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After some advice please! Wanting help with 1-2 machines.

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Time-Bandit

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
Hi all,

I am new to this forum as you can all tell so I would really appreciate some advice here on how to go about over clocking 1-2 or both of my machines.

Now since I am new I am unsure exactly what information I need to provide in my post.

Machine 1 (My own brought machine 6 years old)

RAM: 6GB of DDR2 RAM (2x2GB 2x1GB) (Waiting on delivery of another 2x2GB so I can replace my 2x1GB sticks) All current RAM is 800MHz aswell as the new stuff I am buying, current sticks are ADATA branded and the newer stuff is unbranded.

Motherboard: M2N68-VM Asus

2x Internal Hard Drives (one that came with the PC and a 1TB I added).

GPU - Only onboard no card.

CPU - AMD Athlon(tm) 64x2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ 2.60 GHz

OS - Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit - SP2

Power Supply is 240 or 300 volts (Will update once I have a look inside/find the papers for it).

Machine 2 (Part machine - Put together from leftover stuff from 3 other machines)

RAM: 4GB of DDR2 RAM (2x2GB) All current RAM is 800MHz aswell current sticks are ADATA branded.

Motherboard: Gigabyte

2x Internal Hard Drives (one that came with the PC and another from one of the other machiens).

GPU - Has a graphics card not sure which one will update when I get more info on this.

CPU - Intel one running at 3GHz again will update when I get onto that machine.

OS - Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit - SP2

Power Supply is 240 or 300 volts (Will update once I have a look inside).


First question is should I have a go at OCing both machines if possible or just stick to one?

Second question is how can I go about safely OCing my machine w/o causing any damage to it (even if I have to play it super safe since I can't afford to replace things).

My main interest would be to OC the CPU on both machines if possible and anything else that can be done with ease and cause no damage to my machines.

Please bare in mind I'm not in a position to get anything major for these machines just trying to up the juice in these things to make them as powerful as possible within reason.

If there is information I have missed please let me know so I can update or if there is a way to display all the information required easier via a screenshot etc please let me know.

Cheers,

Thanking you all in advance for any help given.
 
:welcome: to the forums TimeBandit. If I were you I would start with one system first. Read this thread several time and use it as a guide to get you started. We will be here to help of course I have several of these AM2 chips and they are fun to tinker with.

This should get you started.

Edit: This guide isn't for you're CPU's but I find it a little easier to follow and it's still very similar to the older AM2.
 
Motherboard: Gigabyte <<< well that will not get it. Model number is a must.

Also what IS doing the cooling of the cpu. Note: Air cooling is not enough information.

240 or 300 Volt power supply is not so good since have never heard of such.
In just about any situation, the actual model/part number is the best description along with the company name of course.
RGone...
 
As RGone said we're going to need more specific information on your parts cooling in particular is going to be important. Overclocking safely is staying within recommended voltage and temperature ranges for your particular CPU. This is where your CPU cooler comes in. Stock coolers offer very little overclocking room, typically they're just enough to run at stock. Start with the machine you're most familiar with and I would suggest getting familiar with your bios. You'll be spending some time in there and it can get a bit confusing when you first start out. Have a read through this guide and then compare the terms to those used in your bios since the wording can be a bit different at times.
 
Under section 2.4 in the Asus M2-N68 VM user manual there are some overclocking options. You can download the manual here: Under section 2.4 in the Asus M2-N68 VM user manual there are some overclocking options.

There is a program you can download called "CPU-z" that will report a lot of information about your system. Install that program and look under the motherboard tab. It will give you the model number of the Gigabyte board.

My other input at this point is that it's generally not a good idea to mix brands of RAM when overclocking. For machine #1 you state that's what you will be doing. You might want to stick to the original 6 gigs of Ram since they are a matched pair. 6 gb of RAM is sufficient to efficiently run most software and unless you are using memory intensive programs you will not be helped performance wise by adding more RAM.
 
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Thanks everyone for your replies really appreciate it have taken screens of everything as it sits in machine 1 (will focus on this one for now).

As for cooling I just have the standard stuff that comes with the PC nothing more does this mean I can't overclock safely if using the standard stuff?

