zosma 960T incoming

[AllanKyoto]

Will let you know as soon as it gets delivered. Damn Purolator expediated is a fail. Sent out from Newegg last Wednesday morning at 7a.m. and still not here. I guess it'll arrive tomorrow.

 

[AllanKyoto]

Ok. Got it installed on my Gigabyte 990fx-ud3 with the f5 bios and it unlocked all six cores! Going to run some stability tests and I'll report back.

 

[Vesku]

Please do, you have the same motherboard I do. Leaning heavily towards a 960T purchase.

 

[lau808]

no 4 core oc? :

 

[AllanKyoto]

I'm a bit of noob when it comes to overclocking lately especially with AMD. My last chip was a e7200 and the easiest way to overclock it was simply to change the FSB settings. I'm going to dig around for a few guides but if there are any settings in particular you'd recommend I play with I'd love to hear them.

 

[Vesku]

It's a Black Edition isn't it? You can just start with upping the multiplier.

 

[AllanKyoto]

Yes. Its a black edition. Now sitting in Windows 7 with CPU-ID showing 3.8ghz and the core voltage fluctuating between 1.21 and 1.3. That is with two cores disabled. Max TDP shows 161W.

CPU-ID calls it a Phenom II X6 1600T. )

I'll go back and see if I can get into Windows at that speed with all six cores enabled.
Reporting back soon.

Now in Windows with core voltage going between 1.28 and 1.312 with 6 cores unlocked at 3.6ghz. It was loading Windows at 3.8ghz but crashed back to a restart. I think a 3.6ghz hexacore for $129 Cdn was a good deal! Better than I expected.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I'm a bit of noob when it comes to overclocking lately especially with AMD. My last chip was a e7200 and the easiest way to overclock it was simply to change the FSB settings. I'm going to dig around for a few guides but if there are any settings in particular you'd recommend I play with I'd love to hear them.

AMD BEs and Intel Ks are dead easy to overclock - just up the core voltage and multi, no need to worry about RAM speeds, etc.

That said, I would suggest setting everything back to stock first (with the exception of Vcore - leave it raised a few notches) before attempting to unlock the additional cores. Also look into a live Linux distro like Knoppix - less fragile than a Windows install and you can attempt to boot up and run Prime95 on it.

 

[AllanKyoto]

So 6 cores at 3.6ghz is good and probably what I'll stick with. Heck its faster than the $190 1100T. This is far better than I had hoped. I was thinking maybe 3.6ghz with four cores nevermind all 6. I guess I got lucky on this one.

Now what to do about this 5770...buy a 6770 and crossfire it or go for something like a 6950 and keep hammering the bank account. I guess the vid card discussion is for another forum. Comp system looking primed and ready for Skyrim.

If anyone would like me to test specific settings let me know.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

That's great to hear! Will probably snag two 960Ts to replace two X3 720BEs.

 

[drizek]

Increase the voltage to 1.45 and see how high a clock speed you can get (assuming you have an appropriate cooler).

 

[JimKiler]

Increase the voltage to 1.45 and see how high a clock speed you can get (assuming you have an appropriate cooler).

How high is safe to put the voltage on AMD? I see for intel Tom's said not to go above 1.45v if you want your CPU to last.

But our biggest concern was that it ramped our CPU core up to 1.448 V under certain load conditions. Several of our hardcore overclocking friends have given us a 1.45 V peak instantaneous voltage limit for Intel Sandy Bridge-based processors, and our own tests have shown that exceeding 1.40 V for extended periods dramatically decreases the processor’s life.

 

[drizek]

How high is safe to put the voltage on AMD? I see for intel Tom's said not to go above 1.45v if you want your CPU to last.

Ya, well it depends on how long you want it to last

I run mine at 1.525v, but I'm secretly trying to break it.

1.4v is pretty safe I think, and 1.45 shouldn't be too bad either. I've had mine all the way up to 1.6 just to see what kind of over lock I can get, and running yours at 1.45 for a course of hours while you play with the OC should be totally harmless.

 

[AllanKyoto]

Ok. Now in Win7 running some tests. All six cores unlocked and at 3.8Ghz and CPU-ID showing my core voltage fluctuating between 1.312v and 1.360volt. I set it 1.375voltage in the bios. CPU is idling at 30c and system at 26c.

