Phenom II X4 965 Core Voltage Question

[Herkulese]

I just completed a new PC build, and am putting it thru its paces.

Gigabyte - GA 970A-UD3
CPU - Phenom II X4 965
PSU - SeaSonic Modular Gold+ 550

I noticed that the VCore of the CPU at rest is 1.12V. But when I run Prime95 it goes up to 1.47v and has peaked at 1.488v.
The highest temps that I have seen, during Prime 95 is 52c.

I am new to these newer CPU's and boards, as it has been almost 10 years since my last build.

Is my MoBo allowing the CPU to run at whatever Core Voltage it needs? All of those settings are currently on auto.

Should I be setting a specific voltage, as I know that 1.5v is max for these CPU's, and I am concerned about it being allowed to over-volt.

 

[Spydermag68]

Here is the article that anandtech did. Www.anandtech.com/show/2819/2

 

[mizzou]

my 965 is getting a bit long in the tooth now. CPU's have stagnated quite a bit lately, no giant leaps in game performance.

Once it gets really outdated...I'm going to jack the VCORE as far as it can go just to see what happens.

Honestly though, you should hit your max stable overclock well before 1.5Voltage

 

[Magic Carpet]

3.8 Ghz was the sweet spot for my 965. Anything above that required extra voltage and cooling. If you are planning to leave it running at stock (i.e. 3.4 Ghz), you can easily reduce voltage and save on power consumption and heat. Most 965's I built had been generously "over-volted" out of the box. I am talking about the C3 stepping.

 

[Leyawiin]

Could very well be your motherboard. I've had a trusty Phenom II X4 980 in three different motherboards (as I've swapped it around to use them for other builds) and the "stock" voltage has varied from 1.44-1.45 in the first two (790FX and 970 chipsets) to the 1.416 in its current and final motherboard (ASUS 890GX). Some just apply more voltage than others.

 

[Herkulese]

Could very well be your motherboard. I've had a trusty Phenom II X4 980 in three different motherboards (as I've swapped it around to use them for other builds) and the "stock" voltage has varied from 1.44-1.45 in the first two (790FX and 970 chipsets) to the 1.416 in its current and final motherboard (ASUS 890GX). Some just apply more voltage than others.

Yes, I believe that it is my motherboard, since all the controlls are set to AUTO, and I believe that allows the board to send as much voltage as the CPU wants.

I went back and read my original post and see that I was not as clear as I might have been about the real question.

QUESTION: Should I be setting a static voltage, and if so, what is the proper stock core voltage for a NON-Overclocked Phenom II X4 965?

I have searched all over the internet, and can not seem to find a straight answer, even on the AMD site.

I did find this thread over at the Tom's Hardware forum:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1647239/amd-phenom-965-determining-stock-default-voltage.html

Based on all of this, it seems that I could hard set my CPU to 1.35v or possibly even lower, for stock (3.4 GHz) clocking. I am running Prime95, and will be at at about 22 hours when I get home tonight. I think I will geve this a try and run Prime95 for a few hours to see what happens. I may try 1.3v just to see what happens.

Any comments on the info in that thread?

Thanks for all the comments,
Roger

 

[DrMrLordX]

1.4v, most likely, though some say 1.375v (or 1.35v with LLC enabled). Some boards will set it as high as 1.425v.

 

[Piroko]

My x3 720 went all the way down to 1.25V stable, albeit with 2.8 Ghz stock clock.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I believe the voltage should be 1.35 max by factory default. If you have Cool & Quiet and AMD Turbo on, that can affect how much voltage you see, and it can fluctuate. 1.488 is higher than it needs, but still not in the danger zone as long as your temps are ok. I ran my PhII 1090T @ 1.55v with good air cooling.

 

[Herkulese]

I believe the voltage should be 1.35 max by factory default. If you have Cool & Quiet and AMD Turbo on, that can affect how much voltage you see, and it can fluctuate. 1.488 is higher than it needs, but still not in the danger zone as long as your temps are ok. I ran my PhII 1090T @ 1.55v with good air cooling.

My BIOS is set for at Optimized Defaults, except for SATA, and AHCI.
CPU controls such as core voltage are al set to AUTO.

I will go in and set them to manual and set the CV to 1.35 and see what happens. If all is stable, after a few hours of Prime95, I will try 1.3v.

As far as my temps go, I am running CoreTemp CPU Monitor, and it shows them topping out at, in Prime95 at 53c, at the 1.47c to 1.48c voltage. That is also where HWMonitor showed the core temps, when it was working.
I would like to see them topping out in Prime95 at something in the 40s.
.

 

[Leyawiin]

I think 1.35v is a good starting point for 3.4 ghz. I also had an X4 955 (C2) and that was its stock voltage.

