Overclocking my current comp - 1st timer - A8n SLI, 3800+

[Yaro]

Hi, this is my first post on this website. I built this computer a few years back, and it has served me well up until now, when Diablo 3 is coming out and I am sure I'll need a slight boost to run this game smoothly. Not enough to justify a new system yet.

I have read a few guides, and it seems that my computer should be relitively easy to overclock, but I will definitely need some help or pointers as I haven't messed with computer settings in 4-5 years. Here are my details:



Could anyone link me to a good guide to overclock this system, or write out some simple steps to follow?



Cheers,
Yaro



Ps is this a good guide to follow:
http://www.syschat.com/overclocking-amd-x2-64-3800-very-2921.html

 

[Janus67]

to the forums. I do not believe your computer reaches the minimum system requirements for Diablo (I seem to remember it asking for a 4400+ minimum?). With that said, your computer is about 7 years old.

That being said: http://www.overclock.net/t/91/ultimate-overclocking-guide

Is a pretty solid overclocking basics thread.

 

[Yaro]

I do not believe your computer reaches the minimum system requirements for Diablo (I seem to remember it asking for a 4400+ minimum?). With that said, your computer is about 7 years old.

That's spot on. I know it can be OC'd to 2.35ghz from 2.00, which should allow me to pass the requirements. Thanks for the link!

 

[Janus67]

One thing to watch out for is that the game may prevent the game from loading as it will do a system scan and if it doesn't see that model or higher it may give an error message. Just a piece of warning.

 

[corey107]

Product Quantity Price Gst Total
Logitech G9X Laser Gaming Mouse USB $79.00 $7.18 $79.00
NZXT PHANTOM Full Tower case w No PSU Black $179.50 $16.32 $179.50
Thermaltake eSports Shock One Gaming Headset $85.00 $7.73 $85.00
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD $148.50 $13.50 $148.50
Asus GTX560TI 1GDDR5 256BIT DDR5 2DVI HDMI FAN PCIE ATX $237.50 $43.18 $475.00
Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DD $59.00 $5.36 $59.00
LG E1951T-BN 18.5" LED 5ms DVI-D D-Sub $99.00 $18.00 $198.00
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Refresh $64.00 $5.82 $64.00
Seasonic 1050W 80Plus Gold Full Modular $285.00 $25.91 $285.00
Intel Core i7 2700K Processor LGA1155 3.5GHz CPU $330.00 $30.00 $330.00
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H40 Hydro CPU Cooler $75.00 $6.82 $75.00
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache $135.00 $24.55 $270.00
Asrock Z77 PRO4 Z77/4 x DDR3/1 x PCI-E3.0/4 x SATA3/4 x USB3.0/HDMI/D- $136.00 $12.36 $136.00
Total $216.73 $2384.00

my next system, will i be able to run diablo 3? (i honestly don't know jack squat about overclocking please help)

 

[Janus67]

Corey I know you are excited about your new computer that you will be building, but you already have a thread with several replies in it. In the future please refrain from hijacking other people's threads and posting off-topic posts in them.

short and long answer: yes, it will run diablo3 with no problems.

 

[rescuetoaster]

Hey Yaro,

I just dismantled my Socket 939 3800+ X2 setup in January. I took mine to 2.5 (my motherboard wouldn't go for anything more), but some people were hitting 2.8 on air.

Here were my settings
FSB - 250
HTT Link X4= 1000 mhz (to keep it at stock)
DRAM set to 133 mhz = (133+50) X2 = 366
CPU Multiplier X10 = 2.5 Ghz

The biggest factor for me was the HTT link. I couldn't lower it to X3 for some reason on my motherboard, it just wouldn't boot. You won't be able to overclock the HTT though, that is for sure. I got mine to overclock by 20 mhz before it became unstable. Try to keep that around the stock speed.

I don't remember exactly what voltage I had set, but I'm pretty sure it was stock settings.
Here is a guide for you http://www.legitreviews.com/article/229/2/

You should get MUCH better performance out of that cpu after overclocking. Good luck!

 

[Yaro]

Looks like I got my result pretty simply after adding another 2 chassis fans. I set the FSB to 240 and the multiplyer to x10, and the voltage to 1.45. temperature seems to not go over 44 degrees.

Only problem is that the sound isn't working now (realtek ac'97 + win 7 issue), so I'm probably going to just dish out for a new cheapo sound card.


Thanks for the help,

Yaro

 

[rescuetoaster]

If you watch newegg's refurbed/open box sections they often have some nice X-FI cards on sale for wicked cheap.

