AMD Overdrive Benchmarks LOW on new PII 940 BE :(

[mitchellvii]

Hi all.

Just got a new Phenom II 940 BE CPU. Installed it on an ASUS M3A78T MB running DDR2 800 Mhz Ram under Windows 7 Enterprise (Retail Trial Version). Flashed to latest BIOS and re-installed Windows after placing CPU. CPU is idling at 37 and maxxing out at 53 at full load with air cooling.

I currently have it OC'd to 3.6 Ghz at 1.525 Volts. Boots and runs stable.

However, when I run the AMD Overdrive Benchmarks, I am getting DISAPPOINTING results. Right now, my benchmark score is only 8372! That SUCKS. Have a 720 BE on another rig that benches out at over 10,000. It seems that the problem is with my FLOATING POINT COMPUTATION SCORE, which, based upon what I have seen online, is about 2000 points low. Here are the scores:

Integer Computation - 19320 (Great!)
Floating Point - 4491 (Horrific!)
Memory Speed - 2430 (Lousy)
Cache Speed - 17260 (Great!)

So, do I have a bum CPU here or what is the problem? Heat is ok, BIOS is up to date. What is the problem?

 

[OvrClkr]

How is it that you are running your CPU (3.6Ghz) at 1.52 volts?? That is waaaayyy to high for that clock... You should not need more than 1.35v/1.36v for 3.6Ghz....

 

[4745454b]

What are the scores at stock? Why is your memory score so bad? You went over 1.5V?

 

[mitchellvii]

Thanks for your response. Turns out it was just a bad CPU. Couldn't even hold a small overclock (3.3) without crashing in games. Returned it and got the Phenom II 550 BE instead. Man, what a great CPU! $100 and the thing goes 4.0 Ghz for desktop apps and 3.8 ghz for gaming super-stable on air. This CPU just "feels" better somehow. Honestly, for me and what I do, 4 cores is a total waste anyway.

REGARDING BAD MEMORY SCORE:
Yes, I was wondering about that too. My memory is rated at 800 mhz but is showing up in AMD Overdrive as only 400 mhz. Is that normal (it's really 400 x 2) or do i need to change something in BIOS? Not much of a memory expert.

 

[mitchellvii]

BTW, to get my overclocks on the 550, I set my voltage at 1.45 because a number of sites I looked at recommended that. Should it be lower? My heat never really goes much over 41 C even under load on air.

 

[OvrClkr]

BTW, to get my overclocks on the 550, I set my voltage at 1.45 because a number of sites I looked at recommended that. Should it be lower? My heat never really goes much over 41 C even under load on air.

Are you sure you get 41c load on air at 1.45v???

What voltage are you using for the NB?

 

[mitchellvii]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the responses.

Yep, just ran another AMD Overdrive stress test on this Phenom II 550 BE at 3.8 1.45 volts and it ran right at 41C the whole time. Maybe hit 41.3 once. This is just on air and room is normal temp, around 72 F.

This is just an awesome, fast, reliable, cool and cheap CPU. I just played FarCry 2 FULLY MAXXED on a 1920 by 1080p 23 inch monitor for an hour flawlessly (ATI 4890 GPU). I mean, it was gorgeous and never a hiccup even in big fight scenes with stuff blowing up everywhere.

Why give up a quad for a dual? Well to be honest, I've run a quad, a tre and a dual now and I have to say, the dual runs the best easily. I'm not doing any video rendering or heavy mathematical calculations so a quad is kinda pointless for an extra $100. Do quads get higher synthetic benchmarks? Yes. Do I care? Not at all.

OvrClkr:
I'm not overclocking the NB since it is running at 2000 anyway and I figure why push it? The stock voltage on that is VB VID 1.1 volts and NB Voltage 1.3 volts. do you think I would benefit from trying to overclock that? I'm afraid it would make it unstable.

 

[mitchellvii]

zipzoomflyhigh,

I'm using the temp monitor that comes with AMD Overdrive. I assume that since they make the chip, the software should be able to read it correctly.

OvrClkr,

I feel confident i could run Windows with this chip at 4.0 as you are doing and have ti work just fine. However, the stress test crashed it at 3.9, so I backed it off. Works well enough and why push it?

 

[OvrClkr]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the responses.

Yep, just ran another AMD Overdrive stress test on this Phenom II 550 BE at 3.8 1.45 volts and it ran right at 41C the whole time. Maybe hit 41.3 once. This is just on air and room is normal temp, around 72 F.

This is just an awesome, fast, reliable, cool and cheap CPU. I just played FarCry 2 FULLY MAXXED on a 1920 by 1080p 23 inch monitor for an hour flawlessly (ATI 4890 GPU). I mean, it was gorgeous and never a hiccup even in big fight scenes with stuff blowing up everywhere.

Why give up a quad for a dual? Well to be honest, I've run a quad, a tre and a dual now and I have to say, the dual runs the best easily. I'm not doing any video rendering or heavy mathematical calculations so a quad is kinda pointless for an extra $100. Do quads get higher synthetic benchmarks? Yes. Do I care? Not at all.

OvrClkr:
I'm not overclocking the NB since it is running at 2000 anyway and I figure why push it? The stock voltage on that is VB VID 1.1 volts and NB Voltage 1.3 volts. do you think I would benefit from trying to overclock that? I'm afraid it would make it unstable.

Well, have you primed the PC for at least 8 hours? At 3.8Ghz with the NB on AUTO you are more likely gonna crash sooner than later... And still, 1.45v at 3.8Ghz is too much voltage. I don't know how you get 41c load with the voltage that high... Anyways take a screenshot of CPU-Z whenever you get a chance.....