? Unlocked/Overclocked AMD stability ?

[EliteRetard]

Built a new rig for a freind based on an AMD Phenom2 X3 720. Got it in a combo with a Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H (If I remeber correctly lol) for 180$. Snagged 2x2GB OCZ DDR3 1066 and threw in an old 4850 512MB and a 320GB HDD. Ive never had much luck with overclocking until I got this system.

I managed to unlock it and ran it through some stress testing to see if the new core was stable. The sotck HSF suck and blows at the same time (I didnt think that was possible lol). 60C thermal shutdown in less than a minute with everything at stock. WTF?! How can they sell a CPU/HSF combo that wont run at stock lol. Anywho grabbed my old AC64 CPU cooler off my 939 rig since it was all taken apart anway. The clip mechanizm on the 939 is far superior (6 clip pins instead of 2 which can easily break) but it still worked just fine. Dropped the idle temps 10C and I was able to test and it looked like the new core was perfectly stable at stock settings (1-1.325V).

Started clocking things up...Ive got an unlocked multi but I wanted to boost the "FSB" to get everything else cranked up. I got it to 260 "FSB" but got errors so I tried dropping the HT and NB multi down to 9x (2250MHz). Didnt help. Dropped the "FSB" to 250 didnt help. Boosted the CPU voltage to 1.425 and everything smoothed out. That /only/ gave me 3.5GHz though so I bumped up the CPU multi to 15X to give me 3.75GHz. Did a blend test for 30minutes to test the RAM/HT/NB and it seemed fine but then tried the max heat setting and while the heat didnt seem to go up, after probably another 30min one of the cores popped up with an error (core 2 of 4). The others kept going.

I tried bumbing the voltage up to 1.475 and that one core still randomly spits out an error after anywhere from 30min to a few hours. I dont think I want to add more voltage, the max temp I recorded during any test was 53C (though thats with fans at the lowest speed) so I dont think its heat related. I dont know if I should boost any other voltages (NB/HT) or maybe tune back the "FSB". I kinda like it where its at, everything seems to run OK (no blue screens or game crashes...yet) but if I can Id like to get this thing totally stable. Im just not familiar enough with all these new parts to know what to adjust now.

Im no good with the memory settings, so I tried auto settings at 1600MHz which seemed stable but had much higher timings than 1333MHz so thats where I set the memory (@1.6V CAS7). Theres a billion setting in the memory menu but I figure the extra memory speed isnt going to ever do anything. The timing are probably more important. I get the same auto timings though at 1066...

So yeah, thats where I be. What say you?

 

[Rhoxed]

I have a 720BE also unlocked, luckily mine has no problems with the 4th core over 18hrs prime stable @ 3.8

but from what i have seen that is a fairly high clock for an unlocked 720, i believe most only see ~3.5/3.6 stable and probably many lower

is the 4th core stable at stock? how long did you test?

at what clock does the 4th core start to error if stable at stock?

you might have a good 4th core but was disabled because it was weak, no-one wants to buy a 3ghz quad that tops out at 3.3 but a 2.8ghz tricore that hits 3.8 with its 3 good cores or 3.3 unlocked is very attractive option at $120.