Phenom II X4 940 BE Temperature Analysis

Little Overclocking and you'll hit the Max Temperature allowed for Phenom II X4 940 BE which is 62°C. I hit that temperature when I overclocked to 3.6 GHz with 1.4 V. Cool'n'Quiet helps in decreasing the CPU temperature by 5-6°C. My current idle temperature is 39°C-45°C with Cool'n'Quiet enabled and full load temperature goes upto 55°C (with playing FarCry2). Here is the analysis (using Biostar TA790GX 128MB):

Figure 1 (Y-axis: Temperature in °C, X-axis: Time in Mins)

Figure 1 shows the temperature for 3 different cases:

• No Overclocking + Cool'N'Quiet enabled (Blue Line)
  
• OCed to 3.4GHz + Cool'N'Quiet disabled + stock voltage (Red Line)
  
• No Overclocking + Cool'N'Quiet disabled (Green Line)
  

Ran the test for one hour for each setting. The maximum temperature I hit was 55°C under full load and the lowest temperature was 39°C. My room temperature stays between 25-35°C so idle CPU temperature is not bad but its not good either. With stock CPU cooler I'll suggest to enable the cool n quiet feature. And if you want to overclock, don't exceed more than 3.4GHz, because that's the max you can go with the stock voltage. The Figure 2 shows the % of CPU usage in three conditions I mentioned above.

Figure 2

When OCed the CPU usage doesn't go more than 60%, but in case of Cool N Quiet enabled the CPU usage is around 90% most of the time.

Opening the case (CoolerMaster CM 690) from both the sides decreases the CPU temperature by 5°C and idle temperature hovers around 34°C-40°C (Figure 3). Will put more fans to improve the air flow, also will apply a new thermal paste some time soon. I am expecting an idle temperature around 30°C.

Figure 3

Here are a few screen shots of CPUID HWMonitor, CoreTemp64, CPU-Z:

Overclocking Phenom II 940BE with Biostar TA790GX 128MB

I tried the Automate OverClock given in the Bios but it didn’t work, kept getting the blue screens on Vista x64. Tried to get the info about manual overclock option on the Google with no luck. Therefore I explored all the options which were available in the Bios. Here is how to over clock Phenom II 940 by increasing the Multiplier: (Will show how to overclock upto 3.6Ghz)

Step0: Disable Cool N Quiet in the Bios



Step1: Go to your bios T-Series tab, select Manual OverClock option

Step2: Click on the CPU FID/UID Control and Enable the Custom P-States



Step3: Select a Core FID

Note: Select a multiplier which your system can handle, higher multiplier means higher frequency hence it requires higher voltage which means higher CPU temperature. You need a very good cooling system (Cabinet!) for keeping your CPU temp low at higher frequencies.

Step4: Select a suitable voltage according the frequency selected in Step3 by clicking on the Core VID on the same screen. For 3.6Ghz select a voltage 1.4000V or little high but not very high.

Note: Over Clocking reduces the CPU life because of high voltage and temp. So if you want your CPU to last long (5+ years) don't go for over clocking.