# Overclocking the AMD Phenom II 965 Black Edition



## pepsi71ocean (Jan 8, 2012)

So i have come to realization that i need more cpu power from my 965.

Its running about 3.4GHz but the bus speed is a paultry 200.5 the HT link is 2004.

i know upping the cpu GHZ is idea, but i would like a computer with more torque to say.


The System is to the left.

Im running DDR3 Muskin ram the frequency is 668MHz @ 9-9-9-24-33-2T

FSBRAM s 3:10.

I am currently playing Empire total war with the Darth Mod installed and the system can slowly get a bit laggy here or there, and the frame rate drops a bit. After extensive testing the conclusion is that it is CPU/RAM based not gpu based.

Any ideas on how this works, i was an intel guy and its been almost a decade since i have touch an AMD chip.


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## Over_Lord (Jan 8, 2012)

Well, INTEL is better at these tasks honestly.


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 8, 2012)

thunderising said:


> Well, INTEL is better at these tasks honestly.



historically, but my older amd rig would overclock the bus speed would make huge gains.


i had to go with amd for cost reasons, but i would like more oomph through the computer.


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 10, 2012)

anyone have any writeup's or suggestions on overclocking the quad cores?


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 10, 2012)

Here's my way, simple and quick:

Raise the Multi on the CPU one notch at a time, then stress test, if stable continue till it's not stable.  Then add a little CPU vcore until stable (always keeping an eye on temps).  you want to stay under 60ºc, max I like to stay under is 55ºc.  Once CPU is where you want it to be, do the same for the Northbridge.  one notch at a time and add voltage if not stable.  The voltage you want to change it the CPU NB, not the NB itself.  Also, keep an eye on temps for motheboard components such as NB, VRM's, etc.

Simple?


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 10, 2012)

Chicken Patty said:


> Here's my way, simple and quick:
> 
> Raise the Multi on the CPU one notch at a time, then stress test, if stable continue till it's not stable.  Then add a little CPU vcore until stable (always keeping an eye on temps).  you want to stay under 60ºc, max I like to stay under is 55ºc.  Once CPU is where you want it to be, do the same for the Northbridge.  one notch at a time and add voltage if not stable.  The voltage you want to change it the CPU NB, not the NB itself.  Also, keep an eye on temps for motheboard components such as NB, VRM's, etc.
> 
> Simple?



would raising the bus speed be better then the multi?

and what does the HT link do?


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 10, 2012)

pepsi71ocean said:


> would raising the bus speed be better then the multi?
> 
> and what does the HT link do?



You can try a combination of multi plus bus speed.  However, I like to use the multi and leave the HT Link at default.  HT Link really doesn't do much and the higher it is the harder it is to stabilize the CPU while overclocking.  Raising the Northbridge however, it's a whole different ball game.  That's a night and day different going from let's say 2.0 to 2.8 GHz.  Huge difference in performance.

I would say use the multi, try to get the CPU to 3.8 GHz, then the North bridge to at least 2.6 GHz and you'll notice a nice jump in performance.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/tech...chnology/Pages/hypertransport-technology.aspx


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 10, 2012)

Chicken Patty said:


> You can try a combination of multi plus bus speed.  However, I like to use the multi and leave the HT Link at default.  HT Link really doesn't do much and the higher it is the harder it is to stabilize the CPU while overclocking.  Raising the Northbridge however, it's a whole different ball game.  That's a night and day different going from let's say 2.0 to 2.8 GHz.  Huge difference in performance.
> 
> I would say use the multi, try to get the CPU to 3.8 GHz, then the North bridge to at least 2.6 GHz and you'll notice a nice jump in performance.
> 
> http://www.amd.com/us/products/tech...chnology/Pages/hypertransport-technology.aspx



with Intel chips if you raise the bus speed and lower the multi your cpu i faster but is it the same for the amd ones?

im wondering if raising the bus speed would make empire total war more stable?


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 10, 2012)

Give it a shot.  Generally raising bus speed tends to make things a bit faster but in all honesty, I'm just lazy dude!  Lol.  Thing with raising bus speed is you may have to tweak certain Motherboard voltages.


