[a mad pigeon]

Hi all, I've found this site a while back and now I'm finally posting. I'm mostly a new at overclocking, but I got the basics down. I need some help with overclocking my CPU, an Athlon II x4 620. Its default multiplier is 13 and base clock is 200MHz, making it a 2.6GHz quad. I have a Gigabyte MicroATX with only one PCI-E slot, was using the integrated 785G Radeon HD4200. Also have a 400w Rosewill PSU. I had the base clock up to 250MHz putting it at 3.25GHz. It ran stable. When I installed a 9400GT, it appeared to run fine, until I ran CoD4 for under a minute. Almost instantly it would blue screen once ingame. My question is why does this happen? I think it's the underpowered PSU, some sites say they use up quite a bit of power upon using them. Or could it be the voltages? I don't really know about voltages, so I left it on auto. I think it's at 1.2 or 1.3v. Can anyone give me an insight as to why it is bluescreening? Thanks for any help.

[Archer0915]

Can you give full system specs? As to the PSU, you have plenty of power if the PSU is not bad. I would try lovering memory to 533, HT to 1000-1400, NB to 1000-1400 and CPU to 8 then max out theHT-Ref (base clock) to find it's maxx. After doing that put the CPU multi back to 13 and reset Ref to 200 leaving all other multi's alone. Raise the clock until you no boot or blue screen to find max cpu then bring up the rest slowly. Don't be afraid to raise v a little.

[a mad pigeon]

AMD Athlon II x4 Propus @ 3GHz (currently 230MHz clock)
4GB G.SKILL 1066MHz RAM
GeForce 9400 GT 1GB @ 550MHz
500GB Seagate Barracuda 5900RPM HDD
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Motherboard

So would it be OK to raise the voltage to 1.3v or 1.4v?

[ciku]

is this from ms/amd tour thingy? coz I got a different board...

[Kuroimaho]

1.3-1.4V should be fine but might not yield better clocks depends on the cpu you got.

[QuietIce]

to OCF!

Originally Posted by a mad pigeon

Hi all, I've found this site a while back and now I'm finally posting. I'm mostly a new at overclocking, but I got the basics down. I need some help with overclocking my CPU, an Athlon II x4 620. Its default multiplier is 13 and base clock is 200MHz, making it a 2.6GHz quad. I have a Gigabyte MicroATX with only one PCI-E slot, was using the integrated 785G Radeon HD4200. Also have a 400w Rosewill PSU. I had the base clock up to 250MHz putting it at 3.25GHz. It ran stable. When I installed a 9400GT, it appeared to run fine, until I ran CoD4 for under a minute. Almost instantly it would blue screen once ingame. My question is why does this happen? I think it's the underpowered PSU, some sites say they use up quite a bit of power upon using them. Or could it be the voltages? I don't really know about voltages, so I left it on auto. I think it's at 1.2 or 1.3v. Can anyone give me an insight as to why it is bluescreening? Thanks for any help.

Did you previously test the overclock under load? Prime95 or OCCT are both good programs to use to put your CPU "through the paces". It would also be helpful to know what the CPU temp is when P95/OCCT is running (load temp). CoreTemp is a good program for measuring that. If your core temp is 55°C or less under load then you're good.
Prime95
OCCT
CoreTemp


With mATX the heat from the video card and the heat from the CPU often start interfering with each other under heavy gaming use and that could be your problem. Go into CoreTemp and set it for data logging every 5 seconds then start up CoD4. If you get a BSOD that's OK, the temp log will still be there. Once you restart check the temp log to see what the CPU temp was when it blue-screened. If the CPU temp is still OK it could be your card over-heating from CPU heat ...

[karkas]

I would certainly be suspicious of the PSU. I'm sure 400w is OK to run your rig, but Rosewill PSUs are marginal quality depending on model. Kind of hit or miss. If it isn't producing clean power to the mobo it can cause stability issues under load.

Most likely culprit is heat/stability as previously mentioned, but it may be worth your while to try exchanging the PSU if recently purchased and returnable. If not you could try borrowing one from a friend or Brick and Mortar just to see if the PSU is responsible.

Start with examining the heat issue. Then try dialing back the OC a bit. Then try swapping out another PSU.

Here is a nice guide http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=458204.

GL

[trents]

I would also be suspicious of the psu. I say this because: 1. It's wattage rating is small, 2. you started having problems when you added another hardware device, i.e. the video card. And as someone else pointed out, you need to test your overclocks with Prime95, OCCT or one of the other freeware stress testing programs before you assume you have a stable OC and start running applications.

[Malakai]

Set the Memory divider down, the HT multiplier down, and the CPU_NB multipliers down, then test the top speed of the cpu/fsb out. Once you find a comfortable level for the cpu (the cpu itself should def be able to do 3.3ghz either @default vcore, or with a slight bump). My guess is that either your CPU_NB speed, memory speed, or HT speed is too high and its causing errors. Run CpuZ and check your HT speed (bottom of main screen) or CPU_NB speed (on the memory tab, top right).

Good luck. Id test your cpu @3.3ghz, just lower the other multis. Keep your CPU_NB and HT speeds at or really close to 2ghz, its a good speed and very very unlikely to cause any errors @2ghz.