Phenom 2 x4 955 Wont OC

[lazlowcv]

Hello everyone I recently built a new PC which overall works great and I am happy with, here is my specs before I begin:
Motherboard: MSI 790GX-G65
Power supply: Ultra LSP 750- 750 watts
CPU: Phenom 2 X4 955 @ 3.2Ghz stock
Ram: A-DATA 4GB DDR3 1600
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS7500-CU
OS: windows 7 Ultimate

So within a couple of weeks I decided to go ahead and do a slight OC I was shooting for 3.4GHz or 3.6Ghz which ever would stay at satisfactory temps. I went through with standard OC procedures and started with the multiplier using amd overdrive. I set it to 17x at stock voltages of 1.35 and did some stability test and within a min or so it crashed. so I reset and pushed the voltage up and up and up and still cant get it stable. I am lucky if it will even boot. so I set the voltage back to stock and went with a 16.5x multiplier and after a while an hour or so it will crash my temps never got above 55C. I have tried at many voltages and multiplier combinations in amd overdrive and bios with no luck. even a 17x multiplier at 3.4Ghz and 1.42V it still crashed in a matter of mins. It also seems to be stable longer when I do the OC through amd overdrive rather than the bios. I am not desperate to OC and am happy with stock speeds but I have OC'ed before and have never been this limited. It is possible I got a CPU that just doesn't like OCing? Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thank you all for your time.

 

[pepperman]

It's possible to get a chip that won't OC very well, but you should be able to get some extra speed if you are modifying the voltage. I'm just curious though, have you tried running prime95 on your system with stock settings?

 

[lazlowcv]

Yeah i have ran Prime95 and many other similar programs at stock settings so i could get a base line on the temps and never had any problems. the PC has not crashed once on stock settings. There has been times that i have been able to get 3.4Ghz and do stability test with no problems but it still eventually crashes even doing something simple like typing in word.

 

[belial2k]

hate to say this, but it sounds like you have hardware failure someplace. Try running the memory one stick at a time to see what happens. If you are crashing at stock settings something in the system is bad.

 

[lazlowcv]

The system runs fine stock and hasnt crashed once. but i will try removing the ram and see if i can OC like that.

 

[belial2k]

sorry, I misread the previous post. Go back and set the ram timing and voltages manually...this is the most likely reason your OC is failing.

 

[meverha1]

I'm having almost the exact same issue. See my post right above yours.

Slightly different setup but same issue.

 

[lazlowcv]

sorry, I misread the previous post. Go back and set the ram timing and voltages manually...this is the most likely reason your OC is failing.

I have did OC'ing before but i have never messed with the ram can you give me the basics or some tips. Thanks

 

[belial2k]

Look up the specs on your ram, then set the timings and voltages according to those specs in the bios. It will probably be under something like Dram adjustments and Dram voltage, but different bios have different wording for it.

 

[pepperman]

Yes you should make sure those are correct, but that probably isn't your problem since you are doing multiplier OCing.

 

[jayman1821]

I second belial2k
I believe your ram voltages are set to low.

 

[pepperman]

If its stable at stock, and he isn't changing his mem during the OC, the stability issue is independent of the ram.

 

[jayman1821]

cant hurt to check it, most mobos dont auto set ram voltages and or timings, if a ram is rated to take 1.65 volts and the boards defaulting it to 1.5 your hard pressed to get a stable machine or Oc.
My last 2 systems undervolted the ram right from the start.

 

[pepperman]

^I agree, but if your system is indeed stable at stock like you said, the mem isn't your problem.

 

[lazlowcv]

yeah i am going to check the timings and voltages now just to be sure. Again my PC runs great with everything stock and has yet to crash. I am not able to tell a bottle neck on the ram but i am still going to check everything here in the next few mins. do you all know of anything else that could cause my problem?

 

[lazlowcv]

I check all of the Ram settings and they match the specs so i dont think that the settings are the problem. Any other suggestions?

 

[meverha1]

What video card are you using? I'm having almost exactly the same problem as you are except that I can get things to run decently under normal use. My system will crash when I'm using Prime95 under full load and when I'm playing games.

 

[lazlowcv]

Its a MSI ATI Radeon 4870 1GB. my system wont do anything even with a 17X multiplier even at 1.42V.