First of all let me say, "Thank you".
Thank you for reading this post, which Im sure will be quite longer than most would like to bear. However Ive read in the stickies that good posts tend to be long, and I certainly hope this post aplies too.
Im from Argentina and English is not my first language so please understand if I have some mistakes or lack of polish.
Just as a loose bit of data, it can be pretty hard and expensive to build a half decent gaming rig here in Argentina, with all the economical problems, priorities, rent, food and a whole other bunch of stuff.
Yet, after putting up with my old PC for over 8 years (ive had it since
2001) and saving a LOT (2 years, give or take), I managed to buy (at least what I think to be) a nice gaming/photo editing PC.
Now, patient and (kind of) perfectionist as I am I want to get the most
of this PC whithout burning it to ashes.
As my overclocking skills are almost non-existent I looked for a nice
community to lend a helping hand.
================================
Before continuing I just want to say that Ive read the tutorial/stickies
from felinusz, and while I can grasp the basic meaning of *most* of it,
the more thecnical parts still elude me...badly.
I wanted to clarify this so as not to be branded as another post-and-run
criminal.
================================
I dont really want to get the absolute maximum of performance out of the
system (as that would shorten the components life span and sadly I dont
know when will I be able to change/upgrade it. (Please correct me if im
Wrong.) I just want to get a nice, decent overclock, have a fast, responsive system, improve start up/shut down time, manage the best possible FPS on games and attain stability. Without frying anything in the process.
Im not looking for a complete "idiot proff" step by step guide as I know
that would probabbly take time to write and not everyone has that much
time. Though if one was provided I wouldnt complain and I would be very
grateful =P.
What Id like is a general guide on how to make sure every component is
running at a decent overclock and is as stable as it can be.
Now, I could look at a (literally speaking) general guide on overclocking, of which there are dozens if not thousands online. But what I really need to know are the parameters/settings/guidelines for my components.
For example, Ive managed to take the CPU from its stock 2.4 ghz to 3.24
whitout much effort. After all, its just changing a simple number,
resetting, making sure all is stable and thats it. Right?
From what ive read its not exactly like that, there are some details and
fine adjustments that I still dont understand. Also there are some
quirks that happen now and then whose origin I cant quite trace back.
For example:
I hot-keyed the calculator to "CTRL+ALT+C" and I just tried to open it,
and it did open, 20 seconds AFTER the imput of the command, and 10
seconds after that it finally showed on the task bar. Also during that
whole time I couldnt click the "Start" button, my pointer would just
transform into that "up-down" arrow for adjustment. Im kind of puzzled
as I at least expect my system to be able to open the calculator
instantly, not in 27 seconds. BUT, a minute after that I try to open the
calculator again and it opens instantly, you got me there PC...
This is just one example, but ive experienced lesser slow downs on other
tasks as well, such as a folder taking 1 full second (sometimes 2) to open.
Another example:
When OCing the CPU (Q6600 SLACR) I easily got it to 3.24 just by setting
it to 360 x 9. Then, reading a guide on how to overclock this same
proccessor, not a general one, I saw that the user got his one to this
same frequency by means of a 463 x 7. So naturally I think "hey, this
guys has a nice long guide on overclocking this CPU, he must know what
hes doing, so I try to set mine to his same settings, and the system
wouldnt boot. Im using the 360 x 9 setting so far.
Anyway, I think that ive explained myself (if not just let me know and Ill try to be clearer.)
Ill just list my specs and tell you guys what Ive done OC wise.
CPU: Q6600 G0 SLACR
MOBO: Asus Rampage Formula
VGA: XFX 260 Black Edition
RAM: Corsair Dominator 2x2 GB 1066 PC2-8500 C5
PSU: Cooler Master Real Power PRO 750
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (with fixed firmware)
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra Extreme + Thermaltake thunderblade 120mm
CASE(no idea why, but what the hell): Cooler Master HAF 932
The only things ive touched are the multipliers and frecuency for the
CPU and Ive set it to 360 x 9. And the settings of the RAM as ive read
on the corsair forums that in order to assure stability I had to
manually set it.
So ive set it to its 5-5-5-15 timings and 2.10 voltage. And left the
frecuency on auto. But I found I had stability problems (system crash
every hour or so). So I went to BIOS with hopes of setting the frecuency
manually to its rated 1066 and I find that instead of choosing gradually
I just have a list of settings. So, as not to screw up I just seted it
to the one on the middle of the list ( DDR2 - 959mhz) and hoped for the
best. After that I had no more stability problems, but I dont really
know the "why?" of what I just did, thats the main point of this thread, Id like to know, if only basically, the whys of the behaviour of my system.
I also should point out that I dont really want to OC the card as it is factory overclocked. The only thing ive done to it was raise the fan speed to 60%, from the stock 40% as after a few hours of gaming on Crysis the system would crash. I never go to read the BSOD error so it might not have anything to do with the card and that fan speed rise may be unnecessary.
Oh, by the way, the whole list of frecuencies on the list are: 721 / 865
/903 / 959 / 1083 / 1152 / 1201 / 1443.
I sicerely hope ive covered all that needs to be covered, Im eagerly
awaiting for your responses.
