questions on new system - amd fx 8120 with gtx 460

[eatinasandwich]

I've started to get into pc gaming over the last year through my introduction into playing league of legends. So far this and portal 2 are the only games i run on my system and I'm now wondering how to improve the framerates of my system as well as values for safe overclocking of my processor.

So i suppose my first question would be how high should i be able to overclock my processor while still keeping my system stable and what should the voltages be corresponding to those speeds.

Additionally i would like to know how to improve my framerates without necessarily buying a new graphics card. I was referrred to msi afterburner and have been making small adjustments to the core clock speed of my video card as well as the fan speed but have not been successful in improving the framerates. So perhaps I'm also just unsure of what all factors into the how good of a framerate a computer can put out.

 

[trents]

To give you "plug and play" values for your bios is a bad idea because every system is different and even if you are using the same parts as someone else across the board the same parts will vary in their overclockability from one production run to the other. And then there are other environmental factors that influence overclocking like ambient temps.

We don't want to give you a fish but we'd be glad to teach you how to fish if you're willing.

 

[eatinasandwich]

Alright then. So how would i go about safely catching said fish?

 

[RGone]

"trents" begins fishing lessons.

Linky >>

With those FX-CPUs you would need to be concerned with these things when overclocking:

1. In bios, first disable: Cool N Quiet, Turbo, C1E and C6.

 

[trents]

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.

 

[eatinasandwich]

Here are the stats from the stress test.

 

[trents]

You have a little bit of headroom from a temperature standpoint to overclock. We say that max core temps are somewhere between 55-60c before instability sets in.

Are you using the stock cooler?

The next thing we would ask would be to create a "Sig" where your system info resides and travels with every post. That way when the thread starts to get long we have ready access to the info. You can use main or RGone's if you want as a pattern. To create a Sig, click on Quick Links at the top of the page and Edit Signature.

After that, go into bios and disable Cool N Quiet, Turbo, C1E and C6. Then go into Windows Control Panel Power Options and configure it to High Perfermance. That should disable all the green, power saving stuff that cause frequencies and voltages to be erratic. This helps with stability in the higher overclock ranges.

It's my bedtime. I'll check this tomorrow.