Overclocking AMD 1090t CPU

[Shadeypwns]

Hey guys, I'm brand new to these forums! I've browsed through a few other threads on overclocking, and I've done very mild overclocks myself in the past, but never gotten personalized advice. Since OCs seem to depend a lot on all of your hardware, not just the CPU, I figured I'd list everything and see what you guys could come up with for me as far as tips go. I use my computer to do streaming, play games, and render/edit videos, so I'm looking to make everything run as quickly as possible. My main questions are:

1) How high should I overclock my 1090t, using what options, and what software?

2) Should I overclock my graphics card, using what options, and what software?

3) Is my RAM decent, or is it holding me back?

4) Is there any software I can use to make windows faster? Tuneup Utilities seems to be popular, but has **** reviews.

5) Should my harddrives be partitioned, will that help load times in games, or render times in videos, or boot times for windows in general? Should I be placing certain types of files in certain places?

6) Instead of running this desktop with 2 monitors, should I use a secondary desktop to run the second monitor?

- SYSTEM SPECS -

OS - Windows 7 Ultimate 64x
PSU - Thermaltake Black Widow 850w Modular
CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090t - 3.2Ghz (36C idle - 50C load) (http://bit.ly/a2B5tg)
CPU Cooler - Similar to CoolerMaster Hyper 212 but older. Had it for years, no box.
RAM - 8GB Dual-Channel DDr3 @698Mhz (9-9-9-24)
RAM Sticks - http://bit.ly/5U6uRy
RAM Sticks 2 - http://bit.ly/4KIQSF
Motherboard - MSI 890FXA-GD70 (MS-7640) (http://bit.ly/cuOuZp)
HDD - Western Digital WDC WD10EAVS-00D7B1 (No partitions)
HDD 2 - Western Digital WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 (No partitions)
GFX Card - AMD Radeon 6950 HD (factory clocks) (http://bit.ly/gospO4)
Monitors - 2 screens (1080p and 1280x1024)

Thank you very much to anyone who can help me!

 

[RGone]

All offsite linked images are 404 not found. Attach images to the forum using the forum attach options.
RGone...

 

[Shadeypwns]

All offsite linked images are 404 not found. Attach images to the forum using the forum attach options.
RGone...

They're not images, just URLs to the newegg purchase pages with all the specific stats to make it easier on people who didn't know what hardware I was using. Thank you for the help/advice!

Edit: Links work now.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Shadeypwns, Welcome to the forum. If you are planning on overclocking running two different sets of ram may cause issues, I would suggest removing the slower set and just use 4g. Read this guide and get familiar with your BIOS. We do not recommend using windows based programs to overclock.
Download the following programs, Cpu-z, (non-pro)Hwmonitor and Prime95. Then open Hwmonitor and run prime for 20 minutes. When you are done, post a pic of Hwmonitor so we can see your cpu-v core and all of the temps, as well as the following tabs in Cpu-z, Cpu, spd and memory. Use the in forum attachment tool to upload the photos, here's how.

 

[Shadeypwns]

My CPU climbed to 58C after 2 or 3 minutes of testing, it was still climbing and I shut it off. No reason to fry my CPU when it's clear my heat management isn't working. I'm not sure how this can be with a massive chunk of metal for a heatsink sitting on top of my cpu. The CPU Fan is running at around 2700 rpm's pretty steadily.

I removed the 1600mhz RAM and left the 1333mhz in. I wasn't sure which would be best since the 1600mhz RAM had slower timings than the 1333mhz.
1333 - 8-8-8-21
1600 - 9-9-9-24

I'll attach the images as well.

On another note, my mobo drivers are at 1.7, and the latest are 1.15. Is it worth flashing it since I'm so far behind, or should I not even try?

Lastly, my Radeon 6950 is idling at 56C and is at 79C under load. It seems like everything in my case is running far hotter than I would like.

Imgur album of all 4 requested images -

https://imgur.com/NRAvNEH

 

[Mandrake4565]

What case do you have, what are your ambient temperatures and when was the last time the pc was cleaned?

What temps went to 58c? Shadey, it helps us help you when we are all on the same page. That is the reason why we suggest certain programs and certain methods as procedure for overclocking. We can better help sort things out for you if we knew what temperatures you are talking about. This is why I said in my last post,

open Hwmonitor and run prime for 20 minutes. When you are done, post a pic of Hwmonitor so we can see your cpu-v core and all of the temps, as well as the following tabs in Cpu-z, Cpu, spd and memory.

We also ask members to use the in forum attachment tool so links to pictures do not become dead links over time.

Even though you didn't complete a 20 minute run of Prime a full pic of hwmonitor would be helpful because we can see your temps as well as your Voltage under load.

I would leave your motherboard drivers alone for now and your Gpu temps are probably related to my 1st question in this post.

 

[Johan45]

Mandrake is right on with that one.(case) I checked your image and it's saying that your core temp peaked at 59° that's as high as you want to go until you do something to improve your cooling situation you can't OC any higher.
I suggest you put up a signature like Mandrake and I have at the bottom of our posts. You'll notice at the top of the page the Quick Links.