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## MasterInvader (Jan 10, 2012)

Try this:

Bus: 223 Multiplier: 17 Vcore: 1.41 OC: 3800Mhz
Bus: 235 Multiplier: 17 Vcore: 1.45 OC: 4000Mhz

Over 4000 leave the bus @ 200 and pump the multiplier over 20/21/22

Set manually the correct timings and ram speed @ bios 

Good luck... and watch the temps


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## LightningJR (Jan 10, 2012)

CPU Clock and NB Clock are the two values that if you increase will increase performance.

Increasing the BUS or HT Link will net you little to nothing.


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 10, 2012)

^^ that's what I've said.  I never notice much by raising HT


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## LightningJR (Jan 10, 2012)

wow. sorry Chicken Paatty. I must have missed post 7. Didn't realize you had said this already. Anyhoo  I'm just reiterating your informative post.


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 10, 2012)

LightningJR said:


> wow. sorry Chicken Paatty. I must have missed post 7. Didn't realize you had said this already. Anyhoo  I'm just reiterating your informative post.



I didn't mean it that way, I don't care if you said it again.


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## Covert_Death (Jan 12, 2012)

i have a 955 currently at 4.1Ghz without too much problem, i have the bus at 210 and the multi at 19.5 and it runs stable as ever, my voltage will differ to yours because of MoBo but i previously had that board and it overclocks well enough for this chip. on that board i was running 3990Mhz i think, so basically 4.0 on air.

find what bus speed you want to use and leave it there, crank the multi up till it isn't stable, then raise the vcore a tad and then increase multi again... repeat this till you reach your desired speeds but make sure your stressing for at least 10 minutes @ %100 when you start to approach the 4.0 area. 

once you find your perfect settings, this is a tool i use to get around cool n' quiet functions when OC:
http://phenommsrtweake.sourceforge.net/

what this does is allow you to set up stages for your CPU to clock to depending on stress.. mine does 800Mhz idle --> 2100Mhz --> 3.2Ghz --> 4.1Ghz. this really helps keep things cool when not under load. i idle at about 28-30c in a ~25c room


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## VulkanBros (Jan 12, 2012)

My 965 is running  3.9 GHz (17 x 230) @ 1.42 v

Running very stable 8  to 10 hours daily every day (WCG and daily worktasks - gaming at night)

When gaming I give it a notch up running 4.1 GHz (18 x 230) at the same voltage..

The cooling, in my case, is the achilles.....so a good cooling solution is a must


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 12, 2012)

Covert_Death said:


> i have a 955 currently at 4.1Ghz without too much problem, i have the bus at 210 and the multi at 19.5 and it runs stable as ever, my voltage will differ to yours because of MoBo but i previously had that board and it overclocks well enough for this chip. on that board i was running 3990Mhz i think, so basically 4.0 on air.
> 
> find what bus speed you want to use and leave it there, crank the multi up till it isn't stable, then raise the vcore a tad and then increase multi again... repeat this till you reach your desired speeds but make sure your stressing for at least 10 minutes @ %100 when you start to approach the 4.0 area.
> 
> ...



thanks i will look into the program and see how it works on this rig.

can i ask what you bumped your nb and HT voltages to if you were bumping the bus speed.



VulkanBros said:


> My 965 is running  3.9 GHz (17 x 230) @ 1.42 v
> 
> Running very stable 8  to 10 hours daily every day (WCG and daily worktasks - gaming at night)
> 
> ...



what did you raise the NB voltage to for the bus voltage?


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## VulkanBros (Jan 12, 2012)

DRAM frq: 1533 MHz
DRAM timings: 9-9-9-24
DRAM voltage: 1.65 v
HT voltage: 1.25 v
HT speed: 2075 MHz
NB voltage: 1.15 v
SB Voltage: 1.15 v


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## uuuaaaaaa (Jan 12, 2012)

I got my 955BE @ 3.7GHz with these settings
Multi 18.5X
BUS @ 200MHz
Cpu  1.3625v
Ram: 669MHz OCZ RPR 12800 4*2Gb sticks @ 1.65625v 7 7 7 24; Cr 1T, Unganged mode.
CPU/NB 1.1875
NB @ 2.6GHz
Make sure you disable C&Q, CPU Spread spectrum  and PCI spread spectrum.
You can increase the CPU VDDA up a notch. By default it is 2.5v, set it to 2.6v.
 I have a question too:
Would it be ok to have asymmetric overclocking? By that i mean, different cpu clock per core...


