AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Review

Page 12 - Temperatures and Overclock

Quite predictable - when holding an AMD Black Edition CPU in our hands we just had to test its capability of overclock. And for getting the most of it we used the best air cooler we had - Noctua NH-C12P.

Overclocking by multiplier is very tempting. Not only it is easier for the common user but it also does not imply the NB and HT limitations for the AMD systems. Besides with higher multiplier, results are better than with overclock by bus. AMD Phenom II 955 BE is initially running at higher frequency for a quad core processor - 3.2GHz (200x16). In the past with Phenom II 940 BE, whis is actually identical, sans the disabled DDR3 controller, we had reached frequencies of about 3700-3800MHz on air, and that's why we expected about the same here too. And we were right. The absolute maximum at which the processor could pass the one hour OCCT stability test was at 205x18.5 with 1.525V. This was also the maximal amount of voltage we dared to supply since with it the CPU was measuring temperatures of 70 degrees centigrade. 4GHz are quite achievable with proper water cooling.

And speaking of CPU temperatures, without overclock with the above mentioned Noctua cooler, Phenom II 955 BE was holding a stable 50 degrees centigrade core temperature at 20 degrees room temperature. Considering how much better than the box cooler is the Noctua, we only fear the box will hold temperatures hider by 20 degrees at least.