blown the i5 & i7's out of the water. Moving from a Phenom x4 or lower spec'd AMD CPU is still a decent upgrade and will be noticeable.

The choice for those of us with the higher end X6 Phenom ii's is a little harder as the difference doesn't seem to be that great but  something that is being ignored by some is the fact that the Bulldozer chips tend to have a higher clock speed to start with and also they have a much higher Turbo Core Speed.
They also have support for higher RAM Speed 1866MHz out of the blocks compared to 1333MHz or lower for the AM3 range of CPU's. And, if the reviews are to be believed are much better at getting a good O/C from.

Waiting 6 months if you can is probably the best way to go as, my understanding is, that around Easter next year, we will see some new chips and also a new stepping which will hopefully improve things a little bit. I haven't jumped in with both feet this time round as I did that with the Phenom and the Phenom ii's and regretted it a few months later when new versions and steppings came along. If I were building a new PC however, I would be getting one to drop into it.

[sixor]

my 965be gets 3917@1.45 vcore, 2400 nb