Kind of a funny thing. I just started running prime95 blend now and seeing the temps go up but the voltages seem to be lower at 1.296 steady. I've been running that about 15 minutes now and seeing the CPU temp level out at about 42-43C which seems quite reasonable.

I'm using the CoolerMaster Hyper212 Evo, btw.

 

[Vesku]

Seems like you have yourself quite the 960T chip there. Nice to see my go-to Hyper 212+ could potentially handle the thermals up to about 4GHz x6 it would appear. C1E disabled? Voltage behavior seems to be either massive vdroop or LLC (Thuban's have that?).

The F5 bios for the GA990FX-UD3 is working well for my 3 core x2 560BE, I'm getting steady load voltage but that's with C1E and CnQ disabled.

 

[AllanKyoto]

I dont have C1E disabled. It is set to auto. I'm not sure about LLC but the only things that are not set to auto at the moment are the multiplier and the voltage of the CPU.I haven't changed any of them.

I really seemed have to have lucked out with this chip. Curious to see percentages of zosma unlocks.

I found that at 3.8ghz and 1.375 volts with 6 cores I will get occasional crashes in games but not out of Windows. I'm going to back it down to 3.6ghz and a lower voltage. Its not like anything I'm playing right now is crying for a faster CPU...graphics card is now my bottleneck.

 

[AllanKyoto]

I suppose what I should do is edit my original post with details on my successes. Today I'm currently testing out this CPU running it at 4ghz with 4 cores. So far its stable but going to play some games and I'll watch temps and report back. Currently at 31c and seems fine.

I just played a couple of games of League of Legends (not super stress full I know) and never saw the temp go up much at all. Maybe 33c. Monitoring with EasyTune 6

I'll be interesting to see with this new crop of Christmas games (aka BF3, Skyrim, SWTOR) coming whether or not I'll be better off performance wise to have 4 cores at 4ghz or 6 cores at 3.6ghz.

 

[happy medium]

I'll be better off performance wise to have 4 cores at 4ghz or 6 cores at 3.6ghz.

I'd give it 1.45 volts and run 6 cores at 4.0, if your temps are good.
Most Phenom II x4's can get above 3.8 for 105$ like the 955/965BE's,
For 125$ I would expect more from a 960t.

If not 4 cores at 4.0 are better than 6 cores at 3.6 for now, later games might use more cores more often.

 

[jacktesterson]

I'd give it 1.45 volts and run 6 cores at 4.0, if your temps are good.
Most Phenom II x4's can get above 3.8 for 105$ like the 955/965BE's,
For 125$ I would expect more from a 960t.

If not 4 cores at 4.0 are better than 6 cores at 3.6 for now, later games might use more cores more often.

I doubt most 960T will reach 4.0 on 1.45 w/6 cores. There is a reason these are being sold and its not demand....

 

[AllanKyoto]

I also doubt many 960T's will reach 4.0 on 6 cores at 1.45volts. I'm tempted to try it but not thrilled with the proposition of 'significantly shortening' the life of my shining new processor.

In the interest of "science" I'll reboot and give it a shot though. Be right back...

Ok I'm in Win7 now at 6 core 4ghz with 1.45volts. I'm running Prime 95 blend. Temps when I logged in were about 36c have now leveled out at 46-47c running Priime. For those who don't know I have the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo.

 

[jacktesterson]

I also doubt many 960T's will reach 4.0 on 6 cores at 1.45volts. I'm tempted to try it but not thrilled with the proposition of 'significantly shortening' the life of my shining new processor.

In the interest of "science" I'll reboot and give it a shot though. Be right back...

Ok I'm in Win7 now at 6 core 4ghz with 1.45volts. I'm running Prime 95 blend. Temps when I logged in were about 36c have now leveled out at 46-47c running Priime. For those who don't know I have the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo.

I'm running my 1035T @ 1.475v @ 4.0 GHz on all 6 cores.

No issues here. Not bad for stock 6core @ 2.6GHz

Newegg.com has 1035T's on sale for $115 right now, Tough to beat

 

[SlowSpyder]

I run 1.48 volts on my x6 with a decent cooler, I have no problems (yet... just got the chip a week ago). I ran 1.5 volts on my 940 x4 for a year and a half with no problems. Just watch your temps, I think it will last it's useful lifetime as long as you don't over do it.