Teach me how to Overclock

2008-05-20 08:34:10

#1

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

First time overclocking, I'd like a walk through (hold my hand now, please)

Specs:

Q9300
GA-P35-DS4
7900GT 265MB
4GB OCZ SLi RAM
Windows Vista Ultimate x64

CPU
I assume the CPU is a natural starting point. I've gathered that I need to do it in the BIOS, but tbh, I'll need quite detailed steps on how to do it. Not "up the FSB a little", but rather "put the FSB to x, do this to test, and report the results here", then tell me what to do next.

CoreTemp specs:
CPU: Q9300
Frequency: 2333.33MHz (333.33 x 7)
Cooler: Zalman 9700 LED
Idle temps: ~40*c
Load temps: ~51*c
3DMark06 CPU score: 4057

GFX
I assume the graphics are next, and I'm guessing that's what's bringing my 3DMark score down (4928). The temps are currently ~40*c idle, 67* load, but I'm planning on buying an Arctic Cooling Accelero for my GFX.

GPU-Z specs:
Name: NVidia GeForce 7900GT
Memory type: DDR3
Memory size: 256 MB
GPU Clock: 450MHz
Memory Clock: 660MHz
3DMark06 SM2.0: 1808
3DMark06 SM3.0: 1807

RAM
I have absolutely no idea about ram. Not how to check temps or anything.

If you guys walk me through this, I will be forever greatful! Sorry about the need for detail, but I have a bad habit of fucking things up when I try something I'm not good at

Last edited by Jenspm (2008-05-20 09:12:08)

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2008-05-20 08:35:43

#2

kylef: Gone; +1,352|6762|N. Ireland

How much of an overclock are you looking for? What's your stock speed and what would you like it to be?

Last edited by kylef (2008-05-20 08:36:06)

2008-05-20 08:38:21

#3

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

kylef wrote:
How much of an overclock are you looking for? What's your stock speed and what would you like it to be?

Stock speed is 2.5GHz, and I hear it's easily OC'able to 3.5GHz, so that's what I want

TBH, as high as I can without getting problems.

2008-05-20 08:40:11

#4

aimless: Member; +166|6393|Texas

Here's your processors spec sheet, don't let it get over 71.4°C
http://processorfinder.intel.com/detail … Spec=SLAWE

Set the FSB to 350MHz. Run Prime95/Orthos for a few hours, check your temps, make sure nothing breaks. Then, if you want, increase 50MHz each time and repeat.

As for the ram, there should be an FSB:DRAM ratio option somewhere in your bios. Change it so that your ram speed is equal to 400MHz.

Last edited by aimless (2008-05-20 08:40:57)

2008-05-20 08:41:33

#5

kylef: Gone; +1,352|6762|N. Ireland

^ Yep, a 10/15 FSB increase should be safe to start off.

2008-05-20 09:31:57

#6

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

wow, Prime95 really fucked with my PC....

Everything frose for 10 minutes, screen went black and then I was finally able to stop the damn thing.

Is that supposed to happen?

2008-05-20 09:35:19

#7

DUnlimited: got any popo lolo intersting?; +1,160|6732|cuntshitlake

Jenspm wrote:
wow, Prime95 really fucked with my PC....

Everything frose for 10 minutes, screen went black and then I was finally able to stop the damn thing.

Is that supposed to happen?

No. How much did you OC before running it?

main battle tank karthus medikopter 117 megamegapowershot gg

2008-05-20 09:35:57

#8

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6683|Finland

Jenspm wrote:
wow, Prime95 really fucked with my PC....

Everything frose for 10 minutes, screen went black and then I was finally able to stop the damn thing.

Is that supposed to happen?

means your cpu is unstable.

following things will help:

keeping ram at stock speed with right FSB:RAM divider
increasing voltage for:
NB
CPU vcore
FSB PLL
RAM

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2008-05-20 09:36:55

#9

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

DeathUnlimited wrote:
Jenspm wrote:
wow, Prime95 really fucked with my PC....

Everything frose for 10 minutes, screen went black and then I was finally able to stop the damn thing.

Is that supposed to happen?
No. How much did you OC before running it?

nothing at all.

2008-05-20 09:43:57

#10

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6918

Ok, you'll need to change a few settings. First of all change your RAM voltage from auto to say 2v because it's majorly undervolted right now. There should be a setting for adjusting your RAM timings somewhere. I'm unfamiliar with Gigabyte mobos, so you'll have to have a look or wait for someone here to tell you. Set the RAM timings to 5-5-5-15 to be safe. Now run Prime again and see if that's any better.

2008-05-20 10:36:27

#11

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6844|London

I know the bios well for the gigabyte p35 mobos but for now i'll just copypaste from another thread

anyway [del] to get into bios. go down to intelligent motherboard tweaker option then:

Aries_37 wrote:
Ctrl + f1 in the main menu brings up the advanced options. You need to set the timing control to 'manual' first then have fun tweaking.
What you want to do is underclock your ram, to remove it as a possible limiting factor. Use a 1:1 ratio (2.0 multiplier) and 5-5-5-15 and this should keep your ram speed as low as possible. Then you can concentrate on OCing the CPU, like what people have said try +0.1 on the FSB and (G)MCH voltages. Auto voltage sucks for overclocking, it often overestimates and ends up giving you more voltage than you need. Definitely set a manual voltage yourself when overclocking. Also note that our motherboard is bent as shit in supplying the voltage you set in the bios, mine is set at 1.4V but I get 1.36 in reality, which then drops to 1.34 under load (this is due to something called vdroop and is probs why your system fails stability tests). Therefore set it +0.05v over the voltage you want.

