SOLVED First Time Overclocker Needing Help. AMD Pro, Gigabyte Mobo.

[Proxish]

Hey Guys,

Right, straight off the bat let me thank you for reading this and trying to help. I have never overclocked before and I know nothing on the subject. I will be learning through tonight and the weekend.

I'm looking to overclock because my system is really weak.

So, here's the deal. My system specs are as follows:
AMD Athlon II X3 425 2700Mhz Triple Core with Quad Core architecture.
Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H Motherboard.
GeForce GTX 550Ti 1Gb Professionally Overclocked.
2 x 2GB DDR2 1066Mhz

I would like to alter the overclocking of my graphics card at some point, but I'm focusing on my processor right now.

A big thanks again for any help that can be given, and have a great day.

 

[RGone]

This overclocking guide is pretty much the standard for overclocking any AMD cpu with some terminology to get one's head around some of the terms. All overclocking is trial and error anyway so knowing what the bios items maybe called and what they relate to is good to know for any form of AMD overclocking.

Dolk's Guide to the Phenom II

 

[trents]

Proxish, welcome to OC Forums!

We would like some more information about your system:

PSU make and wattage

CPU cooler make and model (or is it the stock cooler that came boxed with the CPU?)

Case make and model. Number of intake fans and exhaust fans in the case and their sized (80mm? 92mm? 120mm?)

At some point we will ask you to create a "Sig" where your system info will reside and travel with every post you make. You have to have a certain number of posts to have access to that feature and you aren't there yet.

Also, could you add your approximate geographical location to your Profile, please?


Then in preparation for overclocking, please download and install these three programs:

CPU-z

HWMonitor

Prime95

 

[Proxish]

Thank you very much for the warm welcome!

PSU: Casecom Model ATX 500w

CPU Cooler (Only code on it I could find): Foxconn(N) 1A018E000

Case: I don't know, random case I found on Amazon... In hindsight I feel stupid, only liked it because it had blue lights lol.
80mm side fan, 120mm front fan (I think).
Other than that no others, but there is space at the back for one more.

I'll update my profile as much as possible now and download those apps now.

 

[trents]

Okay then, second best thing to do if you don't know the make and model of the case is to measure (outside measurement) the case across the top panel. How wide is it. The good CPU air coolers are tall and what we might suggest could depend on the limitations of the case dimensions. There needs to be sufficient clearance to the side panel to accommodate the cooler. Hopefully, it will be at least 191 mm across the small dimension.

 

[Proxish]

185mm wide.

Ideally I'm looking to overclock this without spending any money on new parts, as I want to buy a new one.

But I still want to overclock this one for the time being. I'm a student, half way through an animation course and I need as much power as I can get out of this Pc. That and I'm tired of lowering graphics settings lol.

 

[trents]

If you have downloaded those three programs, let's check temps at stock speeds and voltages to see if you have any overclocking headroom with that stock cooler.

So: Open HWMonitor on the desktop and leave it open. Also open Prime95 and run a 20 minute "blend" stress test. When that is done, post back with an attached pic of the HWMonitor interface.

To attach a pic, first crop and save the image to disc. Snipping Tool in Windows Accessories works great for this. Then click on Go Advanced at the bottom of any new post window. When the advanced post window loads, click on the paperclip tool at the top. That will load the file browser/uplink tool and the rest is obvious. This way we can have a look at your temps.

By the way, if either the core temps (may be called "package" temp in some versions of HWMonitor) exceeds 65c or the CPU socket temp (may be labeled as "CPUTIN" or "TMPIN2") exceeds 70c, stop the stress test and post back with a report.

 

[Proxish]

Ok, I'm slightly worried now...

I applied new thermal grease earlier when I put was checking the ran, I hadn't in about a year and the old stuff had basically burnt off...
So I'm confused and worried to say that I haven't started the blend stress test and one of the cores is coming up at 77c...

 

[Mandrake4565]

Tmpin2 isn't one of the cores, I believe on that board it's the North-bridge temperature. Proxish, I'm not sure if that is an accurate temperature reading. I believe that those boards have been known to have in-accurate NB temp readings. With that said for idle temps your Tmpin0 and 1 are a little warm. You are probably going to run into heat issues due to lack of airflow and Cpu cooling. Only stress testing at stock clocks will tell you how much head room you have. Also a little reality check, I'm putting up a pic of your motherboard. I highlighted the area that provides your cpu with voltage. That area gets hot even at stock clocks. When we demand more voltage via overclocking it gets even hotter. Your board doesn't have heatsinks on this area, which good overclocking motherboards do. This may cause issues for you but only trying to OC will tell.

 

[Proxish]

Ok, that's great, thanks for the info.
Is there a way to keep the north bridge cool? I don't mind paying to keep the temperature down if I must.
I'll run a blend now.

