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Can anyone help me to overclock AMD Phenom IIX4 960T to 4Ghz. I am not able to find the right way for it. Mostly the videos that I had seen on youtube, shows this is not possible. The cpu gives a clear performance on 3Ghz which is quiet well. But just for testing purpose I want to know what is the maximum limit this cpu can reach. It is not possible to attain that so easily. Has anyone reached that level on any processor other than AMD. If yes then please tell me the exacts steps for the same.
The things which you are asking is complicated. It is not easy to make the cpu stable @ 4Ghz and the same not possible on low end cpu. One need a processor like Intel Core i7 for that and that too will keep the cpu on full risk. I use Intel Core i3 system. It is nice and better. I had reached maximum 3Ghz on it and the system works stable. I tried to gain more clock rate, but the system just crashed. So that is the limit. To ensure what speed your system can give you, run a test using prime95 or OCCT. This two software's will check your systems maximum performance and tell you the highest frequency.
This is the best way to test. What I will recommend you is not to trust on settings which are listed on forums and other website. Officially AMD never tells its user to overclock. Because it void the warranty and you can do nothing for replacement. For cpu like AMD Phenom IIX4 960T reaching 4Ghz is possible. If you had a good cooler in your system most probably liquid cooling, then it can help you a lot. Or just this is a waste of time.
Stability is something which matters the most. Your cpu might reach 4Ghz but there are less chances that till what time it works. It might crash instantly or after few time.
AMD Phenom IIX4 is a good processor. I think it can manage that much frequency. First what motherboard you are using. Is there a bios overclocking utility provided in the same. If yes then that will help you to overclock at much better rate. Because some board recently released by asus and msi has overclocking in bios. They not only provide you manual settings but also comes with default profile.
This profile help you to manage overclocking based on requirement. Some profile can overclock system on gaming needs while some can do the same on application usage. That would be quiet better and stable for you. Manual settings if done wrong can great major issue in your system.
I do not understand, why you guys need to overclock your cpu. The cpu that you mentioned is quiet high end and frequency @3Ghz is more than enough. What more you want to do.
I had tested my intel core i7 @4Ghz. It worked fine, but not for long time. The cpu temperature tool that I had installed showed, rising. After some hours the system shutdown automatically. That was because of my poor cooling stuff. I added air fans, while extreme overclocking only works on liquid coolers. It is not complicated to put a liquid cooler in your system case. You just need to buy the right kit. The performance simply doubled. I thought that it will hamper my cpu life, but no it is working fine. The system lies stable between 3.5 to 4Ghz. If you are playing game, then requirement of gpu is must. You cannot compromise in that. For optimum performance along with cpu the gpu plays a vital role. If you had a good graphics card then I think there is no need to overclock your system also. You cannot just burn your costly processor and thing of getting new. Remember that there is no warranty if a cpu is destroyed due to overclocking.
You are right mate. I lost my Core 2 Quad cpu in the same manner. I just tried to push the cpu above 4Ghz and the next hour system dead completely. Anyhow I would like to spend a nice amount to upgrade my system now.
I think until you had a good liquid cooling you can attain the frequency you want. The bios utility thing is right. You cannot just push the cpu to that frequency. Because I had seen in many bios when you raise the cpu frequency, it adjust the other stuff automatically. They are the voltage, fbs, etc. It is not possible for a average user to find out exact settings related to it. When you overclock your cpu needs more power and for that voltage tweak is used. Because the cpu by default run on factory settings.
By default AMD Phenom II X4 960T uses voltage between 0.825V - 1.4V, while for overclocking it should go above 1.46 or higher. But this is only done by overclocking utility which forces the cpu to use more power and work faster. If the utility is not reliable then it can make your system unstable. If you had not done overclocking before then simply stays with minimal settings. Do not play with overclocking.
Yes Overclocking is not for average users. Because it can be risky and the cpu frequency you want is not a easy cup of tea. Stay on safer side and use the default settings.
You can go with testing first. In the answer above you can find that someone has told you to use tools like OCCT or Prime95 for overclocking. This tools do not overclock but runs a virtual enviroment which is similar to overclocking. The report is thus generated in the end. If the system crash in mid of testing then assume that your system is not suitable for overclocking.