Overclocking questions

I have a amd x4 955 black edition and just started experimenting with overclocking. I put the clock speed at 210 and the multiplier at 18 in my BIOS, so its running at 3.8ghz. I have 2 questions:
1. The core temp is around 40 Celsius normally, and it peaked at 51 when i was gaming. Is this an acceptable temperature? Could I try stepping it up to 4.0?
2. I’m using Core Temp, and the speed will be at 3.8ghz, then jump around between 820mhz and 2.1ghz, then stop and stay at 820mhz. What causes this and how can i make it stop?
Thanks
Answer #1
mischaf2 replied: 1. The core temp is around 40 Celsius normally, and it peaked at 51 when i was gaming. Is this an acceptable temperature? Could I try stepping it up to 4.0?
You need to run a stability test, you can use Prime95, but probably yes.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html
mischaf2 replied: 2. I'm using Core Temp, and the speed will be at 3.8ghz, then jump around between 820mhz and 2.1ghz, then stop and stay at 820mhz. What causes this and how can i make it stop?
Thats AMD’s Cool n’ Quiet. You can disable it.
Answer #2
I’d stay away from 50 degrees Celsius.
With a decent aftermarket cooler, you can get it to be around 40 on load.
Answer #3
Dragon Core replied: With a decent aftermarket cooler, you can get it to be around 40 on load.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
Answer #4
Just up the multiplier to 19 and test for stability. Since you have a black edition CPU, you can overclock it by the use of multiplier alone.
51°C is very acceptable on loads.
Answer #5
Thanks guys, I disabled cool n quiet, but now when i do a stress test with prime95, every time my cpu gets to 51 degrees, the speed drops to 800mhz
Answer #6
mischaf2 replied: Thanks guys, I disabled cool n quiet, but now when i do a stress test with prime95, every time my cpu gets to 51 degrees, the speed drops to 800mhz
That happens because your processor is going above the specified temp in the bios.
You should be able to set a max temp, mine is set to 50C.
Answer #7
Check out the AMD maximum temperature for your CPU. It’s probably a lot higher than 51C. Probably more like 70C but that is only a guess. Athlon XP’s had a maximum of 85C but that is going back over 5 years and max temps have reduced since then.
Once you have it stable and your heat is okay, try something better than Prime. There are better Appz for generating CPU heat. LinX and IntelBurntest are two which generate quite a lot of heat. Orthos is another. There might be newer Appz, however I don’t really spend time following the latest.