new to overclocking

[mrmoley]

Hi guys i have a amd 960t and i want to see how i can overclock it easy.

down to the specs i have MSI 870a fuzion motherboard with 12gb of ddr3 mushkin silverline ram and 750 ocz fatal1ty psu with a coolit eco water cooling cpu cooler. I have tried opening the 6 cores but i get weird pop ups on my screen so i went back to quad.Then i tried the oc genie lite on my mother and it went up from a 3ghz to a now 3.44ghz. So just wondering if any one has got higher and if so can you give me a easy and safe guide to overclock please.

The clock speeds i have got now are very stable been useing this set up for 6 months and i have not had any heat issues or problems just want to push it little bit more

many thanks

 

[RGone]

When we talk about overclocking in this forum section we always use the bios and not even software in bios to to the overclock. So as below.

Not just a single fish but Fishing Lessons by "trents".
With those CPUs you would need to be concerned with these things when overclocking:

The first thing would be to download the overcclocking software tools: CPU-z, HWMonitor and Prime95.

The next thing to do would be to check core and CPU temps at stock frequencies and voltages to get an idea of how much overclocking headroom you have from a temperature standpoint, which is the main limiting factor.

To check those stock condition temps: Open HWMonitor on your desktop and adjust the slider and frame so you can see the core temps section and the voltage section. Leave it open while you run the Prime95 blend test for 20 minutes. When that is done, attach a pic of the HWMonitor interface with your next post. To attach a pic, first crop and save the image to disc using Snipping Tool in Windows Accessories. Then click on the Go Advanced button at the bottom of any new post window. When the Advanced Post window appears, click on the little paperclip icon which will load the file browser and upload tool. The rest is obvious.

Next you need to be able to:

1. In bios, first disable: Cool N Quiet, Turbo, C1E and C6.
2. In Windows Control Panel Power Options configure it to High Performance.

These first two measures should disable all the "green" power saving stuff that cause erratic frequencies and voltages.

Then In bios, you will need to be able to manipulate:
1. CPU core voltage
2. CPU multiplier
3. CPUNB voltage
4. CPUNB frequency (may be expressed as a multiplier)
5. And perhaps, memory voltage

If you can locate those controls in bios you will be off to a good start and we can advise more specifically with regard to their adjustment. The terminology you encounter in the particular bios you are working on may vary somewhat from what I have used so be aware of that.

 

[mrmoley]

thanks dude i will post all my temps and pics tomoz

 

[mrmoley]

Hi there again i ran prime64 for 20mins and these the temps i got.

 

[RGone]

See that first post where there are three screen captures of CPUz. CPU tab. Memory tab. SPD tab. We need to see those as well so we can have idea of the speeds and ram settings.

Are we to assume that the HWMonitor was open and logging min/max temps and voltages?

Have you also turned off all those green settings as 'trents' suggests? Have you disabled those overclocking 'genies' so that we are and will be overclocking from the bios adjustments and not some 'genie' setting? Onward.

 

[mrmoley]

sorry for the late reply due to work. All greens turned off plus the cool and quiet,turbo,c1e,c6 plus theres all the overclock functions we need in bios plus oc genie has been turned off. In the pics below shows the temps and voltages with prime95 running for 20mins with NO oc genie so my cpu is at a normal 3ghz. I also added the extra tab pics you need.

 

[trents]

Temps look good.

Bump your CPUNB voltage up to 1.225 and your memory voltage from 1.5 to 1.525 or 1.55.

Now just start increasing your CPU multiplier by .5x.

After each increase run a 20 minute Prime95 blend test to check for stability.

Always have HWMonitor open on the desktop to monitor core temps. Max stable core temp is typically 55-58c, somewhere in there.

When you first fail the 20 minute Prime blend test, increase your CPU core voltage by .025 and retest. If you still fail, add another .025 vcore. Then retest, repeating the pattern outlined. Stop adding vcore when your reach 1.5 or core temps exceed the parameters mentioned above.

Failing the Prime test can mean blue screen, spontaneous restart, lockup or one of the Prime core workers dropping out. Post back after you have added two increments of vcore or hit the mid 50's core temp wall. When you post, attach pics of HWMonitor from your last Prime95 blend run and give us a report.

 

[trents]

Please put your system info in your "Sig" so it travels with every post you make at the bottom. Important as the threads get long so people can see what stuff you have at a glance. To create a Sig, just click on Quick Links at the top of the page and Edit Signature. Use mine or RGone's as a pattern if you like.