Looking for advice on MSI 880GM-E43

[Miro87043]

I had looked into the Corsair H50 but it would require some modification to fit in my case or would need to be mounted on the outside. One of my biggest problems is that the case is in a TV stand and ventilation is limited. When I pull it out of the stand my temps drop about 5 degrees. Another problem is that I do very little CPU intensive tasks with this computer and I just can't stop fiddling with it and trying to get to go faster for really no reason.

I would go with a bigger case, but I was going with a somewhat compact desktop case to put in my TV stand.

I'm not sure what my next plan of action is. I may just see how far I can go while keeping my temp at <50 and voltage <1.5

On another note; what do you guys use to overclock your video cards? I've tried Overdrive in Catalyst but it only offers about a 7% increase. Is there better software or something I'm missing in my BIOS?

Thanks

 

[eitemiller]

Miro87043: Did you use MSI's overclocking software to accomplish what you did, or did you do it manually in the BIOS? I'm running the same chip, same board...did a few tests using the MSI software, and didnt get very far (3.2GHZ) without instability. Just curious...thanks for your response.

 

[Miro87043]

Miro87043: Did you use MSI's overclocking software to accomplish what you did, or did you do it manually in the BIOS? I'm running the same chip, same board...did a few tests using the MSI software, and didnt get very far (3.2GHZ) without instability. Just curious...thanks for your response.

All adjustments were made in BIOS. Initially I tried the overclocking software but it was never stable. I would guess that maybe your memory is holding you back. I was able to bump my fsb to 220 with no increase in voltage, dropping my ht link multiplier one notch, and it was stable at 3.3ghz. Maybe drop your memory multiplier and see if that helps.

 

[eitemiller]

All adjustments were made in BIOS. Initially I tried the overclocking software but it was never stable. I would guess that maybe your memory is holding you back. I was able to bump my fsb to 220 with no increase in voltage, dropping my ht link multiplier one notch, and it was stable at 3.3ghz. Maybe drop your memory multiplier and see if that helps.

Thanks for the tip. I removed the software (Overclocking Genie) after only being able to run a stable 3.4. I am really new at this...much of what you say makes little sense to me. I will spend this weekend studying this.

I am running 8 GIG DDR3 RAM, and I haven't touched the settings in bois on that. I do have a FRIO cooler, so I am not too worried about the heat. Also, I have a 650 watt PS.

I'll let you know what I come up with. It's kinda scary to start messing around in bios, hopefully I don't screw anything up. Again, thanks for your post...I think it is going to help me a lot since we are running the same chip on the same board.

 

[Miro87043]

Thanks for the tip. I removed the software (Overclocking Genie) after only being able to run a stable 3.4. I am really new at this...much of what you say makes little sense to me. I will spend this weekend studying this.

I am running 8 GIG DDR3 RAM, and I haven't touched the settings in bois on that. I do have a FRIO cooler, so I am not too worried about the heat. Also, I have a 650 watt PS.

I'll let you know what I come up with. It's kinda scary to start messing around in bios, hopefully I don't screw anything up. Again, thanks for your post...I think it is going to help me a lot since we are running the same chip on the same board.

Read over Dolk's Guide to the Phenom II, most of it applies to the Athlon II; Extremely informative!

This is by no means a guarantee, but when I was learning all the settings, I messed around a lot and found any unsafe setting wouldn't let me start the computer (It would protect itself or just wasn't stable at those settings). Worse case scenario I had to open the case and short the "cmos clear jumper" to reset the bios. I've also read that todays hardware a lot harder to damage than yesterdays. Also Newegg and Microcenter seem to take anything back!

Good luck and let me know how it goes!