Overclocking Phemon II 940

[DaveN]

What are safe temps for overclocking this chip? I'm trying to see if I
can knock off a day or two on long 3D renders by overclocking.

Right now it peaks at 64c during the day when the house is warmer.

Thanks!

 

[Miles Bader]

I've increased the clock multiplier so that the cpu was running at 2800MHz,
and ran a stress test. The temp reached 150F (65.5C). The factory heat sink
and fan are virtually worthless. I replaced mine with a Zalman 9500 (the
small one) and the temp dropped about 20F. Get a decent cooler on yours and
heat will be the least of your problems.

Really? I seem to recall seeing some pretty decent reviews for the
stock cooler, at least on the older phenom...

-Miles

 

[DaveN]

I once had a wire get stuck in my fan and stop the fan from working. The
temp monitor showed 180 degrees F (82C). I wasn't sure if that was correct
because it was still running OK. I cleared the fan and temp dropped to the
normal 105 no-load temp.

I've increased the clock multiplier so that the cpu was running at 2800MHz,
and ran a stress test. The temp reached 150F (65.5C). The factory heat sink
and fan are virtually worthless. I replaced mine with a Zalman 9500 (the
small one) and the temp dropped about 20F. Get a decent cooler on yours and
heat will be the least of your problems.

This one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

 

[Peter van der Goes]

I once had a wire get stuck in my fan and stop the fan from working. The
temp monitor showed 180 degrees F (82C). I wasn't sure if that was correct
because it was still running OK. I cleared the fan and temp dropped to the
normal 105 no-load temp.

I've increased the clock multiplier so that the cpu was running at
2800MHz, and ran a stress test. The temp reached 150F (65.5C). The factory
heat sink and fan are virtually worthless. I replaced mine with a Zalman
9500 (the small one) and the temp dropped about 20F. Get a decent cooler
on yours and heat will be the least of your problems.

I'm probably out of it, but isn't the Ph2 940 3.0 GHZ stock?

 

[Peter van der Goes]

I once had a wire get stuck in my fan and stop the fan from working. The
temp monitor showed 180 degrees F (82C). I wasn't sure if that was correct
because it was still running OK. I cleared the fan and temp dropped to the
normal 105 no-load temp.

I've increased the clock multiplier so that the cpu was running at
2800MHz, and ran a stress test. The temp reached 150F (65.5C). The factory
heat sink and fan are virtually worthless. I replaced mine with a Zalman
9500 (the small one) and the temp dropped about 20F. Get a decent cooler
on yours and heat will be the least of your problems.

I'm probably out of it, but isn't the Ph2 940 3.0 GHZ stock?

 

[Miles Bader]

BTW, this seems an interesting site for those thinking about getting a
cooler:

http://www.frostytech.com

In particular, the "Scythe Zipang" caught my eye:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2248

-Miles

 

[Peter van der Goes]

Yah. I'm actually running a 9950, which is 2600MHz out of the box. They
are both 125W processors. They sure ditched the early Phenoms fast, didn't
they? I want to upgrade, but every other month a faster Phenom comes out.

So - my comments about heat are actully re: the 9950 and early Phenoms - I
have three of them. And all of them came with crap coolers.

I'm running a 9850 Black, which easily clocked to 2.93. The stock cooler for
that one is fine here, but I do have it in a well ventilated Coolermaster
case (120MM in and out in a 73F room). So, maybe I should shut up until
summer comes

I'd jump on a PHII 940 3.0, but my el-cheapo Asus M2N-E and M3A motherboards
are questionable at best for the upgrade.

 

[Miles Bader]

I'd jump on a PHII 940 3.0, but my el-cheapo Asus M2N-E and M3A
motherboards are questionable at best for the upgrade.

Are there issues that arise with the PhII, if the bios/MB claims to
support the chip?

-Miles

 

[Peter van der Goes]

Are there issues that arise with the PhII, if the bios/MB claims to
support the chip?

-Miles

No, these two motherboards don't have BIOS updates that claim to add support
for the PHII chips. Some users on the Asus forums claim success while others
report failure. I'm now thinking in terms of getting an AM3 motherboard and
a suitable CPU for that, like the Phenom II X3 720 Black, which is
reportedly a great overclocker and is less $$. If I'm going to get a new
mobo + DDR3 and do a complete build, I might as well move as far forward as
possible

 

[Peter van der Goes]

Are there issues that arise with the PhII, if the bios/MB claims to
support the chip?

-Miles

No, these two motherboards don't have BIOS updates that claim to add support
for the PHII chips. Some users on the Asus forums claim success while others
report failure. I'm now thinking in terms of getting an AM3 motherboard and
a suitable CPU for that, like the Phenom II X3 720 Black, which is
reportedly a great overclocker and is less $$. If I'm going to get a new
mobo + DDR3 and do a complete build, I might as well move as far forward as
possible

 

[DaveN]

No, this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118004

The one at your link is for Intel processors.

On order, many thanks!

