Overclocking OEM x4 955 on micro atx

[Loyudo]

I'm looking at grabbing one of those OEM x4 955's for $75 at tigerdirect, and I was wondering if it was possible to hit 4GHz with one of these non BE chips on a micro atx. I realize it's luck of the draw on the chip I get, but looking at amd's micro atx offerings I'm not even sure a good chip would get there. If you think my chances are good what boards would you recommend. If not on micro atx what are my lowest price options for standard atx that would give me a decent overclock?

I will be looking at getting a cooler for around $20 probably one of cooler masters offerings as these seem to have good performance/dollar. size depends on weather I go micro atx or standard. Thanks for your advise.

 

[Loyudo]

So after looking around I'm thinking of going with this board GIGABYTE GA-880GM-USB3 it's going for $75 after mir on new egg right now. Does anybody own this board or know anything about it for overclocking? Any help would be appreciated. This is the lowest price board I could find with 4+1 power phase.

 

[lopri]

Not a good idea if you plan to keep the system longer than a few months. And you MUST cool the Mosfets. A tower-style HSF itself won't cut it. Which board do you have in mind? Most of those sub-$100 MATX boards barely meet the thermal guidelines. You should also check the CPU support list of the board.

The board you linked might be OK but not with the $20 tower-cooler from cooler master.

 

[Loyudo]

The board supports up to phenom II x6 125w, and has 4+1 phase power, which is the best I could find for am3/am3+ micro atx boards. If I have to I can go standard atx, but I was hoping to avoid it since this is going to be a lan machine. What kind of cooler would you recommend that will fit into a micro atx case, and what do you think would be more realistic every day clock speed for this set up?

 

[lopri]

Well, my honest opinion is that you probably shouldn't overclock 955 BE on that board, AND also use a blow-down HSF. Especially for a small-form factor build. If you must overclock, do it only to an extent where you don't need to raise the voltages. (Both for the CPU core and CPU-NB) I think 955 BE should do 3.5 ~ 3.6 GHz without raising voltages.