help with first time overclocking

[ar129]

Hey guys,

I tried using AMD OverDrive to overclock my cpu, but it didn't do anything when I restarted my computer.

Then I tried overclocking in my bios settings moving the CPU frequency to 220 and my system didn't boot properly reverting back to 200.

So I'm not sure how to do this. Also I don't really know the true capabilities of my motherboard, so some ideas would be great. I built this rig in September 2010 and it still has kick, but I feel it's not giving me it's best.

I have a stock fan and when gaming at 1080p on max settings for games like APB reloaded my cpu's temperature doesn't go above 48C.

Some help on overclocking would be great. I'm attaching the tabs for CPU-Z and Speccy summary.

 

[trents]

First, disable Cool N Quiet and C1E in bios, then go into Wndows Control Panel Power Options and configure it to High Performance. That will turn off the "green", power-saving, downthrottling technology that creates instability at higher overclocks and masks your true bios settings when your are looking at them in CPU-z or other Windows reporting hardware.

The big things overclocker noobs typically neglect is the neeed to:

1. Increase the CPU core voltage (what we call "vcore") to support the faster speed of your overclocked processor.
2. Lower the HT Link frequency and the starting ram frequency to make some "headroom" for these components in the overclocking process. Looks like you may have already done this for the ram. Those two frequecies are tied to or tuned to the CPU frequency but cannot handle overclock like the CPU can. But for now:

Disable those things in bios I suggested and then report back with new pics of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory, and SPD.

 

[ar129]

Alright I just disabled those settings in BIOS and my power scheme is now set to high performance.

Here's a screenshot.

 

[trents]

Now, compare the core voltage and the core speed shown in CPU-z tab "CPU" in the new pics with what they showed in the old pics. See the difference? Now we know what are the true bios settings for these two parameters. Before they were altered (at least at idle speeds) by the powersaving stuff. We coldn't tell where you really were with these things.

Now, go into bios nad locate the controls for the HT Link frequency, the CPUNB frequency(or just "NB" maybe) and the DRAM or Memory frequency. The HT Link frequency and CPUNB frequency controls are typically expressed as multipliers with 10x being stock. They may be expressed as actual frequncies, however, with 2000 being stock.

Also locate the control for the CPU core voltage. Sorry I can't give you exact terminololgy for your bios for some of these things unless you take a digital camera pic of the relevant overclocking sections of your bios and attach it with your next post.

Also realize that many overclocking controls are hidden or unavailable when their section headers are on "Auto" so start taking things off of Auto and put them on Manual if you can't find them or access them.

Post back when you're ready for more.

 

[ar129]

I just took these pictures. The cpu is pretty hot because I just stopped playing a game.

Here are the pics of my bios:







In Speccy it's saying my SSD is running at SATA2 3.0gbps, but I checked online and my Samsung SSD 830 is a SATA3 6.0gbps device. I don't know if there would be much of a speed difference though since everything is already zippier.

 

[trents]

1. CPU Host Clock Control = CPU Frequncy, aka: FSB (Front Side Bus) and HT Reference. We commonly refer to it in overclocking circles as "fsb". Take this off of Auto and enter numerical frequency values to overclock the cores of the CPU. You have already been doing this I think. This is the main performance, overclock booster.
2. CPU Northbridge Frequency or just "CPUNB" and referred to in the CPU-z interface as just "NB". This component is part of the IMC (integrated memory controller, i.e., integrated in the sense of built into the processor die). Take this off of Auto and set it to 9x or 1800 mhz to start with. It will overclock some and this improves memory performance. We are starting it a little below stock at 9x instead of 10x. By the end of the overclock process we want that one to be at 2400-2600 mhz. Don't worry about that at the outset. Take it off of Auto and manually set it to 9x or 1800 mhz to start with.
3. HT Link Frequency is a bridge between the CPU cores and the "external" buses of the motherboard like the PCI-e lanes, audio and Lan. It doesn't like to be overclocked very much at all so we start it lower than stock to provide some headroom in the overclock process because it speeds up as the CPU frequency increases. By the end of the overclock process you want to have this one no higher than the stock 2000 mhz or maybe a tad more. To start with, take it off of Auto and set it to 8x or 1600 mhz. Like the CPUNB frequency it will grow during the overclock process.
4. Memory Clock - this establishes what the starting frequency of the memory is. According to CPU-z your memory is rated for 1333 mhz on 1.5 volts. The default Auto assigned frequency is 1066. Leave it there for now as it will grow with the CPU frequency and we wil want to monitor that to keep it at close to 1333 mhz by the end of the overclock.
5. System Voltage Control - take it off of Auto and but at this point in time don't change any of the individual voltages except #6 below.
6. DRAM Voltage Control - Manually set it to 1.525 or if you can only go up by .05 increments just leave it on 1.5. Some times a tad extra DRAM volttage helps stabilize an overclock.

After making these changes, pleas post back with pics of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD so we can check the changes.

 

[trents]

Also, if you have not done so, pleas download and install HWMonitor and Prime95.

 

[ar129]

I told my friend that I was trying to overclock my CPU last night. He told me he switched over to Intel and has no use for his NIB Phenom II X6 1045T. I bought it off him ($30) this morning and just plugged it in right now. I didn't know it was 2.7GHz, but at six cores that's great. How far can I push this thing with the stock fan. Attached are CPU-Z pics.

 

[RGone]

Slot 1: 2048 MBytes -- PC3-10700H (667MHz) -- OCZ3G1333LV2G
Slot 2: 2048 MBytes -- PC3-10700H (667MHz) -- OCZ3G1333LV2G

Running mis-matched ram by brand and sizes is asking for problems overclocking any cpu. Probably real trouble to try and overclock a lesser 1045T processor without the upward unlocked multipliers. I certainly would remove that smaller Ocz stuff and put the Gskil in the correct slots for dual channel operation as shown in your mobo manual.

 

[trents]

8 gb of ram is more than enough to run allmost any software app efficiently. Unless you are doing Photoshop, AV rendering or CAD for a living you don't need more than 8 gb of ram and by having so much ram installed you are probably limiting your overclock and therefore easily negating any potential gain from using 12gb of ram. Plus, as RGone pointed out, it's not a good idea, generally to mix brands of ram when you are overclocking as it creates another potential cause of instability.

 

[trents]

That motherboard doesn't have any heat sinks on the mosfets and that 6 core CPU will suck a lot of juice. Be careful. You really won't be able to overclock it unless you get an aftermarket CPU cooler.

The Regor X2 would overclock significantly with even the stock heatsink probably and would probably be better to learn on.