Virgin Overclocker

marvluslf · 9 Jul 2012 at 20:42

My first build is finished and I basicly want to know what overclocking abilities I can obtain safely with my system.

CPU: Phenom II 965 Black Edition with stock cooler (future upgrade to follow)
GPU: Sapphire HD6950 2gb
Ram: 4gb Corsair Veangeance (another 4gb is on its way)
PSU: Corsair GS600
Mobo: Asus M5A78L/USB3

The GPU comes with its own overclocking utility using the AMD VISION engine control, you can overclock the cpu also using this but its very basic so im also looking for a good overclocking utility which lets me know everythng. Im new to this so be easy. Thanks

mickyflinn · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:48

Your motherboard has a featured software called ASUS TurboV that should help you.

MSI Afterburner is what you want for your gpu.

Orcvader · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:56

I would upgrade the cooler before you attempt to overclock, the 965 gets pretty hot with the stock cooler.

Use the BIOS to overclock the CPU, it usually gives much better results than software overclocking. Should be able to reach 4ghz with that 965 if it's the C3 revision. Just don't go over 1.5v. Use something like Prime95 to test for stability (needs to be ran for a few good hours for a full stability check).

+1 to MSI AfterBurner for GPU overclocking. Very nice UI as well. Furmark or Heaven are good to stress the GPU as well.

marvluslf · 10 Jul 2012 at 07:42

Thanks for the info. I wont be touching the cpu before a cooler upgrade as I have heard they run pretty hot as stock. Ive downloaded MSI Afterburner so when it comes to overclocking the card could I just put the core clock and memory clock to max? Core voltage and power limit I have no clue on.

Current Settings:

Core Clock: 820mhz stock - 900mhz o.c
Memory Clock: 1250mhz stock - 1350mhz o.c

Would I really notice a difference if any with these overclocks?