Looking for a start

[scotty20857]

I am looking for some people who can help me out as I try to overclock my new computer. I am very new to the computer world and I would like some support to make my first foray(sp?) into this field successful. :) What kind of cooling solutions would be good, at what point is water cooling a good idea as opposed to after market heatsink and good airflow/case modding. What kind of clock speed or fsb should i be trying to accomplish with stock cooling, ram timing suggestions...really anything that you can do to get me started would be greatly appreciated :santa2: Thanks to anyone that replies :clap:

[Terminat.]

Welcome to the overclocking world :)

Just overclock your cpu to the point where it is at a stable fsb (with no voltage increase.) Then go beyond that - running Prime95 every time to check it is stable, and then increasing the voltage until it is.

Monitor the temperature closely though: while AMD chips are very adaptive (no voltage on the bios will damage it,) excess temperature will destroy the chip. You can use the motherboard sensor, or I would advise getting something like this: http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=ALD-V02&other_title=+ALD-V02+Aerogate%20II

This will tell you the temps on the front of your case, and it will allow you to increase your fan speed to compensate. Furthermore, it beeps shrilly if the cpu temperature gets above optimal - meaning you can go downstairs or whatever while running Prime95.

If you reach the point where your computer suddenly won't boot, don't worry. This means you either need more voltage, or that your motherboard can't support the cpu any higher. Just look in your motherboard manual for the location of your CMOS jumper, and quickly change it around - your cpu goes back to stock settings and your pc works fine again! :)

So, if you find a fsb that your pc either isn't stable at, or doesn't boot at - increase the vcore. If this doesn't work, your cpu or motherboard is maxed out.

Expect no more than a 200Mhz increase on stock voltages. With increased vcore, you could go even further, and with watercooling, you could go MUCH further - there have been cases of nearly a gigahertz increase! :)

As for watercooling - this is useful at the point where high temperatures are holding your pc back. Even if you give it loads of vcore, you're not going to get a stable overclock with a cpu that's above 55C idle. Also bear in mind that more vcore = hotter cpu. If you want to overclock further, but your processor is too hot, water cooling might be for you.

Also, run 3dMark01 after an overclock, to see the performance difference. This is the best 3dMark to use for cpu overclocking, since it measures a combo of video and cpu performance.

Note: Those two programs I mentioned in bold are free downloads. Just google them!

Have fun :)

Edit: Are you going to overclock your video card as well, or not?

[scotty20857]

Thanks for the reply Terminat., I have an external fan bus/ temperature monitor but I was wondering if you could help me figure out where to put the cpu sensor. Do i have to remove the heatsink...if so i dont think i can do it because i dont have any thermal grease, as i used the thermal pad which came on the heatsink. I thiink i would like to overclock my video card because it is a 9800 pro and holding me back a little at least until i get my x800xt...any tips??

[scotty20857]

also could you tell me if changing the multiplier would be advantageous for any reason because my cpu is unlocked multiplier

[Terminat.]

Personally, I just put the cpu sensor in one of the bottom grills of the heatsink, but some here would advise you remove the heatsink. Either way, you're only looking at a 5C difference, meaning that you'll still know if it's overheating.

As for the multiplier - yes you should certainly change it if it's unlocked :) Higher FSB = Better Performance, meaning that you should lower the multiplier as much as possible, and increase the FSB to maximum.

E.g. If you discover your cpu has a max. speed (with increased vcore) of, say, 2.5Ghz, rather than have a FSB of 200Mhz and a multiplier of 12.5, you can have a FSB of 250Mhz and a multiplier of 10. It'll be the same overall clock speed, but it'll be a lot faster, since the processor will communicate with the motherboard and memory much faster.