 

[Herkulese]

I think 1.35v is a good starting point for 3.4 ghz. I also had an X4 955 (C2) and that was its stock voltage.

That settles it. 1.35v, to start, it is then.
I will post back on how it goes.

Thanks,

 

[Herkulese]

I think 1.35v is a good starting point for 3.4 ghz. I also had an X4 955 (C2) and that was its stock voltage.

OK, I went in and set the voltages from auto to manual, and then set the core voltage from "Normal" which is 1.475 (must be max as that is the max that it ever went to) to 1.35v.

I ran Core Temp and the started Prime 95 again, and the voltage went straight up to 1.475 again. I stopped, restarted and checked BIOS, and the core voltage is set at -.125 from 1.475 and states that is it set at 1.35v.

What gives here?

 

[Magic Carpet]

CoreTemp doesn't read it properly, try HWiNFO/HWMonitor/AIDA64 instead. Or watch the temps, as they should be dramatically lower. My chip was fully stable at 1.275v @ 3.4 Ghz.

 

[Herkulese]

CoreTemp doesn't read it properly, try HWiNFO/HWMonitor/AIDA64 instead. Or watch the temps, as they should be dramatically lower. My chip was fully stable at 1.275v @ 3.4 Ghz.

I tried HWMonitor again, and it read 1.408 Core Voltage under load, and again that is with a Core Voltage setting of 1.35 in BIOS.
Again, it was reading 1.475 under load before.
I was not able to run it long enough to see if the peak temps are siginficantly lower or not.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Does that board have any LLC options that add voltage when the CPU is under load? That would be my next guess.

 

[Herkulese]

Does that board have any LLC options that add voltage when the CPU is under load? That would be my next guess.

I don't remember seeing LLC options, but I will check tonight.
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Towermax]

Does that board have any LLC options that add voltage when the CPU is under load? That would be my next guess.

There are four versions of this board (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 3.0), and LLC availability depends on the version and BIOS, I'm told. I have version 1.1 of this board and it has LLC, but not all of them have LLC.

 

[Herkulese]

There are four versions of this board (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 3.0), and LLC availability depends on the version and BIOS, I'm told. I have version 1.1 of this board and it has LLC, but not all of them have LLC.

My board does have LLC, and the settings are Regular, Extreme, Auto.
I have it set to Regular, because, from all my reading, Regular seems to be the closest thing to disabled.

 

[SlowSpyder]

My board does have LLC, and the settings are Regular, Extreme, Auto.
I have it set to Regular, because, from all my reading, Regular seems to be the closest thing to disabled.

Hmmm... maybe drop your voltage a setting or two below 1.35 and see what happens? I had LLC set to 'Auto' on my motherboard (factory voltage is 1.49) and it would jump up to 1.56. I have an option to disable on my board, but I wouldn't be surprised if LLC is adding some voltage even if you don't want it. Just a thought, if everything else looks good.

 

[Herkulese]

Hmmm... maybe drop your voltage a setting or two below 1.35 and see what happens? I had LLC set to 'Auto' on my motherboard (factory voltage is 1.49) and it would jump up to 1.56. I have an option to disable on my board, but I wouldn't be surprised if LLC is adding some voltage even if you don't want it. Just a thought, if everything else looks good.

I believe that HWMonitor is actually reading the proper voltage:
IDLE - 1.008
Full Load - 1.344
Peak - 1.344

Now, the next question is this:

Is 1.08 too low for an IDLE voltage?

 

[SlowSpyder]

I believe that HWMonitor is actually reading the proper voltage:
IDLE - 1.008
Full Load - 1.344
Peak - 1.344

Now, the next question is this:

Is 1.08 too low for an IDLE voltage?

If you're not having problems at idle, I'd assume it to be fine. The laptop I'm replying from drops below 1v at idle due to Cool & Quiet/turbo.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I believe that HWMonitor is actually reading the proper voltage:
IDLE - 1.008
Full Load - 1.344
Peak - 1.344

Now, the next question is this:

Is 1.08 too low for an IDLE voltage?

Looks like you are in the ballpark for low idle voltage http://www.anandtech.com/show/2821

 

[Herkulese]

Looks like you are in the ballpark for low idle voltage http://www.anandtech.com/show/2821

OK, I have a confirmed Prime95 test at 3.8GHz.

FFT's - Small
Duration of Test - 16 Hours
Errors - None
System Monitor - HWMonitor
OC Type - Multiplier Only (19x200 = 3800mhz)
CPU Core Voltage Setting - 1.5v (+.25v Over Normal of 1.475v)
LLC Setting - Regular

Min Core Voltage - 1.152v
Max Core Voltage - 1.520v (Before, or very beginning of, Prime 95 test)
Steady Voltage throughout the test 1.488v
Idle Temp - 28c
Max temp - 57c
Steady at check points - 53c/54c/55c