interested in unleashing my cpu

[fitzpc]

Now I game a lot and would like to get the most out of my CPU in a stable fashion
Open to any ideas and suggestions.
Here's what I got.

AMD Athlon II X4 645 cpu
On a Msi 760gm-e51fx MOTHERBOARD (has one of.those east oc.switches. for 10-15-20% just don't know too much on the stability.

8gb vengeance ram 1600
Radeon 6770 overclocked to 960 mhz

Open to suggestions I'm power hungry

 

[RGone]

If I remember correctly it has only been a few weeks since someone else came in here with one of those mobos and they do not lend themselves well to overclocking from the bios at all. The best I think he wound up doing was to use the jumper overclock mode for what overclock he finally got.

You can take pictures of your bios in areas that may allow for voltage change and FSB change and maybe your board is different than his but other than that there may be little that we can say.

645 Cpu has no upward unlocked multiplier so you will have to speed it up by increasing the FSB or HT Reference and that will require some extra voltage to do much overclocking. If there is no setting to increase the cpu voltage or the CPU_NB voltage then you will not do much overclocking.
RGone...

 

[trents]

Does the bios have overclocking controls?

Using a digital camera, please take pictures of the bios sections that deal with overclocking. That would be the sections that allow you to change frequencies and voltages of the CPU and the Memory.

Post back with pics directly attached to your post, not linked to a webpage please. There is a built in forum tool to do this. After you save the pics to disc, click on Go Advanced at the bottom of any new post window. When the advanced post window appears, click on the little paperclip tool at the top. This will load the file browser/uplink tool and the rest will be obvious. You can attach up to three pics per post. If you need to add more pics, do so with additional posts.

Also, please give us more info about your hardware. What is the make and wattage of your PSU? What is the make and model of your CPU cooler or are you using the stock cooler that came boxed with the CPU? What is the make and model of your case and how many intake and how many exhaust fans does it have?

Please edit your profile and include some info about where you live. This really helps when it comes time to recommend upgrade parts or to understand temperature dynamics of the environment in which the PC is being used.

Welcome to OC forums!

 

[storm-chaser]

Now I game a lot and would like to get the most out of my CPU in a stable fashion
Open to any ideas and suggestions.
Here's what I got.

AMD Athlon II X4 645 cpu
On a Msi 760gm-e51fx MOTHERBOARD (has one of.those east oc.switches. for 10-15-20% just don't know too much on the stability.

8gb vengeance ram 1600
Radeon 6770 overclocked to 960 mhz

Open to suggestions I'm power hungry

That board is not so great when it comes to overclocking. I've used it and attempted overclocking a 965 BE with it. Just not on par with most quality boards. Runs hot as well, at least mine did. And I could only run 1600mhz @ cl7 with the FSB @ 240mhz. But maybe I just got a lemon. Good luck with your OC. My recommendation is to disable the easy OC switch and manually adjust settings in the bios.

 

[fitzpc]

So i took pics of bios and noticed that dram was only running at 1333 so i fixed that.

i have a corsair 500w psu
and the stock cooler no cuz i figured id wait to see what was suggested to me if needed

 

[dtrunk]

with the CPU under load...

open three copies of CPUz, change the tabs on two copies, one to Memory and the other to SPD, spread them out so all three can be seen, take a screen shot, post it here.

 

[trents]

Yeah, looks like you have all the basic overclocking controls.

Please put the dram frequency back to 1333 mhz. The issue in this case is not how fast your ram is rated for but what the CPU on-die memory controller (IMC)can handle and you will probably find the system will not quite be stable with the ram at 1600 mhz. The IMC is only rated for 1300 mhz on that CPU. It is the limiting factor. I have run that CPU family and can tell you it won't likely take the ram at 1600 mhz. Believe me even if you don't follow the reasoning. Now, it may do the ram at 1500 mhz okay but don't worry about that now.

You gave us no info yet about your case and case fan (ventilation). I asked for that back in post #3. Why does everyone ignore that?

 

[fitzpc]

sorry overlooked it i put my stuff in a thermaltake snow commander and installed 2 fans

 

[fitzpc]

and so far the system seems very stable at 1600 but ill go ahead and revert it

 

[dtrunk]

1600 might seem stable, but without CPUz data we have NO CLUE WHAT SO EVER!!!

what is your htlink
what is your nb freq
what is mem running at exactly, all timings; what is it rated for?
blah blah blah

hwmonitor is a nice tool too.

 

[trents]

fitzpc, now download and install these three programs that are standard overclocking helpers around here: CPU-z, HWMonitor, and Prime95.

 

[fitzpc]

heres cpu z

 

[fitzpc]

downloaded all tools already had all the -z tools

 

[idkfa]

Try using the Print Button, then open Paint or Photoshop or whatever and paste via CTRL + V. Or use the capture function of Irfan View (freeware). These photos are a bit hard to read

 

[fitzpc]

here ya go

 

[dtrunk]

your ram is in the wrong channels, it either should be right next to each other or one space between them. whichever it is now, swap it.

and i'll get back to you on oc advice. get hwmonitor going and run prime for a bit to see what temps/volts high and lows look like.

print out the image you uploaded as reference; then find the bios settings you have to set to MANUAL and select the right ratio/number to get the SAME (or as close as possible) numbers you currently have for (CPU tab) HT link and (mem tab) NB Freq. Good first step to get familiar with the settings in the bios.

 

[trents]

Much better. By the way, Snipping Tool in Windows Accessories is a great tool for cropping and saving images to disc. It also has a drawing tool that can be used to highlite stuff in the images.

Now, open HWMonitor on the desktop and leave it open while you run a 20 minute Prime95 blend test to stress the system and check for max temps. At the end of the stress test, capture an image of HWMonitor and attach it with a post. We need to check max CPU socket temps and core temps at stock frequencies and voltages before we overclock anything and drive temps up higher. We need to see if you have any headroom to overclock from a temp standpoint.

 

[fitzpc]

hmm i have right next to each other in the slots closest to the cpu?

 

[trents]

Usually, dual channel requires the sticks to be in same color slots, regardless of whether or not they are right next to each other. Anyway, however you have it you need to change it.

 

[fitzpc]

yeah thats exactly what i thought. so i reseated them one in each color and this is what it says now