--Dave

 

[Miles Bader]

I'm now thinking in terms of getting an AM3 motherboard and a suitable
CPU for that, like the Phenom II X3 720 Black, which is reportedly a
great overclocker and is less $$. If I'm going to get a new mobo +
DDR3 and do a complete build, I might as well move as far forward as
possible

What about the [rumored, as I can't remember where I saw it] problems
with DDR3 support in the first Phenom II revision...?

-miles

 

[pokey man]

I'm now thinking in terms of getting an AM3 motherboard and a suitable
CPU for that, like the Phenom II X3 720 Black, which is reportedly a
great overclocker and is less $$. If I'm going to get a new mobo +
DDR3 and do a complete build, I might as well move as far forward as
possible

What about the [rumored, as I can't remember where I saw it] problems
with DDR3 support in the first Phenom II revision...?

look here for that issue:

http://www.techspot.com/news/33610-amd-phenom-ii-am3-downclocks-ddr31333-memory.html

-miles

--
Carefully crafted initial estimates reward you not only with
reduced computational effort, but also with understanding and
increased self-esteem. -- Numerical methods in C,
Chapter 9. "Root Finding and Nonlinear Sets of Equations"

DDR2 AND DDR3 are not interchangeable... if you put a PH II in a mobo with
ddr2 then that is what u r stuck with. this is a DDR3 mobo and cant pit
ddr2 in it...

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?...t_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=&prod_no=1740#menu

better then the foxconn a79a-s which can run a ph 2 but can only ddr2 mem...
the msi board uses ddr3 and is an am3 socket

Pokeyman

 

[pokey man]

I'm now thinking in terms of getting an AM3 motherboard and a suitable
CPU for that, like the Phenom II X3 720 Black, which is reportedly a
great overclocker and is less $$. If I'm going to get a new mobo +
DDR3 and do a complete build, I might as well move as far forward as
possible

What about the [rumored, as I can't remember where I saw it] problems
with DDR3 support in the first Phenom II revision...?

look here for that issue:

http://www.techspot.com/news/33610-amd-phenom-ii-am3-downclocks-ddr31333-memory.html

-miles

--
Carefully crafted initial estimates reward you not only with
reduced computational effort, but also with understanding and
increased self-esteem. -- Numerical methods in C,
Chapter 9. "Root Finding and Nonlinear Sets of Equations

looks like the x4 ph II 940 is the only one with an unlocked multiplyer by
this:

http://www.dvhardware.net/article31325.html

Pokeyman

 

[Miles Bader]

What about the [rumored, as I can't remember where I saw it] problems
with DDR3 support in the first Phenom II revision...?

look here for that issue:

http://www.techspot.com/news/33610-amd-phenom-ii-am3-downclocks-ddr31333-memory.html

So... is the conclusion that: messing about in bios is required to run
DDR3 at full speed, but doing so is generally safe as long as one
doesn't use "cheapo" memory modules?

[Well it's not like I'm gonna get a DDR3 system anytime soon... it's
tempting to stick a Phenom II in my AM2+ system though (significantly
higher clock speed and much bigger cache seem to be what gives core2
stuff most of it's oomph).]

-Miles

 

[Rodney Pont]

Just getting DDR2 to run at full speed can require bios tweaking and even
then it might not work. I went through an M2AVM and a couple of M3series
boards, and I was never able to get any of them to run memory at 1033.

I'm running the memory in my M2A-VM HDMI board at 1066 and I didn't
have to do anything, well apart from putting in an AM2+ CPU and 1066
memory that is. I can't find now where it says it will only run memory
that fast with an AM2+ cpu but I do remember reading it.

Found it - in the M2A-MX manual. I had the 1066 memory running at that
speed with an AMD 9750(95W) cpu and the M2A-VM system was a bit
'cluncky' with the AMD X2 4000+ in there so I tried the cpu and memory
form the M2A-MX and saw it pick up the 1066 memory at post. It runs
beautifully with the AM2+ cpu but neither of them really liked the x2
4000+.

 

[Miles Bader]

I think my AM2+ MB has a note that PC1066 mem may not work reliably if
all 4 dimm slots are full or something... (I ended up buying PC800 just
because that's mostly what the stores had, and I was getting tired and
.... bluh

-Miles

 

[pokey man]

I'm running the memory in my M2A-VM HDMI board at 1066 and I didn't
have to do anything, well apart from putting in an AM2+ CPU and 1066
memory that is. I can't find now where it says it will only run memory
that fast with an AM2+ cpu but I do remember reading it.

yup I read that too... only stands to reason must have 1066 bus controller
to run 1066 memory which btw is now on die in the amd line of phenom

 

[pokey man]

Yes, most definitely doesn't work with 4 full slots. With 2 slots I got it
to work most of the time, but I'd still get random blue screens a couple
times a day. Dropped the speed to 800 and problem went away. In the end it
just wasn't worth the trouble.

The Foxconn board has an extra power connector on the board, but I don't
remember now if that is for memory or video card power.

video

 

[pokey man]

Yah, I popped the top and looked inside - power connector right next to the
first pcie slot. Just for fun I bumped the memory up to 1066. It ran for
about 4 hours before it locked up solid. <sigh>...back to 800 for me

try increasing the voltage and better cas

just a thought

pokeyman