Trouble overclocking X3 720 w/ DDR3

[EliteRetard]

GA MA790GPT-UD3H
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE
Arctic Cooling HSF
2x2GB DDR3 1066 OCZ Gold
ATI 4850 512MB
Windows Vista 32bit

I cant for the life of me get a single MHz out of this thing. I got it unlocked real easy and it looks to be 100% stable at stock settings. Ive got terrible luck with overclocking though. Cant ever seem to overclock anything. The only system so far is an old E6600 that I was able to overclock after the motherboard shorted out (fried the USB and fan ports etc). Suprised it even booted up I figured Id slap in some crazy settings and *poof* it worked. Unfortunately I dont know how to repeat that success. Stupid thing is still working.

So short of trying to fry my MOBO perfectly does anyone actually know how the heck to overclock on AM3 or is it simply that nobody uses AMD anymore? I cant find any guide anywhere for AM3 or my CPU or MOBO. Ive got to be missing something. I hear plenty of people say they have AMD and that they overclock and that its real easy...but I cant find any evidence of this anywhere.

Damn Schrodinger's cat.

 

[marsspirit123]

Are you serious ?

I have been runing my 720be at 3.2 ghz and unlocked to 4 cores or it equals 955 at stock for more than a year now.I don't care about power consumption at all . It stays cool at 42 at idle and 47 during gaming .
All that it took was simple increasing CPU multiplier of 16 and 1.36v vcore set up in bios.And of course bios that support Core unlock.
However not all cpu's will unlock its hit or miss. But at least you should be able to overclock it to at least 3.4 if it doesn't unlock.

 

[EliteRetard]

I tried upping the multi by one notch and couldnt get it stable. I tried upping the CPU voltage to .1 then the NB to .1 and no go. Tried changing the frequency and no go. I really dont know where my issue is. Maybe its a driver problem or something...I dunno. Or maybe theres some other setting in the BIOS that Im missing. I get blue screens in windows and prime 95 either crashes and freezes the computer or it reboots.

The lack of any guide for anything AMD/AM3 makes me wonder. And the fact that my only overclocking success was a freak accident.

At least I got an unlocked CPU that looks stable...but its frustrating when all my other attempts fail. Especially when every system Ive built was supposed to be super overclockable.

Im gonna go sit and stare it down. Maybe I can use sheer willpower to make it work.

 

[BD231]

I run my x3 720 @ 3.73ghz 24/7. 1.3v north bridge, though you should only raise your north bridge voltage if you plan to over clock the north bridge itself. Mine sits at 240mhz which is why I need more juice. The newer 740 x3s will get you to 3.6 or so at very low core voltages of 1.3xx to 1.4xx while the older 720s require more around 1.4xx to 1.5xx to reach their max overclocking potential.

If you have all four cores unlocked while trying to overclock you should jump up to 1.4v on your core voltage and work your way up or down from there. Just might be that you have a crappy fourth core, which is why the chip is an x3 in the first place.

Overclocking on the AM3 platform is all about finding the right voltages specific to your CPU, some people get chips that overclock at ridiculously low voltage and others have to add more.

 

[Computers_Plus]

You may have a bad stick of ram try running memtest

 

[ther00kie16]

Yea, bet it's ram for every system you've built. Often times, CPU instabilities in testing will only result in errors and not a blue screen while ram errors generally cause crashes, from my experience anyway.

 

[EliteRetard]

Success is mine!

I just had to kick the shit out of it and overvolt the crap out of everything. It started making this horrible squealing scratching noise and all the fans sounded like they were going to explode. There was a pop and it shut off. Unplugged the power and let it sit for a little while before hooking it back up and starting over. This time the bastard listened to me and Ive got it unlocked at 3.6GHz stable.

240x15 CPU, 240x10 NB, 240x8 HT, 240x4 RAM (CAS 5)
+.125v CPU and +.1v CPU-NB

Turned off all the auto options in the BIOS, and thats it. Ive got an old 8800GTS 640MB that crapped itself so I smashed it up with a steel club and tossed in the case as a reminder.

 

[BD231]

You're close to your max north bridge @ 240 with your x3, you might get more if your motherboard can handle it but 240/250 is about the point you start getting random restarts on most boards.

Much easier to get 3600mhz stable than 3700mhz or above with the c2 stepping. Just remember your safe volts of 1.3v on the north bridge and 1.55v on your CPU, anything within that range is safe provided its stable and temps are good.

Make sure you keep cool and quiet on.

 

[EliteRetard]

Im fine with where Im at...basically stole your settings. Though I missed by a multiplier. I could go back in and bump it up but meh. I was just getting fed up with these stupid computers not listening to me. And this rig isnt even mine...so I had no problem kicking it across the room and swearing at it. Smashed up a video card, ripped its side off and tossed the card in, then kicked it back across the room. Plugged it in and slapped in an extra volt or two let it fry and then it worked. That seems to be the only method that works for me. I cant find any other guide on how its done.

Im quite satisfied with myself. Maybe it fixed that damn ATI card and its stupid driver crashes too....

 

[BD231]

Sometimes a computer needs a good beating, how else will it learn?

Here's that guide you want ~> http://www.techreaction.net/forums/showthread.php?t=367

 

[EliteRetard]

Based on my only other success I figured Id give it a try.

Interesting...the cool and quiet doesnt seem to do anything. I guess Ill leave it off.

That guide is better than any I found but a quick browse looks like its missing anything non CPU related. Im still curious if any other setting can affect your overclock. Ill probably still give it a read through a little later, out of curosity.

 

[BD231]

Based on my only other success I figured Id give it a try.

Interesting...the cool and quiet doesnt seem to do anything. I guess Ill leave it off.

That guide is better than any I found but a quick browse looks like its missing anything non CPU related. Im still curious if any other setting can affect your overclock. Ill probably still give it a read through a little later, out of curosity.

Running at full voltage 24/7 which cool & quiet essentially avoids is a great way to decrease the lifespan of your CPU :thumbsup:. Personally I found the article useless myself, there are no other settings that will aid in stability or higher overclock unless you're going for insane overclocks, in which case upping HT link voltage and CPU/NB VDD is at times necessary.