First ever overclock and not too successful

[CurlyWhirly]

I have recently upgraded my RAM to 1066 Mhz from standard 800 Mhz RAM thinking it was this that was limiting my overclock on my Q9650.


It may be my mobo (below) as it may not be a good overclocker?

I am using the BIOS to overclock as I have read comments on OcUK that software solutions are not recommended for whatever reason?

I have a Fox One overclocking utility on my motherboard CD but I've never installed it because of this warning.


I have only managed to get a very small overclock of 60 Mhz on the core speed (i.e. 3060 Mhz) as if I raise my CPU clock higher than 340 Mhz, the PC just reverts back to the standard 333 Mhz setting


I am wondering if it is because of the SpeedStep feature and if so then I am stuck as I can't see anyway of disabling it in the BIOS.

The only other thing I can think of is that it's because I've left the CPU core voltage at the default setting and the reason is that I wouldn't have thought that I would need to increase it on such a small overclock as I'm hoping to get a 600 Mhz overclock on the Q9650 by running it at 400 Mhz x 9 instead of the default 333 Mhz x 9 multiplier.

Perhaps this is too ambitious on a stock HSF

Any advice from any experienced overclockers would be most welcome

 

[Trunks9486]

You have a G31 motherboard paired with a Q9650?

Why???

Get yourself a decent mobo

 

[CurlyWhirly]

p.s. I have just seen a recent thread saying that in some cases the voltage on the Northbridge may need to be raised but I can't see an option in the BIOS

Perhaps it is on the Fox One utility so I may install it just to see what options are there!

 

[Trunks9486]

I doubt that its that, G31 and P31 cant handle high FSBs, and especially with Quad Cores.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

You have a G31 motherboard paired with a Q9650?

Why???

Get yourself a decent mobo

It's not a good mobo then

I'm afraid that I didn't research this PC and only bought it after my old Barton 3000+ system packed up a few months ago

I was attracted by the Q9650 and overclocked 9800 GTX+ and didn't even think about whether the mobo was going to be overclocking friendly - oh well we live and learn!

 

[Trunks9486]

Well even at stock its a great chip so dont worry too much, its just that they have potential to go a lot higher.

Still, you could buy a P45 motherboard and a decent cooler and there is a decent chance that you will hit 3.8-4.0GHz

 

[CurlyWhirly]

I doubt that its that, G31 and P31 cant handle high FSBs, and especially with Quad Cores.

Oh thanks

I'll just have to settle for a 60 Mhz overclock then and make do with that



Just one final pick of your brains if you would, which would you say is more of a bottleneck when gaming, my pre-overclocked 9800 GTX+ (below) or my slightly overclocked Q9650?

Thanks

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Well even at stock its a great chip so dont worry too much, its just that they have potential to go a lot higher.

Yes

Still, you could buy a P45 motherboard and a decent cooler and there is a decent chance that you will hit 3.8-4.0GHz

I could do but I've never put together a PC before and am not confident I could do it also I would have to buy another copy of 64-bit Vista Premium as it's OEM and tied to this Foxconn motherboard

When I bought the PC it had a 32-bit Vista Premium (OEM) O/S installed but, as I didn't have a Vista CD/DVD, (only a recovery solution on a hidden partition), I went and bought an OEM version of 64-bit Vista and installed it.

 

[Trunks9486]

Whats the resolution that you game at?? The higher the resolution the less the CPU matters in general at least, and 9800GTX is hardly cutting edge anymore so i would say that its the GPU thats the weakest link out of the two.

Still, first thing you must change is the mobo, its a crying shame having such a chip on that motherboard.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Whats the resolution that you game at??

1280 x 800 (usually)

The higher the resolution the less the CPU matters in general at least, and 9800GTX is hardly cutting edge anymore so i would say that its the GPU thats the weakest link out of the two.

Ah, I see now.

If the GPU is the bottleneck then I won't get better gaming performance by overclocking my CPU unless, of course, I upgrade my graphics card as well.

I do intend upgrading my graphics card in the future but I have to be careful as my PC only has a 500W PSU and I wouldn't want to blow it !

 

[Trunks9486]

You game at such a low resolution???

man, get yourself a decent screen! it really makes a difference to the PC experience. At that res 9800gtx should be plenty. And overclocking the CPU would likely have some small effect on framerates, but in any case at that res your framerates should be very high.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

You game at such a low resolution???

man, get yourself a decent screen! it really makes a difference to the PC experience.

I will increase the resolution next time I play Crysis and other games


I just saw http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-120-XF&tool=3 and it looks like a good deal but the review doesn't give the minimum PSU requirement so I don't know if my 500W PSU would be enough to power it

I wish all graphics card manufacturers would include this info as it saves me having to read loads of hardware reviews!

 

[Trunks9486]

Dont bother, while the card is great its not big enough change to what you have.

Wait for the proper next gen cards, whenever they may release them (DX11 compliant, not the refreshes that are coming out soon)

 

[jimmybates]

What size screen do you actually have?

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Dont bother, while the card is great its not big enough change to what you have.

Wait for the proper next gen cards, whenever they may release them (DX11 compliant, not the refreshes that are coming out soon)

Okay will do, your a very helpful chap

 

[CurlyWhirly]

What size screen do you actually have?

A Dell 24" TFT monitor.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

I've now managed to push for a 342 x 9 (78 Mhz overclock) - I know it isn't much


I've now tried out the Fox One utility (below):

I'm currently running PC2-8500 (1066 Mhz) RAM as I've replaced the original PC2-6200 (800 Mhz) and I have loads of 'headroom' as it's currently running over 200 Mhz underclocked so I was wondering if I set the DRAM frequency to 1066 Mhz would this crash my PC or should I leave it as it is ?

What I mean to say is that would pushing up my RAM frequency affect the FSB/Rated FSB

 

[PaulyD]

changing the speed the RAM runs at via the divider will not affect the FSB. However upping the FSB will also increase the RAM speed

 

[CurlyWhirly]

changing the speed the RAM runs at via the divider will not affect the FSB. However upping the FSB will also increase the RAM speed

Thanks, I'll try it out



EDIT:
My PC crashed when altering the RAM frequency from 821 Mhz to the rated 1066 Mhz (using the Fox One overclocking utility) so it may have had some effect on the FSB/Rated FSB so I think I'll leave it alone as I don't want to wreck my new PC

I had to switch the PC off with the on/off switch as the soft reset button didn't work.

I've since ran a full disc check (took a couple of hours on my 1 TB drive) but there's been no harm done thank goodness!

 

[ION]

Also remenber that the GPU u bought is actually a rebranded 8800 gtx sadly nvidia were sneaky buggers and just renamed the GPU (with little to no chance in the speed etc).

So sadly ur actually running a 8 series nvidia. So i would suggest whenever u buy a new card make sure u buy one for the latest series (series 10 atm). Also DX11 cards are predicted to arrive this summer so if u do buy a new card at least wait till then.