Phenom II 960T @ 4 Ghz - Performance

[Stuka87]

For what its worth, here is my 965BE at 4018MHz, CPU-NB at 2400:

EDIT: Oh, I have dropped the core voltage down some since I took this. It is now at 1.408

 

[SlowSpyder]

Overclocking the CPU-NB on Phenom II's into the 2.6/2.8 range tended to put their gaming performance ahead of the Core2 line. If you want to get the most out Phenom II, you'll need to OC the CPU-NB.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3877/...investigation-of-thuban-performance-scaling/7

I came here to post this pretty much. Many people assume that since the multiplier is unlocked, overclocking is just a matter to adding some voltage and pushing the cores to their top speed. Really, what you want to do is use the multiplier to find the cores top speed, and than put them back down. From there push the FSB to push your NB/L3 up, find what your ram can do and your NB/L3 can do. Then, once you know where everything can get to, use the multipliers to keep the cores around that top clock, and push the FSB so the NB/L3 increase in speed.

As those cores get more clock speed they need to be fed, that's the L3/NB's job. So if the cores get faster and faster they need data faster, or the performance doesn't scale as well as it could with the increased clock. I can't say for sure, but I think the performance increase can be in the range of over 10% with, say, a 2.8GHz NB/L3 and a 4GHz core speed vs. a 2.0GHz NB/L3 and a 4GHz core speed.

 

[KingFatty]

So how do you arrive at the highest overclock? Do you literally push the FSB to its highest setting for each of the multipliers? I think at one multiplier setting you could reach a higher FSB, which might be the highest overclock, but how do you figure that out?

 

[Smoblikat]

So how do you arrive at the highest overclock? Do you literally push the FSB to its highest setting for each of the multipliers? I think at one multiplier setting you could reach a higher FSB, which might be the highest overclock, but how do you figure that out?

trial and error.

 

[Stuka87]

I came here to post this pretty much. Many people assume that since the multiplier is unlocked, overclocking is just a matter to adding some voltage and pushing the cores to their top speed. Really, what you want to do is use the multiplier to find the cores top speed, and than put them back down. From there push the FSB to push your NB/L3 up, find what your ram can do and your NB/L3 can do. Then, once you know where everything can get to, use the multipliers to keep the cores around that top clock, and push the FSB so the NB/L3 increase in speed.

As those cores get more clock speed they need to be fed, that's the L3/NB's job. So if the cores get faster and faster they need data faster, or the performance doesn't scale as well as it could with the increased clock. I can't say for sure, but I think the performance increase can be in the range of over 10% with, say, a 2.8GHz NB/L3 and a 4GHz core speed vs. a 2.0GHz NB/L3 and a 4GHz core speed.

In my experience, I was not able to get past 3.7Ghz with the CPU-NB at stock speed. Even at 3.7 stability was only around 90% or so. I would get random crashes. Once I pushed that up, stability has been rock solid since.

And I used to have my bus set faster, but just upgraded my ram so need to start over finding out what it can do.

 

[sequoia464]

So how do you arrive at the highest overclock? Do you literally push the FSB to its highest setting for each of the multipliers? I think at one multiplier setting you could reach a higher FSB, which might be the highest overclock, but how do you figure that out?

Check this out - pretty comprehensive guide.

Link .. http://www.overclock.net/t/777378/o...uban-overclocking-guide-with-too-many-smileys

 

[cristispot]

hey there.

i also use one of this cpu and need your help:

SO i am aiming for :

4.0 ghz cpu speed
1600 mhz ram speed( currently 1333mhz) - yes my ram support 1600 mhz
i want to also be able to use EPU-4 program that comes with my MOBO (Asus M4A77TD) so i can set it on High performace/Auto/Power saving, because my fan makes a lot of noise.
I tried raising the NB to 220 and multiplier to 18, but then the epu-4 program told me that it can not start under those overclocking circumstances and i really want to put the fan on Auto so it won't allways stay at full speed.

Help me with what should i change in BIOS:

NB, Voltage, Multiplier?

Cheers

 

[sm625]

There are some benchmarks where a phenom will never catch an i5-xxxx, take sysmark and super-pi for example. Phenom @ 5GHz couldnt beat a stock 2500k at super pi. But overall, a 4.2GHz 960T will be comparable to a stock i5-2500.

 

[SlowSpyder]

hey there.

i also use one of this cpu and need your help:

SO i am aiming for :

4.0 ghz cpu speed
1600 mhz ram speed( currently 1333mhz) - yes my ram support 1600 mhz
i want to also be able to use EPU-4 program that comes with my MOBO (Asus M4A77TD) so i can set it on High performace/Auto/Power saving, because my fan makes a lot of noise.
I tried raising the NB to 220 and multiplier to 18, but then the epu-4 program told me that it can not start under those overclocking circumstances and i really want to put the fan on Auto so it won't allways stay at full speed.

