AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE Unlock and Overclock on GA785GT-UD3H

[gothicfighter]

I'm basically new to overclocking. I have an AMD Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition@ 3.2Ghz(stock cooler) on a MA785GT-UD3H(with latest BIOS update - F7). I have it for about one week and all the games and apps runs smooth. I thought I may unlock/ it in the near future so I need your help. Here are a few questions:

1)What benchmark/stress/spec software will I need?
2)If the 2 cores won't unlock, will anything bad happen to my other 2 cores/CPU/motherboard?
3)Should I first unlock then overclock or vice versa?
4)What are the normal CPU temperatures? When my CPU is idle, it stays at about 36*C. Don't know how to see what temperature when full load.
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Now another little question. Are these temperatures ok?

Motherboard: ~45*C.
Video Card: ~35 idle, ranging from 40 to 70 when playing graphical intensive games for a long time.
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Thanks in advance!

 

[welshmousepk]

firstly, this thread at OC.net will help you out greatly:http/www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-core-unlocking-guide.html
in short though, you will at least need prime95 for stability testing, HWmonitor for temp tracking and CPUid to see if your unlock is successful.

if the cores won't unlock, nothing 'bad' will happen. usually they will simply remain inactive, but sometimes the system will fail to boot into windows. worse case scenario is the system becomes un-bootable and you need to clear CMOS to revert to previous settings.

id say unlock first, since your OC headroom will liekly be limited by a successful unlock. by unlocking first, you can then find the OC ceiling of all 4 cores.

as for temps, anything below about 65c at load is fine but if you see it hitting 60's you may want to lower the voltage as thats starting to get into life-span reducing territory.
with prime95 you can monitor temps at full load though, and so long as they dont go above 65 in that program you should be fine. as real world usage will never be as intensive as a prime95 test.

i think thats everything. let us know if you need more help though. i have successfully unlocked my 550BE, so have a fair bit of experience on the matter. ill help where possible.

 

[gothicfighter]

Last night I bit the bullet and I've unlocked the CPU. When I've booted up the PC, on the POST screen I could read AMD Phenom II X4 B55 . I've entered Windows then CPU-Z. The same here. I've done a stress test for ~hour and no errors, temperature never got past 60 on the CPU but it was ~60 on the motherboard. But, as always, there has to be a little something. I can read the CPU temp but I can't read the individual cores temp. They stay at 0*C. Should I be worried? I'll post some screens in a minute.

 

[Lmeow]

Never knew welsh was NZ.

~62 degrees is max, if it doesn't go past 60, stays at 54-57 I'd say you're fine.
I think the reason why the CPU Core temps show 0 is simply because the Phenom IIs have one temperature monitor only for the whole CPU, not each core. Not fully sure about this, but I don't think you have to worry too much.

 

[gothicfighter]

OK... I've read right now a forum and is says "However, you may have already noticed that you can no longer monitor your cpu core temperatures. Fortunately, most motherboards have a cpu temperature sensor located in the cpu socket area. It is up to you to find out how closely this temperature reading relates to the actual cpu core temperatures."

 

[Lmeow]

I'd say cores are normally a few degrees hotter than the CPU. So, I suggest 55C or below. Although, I'd check with a few more others just to be sure, because with my EVGA X58 board, the CPU temps are around 10C-15C lower than the core temps, so bewarned. But, I've only seen such a massive difference between CPU and Core temps on EVGA boards.

 

[welshmousepk]

ah, i linked the wrong page haha. my mistake. i was meant to link OC.net.

@OP though, thats a normal thing to happen when unlocking. my CPU does the same, no temps on the cores. i think a large number of 550s are affected by that issue when unlocking. hardly a big deal though.

just fixed the link in my original reply. check out that thread OP (http/www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-core-unlocking-guide.html)

 

[gothicfighter]

Played Crysis for a couple of hours, everything went smooth. Runned Prime95, no error. Everything seems cool. Almost. Only when using Prim95, the motherboard got once at ~65*C but then the cooler got faster and it cooled down to about 55-60*C. The CPU never reached 60* when using Prime95. When playing crysis it's not even reaching 55. When iddle the mobo is @~40*C.
I'm a bit worried about the motherboard temperature but it says it's ultra durable. Dunno what to think. Please reply.
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edit: I'm gonna closely see and note the iddle/gaming temperatures of the motherboard and post them here, perhaps tomorrow.

 

[Starges]

You using any special coolers??

 

[welshmousepk]

i wouldn;t worry about the mobo temperatures, they are surprisingly versatile. so long as you aren't seeing figures above 70 it should be okay.

 

[JDFan]

I'd say cores are normally a few degrees hotter than the CPU. So, I suggest 55C or below. Although, I'd check with a few more others just to be sure, because with my EVGA X58 board, the CPU temps are around 10C-15C lower than the core temps, so bewarned. But, I've only seen such a massive difference between CPU and Core temps on EVGA boards.