 

[Yaro]

If you watch newegg's refurbed/open box sections they often have some nice X-FI cards on sale for wicked cheap.

Trouble strikes!
Halfway through a game, my screen froze up. Now the comp won't even load to bios, just black screen. I'm afraid it looks like rip good friend, am I correct?
If so I'm going to go buy a new mono, CPU and ram today. My question is will my he'd windows install work with the new components?

 

[rescuetoaster]

Actually it's probably just fine. Same thing happened to me during my OC trials on my old system - you need to get your motherboard manual, and find where your cmos settings jumper pins are (usually on the bottom, towards the front of the mobo). You put a jumper on a set of pins, and it will revert your bios settings back to stock, then you can retry overclocking again.

When you OC this time, run prime95 while watching your temps with AIDA64 for at least an hour. You may need to do a voltage bump or something. Make sure your ram speed is underclocked to account for the extra FSB, as well as your HTT link.

 

[Yaro]

Thanks for the quick reply. Will try in an hour and get back to you

 

[rescuetoaster]

Not a problem - I love helping with older systems!

The overclock is sweet once you have it dialied in on that CPU, but having to reset that jumper is a real pain in the ***, so just leave the side panel off of your case until you figure it all out.

Are you still on the stock cooler?

 

[Yaro]

Just double checking, It's the RTC RAM that I need to clear? It's the only jumper pin reset I can see.

 

[rescuetoaster]

Yep, that looks like the guy (according to your mobo manual http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8N-SLI/e2068_a8n-sli.pdf).

Page 1-17 if you need to see how the jumper will look when you do it. Although, according to the bottom of that page your motherboard should have some sort of overclocking reset thingy called C.P.R. Look into that too - although both methods will work, but the jumper reset will reset time/date/everything. I would try the CPR thing first.

Upon further review - the board does that CPR thing automagically, so if that isn't happening go for the jumper. Turn off the system, move the jumper, (and at this point I forget) I think mine cleared CMOS with the system off, but you may need to turn the computer on with the jumper in the reset position, then flip it off and move the jumper to normal position before trying your overclock again.

 

[Yaro]

Tried everything, still no signs of life on the screen. Not looking good. Any other suggestions?

Anyway if it is actually dead, I am prepared to fork out $500 for a new mobo+cpu+ram combo, and half expected to need to after trying to save my legacy rig. Will my other components (8800GTS + 2 HDD's + power supply + dvd drive + wireless) stil be fine to slot into the new board? I've never done a partial rebuild like this before...

 

[rescuetoaster]

Hmmm. The jumper reset is really all I had. You could try the old classic - unplug your powersupply, then hit the power button, plug it back in and turn it on.

Other than that, I'm not sure what went wrong I guess. I'd be shocked if that OC killed anything since it really wasn't extreme (unless you didn't underclock the ram, in which case that was pretty fast for DDR1).

Anyways, if you do want a new system I would at least wait until Ivy Bridge is released to the public (Friday I think) and maybe look at Sandy Bridge, or even getting an AM3+ setup like mine (freaking love it). I would think prices should drop all around.

In answer to your other questions - yeah, they will work (assuming they aren't what died in your current system lol), but in terms of performance I would probably drop the 8800 and look towards a 6850/6870 or the 7770 if the price is right. The powersupply is the only other thing - I don't know what it is, or how much output it is capable of.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Tried everything, still no signs of life on the screen. Not looking good. Any other suggestions?

Anyway if it is actually dead, I am prepared to fork out $500 for a new mobo+cpu+ram combo, and half expected to need to after trying to save my legacy rig. Will my other components (8800GTS + 2 HDD's + power supply + dvd drive + wireless) stil be fine to slot into the new board? I've never done a partial rebuild like this before...

Yaro, the only issue you may have is most of the new motherboards I have seen have sata for your hdd and dvd drive. If yours do not support it you may have to get a new dvd and I know you can get an Ide to sats adaptor for the hdd.

 

[Yaro]

Yaro, the only issue you may have is most of the new motherboards I have seen have sata for your hdd and dvd drive. If yours do not support it you may have to get a new dvd and I know you can get an Ide to sats adaptor for the hdd.

Well I replaced my mobo, cpu, ram, power supply and dvd-reader, plus got a 60gb ssd, for about $650au total. Not bad. Only problem is fixing the windows 7 install/activation as I had a "student deal".

You were right about needing the new dvd, and also needed a new power supply as my old one had a 20-pin connector instead of the newer 24 pin.

 

[OptyTrooper]

You got any more questions I'm your man. We'll get that ***** cranking!