Help using Crosshair IV for first time OC

[Darkst4r]

I recently upgraded my mobo to an ASUS Crosshair IV formula and am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of bios options, settings and onboard buttons.

I'm running an AMD Phenom II 955 Black Edition and have a few questions if someone wouldn't mind helping me :

1. Is it worth using the "core unlocker" button on my CPU or being a black edition are the cores already unlocked and accessible ?

2. Does the "OC" button provide a decent and stable overclock and if so, how can I see what it is actually doing to my system ? ie volts and frequency etc. I tried it with and without the OC button activated but was still getting the same idle temps of around 27/28 degrees with a Coolermaster V8, leading me to think it wasn't actually doing anything.

Any help or advice would be great. Cheers in advance

 

[Darkst4r]

Awesome, thanks a lot for your help. I ran Turbo V auto setting and it gave me an overclock of 3.4 instead of the stock 3.2 but I reckon I'll read up on how to do it all properly.

For some reason though it's done something to the RAM frequency in the bios where instead of running at 1600mhz, I can only run at either 1400mhz or at 1700mhz. There is literally no option now in my bios to run it at the rated 1600mhz. Odd...