Your case info and cooling solution info is important right now. Have to get your core temp down if we're going to OC

 

[Shadeypwns]

My case is the coolermaster elite 330 - http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=30

My CPU cooler is some sort of Coolermaster tower heatsink with a fan clipped directly to the side of it. It looks very similar to this product, not 100% sure if it's exactly what I have, but all the features tower/fan/rods are the same - http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6631

Adding the images to this post that I uploaded to imgur before as well.

EDIT: I clean the pc generally once every couple weeks, once a month at the latest. Canned air and a dry cloth.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Thanks, those temps need to come down before you even consider overclocking. In the case how are the fans set up, front intake and read exhaust? I would do two things first, take off the heatsink, clean the cpu and heatsink surfaces with a coffee filter and Isopropyl Alcohol, reapply thermal paste and re seat it. If this doesn't drop the temps try stressing it with the case door off, this will give us some indication if the airflow in the case isn't good enough. Is the Gpu using the stock cooler or did you put an aftermarket one on?

 

[trents]

Shadypwns,

How large is the fan on the CPU cooler? 120mm or 92mm?

How many intake fans (pushing air into the case) and how many exhaust fans (pushing air out of the case) do you have installed?

Both your CPU (socket) temps and your core temps need to come down.

Could you take a digital camera pic of the inside of your case for us and attach it with a post?

Welcome to OC Forums!

 

[Shadeypwns]

Pictures of the case. It's crowded. Rear Fan, Side Fan, and Front Fan. Front/Side are blowing in, Rear is blowing out.

 

[trents]

Do you have a fan in the top panel of your case? If not, then you are being hurt by the fact that your cooler is facing the top of the case. The air being exhausted from the back of the cooler is not being efficiently removed. Would be much better if your cooler were facing the back panel fan.

 

[trents]

The Hyper 101 Cooler only has an 80mm fan. It's a tiny cooler and totally inadequate for cooling a 6 core Thuban overclocked CPU. You need to upgrade that big time! The case only has one 120mm intake fan and one 120mm exhaust fan. So not real good case ventilation, either. You gonna have problems with your temps.

 

[Shadeypwns]

Do you have a fan in the top panel of your case? If not, then you are being hurt by the fact that your cooler is facing the top of the case. The air being exhausted from the back of the cooler is not being efficiently removed. Would be much better if your cooler were facing the back panel fan.

Yeah that'd be great if my heatsink clipped on in that direction, it doesn't. Down or up are my choices. As far as the cooler goes, you're telling me a massive cunk of metal with a 2500 rpm fan is inadequate to cool a cpu? It would be literally impossible to fit a larger cooler in any mid-tower case.

 

[trents]

Yes, you can fit a larger cooler in that case. It will provide clearance for any tower-style cooler with a 92mm fan. Right now, your teeny weeny cooler has an 80mm fan. You can also go with a water loop. What's your budget?

 

[Shadeypwns]

Yes, you can fit a larger cooler in that case. It will provide clearance for any tower-style cooler with a 92mm fan. Right now, your teeny weeny cooler has an 80mm fan. You can also go with a water loop. What's your budget?

None.

 

[Johan45]

I agree with these guys but at the very least turn that CPU cooler. and reseat it with some new paste. It will turn it has to. You're sucking hot air right from your Vid card and nowhere for it to go.n

 

[Shadeypwns]

I agree with these guys but at the very least turn that CPU cooler. and reseat it with some new paste. It will turn it has to. You're sucking hot air right from your Vid card and nowhere for it to go.n

It doesn't have to. The mobo has 2 clips on the side of the cpu, the heatsink has metal pieces that attach to those clips on the side of it, left and right. It doesn't attach top/bottom. Can't rotate it.

 

[Johan45]

I don't know what to say Shadeypwns if that H/S won't rotate and you cant get a different one then you're pretty much done in the world of OC. Too bad you can't find the box for it. It may have been a universal and probably came with different types of brackets. You could still flip it around so it pulls air from the top. That might give it a few extra degrees.

 

[Shadeypwns]

I don't know what to say Shadeypwns if that H/S won't rotate and you cant get a different one then you're pretty much done in the world of OC. Too bad you can't find the box for it. It may have been a universal and probably came with different types of brackets. You could still flip it around so it pulls air from the top. That might give it a few extra degrees.

It seems I did a truly terrible job of picking out the case/heatsink/mobo combination, something to learn for the future. The heatsink is an intel/amd universal type, but the only other adapter that came with it is for intel boards, and screws into the mobo itself, which is impossible with the mobo I have.

I assumed that flipping it around and put the fan pulling air down literally less than an inch away from the PSU fan pulling air up would be a bad thing, I could be wrong I suppose, but from what I understand with airflow it's never a good idea to have 2 fans directly beside each other (or really anywhere in the case) pulling air in conflicting directions.