thinking about an overclock (my first)

[Daneuk]

I have done some reading around on the forum, and thinking i may try my first over clock.

My main worry is if something breaks. Its all new gear

I am looking for some advice if possible and what more experienced people think i should do.

All i do with this PC is WoW and basic browsing.

The spec is as follows

MB: Gigabyte - GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 970 Processor (Black Edition) 3.5
Ram: Corsair DDR3 XMS Ram. 4gb
Graphics: Gigabyte HD5770 (OC version)
PSU: 900w Evo Labs (fan faces outwards)
Case: Xigmatek Utgard Midi Tower Case (3 Fans)
After market CPU Cooler thermaltake ISGC-300

CPU Temps

Idle sits at 30 max (depends if heating is on) but right now, heating on and sitting at 29 degrees C

Under load 43 degrees (again heating is on in the house)

Got the following off Easytune 6.

CPU 3527mhz
BUS 2016mhz
FSB 201mhz
Multiplier 17.50

Voltage 1.35v

I have never done an over clock before, and i am not 100% it needs it. I run wow on ultra, without any problems. But i am the kind of person that always wants more!

Any advice would be appreciated, Would it be worth over clocking? Should i just forget the idea. If i should, Any advice is much appreciated

 

[Daneuk]

After some more reading this morning i thought what the hell. and had a go.

I did the basic as in the sticky.

changed FSB from 200 to 205

Ran prime 95 for 35 minutes, no problem.

Did the same again 205 to 210

Prime 95 for 35 minutes not a problem.

I carried on with this until i hit the 220 and it ran fine, with temperatures not breaking 46 degrees C whilst running prime 95.

Prime 95 hit 25 minutes and i got "blue screen" Which rebooted the PC back to the default settings.

The voltage hadn't gone above 1.35, i left this on auto. All i was changing is the FSB by 5 each time.

It is currently running prime 95 for 1 hour 20 minutes with FSB at 215 (multiplier still 17.5) V 1.35 (auto)

and it hasn't broke above 47 degrees C

Any advise on what may have caused the blue screen? (i was cooking at the time, so couldn't read it, just noticed from the kitchen.

Also i have

Corsair DDR3 Ram 1600 but on boot up, it says 1333, could this have been the reason?

 

[DragonQ]

The blue screen was either caused by not enough voltage or hitting the "overclocking wall" for that CPU.

Your initial change from 200 to 205 FSB reminds me of my first "overclock" - I had an Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25 GHz instead of 1.67 GHz because my RAM was DDR 100 and wouldn't run with an FSB of 133 MHz. So I "overclocked" the FSB (technically the RAM was overclocked but the CPU was still massively underclocked) to 107 MHz or something (so 1.34 GHz), which was the highest I could get without it crashing. I don't think I had any option to up voltages or anything and I wouldn't have known about that anyway.

 

[Evil-I]

Not really familiar with the AMD CPUs these days so no idea what the highest sensible CPU voltage would be. Its worth a quick hunt through these forums to find out both the upper end of the reccomended CPU voltage as well as the upper end of the reccomended cpu temps.

Once you have both of these figures you can feel a little happier about bumping voltages up a little (whilst making sure the temp remains acceptable).

The memory thing shouldn't be an issue, although you theoreticaly would want it running near its maximum rated speed rather than under, theres usually an option to change the memory frequency multiple (options like 1:1.25 or 1:1.1 etc).

As mentioned, I haven't played with AMD cpu's since my old Athlon XP mobile barton, so I'm loath to suggest too much as I may be sending you in completely the wrong direction.

I will say I'm not a huge fan of leaving the CPU voltage on auto, I always feel happier notching it up gently manually so I know exactly where I stand.

There will be loads of knowleagable bods on here who will give you more detailed reccomendations for your setup.

 

[Daneuk]

thanks for the replies

Im doing as the sticky thread says at the moment.

small steps, dont want to change something and fry something

Il await some one with experience in clocking the AMD.

 

[pauliface]

Dane I have a similar problem to you. You can put your coreV up more than stock. Blue screen is where things get tricky in some cases. It could just be more V's or changing the HT link and CPU NB frequency.

I got a 1055t which hit 283 fsb with mulitplier of 12.5x = 3.5ghz but i needed to add more coreV and CPU/NBV Go google what your CPU max V's and temps are for a start. I am sorry I cannot help you more

This is my first real OC too.

 

[Daneuk]

I have done a few searches to find people are running the temp at 55 degrees C under load, and a voltage of 1.55.

Id rather keep away from them figures if I could, and play on the safe side.