Also I am wanting to up my RAM if I do so is a overclock on my machine not possible? (One lot of RAM is CL5 another CL6)

cpu_zps42b1e57a.jpg

cache_zpsa2426417.jpg

mainboard_zps9b8fb1b2.jpg

memory_zpsf57c7a74.jpg

spd1_zpsf2d93b5c.jpg

spd2_zps7392f29a.jpg

spd3_zps8957a363.jpg

spd4_zps4a625103.jpg

graphics_zps9d0f2814.jpg
 
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Yes to start I would remove the 1 Gig sticks. Getting mixed ram to run together can be a problem at times and this will just take that out of the equation. Using the stock cooler will limit your OC and the only way to find what headroom you have with temps at present is to do a test.
Now that you've removed those 2 sticks download Prime 95 and HWMonitor free version. Open HWMonitor on desktop and then run P95 blend torture test for about 20 minutes and take a screen shot to posty up here. Make sure you can see voltages and CPU/packag core temps in the shot. This will gives us some info that we need.
 
Under LOAD like this...

This is what we need to see for sure and a real good starting point.

Normally during setup and testing we disable C1/E, C6, Cool N Quiet, APC, TurboCore and in windows performance manager itself we set to "performance" mode. That way there are not "other" settings messing with the overclocking process. Some of those settings are not available on all models of cpu but where in evidence we disable for setup of overclock process.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com
attachment.php


Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com
attachment.php


SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com
attachment.php


And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU CORE TEMPS / "package" temps fully visible. Latest versions of HWMonitor show the CPU Core Temp as " a Package Temp" and is only shown as a single temp since there were never multple, individual core temp sensors anyway.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open and running on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.

attachment.php


In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.
 
Hi all,

Just wanting to know a couple of things firstly can I OC with the RAM in my machine as it they are two different types of RAM??

Also I want to know what the best CPU is I can get for my board here is a list of what works with my board http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2N68VM/HelpDesk_CPU/

I have looked at Phenom IIX6 1090T(HDT90ZFBK6DGR),3.2GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core however I don't see any of these new for sale at a decent price what would my next best bet be?

I am unsure if I should continue to look at the 6 cores available or just go with a quadcore as I would like to have 3ghz+ if possible and would like to try and OC above that.
 
If it were my stuff I'd look for a good used Phenom II 955BE, your board isn't going to run anything you can buy off the shelf at a store these days it's just too old. As for the memory you have one odd stick it looks like with different timings. You could likely make them all run together OK but only way to fid out is to try.
 
Phenom II X6 1055T or 1035T would be fine if you can find one for a decent price.

There are also the 1075T and 1045T, but they aren't listed on the compatibility list, so I'm not sure if those two would work in your board or not.

If none of those can be found, there is also the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. It is also a fine CPU.

Really, any of these should be a big jump in performance coming from your dual-core Athlon.

You may need to upgrade your power supply to a better one though if you're going to upgrading the CPU to something much more power-hungry than the stock one. The 240W or 300W PSU you have in there now might not be enough to power a newer, faster CPU.
 
My suggestion to you would be to go with an Athlon II X3 450 if you can find one. That would give you a noticeable performance increase with the extra core and a little higher clock but not draw an excessive amount of power. You want to be careful not to overload that board's voltage regulation module. They are also still available for a reasonable price used, here in the USA anyway, in ebay. Another good choice would be the Athlon II X4 600e/605e/610e with four cores. The "e" stands for energy efficient and so will draw less power. I don't know how available they are.

You may be able to get a slight overclock with that board, cooler and that mismatched memory with the CPUs I list above. I would stay away from the Phenoms and the Phenom IIs because they are more power hungry.

What area of the world do you live in Time-bandit?
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone I will have a look see what I can do when I get home will take a look on the net at CPU's again I am considering the 955BE just concerned about the power consumption is there a way to workout/know if I will need to update the power supply before getting it ? My aim was to look at 6 core however if this 4 core is just as good and I can actually multitask a ton of stuff on my PC without my PC freezing up and catching up then I would not mind im just trying to do things as cheap as possible but with as much power as I can get for my buck w/o having to get a whole new PC.
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone I will have a look see what I can do when I get home will take a look on the net at CPU's again I am considering the 955BE just concerned about the power consumption is there a way to workout/know if I will need to update the power supply before getting it ? My aim was to look at 6 core however if this 4 core is just as good and I can actually multitask a ton of stuff on my PC without my PC freezing up and catching up then I would not mind im just trying to do things as cheap as possible but with as much power as I can get for my buck w/o having to get a whole new PC.

