I have a Phenom 9950. It has a stock multiplier of 13x. =2600Mhz

For a while now, I thought I had the multiplier set at 13.5 with the voltage set at "auto". Well I recently checked and both the multiplier and voltage were set at "auto" but that's besides the point.

Months ago, I ran my computer though the Windows performance test. With both the multiplier and voltage on Auto, my processor scored a 7.1 and my computer consistently drew 180-189w while downloading. (what it's run day in and day out for about 2 months solid.)

With the multiplier at 14x and the voltage on Auto, the computer would freeze/crash/shutdown when running the Win performance test. This I assumed because the stock voltage is 1.3 and I never upped the voltage.

Well recently I went in, changed the multiplier up to 13.5 and voltage to 1.325. My BIOS now says I'm running at 2700Mhz, my Win performance went from 7.1 to 7.2, yet my power consumption fell to 171-180w when downloading. (what it's run for about 48hrs now)



My next step is going through the Catalyst control center and seeing about shutting my 4870 down when not gaming or watching a movie. That should save a few watts right there.

Are you doing these changes from the bios or another overclocking program?

Definitely kind of odd. Have you watched the voltage since that first test to see if the drop has been consistent or just a fluke? I wish I could offer some useful input, but I sort of skipped over the Athlon2/Phenom era somehow. I'm good with K8 but anything newer from AMD I'm not to0 knowledgeable on. If it was a Nehalem chip I'd be all over this one. I'm the worst AMD fanboy ever.

Looneybomber wrote:My next step is going through the Catalyst control center and seeing about shutting my 4870 down when not gaming or watching a movie. That should save a few watts right there.

Check out RivaTuner, ATITool, or ATI Tray Tools. I believe all 3 support voltage control and even swappable profiles including voltage settings. Been a while since I've had an ATI card worth a damn (was way back in the days when the 9800 was king) so I'm not sure which is the best choice these days. I really need to get a 5000 series Radeon in my rig...

ScorchedNX2K wrote:Are you doing these changes from the bios or another overclocking program?

From the BIOS.

MinisterofDOOM wrote:Definitely kind of odd. Have you watched the voltage since that first test to see if the drop has been consistent or just a fluke?

Well I'm not sure what my CPU voltage was since it was set at "auto" and I didn't have ASUS's ProbeII installed until recently.

I've since bumped my voltage up to 1.35 with a 14x multiplier. Everything's good and my UPS indicates a solid 180w draw. Before it'd bounce between 171 and 180w (reads in 9w increments), and before that, with a stock multiplier and "auto" voltage it bounced between 180 and 189w. Odd indeed.

Now that I have ProbeII, which monitors voltage, the next time I restart my computer I'll change things back to stock/auto in the BIOS and see what the stock voltage is.

Finally restarted my computer and set everything to "auto". Well auto sets the voltage at 1.4, but what's odd is that it crashed with auto voltage (1.4v) and a 14x multiplier when doing the Win performance test. However, with a manual voltage of 1.375, it's perfectly stable...Hmm.