Help me with what should i change in BIOS:

NB, Voltage, Multiplier?

Cheers

What cooler are you using? What processor are you overclocking?

 

[cristispot]

the same cpu as the one it is mentioned here : AMD Phenom II X4 960T
Cooler is Zalman CNPS-9700NT

 

[cristispot]

I managed to do the following:
BUS: 220
NB is now at 2200mhz
multiplier x 18
Now cpu speed is 3960 mhz, ram speed is 743 mhx(1486)
I didn't do anything to the voltage.

I tried multiplier x20 but it won't boot. i don't know if i should raise the voltage or not to sustain the OC.
With the setup mentioned above ,i get a max of 44 degrees in full load.

PS: i don't understand how that voltage raising works,because it says it is raising with 0.15 v with every time i press + ,and it starts from 1.1 v,so how much should i put the voltage to a safe zone?

 

[monstercameron]

I was running my 965BE at 4.1GHz v1.448 with a coolmaster clc. wasnt super stable, so I backed it down to 3.8GHz just to be crash/hassle free. I guess I am not a power user, because this is sufficient for me...
here is my handbrake score
8gb ddr3 133 mixed modules [unganged] http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35205437&postcount=81

4gb ddr3 1600 [ganged] http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35340313&postcount=247

 

[cristispot]

could you help me to setup my cpu to go in 4.0 with my ram at 1600 mhz?

what should i modify in bios?

thanks in advance

 

[schmuckley]

Thanks for the info. 5% not worth putting the extra stress on my $60 motherboard.

Welp..there went unlocking to x6 and overclocking out the window.

960T is a very nice chip.They unlock to x6 Thuban a lot of the time.

umm..You can't do that though..your board will blow up.

Exactly what is your $60 motherboard?

Here's the "how's" to OC any k10 chip: http://www.overclock.net/t/777378/o...overclocking-guide-with-too-many-smileys/0_20

Thuban cpu/nb goes higher than Deneb as a general rule..I usually ran @ 4.2 daily.
It's one of the best chips AMD has released to date.I hope Kaveri changes that.

 

[rancherlee]

I picked mine up a few weeks ago, nice chip and the fastest my MB will support. Purrs like a kitten at 6x3.8ghz 1.425v (1.390 under PI load) but doesn't like more than 2.6 on the CPU-NB at any voltage. Gave me about at 40% bump in FPS on bf4 over my x4 and keeps my overclocked 7950 above 90% usage. This chip might stretch me out another year or so if more games come with better multi threading like BF4

 

[SlowSpyder]

I managed to do the following:
BUS: 220
NB is now at 2200mhz
multiplier x 18
Now cpu speed is 3960 mhz, ram speed is 743 mhx(1486)
I didn't do anything to the voltage.

I tried multiplier x20 but it won't boot. i don't know if i should raise the voltage or not to sustain the OC.
With the setup mentioned above ,i get a max of 44 degrees in full load.

PS: i don't understand how that voltage raising works,because it says it is raising with 0.15 v with every time i press + ,and it starts from 1.1 v,so how much should i put the voltage to a safe zone?

You're clock speed is determined by the bus and the multiplier. When you raise your bus speed, if you're not touching a memory divider, you're pushing the memory speed up. I'd add a little voltage to the NB/L3 and keep pushing that up. With an 18x multiplier, for every 1MHz you raise your bus you're adding 18MHz to the cores.

As an example, I run my Thuban at 15.5 x a 260MHz bus for 4030MHz/2600Hz. My Thuban is happy there but needs 1.5v to stay stable. If you are almost at 4GHz with factory voltage you should reach 4+GHz without an issue. Add some voltage, maybe 1.4-1.45volts would be my guess. You may need to add voltage separately to the NB/L3 to go above 2200MHz.

I think the important thing to do is overclock the cores and NB/L3 separately to find where the limits are at sane voltage. You know your cores are about as far as they will go on factory voltage. Give it a small bump and see where you can get with the cores. Once you have that number, I'd bring the cores down a bit and just work on the NB/L3, find how far you can push that. Then once you know what your cores will do and your NB/L3, use the multiplier to try and get both the cores and NB/L3 clocked up.

 

[Smoove910]

I have a 960t on a Biostar mobo unlocked to an X6 and overclocked to 3.5ghz on all cores. Been running like that for almost 2 years with NO probs! It's now taking duties as a server box running Server 2012 Datacenter.

 

[cristispot]

You're clock speed is determined by the bus and the multiplier. When you raise your bus speed, if you're not touching a memory divider, you're pushing the memory speed up. I'd add a little voltage to the NB/L3 and keep pushing that up. With an 18x multiplier, for every 1MHz you raise your bus you're adding 18MHz to the cores.

As an example, I run my Thuban at 15.5 x a 260MHz bus for 4030MHz/2600Hz. My Thuban is happy there but needs 1.5v to stay stable. If you are almost at 4GHz with factory voltage you should reach 4+GHz without an issue. Add some voltage, maybe 1.4-1.45volts would be my guess. You may need to add voltage separately to the NB/L3 to go above 2200MHz.