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jan 12, 2012)

i recently got a PhenomII 960T and have ocd the snot out of every bus maxed so far at 4300core 3195 cpu/NB 2995 HT all stable to game on and bench and primed for half an hour(yes not enough) HT does nothing ive benched with all other settings at stock, mid 3.6core and highest 4.3  and found it did little past 2200 as erocker advised me, CPU/NB on the other hand increased all benches due to increasing a bit my memory bandwidth but 3195 did need a lot of volts 

ive settled(purely for surfing prophile)  on 3.7-4TB 2800 Cpu/Nb and 2200HT  and 234 HTref(highest mine likes anyways) and then adjusted HT and cpu/Nb to check my earlier benches and at 2800 CPU/nb i got upto 2 Gb/s extra memory performance over stock 2000cpu/nb keeping the memory at a pre ocd std setpoint

endgoal for me is 4.3-4.5 f@home stable 24/7  , coincidentally what would you people advise as the highest to go on cpu and cpu/nb volts on both air(im tryin to keep OP happy) and water like me ,for me this cpu need last a year only, so im not to bothered bout whipping it so be brave with sugestions

also as this is my chilln config i leave cnq and all power save functions active and didnt push load line cal v much on any voltages


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## de.das.dude (Jan 12, 2012)

awesome i just assembled and OCed a 965 today!

here are stats:-
AMD 965 @3.9GHz NB@2600, 1.25v
CPU voltage: 1.4

ASUS M5A97 EVO

DDR3 1600 2*4GB G.skill RipjawsX 9-9-9-25


fully stable.
stock cooler (modded by me)
get a little hot though. but 100% stable (prime 95 tested for 3hrs)


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 12, 2012)

^^^very good! I believe my Phenom II 940 needed about 1.425v for it to be stable at 4GHz.  NB also at 2.6GHz.


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## pepsi71ocean (Jan 13, 2012)

looks like i'll be playing with this tomorrow.

anyone have thoughts about soft clocking  with AS Rock's OC Tuner?


EDIT My 999th post!


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## Covert_Death (Jan 13, 2012)

ignore OC tuner, seriously not worth it, it doesn't really tell you anything you want to know for fine tune OCing


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## de.das.dude (Jan 13, 2012)

m5a97 ives rock stable volts !!! im impressed with the digi vrms.


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## Covert_Death (Jan 13, 2012)

pepsi71ocean said:


> thanks i will look into the program and see how it works on this rig.
> 
> can i ask what you bumped your nb and HT voltages to if you were bumping the bus speed.
> 
> ...



didn't see this second part sorry... well for me i have NB at 2700 and HT i don't remember. your board may not be able to take NB that far though.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jan 13, 2012)

Covert_Death said:


> didn't see this second part sorry... well for me i have NB at 2700 and HT i don't remember. your board may not be able to take NB that far though.



He asked what voltages you needed to use to get them settings stable, i wouldnt mind knowin either

also in case you havet seen a store of gr8 knowledg

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79551&highlight=PhenomII


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## Exeodus (Jan 23, 2012)

If you start getting BSOD's, back off the NB a bit, to maybe like 2200, before you up the vcore.


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 23, 2012)

Just wanting to mention: if you have a bum IMC & won't go over 2.4Ghz NB frequency, try tightening ram timings. It will give a placebo effect in relation to core speed. Remember everything above 3.8Ghz cores & 2.6Ghz NB is a bonus. Also in my use from a 555 black @ x4+M5A97+Ridgebacks 1600 cl6, that setup performed the best @ 1800 cl7 dram 2.6Ghz NB & 3.6Ghz cpu cores with temps and voltages in mind.


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## suraswami (Jan 23, 2012)

Most low to mid range boards will allow you to raise the HTT to 220, My Basic ECS board does that, so it should be possible with your board.  When you raise ur HTT the NB clock is also raised.  More HTT might create problems with Ram stability.  So try 220 with CPU multi @ 17, that will give you overall performance boost.

My Phenom II X2 555 unlocked to X4 does 4.0 Ghz and 1.4 volts just by raising cpu multi, but doesn't like raising NB too at the same time.  My best gaming experience is at 220 * 17.  This gives me NB freq @ 2200 Mhz.

Hope it makes sense.


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