General question co0ncernign my Phenom II X4 940 BE

[Xellos2099]

I got some question concerning my Phenom II X4 940 BE. I had it since last year and only did some minor overclock. However, with SC II and upcoming final fantasy xiv coming out, I try overclocking it even more since it is taxing a bit on my system. Anyway, I try ocing to around 3.4 with my arctic freezer 7 pro and following is the temp reading from speedfan, is it too high?

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/Xellos2099/speedfan.png

Another thing, am I going to see a huge performance jump and I get the Phenom II X6 class processor?

 

[Ben90]

I can't comment on temps because I haven't owned an AMD system since Athlon 64 x2.

However, Starcraft II barely uses the threads of a dual core in which you will not see any performance increase going to a Phenom II x6. I doubt Final Fantasy XIV will be able to use 6 threads either, even though I haven't researched it.

Unfortunately the only meaningful gains extracted from SCII will come from a platform swap to a Nehalem/Westmere derivative. Even still I find my 920 @ 4ghz to struggle enough to the point where I have to run basically everything on low except for textures.

 

[DrMrLordX]

50C isn't too hot for your CPU.

You won't gain any performance in Starcraft 2 by adding two cores . . . but Thuban chips will almost invariably OC better than your 940, especially if you use a better HSF. There are still some decent deals on the Scythe Mugen 2, such as Directron selling them for $34 + shipping:

http://www.directron.com/scmg2100.html?gsear=1

 

[jvroig]

Anyway, I try ocing to around 3.4 with my arctic freezer 7 pro and following is the temp reading from speedfan, is it too high

Max safe temp is rated at 62C. <60C overclocked loaded temp is not bad, can you post a reading while running LinX or Prime95 or any other stress test?

Another thing, am I going to see a huge performance jump and I get the Phenom II X6 class processor?

In SCII: No. But it can definitely OC better than your X4, what with its better stepping and all, as long as you don't become crazy board-limited in case you get the non-BE X6 (1055T).

In Final Fantasy: I don't know, but it's not a good bet that it can actually make good use of 6 cores, so you will probably be left with the same advantage as before: better OC potential.

If that's good enough for you to spend money to get maybe 600-800 MHz more, go for it. Personally, I don't think it is worth it if gaming is your only purpose for upgrading. And for all you know, that 940 of yours might be good enough for another 100 or 200 MHz, and a 3.6 Phenom II is no slouch.

But If you really want to upgrade for gaming purposes, from an overclocked Phenom II X4 940 it only makes sense to buy into an i5 or i7, and similarly OC them as high as possible.

 

[Xellos2099]

well, the 50 degree was during idle, beside with a video playing. Any idea on how to get it pass 3.4? I tried 3.5 but ti give me blue screen when I try playing starcraft II. Do I need more voltage on the core and ram?

 

[jvroig]

the 50 degree was during idle

Ah. Bad then, very bad. For reference, my load temps are 56-59C, while I Idle at 39-41C, Ambient ranges from 30-33C. If you are already idling at 50C, that just isn't a good sign.

Before even thinking of giving that chip more voltage to try to make it stable, I think we've established now that you need a better HSF. Or, since I am not familiar with your current HSF, perhaps a remount / reapplication of TIM will suffice. Whatever the plan of action is, your first priority clearly is getting those temps under control.

 

[Xellos2099]

this is what i have.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185125

 

[jvroig]

Reference: Frostytech chart: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2419&page=4

From there, we can see it performs a little worse than a single fan Hyper 212+ with the fan set to "low". With the Hyper 212+ fan set to high, the difference is much more pronounced.

I also saw the original review of your cooler from the same site, back at year 2005. I believe it was a great cooler then, but I don't think it was meant to cool a modern quad core like the Phenom II X4.

If you wish to have a real overclock, you may want to invest in another cooler. Even $30 will get you a long way (the aforementioned Hyper 212+, for example).

 

[Xellos2099]

Does that mean my cooler is even worse than the stock one? Also, does having one of the case fan fail would affect the cpu temp?

 

[jtisgeek]

Does that mean my cooler is even worse than the stock one? Also, does having one of the case fan fail would affect the cpu temp?

No your cooler is just on the old side just do your stress testing 50c is very high for idel so case flow may need to be looked in to.

You want to shoot for a full linx pack run where you can stay under 60c if you can do that your be fine in any game.

My 965 end on water doesn't like to go over 3.8 so don't expect big things from these chip 3.4 is good for you.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I'd say 50 C is too high. And in my experience, since I have the same heatsink, it doesn't do very good under full load. Pick up a new cooler.

 

[Xellos2099]

Well, after opening the case, it turn out my rear exhaust fan is dead. After installed an backup one and run the amd overdrive temp monitor, my cpu temp hover at 40-43 when oc is at 3.47 at idle and approach 60 when it is running games. It nearly freak me out when i didn't know the rear fan was dead, temp approach 75 degree under load when running starcraft II.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Fixing your exhaust fan was a good move, since that was probably causing all manner of problems for other components in your system as well (especially your harddrive). I had thought 50C was your load temp . . . foolish me. A load temp of 60C is not that great, but it's much better than 75C.

Whether you get another CPU or not, getting a new HSF would be a good idea.

I will echo what jvorig said about the hyper 212+, though finding one for ~$30 is getting hard. They seem to be going out of stock at a lot of etailers. The Mugen 2 is at least as good a HSF as the Hyper 212+, and can still be had for $40 shipped or less in some cases, such as at Directron (see link I pasted above).