On my Gigabyte MOBO the individual core temps are 8-10C lower than the CPU temp - so it does vary - best thing to do is reset the CPU to dual core and run it for awhile while monitoring the temps and find out what the variance of the 2 temps is on your specific MOBO -that way you will know whether to worry or not ( Since my CPU temp always showed around 10C higher than the core temps I know I'm fine after the unlock as long as the CPU temp stays in line (since then my core temps are even lower) - Then after you know how the 2 temps compare you can reunlock the other cores and know where your temps are.

 

[hrmchan]

Now that you are getting comfortable ....

Start trying some OCing ...

We did not hear what you're using for a Cooler and Heatsink .... if you only have stock, you may wish to invest here first.

Best of luck and keep us posted to your success !

 

[gothicfighter]

I'm using the stock cooler but I have a Spire vent(80mm) on the back of the case and I will buy another one soon(Antec TriCool 80mm). Honestly, I don't know why I should overclock right now. All the apps are running more then better. Perhaps when I'll change my CRT I'll see how things are running. Last night I've done some temperature checking, and here are the results:

Motherboard Idle temperature: 36*C
CPU Idle temperature: 36*C
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Motherboard Stressing(Prime95) temperature: Ranging from 53*C to 68*C(max.) //(After the fan increased the speed, it never got past 65*C)
CPU Stressing (Prime95) temperature: Ranging from 44*C to 62*C(max.) //(After the fan increased the speed, it never got past 60*C)
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Motherboard Gaming(Crysis) temperature: Ranging from 40*C to 52*C
CPU Gaming(Crysis) temperature: Ranging from 40*C to 48*C
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I think they're more then better.

edit: Can someone modify the title of the thread? I've made a typo(GA785 instead of MA785)I can't edit because it won't let me.

 

[Starges]

edit: Can someone modify the title of the thread? I've made a typo(GA785 instead of MA785)I can't edit because it won't let me.

Only a mod can do that...........

 

[gothicfighter]

Umm, kinda ran into a situation here. Last night I was playing CoDMW2. I've alt-tabbed several times to check something. Then I've played it about 10mins, after which the game simply froze, and a sound kept looping really fast. I've rebooted the PC and entered HWMonitor. The temps were normal. I kept It in the background while I was doing some little work(renaming folders) for a while. When I've checked HWMonitor again, The MaxTemp for CPU was showing 78*C and the current temp was normal, so I guess it "jumped" to 78 for a bit then came back. It has happened before(the freezing thing), again when I was alt-tabbing and playing Burnout. And before this, about 3 weeks ago, the fan readings were a little weird. There was an extra fan(case#2) which was showing ~18000RPM. But no current temp on medium. Today I've played both burnout and mw2 and nothing happened.

Please give me some advice.

 

[Starges]

Have you OCed you gpu? Am not sure but i think when you at+tab, the comp takes away the signal from the gpu and when you alt+tab back to the game, the gpu suddenly comes back to life and hence the high jump in temps. :lol:

Again, you must forgive my language since like i said i am not really sure what i am saying, its just something i thought up :lol:

 

[gothicfighter]

The high temp was in the CPU. Anyway, it's ok now. And yours English is just fine.

 

[OvrClkr]

Last night I bit the bullet and I've unlocked the CPU. When I've booted up the PC, on the POST screen I could read AMD Phenom II X4 B55 . I've entered Windows then CPU-Z. The same here. I've done a stress test for ~hour and no errors, temperature never got past 60 on the CPU but it was ~60 on the motherboard. But, as always, there has to be a little something. I can read the CPU temp but I can't read the individual cores temp. They stay at 0*C. Should I be worried? I'll post some screens in a minute.
[url]http/img232.imageshack.us/img232/9378/tempseverest.th.jpg[/URL]
[url]http/img87.imageshack.us/img87/1127/cpuzu.th.jpg[/URL]

Forget about individual core temp, just look at the CPU temp and make sure it does not go over 60c.

Your CPU voltage is too low, that shot is showing 1.25v at 3.2Ghz as a B55. You need to give it at least 1.35v if you want stability, especially in games.

 

[gothicfighter]

Thanks for the reply. Now a few questions:

1)When I've unlocked the cores in ACC, there was a thing there saying "Value (All Cores) -2%". I've left it that way, thinking now to screw up something. What exactly is that and could it be why the voltage is so low?
2)What exactly is the voltage and how does it affect my CPU?
3)How do I raise the voltage?

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Thanks!

 

[OvrClkr]

Leave it at -2

The vcore is what gives juice (voltage) to the CPU, the higher the clock the more juice you need to apply.

Your bios might look similar to this :

Note: The CPU voltage is the same as processor voltage ..