AMD 965 BE - Is VCore fluctuation over 1.475V safe?

[HDN]

I'll start with system specs:
Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2P Mini ATX Board
AMD Phenom II 965 BE 3.4 GHz stock clock speed
2x4GB DDR3 RAM (G.SKILL Ripjaws)
OCZ 600W 80+ PSU
MSI GTX 760 Twin Frozr

I decided to take advantage of my new Cryorig H7 CPU cooler and try and overclock my PC. The chip is a AMD Phenom II 965 BE with a 3.4 GHz stock clock speed. This is what I've found so far through trial and error adjusting only the multiplier and VCore through my BIOS:

Stable clocks and VCores:
3.6 GHz @ 1.375V
3.7 GHz @ 1.425V
3.8 GHz @ 1.450V

Stability was determined running Prime95 on the blend test for at least 2.5 hours (I'm a gamer, not so much a number cruncher). Anytime Prime95 stopped the test or a BSoD was tripped, I bumped up VCore a notch, which is 0.025V.

I have noticed at this point with HWInfo64, my VCore fluctuates above the maximum safe VCore of 1.475V (which I determined was it from research across the internet). My current VCore is 1.456V. The maximum was 1.488V, and the minimum was 1.456V. The average VCore is 1.456V.

Is this okay for my CPU? Should I try for 3.9 GHz at 1.475V, or leave it at this or dial it back down to 3.7 GHz @ 1.425V?

Additionally, to determine my stable voltage, should I run Prime95 in Small FFT or Large FFT mode instead to determine stability, or is running Prime95 on blend mode fine?

 

[CountMike]

I had my running @ 4.2 GHz at 1.505v but on Ga 890 MB and under Mugen3 cooler, never hit over 55c. I doubt that your MB could give it enough power. You are likely to burn MB, no matter what cooling you have on CPU.

 

[HDN]

Boy that's a bummer. When I bought the mobo back in 2010 that's all I could afford and held on to it since. At this point I'm probably better off upgrading both my board and a CPU instead of getting a better full ATX AM3+ board, yes?

 

[schmuckley]

If you have sufficient cooling,yes.
Your OC limitations are due to the motherboard.
N68 chipset,no?
Deneb needs like..crosshair 4
I always ran 4.1-2 on any kind of Deneb chip..ever...
m4a79xtd-evo.

 

[CountMike]

Bad or lo grade 4 + 1 VRM section with no cooler on it can put a damper on any OC, with any system. Phenom II x4 can be a hungry beast when OCed. 965 @4.2 GHz estimated 148W + more power needed by NB.

 

[grimsin]

I had a junk Gigabyte ga-ma78lmt-s2 motherboard and overclocked my old 965be to 4ghz and 1.4678 volts, completly stable for years. but my case has great cooling.

 

[HDN]

I didn't realize my thread got more replies. Guess my subscription turned off 🙁

Anyways I went back to my stock clocks and undervolting. I might need the board and CPU to last another couple years. If I didn't have to worry about my board holding up to the 3.8 GHz OC I had I would keep it there and go no further.

I forget what temps my CPU topped out at at the 3.8 GHz OC on Prime95. I don't think they went over 45 degrees C.

 

[grimsin]

Then keep it at 3.8ghz