Once you have the CPU at the speed you want and its stable you can OC the ram. Make sure you first give the ram the voltage it needs, our motherboard defaults at 1.8V which is a severe undervolt for gaming ram so set that to +0.3V for your OCZ's. Then manually tighten the timings as much as you can, 4-4-4-15 is preferable with a static tRead value between 6 and 8 (fyi 8 is more stable than 6, but is slower).

The fixed number is your rated speed, you can go over it safely but you'll need to relax the timings to remain stable. TBH tight timing 'feels' better than high clock in windows as it makes things load faster. Consider changing the multiplier so that your ram stays under 950mhz, because I doubt your ram will handle high clock speed and tight timings- staying as close to 800mhz as possible for stability but don't go under it because that's unnecessarily overcautious. There's no longer an appreciable difference between what ratio you use so just pick the one that gives you the highest stable clock speed.

I didn't really go into how to OC the cpu so here we go.

https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2245/2311435002_835f4375a8_o.jpg

Pic taken from tomshardware
Set cpu host clock control to enabled. Then up the cpu host frequency value in small steps (30-40 or so at first but in even smaller steps (10) after a few increments. After each change use prime95 or orthos to test for stability and everest/speedfan/realtemp to check temperatures under 100% load. I would suggest using all 3 at once because you don't want to risk one being wrong and you frying something.

If you get stuck anywhere just ask.

Or wade through: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245 … erclocking

Last edited by Aries_37 (2008-05-20 10:38:57)

2008-05-20 10:38:17

#12

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

ghettoperson wrote:
Ok, you'll need to change a few settings. First of all change your RAM voltage from auto to say 2v because it's majorly undervolted right now. There should be a setting for adjusting your RAM timings somewhere. I'm unfamiliar with Gigabyte mobos, so you'll have to have a look or wait for someone here to tell you. Set the RAM timings to 5-5-5-15 to be safe. Now run Prime again and see if that's any better.

I think I found the problem.

I followed an outdated guide that told me to run 4 instances of PRIME95 (one for each core). I then used the new version, which works for 4 cores. So basicly I ran 4x as much as I should've. Also, I used the x64 version, which is buggy.

I shall try again tomorrow, cba now

2008-05-20 10:40:11

#13

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

Aries_37 wrote:
I know the bios well for the gigabyte p35 mobos but for now i'll just copypaste from another thread

anyway [del] to get into bios. go down to intelligent motherboard tweaker option then:

Aries_37 wrote:
Ctrl + f1 in the main menu brings up the advanced options. You need to set the timing control to 'manual' first then have fun tweaking.
What you want to do is underclock your ram, to remove it as a possible limiting factor. Use a 1:1 ratio (2.0 multiplier) and 5-5-5-15 and this should keep your ram speed as low as possible. Then you can concentrate on OCing the CPU, like what people have said try +0.1 on the FSB and (G)MCH voltages. Auto voltage sucks for overclocking, it often overestimates and ends up giving you more voltage than you need. Definitely set a manual voltage yourself when overclocking. Also note that our motherboard is bent as shit in supplying the voltage you set in the bios, mine is set at 1.4V but I get 1.36 in reality, which then drops to 1.34 under load (this is due to something called vdroop and is probs why your system fails stability tests). Therefore set it +0.05v over the voltage you want.

Once you have the CPU at the speed you want and its stable you can OC the ram. Make sure you first give the ram the voltage it needs, our motherboard defaults at 1.8V which is a severe undervolt for gaming ram so set that to +0.3V for your OCZ's. Then manually tighten the timings as much as you can, 4-4-4-15 is preferable with a static tRead value between 6 and 8 (fyi 8 is more stable than 6, but is slower).

The fixed number is your rated speed, you can go over it safely but you'll need to relax the timings to remain stable. TBH tight timing 'feels' better than high clock in windows as it makes things load faster. Consider changing the multiplier so that your ram stays under 950mhz, because I doubt your ram will handle high clock speed and tight timings- staying as close to 800mhz as possible for stability but don't go under it because that's unnecessarily overcautious. There's no longer an appreciable difference between what ratio you use so just pick the one that gives you the highest stable clock speed.
I didn't really go into how to OC the cpu so here we go.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2245/231 … 75a8_o.jpg Pic taken from tomshardware
Set cpu host clock control to enabled. Then up the cpu host frequency value in small steps (30-40 or so at first but in even smaller steps (10) after a few increments. After each change use prime95 or orthos to test for stability and everest/speedfan/realtemp to check temperatures under 100% load. I would suggest using all 3 at once because you don't want to risk one being wrong and you frying something.