 

[trents]

On Gigabyte boards, TMPIN2 is the CPU socket temp, according to someone on the forum a couple or three moths ago who tested and researched this (BeepBeep2, I think). But it sure doesn't look to be the case on this board. I would say TMPIN1 is the socket temp.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Well figuring out if the NB is really that hot and what the temps should be under load are the first issue. Your north bridge on that board is under the heatsink that says Gigabyte Turbo 3d. The other area I highlighted you can purchase aftermarket heatsinks to put on that area if you choose. The biggest issue I think you are going to have is lack of case airflow and the cpu cooler you have. What I would do first and formost is clean the case and get all the wires under control. Use zip ties to make them tidy. Get all the dust out of it if it hasn't been cleaned. Then run prime95 when Hwmonitor is open for 20 minutes. I would also try running it with the case door off after you run it the 1st time to see if the temps drop. Post back with both pics and well go from there.

EDIT: @ Trents I would hope that it isn't the socket temp.

 

[Proxish]

Just wanted to give another quick thanks to both of you, I know it can be hell putting up with people like myself trying to grasp all of this.

Right, thanks for the info on the heat sinks, I'll most definitely be looking at a few later today.

I was actually wondering if taking the side of the case off would do any good, at least as a substitute until I place another fan and get better heat sinks.

I've finished running the first test and saved the results. I'm running the second one now with the side panel off. I should have the results on here within the next 25 minutes.

I can say right now, that if TMPIN2 really is reading accurately, which I now really doubt, it's been at 90c for over 20 minutes now.

TMPIN 1 has hit 64, averaged around 62 I think it was with the side panel on, is averaging 60c right now.

Cores haven't went above 48c, staying steady at 44c right now.

Also, I already cable tied all wires together a while ago, but I may redo this tomorrow when I'm back from college to see if I can work it in a more efficient way.
The case it relatively clean, a few small bits of dust. But I plan to order a compressed air canister unless you have a more efficient way of cleaning the inside parts.

 

[Proxish]

With the Side Panel on.

With the Side Panel off.

 

[trents]

You have about 5-10c headroom to play with on the overclock I think unless you get better cooling and better case air flow.

So if you want to try your hand at overclocking a little, the first thing would be to identify in bios where these controls are:

1. System bus frequency (maybe called "CPU frequency" or "Hyper Reference")
2. CPU core voltage
3. Memory frequency (maybe called something like "DIMM or DRAM Speed or Ratio".
4. HT Link Frequency or HT Link Speed
5. NB or CPU/NB Frequency or Speed
6. Cool N Quiet (Disable it)

Note: The main overclocking control may need to be taken off of Auto and set to Manual before some of the above controls are visible or accessible.

Actually, the best way to go about this is to have you take digital camera pics of the overclocking sections of your bios (frequency and voltage controls) and attach them with a post. That way we can help you spot them.

The first order of business would be to see how far you can overclock the CPU frequency without having to add any voltage and still be stable. Adding voltage drives up temps and you don't have much room in that area.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Proxish, we do this because we like to. What is tough for us is when we give people suggestions and or ask them to do something and they totally disregard it. You on the other hand are reading and listening to what we have to say which makes it a lot easier for us to teach you how to overclock correctly. Trents was holding my hand about a year and a half ago helping me learn. If you are really interested in learning how to correctly overclock you have come to the right place.

 

[Proxish]

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I wasn't notified of a reply on my desktop, only when turning on my laptop was I notified I had a reply.

How much would better cooling set me back? If I can cool this down enough, would I be right in thinking I can unlock a 4th core? If that's the case, that would give me the power boost necessary to hold off on buying a new until college after summer which would be fantastic.

I do indeed want to learn all I can in my spare time about overclocking, it is something I have wanted to learn for years, but have never gotten around to.

Right I'm about to add a list of images from my Bios menu. The resolution is quite high, I hope that's ok.

 

[trents]

There is no guarantee there is a viable fourth core to unlock. Besides, many applications don't make good use of more than two or three cores, i.e. they aren't well multi-threaded. It's worth a try, however.

Disable AMD K8 Cool N Quiet.

If you want to see if you have any viable cores to unlock before you overclock, Enable Advanced Clock Calibration. Save the changes and then reboot. Check for stability. If it boots into Windows, that's a good sign. If you can run apps without lockups, blue screens and spontaneous restarts - that's a better sign. If you can pass a 20 minute Prime95 blend run with none of those things going wrong and temps not becoming excessive, that's an even better sign that the core is viable.

 

[Proxish]

Righty ho, in the Advanced Clock Calibration and these are the options.

I thought you would want me to go with Automatic, but better safe than sorry

 

[Proxish]

Just saw how small they are coming through, here is a link to where I posted the URL's.
(Keeping some picture documentation for future reference)

http://proxish.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/clock-calibration/