Power Supply Calculator:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Looks like a lower end CPU upgrade (Athlon II X3/X4) would need a recommended wattage of 223W, higher end CPU upgrade would need (Phenom II X4/X6) 272W. Just based upon my calculations at that website using their tool, and guesses about what other hardware is in your PC (fans, optical drive, etc.).

I'd buy a 450-500W unit myself personally, just to leave some room for future expansion and to be sure that it will have enough power. You say this PC is 6 years old, so no doubt the power supply's performance has degraded and it can't put out it's rated wattage anymore, just because electronic components go bad over time, and it's likely had at least a few capacitors go bad by now.
 
Just had a look at my details my CPU is 45w and my power supply is a 400W ATX 2.0 PSU.

I am living in New Zealand sorry I didn't mention this earlier.

Is there some software that would tell me what the usage on my machine is out of the 400?? (sorry if this doesn't make sense I just hope you understand what I'm trying to ask)

If I should upgrade to 500w will this one work with my machine??

otherwise if someone could link me to a cheap (new one) from ebay that would work with my mobo I would greatly appreciate it, I am trying to hunt down a quadcore BE 955 at the moment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-PSU-12...omputing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item462351d8da
 
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No software will tell you what is being drawn by the cpu. CPUz claims to do so but no software can give actual current draw.
RGone...
 
Just had a look at my details my CPU is 45w and my power supply is a 400W ATX 2.0 PSU.

I am living in New Zealand sorry I didn't mention this earlier.

Is there some software that would tell me what the usage on my machine is out of the 400?? (sorry if this doesn't make sense I just hope you understand what I'm trying to ask)

If I should upgrade to 500w will this one work with my machine??

otherwise if someone could link me to a cheap (new one) from ebay that would work with my mobo I would greatly appreciate it, I am trying to hunt down a quadcore BE 955 at the moment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-PSU-12...omputing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item462351d8da

Where did you find this wattage at for your CPU?

I wouldn't recommend that one personally. It looks like a very low quality unit, and I wouldn't trust it to run any of my PC's or a friend's. The power supply is really not something you want to skimp on in terms of quality, and really low-priced units are generally not your friend, a cheaply-made power supply can kill your PC if it fails (catastrophically usually).

Do you use 110V or 220V in your country? Edit: google was helpful, 230V/240VAC.

Manufacturer's that make/sell good quality units:
Corsair (CX, VX, GS, TX, or AX/AXi series units are good)
PC Power & Cooling (I've had good luck with them.)
Seasonic (best of the best usually)
Superflower

There are others, these are just the big ones I can think of off the top of my head at the moment.
 
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Pretty sure the one I am currently using is 220v I think thats what it said when I did a google.

Since I am all new to this are there a couple you could recommend from ebay? (as the PC shops here badly overprice).

Forgot to ask is there some kind of compatability with the PSU I need to check out/match to my motherboard?
 
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Pretty sure the one I am currently using is 220v I think thats what it said when I did a google.

Since I am all new to this are there a couple you could recommend from ebay? (as the PC shops here badly overprice).

Forgot to ask is there some kind of compatability with the PSU I need to check out/match to my motherboard?

Don't know what your budget is for a PSU, but I can recommend a few.

Some good quality units I can see now:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CORSAIR-T...-/111436931133?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item19f228a03d-44.87£

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CORSAIR-C...-/111440452616?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item19f25e5c08-45.21£

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corsair-T...-/121411713095?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item1c44b3b847-45.8£

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CORSAIR-T...-/111441214951?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item19f269fde7-47.7£

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corsair-TX650-650W-/291222391841?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item43ce350c21-48.54£
 
Thanks for the quick response, I will take a look at these when I get home later today (work has ebay blocked).

Also I typed into google my CPU and I think it was on wiki (I think) saying 45w (this CPU is super dinosaur).
 
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