Can't get my head around overclocking

jaysus · 22 Nov 2010 at 16:43

I've just built a PC and have never overclocked in the past. I figured I should give it ago though I am not a technical person. I've got a 955 BE, a Gigabyte 870A-UD3 and 4GB Corsair RAM. It's on a stock cooler but I've added an extra 4 case fans to the stock case fans. I'm only looking at a gentle overclock to start with.

I've spent the afternoon googling, reading guides etc but it's just not going in. My head is swimming with various terms but it's not going in. I know I probably shouldn't have but I installed Easytune and AMD Overdrive and tried their autotune features. With both the temp hit around 50 degree's (which I gather is fine) but crashed after a few minutes, forcing a manual reboot.

Is there a relatively easy way to get a gentle overclock or do I need to come back and re-read the various guides when I'm more awake?

DragonQ · 22 Nov 2010 at 16:52

With an unlocked chip like that all you should have to do is bump up the CPU multiplier in the BIOS and possibly the CPU voltage, depending on how far you wanna go. Then to test temperatures, run Prime95 or IntelBurnTest (which I believe works fine with AMD CPUs) for a few minutes with Real Temp or Core Temp running. To test stability, run Prime95 overnight.

Martini1991 · 22 Nov 2010 at 17:07

Use Hwmonitor and Prime95 for monitoring and stressing.
Go into BIOS and raise the multiplier to 17, that'll give 3.4. Then stress test.

jaysus · 22 Nov 2010 at 17:45

Cheers. I'll give that a go.

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 14:23

Martini1991 said:
Use Hwmonitor and Prime95 for monitoring and stressing.
Go into BIOS and raise the multiplier to 17, that'll give 3.4. Then stress test.

I've just upped the multiplier to 17 and loaded Win 7. It shows the change but now CoreTemp shows the temp at 0. HW monitor also shows it as 0.

Any ideas what's going on? Not being able to see my CPU temp makes me nervous about stress testing.

subbytna · 23 Nov 2010 at 14:51

3.4 on stock cooler is a bit on the dodgy side. It'll not melt but it'll head towards higher temps than if you had a dedicated cooler.

3.4 on a dedicated cooler would be in the 50's(temp) I think but on stock it may go well into the 60's under stress...just be careful

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 15:01

subbytna said:
3.4 on stock cooler is a bit on the dodgy side. It'll not melt but it'll head towards higher temps than if you had a dedicated cooler.

3.4 on a dedicated cooler would be in the 50's(temp) I think but on stock it may go well into the 60's under stress...just be careful

This is the issue...I can't see the temp. So I've no idea what's going on. Any ideas how I get it viewable again?

Incidentally when stress testing at 3.2 yesterday it seemed pretty steady at 48-50 with the stock cooler.

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 15:30

My first concern is the temp issue, but would this do for later:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1156 / 1366)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR&tool=3

Relentless81 · 23 Nov 2010 at 15:31

I'm posting here so I can keep track of this because I have a very similar set up to you inc same motherboard and might bump mine up a bit so if you could keep us updated that would be great

Sorry cant help with the temps not showing but I use core temp to monitor mine

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 15:41

I've just reset the multiplier ratio to 'auto' and the temp is still showing as 0. Hmmm.

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:04

Right, now I'm starting to get concerned.

Using @BIOS I updated to the beta BIOS update for this mobo (Gigabyte 870A-UD3) which after a restart showed me my temps. CPU was idling at 39 - it had been idling at 25 before I adjusted the multiplier up. I rolled back to the standard BIOS and it shows it now idling at 30. I'm going to give it a few minutes of doing nothing to see if that goes back to normal.

oO Stevie Oo · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:16

Does your board have a core unlocking feature?
My temps dissapeared on the 955 when I activated this on my board,
There are no hidden cores on the 955 so if it does, just dissable it and see if your temps return

As for the stock cooler the one that comes with the 955 is pretty good,
mines @ 3.61GHz on the stock cooler with arctic silver and doesn't pass 55c, idles with CnQ on @ 33-34c

as for OC'ing you can either use only the multiplier as you have the black edition, or you can adjust the frequency as well as the multiplier

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:29

oO Stevie Oo said:
Does your board have a core unlocking feature?
My temps dissapeared on the 955 when I activated this on my board,
There are no hidden cores on the 955 so if it does, just dissable it and see if your temps return

That'll be it.
With yours, have you adjusted the voltage at all or is that just on the multiplier?

oO Stevie Oo · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:34

I'm still playing with mine lol

220 on the FSB and x16.5 on the multiplier, stock voltages,
I'm trying to turn it up via only the multiplier now and adjusting the voltage accordingly to take strain off all the other components

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:41

I've just upped the multiplier to x18 and left everything else as is. Currently running Prime95 and watching temp's - hit 58 then back down to 56-57 now.

Will probably set everything back to normal then sit down with several cups of coffee tomorrow and try and get my head around the relationship between FSB, multiplier and voltages.

oO Stevie Oo · 23 Nov 2010 at 16:48

Are you using thermal paste or the standard stock cooler pad?
The standard pads are poo, I dropped 8C just by putting some Arctic silver on...

jaysus · 23 Nov 2010 at 17:04

I'm using MX-3.

jaysus · 24 Nov 2010 at 07:14

jaysus said:
I've just upped the multiplier to x18 and left everything else as is. Currently running Prime95 and watching temp's - hit 58 then back down to 56-57 now.

Will probably set everything back to normal then sit down with several cups of coffee tomorrow and try and get my head around the relationship between FSB, multiplier and voltages.

Left overnight with Prime95 running and it's still running in the morning with the max temp it hit being 58. Not a bad start. Will have a proper nosy later and see if I can push it a little further.

NotAGolf · 24 Nov 2010 at 12:58

Let us know how you get on as I will also be looking to overclock my 955 soon, albeit on a different gigabyte board (880gm).

I've had trouble keeping mine cool even with a coolermaster hyper 212 (didn't bother with the stock heatsink/fan). I was getting up to around 60 on prime 95 after a few mins, but after several reseats I've got that down to nearer 50.

If you game I would also try running 3dmark or a decent game that pushes your hardware, as my cpu actually goes a few degrees higher than using prime. I know this wont be because it's pushing the cpu harder but the gpu being used is obviously raising the ambient temp.

Also, don't forget that the max temp of the 955 is only 62 degrees so you are quite close to that already.

jaysus · 24 Nov 2010 at 15:07

I didn't realise it was that little, I thought it would be in the 70's. I need to do some cable management - someone pointed out that dumping the cables in the HDD enclosure was blocking the front fan - and hopefully that will help but to be on the safe side I'll get a cooler ordered today.

Can someone can help me out with what's good but reasonably cheap? Would this do:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1156 / 1366)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-035-AR&tool=3

I'll hang fire on using 3dMark until after payday - my existing GPU is getting replaced with a Gigabyte 470 SOC.