Hey all, I recently purchased an AMD Phenom X2 555 BE to go with my new motherboard, and have been having some problems with the temperature readings, before and after unlocking the one working extra core. On stock speeds and on just 2 cores, the CPU temp will idle at 31 degrees, and on HWMonitor it will say that each core is at about 21 degrees. Under load, the cores will come up to the mid thirties and I cannot get the CPU temp above 36 degrees. Thought these readings were a bit low, but I'll continue. Overvolted to 1.45v and running (still 2 cores) at 3.9GHz, I get idle at about 32 degrees on the CPU (mid twenties on the cores), but under load the temp rises to about 42-43 degrees. This got me thinking: I have been told that this is about the limit under air cooling and its still appearing to run at only 43 degrees: something must be wrong. Unlocking the one working core, all monitors fail to read individual core temp, and all 3 cores overclocked to 3.8GHz means I still cannot get the CPU temperature above about 45 degrees. Also pointing to the fact that something is really wrong with the sensors, Speedfan and HWMonitor are saying my fan speed is about 13000 RPM average, and on both there is an AUX temp which will dart around all over the place, sometimes reading 0 degrees, and often when idle it will read 120 degrees and come DOWN as the system heats up and stay steady (to about 60 degrees). Is this a faulty reader? Or a reader with reversed polarities? My system temp with the major airflow I get out oy case stays about 27 degrees most times. Am I reading dangerously low? Is it a problem with 64 bit Windows 7? Is it my motherboard? Here are my specs: Cooler: Akasa Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro rev2 Case: Antec 300 (CPU cooler blows STRAIGHT into roof exhaust fan) CPU: AMD Phenom X2 555 BE Mobo: Asrock 880G Extreme3 Memory: 4GB Kingston CL7 @ 1.6v GPU: x1950 pro (upgrade soon!) PSU: 650W one from old PC Thanks in advance for any help and any advice that leads to accurate readings!
Why are you worried about getting your temps up, most people worry that they can't get them down, What you've proved is that you've got effective cooling and that everything thing is working as it should. Right now all my core temps are sitting at 28 degrees, normally I get between 19-21 and if I get over 34 Then thats high, with the warm weather we're having I would expect to see around 42-44 max. So here's my advice....Go put your favorite game on have a cold drink and dont worry about anything....Apart from getting the crap shot out of you on call of duty.lol
Hi, thanks for the reply! Would seem my temperatures ARE right... how odd: My voltage is 1.5V at the mo. Would it be feasible to unlock the remaining functional core, increase the voltage more (since the temp is so low, wont go above 40 degrees per core at 4ghz as can be seen there), and keep it at a high clock speed? Or would the high voltage have a high likelihood of damaging my processor? Thanks in advance! James
If it's a good core go a head and unlock it, if it's a bit dodgy you'll just run into trouble, three good'uns is better than nothing. Don't go mad with the voltage though, the anthlons don't need it, plus the more volts, the more heat. If you can hit 4ghz stable thats a good overclock Keep us posted with how you get on.
Thanks for all the help so far! Unlocked the 3rd working core. Couldnt run at 4GHz at 1.5v (bluescreen) but runs stable at 3.9GHz (OCCT, Prime95, AMD overdrive stability test). Don't want to increase the voltage without reassurance nothing will go wrong, and as I have unlocked it, the individual core reading facility wont work, so I have to rely on the general CPU temperature reading which maxes out at 47 degrees (far hotter than 2 cores). It is also drawing 140W now, rather than the 91W it was drawing on 2 cores. Should anything here concern me? Also, I cannot seem to overclock the Northbridge. Overvolted it from 1.2v to 1.4v and increased multiplier to 12 (2400mhz) and instantly bluescreened on startup (after multiplier increase, not voltage). Am I not being sensitive enough?
3.9 stable on 3 cores is still good. The thing is, the more cores the harder overclocking becomes.You have to consider power consumption which leads to heat, which will lead to instability. Also AMD quite often disable 1 or 2 cores because they don't work quite as they should.1 of the lads on her was doing 3.9 till he unlocked the 4th core and then could just about boot, the core would work, just not properly. As you've got 3.9 stable on 3 cores I would settle for that and look at it as a job well done. As for your 2nd question, like I said before there's no need for massive over volting, all you'll end up doing is creating unnecessary heat. What I have seen with AMD rigs is that good quality fast ram works well and help stabilize everything, as well as give a little bit more clock speed.