And again, thanks for reading.
Thank you for reading this post, which Im sure will be quite longer than most would like to bear. However Ive read in the stickies that good posts tend to be long, and I certainly hope this post aplies too.
Im from Argentina and English is not my first language so please understand if I have some mistakes or lack of polish.
Just as a loose bit of data, it can be pretty hard and expensive to build a half decent gaming rig here in Argentina, with all the economical problems, priorities, rent, food and a whole other bunch of stuff.
Yet, after putting up with my old PC for over 8 years (ive had it since
2001) and saving a LOT (2 years, give or take), I managed to buy (at least what I think to be) a nice gaming/photo editing PC.
Now, patient and (kind of) perfectionist as I am I want to get the most
of this PC whithout burning it to ashes.
As my overclocking skills are almost non-existent I looked for a nice
community to lend a helping hand.
================================
Before continuing I just want to say that Ive read the tutorial/stickies
from felinusz, and while I can grasp the basic meaning of *most* of it,
the more thecnical parts still elude me...badly.
I wanted to clarify this so as not to be branded as another post-and-run
criminal.
================================
I dont really want to get the absolute maximum of performance out of the
system (as that would shorten the components life span and sadly I dont
know when will I be able to change/upgrade it. (Please correct me if im
Wrong.) I just want to get a nice, decent overclock, have a fast, responsive system, improve start up/shut down time, manage the best possible FPS on games and attain stability. Without frying anything in the process.
Im not looking for a complete "idiot proff" step by step guide as I know
that would probabbly take time to write and not everyone has that much
time. Though if one was provided I wouldnt complain and I would be very
grateful =P.
What Id like is a general guide on how to make sure every component is
running at a decent overclock and is as stable as it can be.
Now, I could look at a (literally speaking) general guide on overclocking, of which there are dozens if not thousands online. But what I really need to know are the parameters/settings/guidelines for my components.
For example, Ive managed to take the CPU from its stock 2.4 ghz to 3.24
whitout much effort. After all, its just changing a simple number,
resetting, making sure all is stable and thats it. Right?
From what ive read its not exactly like that, there are some details and
fine adjustments that I still dont understand. Also there are some
quirks that happen now and then whose origin I cant quite trace back.
For example:
I hot-keyed the calculator to "CTRL+ALT+C" and I just tried to open it,
and it did open, 20 seconds AFTER the imput of the command, and 10
seconds after that it finally showed on the task bar. Also during that
whole time I couldnt click the "Start" button, my pointer would just
transform into that "up-down" arrow for adjustment. Im kind of puzzled
as I at least expect my system to be able to open the calculator
instantly, not in 27 seconds. BUT, a minute after that I try to open the
calculator again and it opens instantly, you got me there PC...
This is just one example, but ive experienced lesser slow downs on other
tasks as well, such as a folder taking 1 full second (sometimes 2) to open.
Another example:
When OCing the CPU (Q6600 SLACR) I easily got it to 3.24 just by setting
it to 360 x 9. Then, reading a guide on how to overclock this same
proccessor, not a general one, I saw that the user got his one to this
same frequency by means of a 463 x 7. So naturally I think "hey, this
guys has a nice long guide on overclocking this CPU, he must know what
hes doing, so I try to set mine to his same settings, and the system
wouldnt boot. Im using the 360 x 9 setting so far.
Anyway, I think that ive explained myself (if not just let me know and Ill try to be clearer.)
Ill just list my specs and tell you guys what Ive done OC wise.
CPU: Q6600 G0 SLACR
MOBO: Asus Rampage Formula
VGA: XFX 260 Black Edition
RAM: Corsair Dominator 2x2 GB 1066 PC2-8500 C5
PSU: Cooler Master Real Power PRO 750
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (with fixed firmware)
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra Extreme + Thermaltake thunderblade 120mm
CASE(no idea why, but what the hell): Cooler Master HAF 932
The only things ive touched are the multipliers and frecuency for the
CPU and Ive set it to 360 x 9. And the settings of the RAM as ive read
on the corsair forums that in order to assure stability I had to
manually set it.
So ive set it to its 5-5-5-15 timings and 2.10 voltage. And left the
frecuency on auto. But I found I had stability problems (system crash
every hour or so). So I went to BIOS with hopes of setting the frecuency
manually to its rated 1066 and I find that instead of choosing gradually
I just have a list of settings. So, as not to screw up I just seted it
to the one on the middle of the list ( DDR2 - 959mhz) and hoped for the
best. After that I had no more stability problems, but I dont really
know the "why?" of what I just did, thats the main point of this thread, Id like to know, if only basically, the whys of the behaviour of my system.
I also should point out that I dont really want to OC the card as it is factory overclocked. The only thing ive done to it was raise the fan speed to 60%, from the stock 40% as after a few hours of gaming on Crysis the system would crash. I never go to read the BSOD error so it might not have anything to do with the card and that fan speed rise may be unnecessary.
Oh, by the way, the whole list of frecuencies on the list are: 721 / 865
/903 / 959 / 1083 / 1152 / 1201 / 1443.
I sicerely hope ive covered all that needs to be covered, Im eagerly
awaiting for your responses.
And again, thanks for reading.