If you get stuck anywhere just ask.

Or wade through: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245 … erclocking

thanks, great post.

How long do I have to run prime95/orthos until I can say it's stable?

2008-05-20 10:43:06

#14

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6844|London

Generally if it passes after 5-10 minutes I get bored of waiting and assume it's stable enough to OC more. I bump up the fsb and restress. When the test finally fails within 5-10 minutes I drop the OC by 5 fsb or so until I hit something that is stable in 5-10 minutes. Then I leave the test on overnight After that you can start playing with ram speed and timings

2008-05-20 10:44:05

#15

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

Aries_37 wrote:
Generally if it passes after 5-10 minutes I get bored of waiting and assume it's stable enough to OC more. I bump up the fsb and restress. When the test finally fails within 5-10 minutes I drop the OC by 5 fsb or so until I hit something that is stable in 5-10 minutes. Then I leave the test on overnight After that you can start playing with ram speed and timings

cool, thanks

I might end up doing all this during the week-end...

Just so I have time to de-stress

2008-05-20 11:00:36

#16

aimless: Member; +166|6393|Texas

Heres some help: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho … p?t=147164

Also, make sure you disable C1E, TM/TM2, EIST, and SpeedStep in your advanced bios settings (I think that's where the options are).

Last edited by aimless (2008-05-20 11:00:50)

2008-05-20 13:57:53

#17

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6722|The Twilight Zone

kylef wrote:
^ Yep, a 10/15 FSB increase should be safe to start off.

I wen't straight to 4Ghz:
But I'd say you can safely go with 100MHz increase at the beginning and then when you think you are approaching the limit, increase only as much as kyle said.

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2008-05-20 13:59:12

#18

DUnlimited: got any popo lolo intersting?; +1,160|6732|cuntshitlake

.Sup wrote:
kylef wrote:
^ Yep, a 10/15 FSB increase should be safe to start off.
I wen't straight to 4Ghz:
But I'd say you can safely go with 100MHz increase at the beginning and then when you think you are approaching the limit, increase only as much as kyle said.

I went straight to 3GHz, and that's 50% OC for this E2180. Beat you

main battle tank karthus medikopter 117 megamegapowershot gg

2008-05-20 14:01:29

#19

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6722|The Twilight Zone

DeathUnlimited wrote:
.Sup wrote:
kylef wrote:
^ Yep, a 10/15 FSB increase should be safe to start off.
I wen't straight to 4Ghz:
But I'd say you can safely go with 100MHz increase at the beginning and then when you think you are approaching the limit, increase only as much as kyle said.
I went straight to 3GHz, and that's 50% OC for this E2180. Beat you

Bastard. I'll do the Rampage flash this week and will try to go from default 3GHz to 4.5GHz.

2008-05-20 14:02:16

#20

SEREMAKER: BABYMAKIN EXPERT √; +2,187|6837|Mountains of NC

Do or Do not ........... there is no try

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2008-05-20 14:04:49

#21

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6683|Finland

.Sup wrote:
DeathUnlimited wrote:
.Sup wrote:

I wen't straight to 4Ghz:
But I'd say you can safely go with 100MHz increase at the beginning and then when you think you are approaching the limit, increase only as much as kyle said.
I went straight to 3GHz, and that's 50% OC for this E2180. Beat you
Bastard. I'll do the Rampage flash this week and will try to go from default 3GHz to 4.5GHz.

if you need help with it just pm me in xfire and I'll help ya.

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2008-05-20 14:57:50

#22

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6722|The Twilight Zone

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
.Sup wrote:
DeathUnlimited wrote:

I went straight to 3GHz, and that's 50% OC for this E2180. Beat you
Bastard. I'll do the Rampage flash this week and will try to go from default 3GHz to 4.5GHz.
if you need help with it just pm me in xfire and I'll help ya.

Thank Panz you know I will contact you for sure.

2008-05-20 16:05:24

#23

Ryan: Member; +1,230|7112|Alberta, Canada

My mobo is a piece of shit and won't let me overclock dick all.
Fucking piece.

2008-05-20 17:20:09

#24

Brasso: member; +1,549|6899

Ryan wrote:
My mobo is a piece of shit and won't let me overclock dick all.
Fucking piece.

lal

"people in ny have a general idea of how to drive. one of the pedals goes forward the other one prevents you from dying"

2008-05-21 07:39:50

#25

Jenspm: penis; +1,716|7001|St. Andrews / Oslo

omg I survived

Followed Aries step by step and it works. set FSB to 350...

Speedfan shows 45-46 full load, and CoreTemp shows 52-55. I think I shall trust CoreTemp.

I shall try to go for 3.0GHz... brb...

This was fun

BF2S Forums Teach me how to Overclock

kylef wrote:

Jenspm wrote:

Jenspm wrote:

DeathUnlimited wrote:

Jenspm wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

kylef wrote:

.Sup wrote:

kylef wrote:

DeathUnlimited wrote:

.Sup wrote:

kylef wrote:

.Sup wrote:

DeathUnlimited wrote:

.Sup wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

.Sup wrote:

DeathUnlimited wrote:

Ryan wrote:

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