I think the important thing to do is overclock the cores and NB/L3 separately to find where the limits are at sane voltage. You know your cores are about as far as they will go on factory voltage. Give it a small bump and see where you can get with the cores. Once you have that number, I'd bring the cores down a bit and just work on the NB/L3, find how far you can push that. Then once you know what your cores will do and your NB/L3, use the multiplier to try and get both the cores and NB/L3 clocked up.

Thank you very much for your response .
Do pls tell me how do i increase voltage on NB? Is there a separate option in Bios?
How much should i increase the NB voltage? i just take it progressive untill my pc boots and gets stable?

 

[SlowSpyder]

Thank you very much for your response .
Do pls tell me how do i increase voltage on NB? Is there a separate option in Bios?
How much should i increase the NB voltage? i just take it progressive untill my pc boots and gets stable?

I don't know if all motherboards have a separate NB voltage option, but most enthusiast type boards should... you may have to research that, I couldn't tell you for your model board. My board is an AM2+ board, so I have to think AM3/AM3+ boards would have that options as well.

I don't know if there is a known specified AMD value for the NB/L3. I wish I could tell you what I have mine set at, but I'm currently almost done with my FX 9370 build, so my Thuban and AM2+ board aren't up and running. But, the silicon for the NB is the same as the cores, but it just runs at a lower speed most likely for TDP and power use reasons. So it will probably be a trial and error process, assuming you can adjust the voltage.

Even assuming the worst case scenario, that you can't move beyond 2200MHz on the NB, you can still push the cores. Just add a little voltage (1.45v is considered safe assuming you have proper cooling, which you do) and try and find the limits of the cores. You may be losing a little performance compared to if you could get the NB up to 2.6-3GHz, but you'll still gain overall performance by pushing the cores further.

 

[cristispot]

Thank you very much again, you were very helpful.
I'll post back with what i managed to do.
Have a good day!

One more thing:
do i raise NB frequency by BUS or directly from NB speed?, because i also have this option to manually set the speed of NB

 

[cristispot]

PS: do you think my CPU, in stock or OC config, could bottlneck my GPU? (Gigabyte GTX 680 OC 2gb)

EDIT: Mutiplier 19.5
NB 2000
FSB 200
RAM set Manual on 1600
Voltaj is set on 1,45 yet on Aida 64 it appears that it also got to a max of 1.55v on my CPU

Is that too much voltage?

LE: Multiplier 19.5- 3917 mhz
Bus: 200
NB: 2400
DRAM: 800 (1600mhz)
CPU Voltage: 1.45
That's the most stable i could get but i'm still not happy about it.

 

[cristispot]

Final setting:

CPU 1.45 v , 3812 mhz
19x multiplier
bus 200
ht link 2000
nb 2400
ram set on 1.65 v,latency 9 9 9 24 , 1600 mhz

final version,and stable

 

[SlowSpyder]

Darn, that's too bad you can't get to 4GHz, but it isn't a special magical barrier, it is just another ~5% clock speed, which honestly wouldn't likely be very noticeable.

Sorry, I missed your earlier question... what resolution do you game at? You'll probably bottleneck the GTX680 a bit, I game on a 4.03GHz PhII x6 with a 7970 (pretty close in performance as a GTX680) and have no complaints, though I am sure the Thuban holds it back some. But I play more RPG's and strategy games, so it isn't really a problem for the games I play. The PhII is a good CPU, but it is what it is, a budget part these days... don't expect miracles.

What happens if you push the multiplier to 19.5, it crashes? I run my PhII at 1.5v, but that is probably pushing it for most people. Any luck unlocking it to an x6?

 

[soccerballtux]

Final setting:

CPU 1.45 v , 3812 mhz
19x multiplier
bus 200
ht link 2000
nb 2400
ram set on 1.65 v,latency 9 9 9 24 , 1600 mhz

final version,and stable

set the CPU-NB back to 2ghz and increase the core frequency. At that voltage you should have no trouble hitting 4ghz. I am at 4.3ghz cores on my 965 x4 at 1.475v. I thought I couldn't get past 4ghz but it was actually the CPU-NB holding me back.

I run my CPU-NB at +0.2v so 1.3v and 2.6ghz.

Pushing the cores faster takes more CPU-NB voltage if the CPU-NB is overclocked at all.

 

[red_222]

Hello people. I recently picked up a 960T and have overclocked it to 4.0Ghz. Coming from Athlon X3 2.9 GHz, it's a big leap in performance for me. I was wondering if anyone here knows how a 960T (x4) @ 4Ghz would compare to a Intel 2000 Series quad core? Is there a benchmark I could run to see what the gap is?

And are thubans faster than denebs? Core for core

Thanks

If im not mistaken, doesnt the 960 unlock 2 more cores??