Any overclockers out-there??

[machin05]

Hi,

I've never overclocked a PC before but am keen to try it out. I've been reading up a bit but I'm still confused as to the safest yet most rewarding approach to this.

My system is made up of the following:

XFX nForce 750i Motherboard

OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Reaper Memory

Sapphire HD 4850 Toxic Edition 512MB GDDR3

Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz

 

There are 2 things I want achieve here. Firstly boosting the CPU up to about 3.2Ghz. At the moment CPU-Z is reading my RAM as PC2-6400/800Mhz and not PC2-8500/1066Mhz, so secondly I'd like my RAM to operate at 1066MHz.

 

Can someone guide me throught the settings I need to change. I have set the overclocking jumper on the motherboard to enable all the CPU voltage settings, I just need to know what to change!

 

BTW, my only attempt at this resulted in a BSOD - treat me as a layman!

[synaesthesia]

The voltage adjustments are something you touch last and only last. You should get that chip up to 3.2 without touching them easily. However firstly, you need to make sure you're on a decent cooler. Don't bother trying to overclock on the standard one, especially with a 4850 next to it. It'll just run too hot and shorten the lifespan as well as probably affect stability.

 

You will probably hit 3.2 merely by raising the FSB (Front Side Bus). Take a note of what it is by default (its not 1066 as the processor specs will point out, it'll more than likely be half due to one of the features of the processor - 533mhz. Ideally, raise it in 33mhz increments. So, if its 533mhz currently, go up to 566mhz (probably 2.8ghz) then to 600mhz (3ghz). 633mhz will be the sort of figure you'll want to hit but that is subjective to how far you get in the smaller steps.

 

At each step, go into windows, check normal functionality and stress test the machine for a good little while (half an hour ideally). OCCT is a good little app for this. It WILL heat up your processor and equipment to silly levels if you've gone too far, so only attempt it if your cooling is up to scratch.

 

At the point where the machine is unstable, fails the OCCT stress test or BSODS, raise the *core voltage* only by the smallest available increment and try again.

 

The whole process is slow and tedious however it's a matter of ensuring stability with your components and system as a whole. One wrong step and you could render one part, or all of it, useless.

 

All of the above advice is just a taster - you can go really deep into all of the settings to eek more performance but it's all very risky and down to you. I accept no responsibility for you blowing anything up, of course

[Boon72]

your FSB is 266mhz which is then quad pumped in the cpu which give you the 1066mhz, in your bios you should see it in advanced, the ram is normally run by SPD to change it you normally its a ratio you need to unlock this feature and look to move it in time with the FSB.

 

my board should run at 266mhz(FSB) x 9(CPU multiplier) = 2.4ghz and my ram is ddr2 which would mean on a ratio of 1:1 it would be 533mhz (266x2) but its normally a different ratio to make it higher.

 

what my overclock has done is taken the above to the following - 400mhz x 8 = 3.2ghz and because my ram is rated at 800mhz with a voltage of 2.1v from the standard 1.8v it runs at 400mhz (1:1 fsb = ram - ddr2) giving the ram 800mhz, this makes everything faster as it all runs at 400mhz instead of 266mhz.

 

make sure you keep the pci /pci-e at 33mhz & 100mhz as these don't like the increases.

[machin05]

http://www.lordswoodgirls.co.uk/files/1848_p5_3.jpgCheers for you advice. Here's a screen shot of my Overclocking BIOS screen.

 

 

 

Could you suggest the values to put in here in order to acheive the performance I so desire!

 

I understand that the the FSB reading is already 'quad pumped' so 1066 as apposed to 266

 

The RAM I have is this

OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition

 

I've gone into the RAM config pages below and set the CAS Latenecy to 5. Should I be changing the RAM voltage to 2.1v (on the first screen), as specced on the OCZ webpage

 

http://www.lordswoodgirls.co.uk/files/1848_p5_4.jpg

 

Cheers team...

[Boon72]

the ram does need to be at 2.1v according to the specs.

 

the fsb currently says your running @ 356 (1425) does this post ok?

Edited May 12, 2009 by Boon72

[machin05]

Ah, I should explain. Those are not my screen shots. They are lifted from another site that were reviewing the motherboard!

 

My settings are something whack like 1200 FSB. It's gives a CPU reading of 2.9Ghz (ish) but has some crazy CPU:RAM ratio. It boots and runs fine but it's obviously not ideal.

 

This is for my home pc so I can't check my settings exactly until this evening, would love to take home some settings to try out...