Overclocking Advice

Steve Watford

Steve Watford

Steve Watford

Associate
Joined
20 Jul 2006
Posts
258
My spec;

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4Ghz (stock) with stock heatsink.
MSI K9N Neo nVidia Chipset 550
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit
Radeon X1600 Series Gfx Card

Idle cpu temp : ~36
Idle System Temp : ~30

Loaded cpu temp : ~40
Loaded System Temp : ~35


My questions are;

1. What would be the max i could overclock this system to?
2. I am a complete noob when it comes to ram timings, what should i try to set this to?
3. Safe Temps?
4. Anything else that is important, i want to OC all components to the max btw.
 
Dont know about your CPU as such, but have heard that they OC quite well. However i have a X1600XT myself, you on a Pro or XT? They are not great overclockers but still can ween some extra performance out of them. Using AtiTool can get from stock core 590Mhz and mem 405Mhz to a stable 650Mhz core and 440Mhz mem. I bought a Zalman VF700Cu-LED to get a better OC, but for some reason this made no difference to my OC on the card, It makes temps a lot lower, and the OC is now 100% stable, but no additional performance.

As for safe temps, you have to keep your load below 60C, aim for about 50 ish load, mid 40s idle max. An aftermarket CPU cooler is a good investment.

With your RAM timings its simply trial and error, keep lowering them untill they get unstable, then raise them slightly and your done. Thats good RAM so you should see good timings on it. 2.0-2-3-5-7 at least i reckon, but you dont know till you try ;)
 
Last edited:
Don't spend too long with your RAM timings because most of them will rarely produce any noticeable performance increase. In fact the only time I would change RAM timings would be to slacken them to allow a higher RAM frequency.

However, it is always nice to know your rig is running at the best it can so don't let my above comments deter you too much :p

SiriusB
 
SiriusB said:
Don't spend too long with your RAM timings because most of them will rarely produce any noticeable performance increase. In fact the only time I would change RAM timings would be to slacken them to allow a higher RAM frequency.

However, it is always nice to know your rig is running at the best it can so don't let my above comments deter you too much :p

SiriusB
Click to expand...


True lol, i spend too much time trying to make sure i eek out every last drop of performance i can get from everything, and still so far to go lol. Although i noticed a fair performance increase after playing with my timings :)
 
Foehammer2003 said:
True lol, i spend too much time trying to make sure i eek out every last drop of performance i can get from everything, and still so far to go lol. Although i noticed a fair performance increase after playing with my timings :)
Click to expand...

Well, it does depend on how much they are changed. If you're going from diabolical to awesome then yeah you should see something, but most timming tweaks are only very minor.

SiriusB
 
SiriusB said:
Well, it does depend on how much they are changed. If you're going from diabolical to awesome then yeah you should see something, but most timming tweaks are only very minor.

SiriusB
Click to expand...

Trust me mine were bad... from 2.5-3-3-8 2T i think to 2.0-2-2-5 1T now tho ;)
 
Last edited:
Foehammer2003 said:
lol simple... n00b!

Was my first build, and until I knew about it the mobo had it at 2T (auto)
Click to expand...

Silly boy :D

Ahh well, at least you only make a mistake like that once....usually...

Oh, off topic, did you ever get that cooler to fit your graphics card?

SiriusB
 
SiriusB said:
Silly boy :D

Ahh well, at least you only make a mistake like that once....usually...

Oh, off topic, did you ever get that cooler to fit your graphics card?

SiriusB
Click to expand...

Sure did! Got to love those Dremels! ;)

Works a dream, and is an amazing cooler, so quiet too! Never did have any response back from Zalman and they still have no exceptions for the X1600 which is bad really but i guess others would do what i did.
 
Foehammer2003 said:
Sure did! Got to love those Dremels! ;)

Works a dream, and is an amazing cooler, so quiet too! Never did have any response back from Zalman and they still have no exceptions for the X1600 which is bad really but i guess others would do what i did.
Click to expand...

Nowt better than improving on the "experts" designs eh :D

SiriusB
 
\looks at case

\looks at dremel

\looks at case

\ :D

Not always good! Wonder how easy it is to add a acrylic window on the top of my case, seen it done, not sure about my skill tho :rolleyes:
 
Shouldn't be too hard! Draw a rectangle/square/whatever and cut just inside the line with the dremel. Then sand it back until its perfect :D

Then just wack a bit of acrylic in there.*

SiriusB

*I take no responsibility for you cutting the wrong shape and/or cutting off one's own fingers :D
 
SiriusB said:
*I take no responsibility for you cutting the wrong panel and/or cutting off someone's fingers :D
Click to expand...

Edited for acuracy, you haven't seen me with a Dremel! :eek:

EDIT: out of interest where can you get small amounts of acrylic?
 
Last edited:
Foehammer2003 said:
Edited for acuracy, you haven't seen me with a Dremel! :eek:

EDIT: out of interest where can you get small amounts of acrylic?
Click to expand...

Ebay. Search for acrylic or perspex and there a loads of people selling it in A4 sized sheets - pretty cheap too.

SiriusB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom