Preliminary Overclocking

To be honest, I've barely even scratched the surface of Phenom II in regards to overclocking. I only have one sample and lack any adequate temperature reading software so I've been more or less flying blind. I figured 1.45vCPU was a nice maximum vCORE for 45nm but expect much better overclocks down the road. I did three overclocking tests, maximum HTT with a low multiplier and stock vCORE, maximum frequency with multiplier overclocking and high vCORE, and maximum frequency with HTT overclocking and high vCORE.

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I really was more displeased with myself than the actual processor in overclocking Phenom II. Even after spending hours playing with the processor, I found it very hard to break the 250HTT barrier. Afterward, I realized I was running the memory controller at 2.54GHz with "low" IMC volts which may have been a frequency bottleneck.

Sadly, I cannot comment on the temperatures I was hitting or what it takes to hit 4GHz, yet. Once this article is published, then I'll be a bit more liberal with voltages and really start bashing down clock barriers. I have plans on testing with air heatsinks, dry ice, a cascade, and liquid nitrogen, all the tools in an avid overclocker's arsenal.