Overclocking CPU's - any gurus out there?

[MadTommy]

Ok.. it seems very hard for me up upgrade just my CPU, and its a real bottleneck for me ATM, so i've decided to overclock it.

I have a Athlon64 3500+ venice on a Gigabit k8nsc939 mobo.

It runs at 2.2Ghz, stock but should easily run at 2.75GHz without any real issues, or so i've read.

If it blows, well then i will upgarde the whole rig. C'est la vie.

I've read a few guides on the net, and i can't say i'm feeling over confident, but i'm sure i'll manage... i hope.

However anyone got any tips, insight, good resources etc etc.

Thanks.

[Sadist_Cain]

I could've helped you a lot more about a year ago when I went overclocking mad

Only advice I can give is

Make sure you can Lock your Pci Express (or AGP) port if you plan on farking about with multiplier settings, otherwise you may find your GFX card exploding before your CPU does

Fucking about with Voltages is a ballsy thing to do... and an easy way to fry an entire mobo

Don't forget to tweak RAM timings for the new overclock otherwise itll be near worthless

Check out your guides but more so check out other peoples overclocks and see what works best for systems similar to yours, itll give you a good Idea for a starting point

Get lots of good RAM, and CPU stress testers (Whetstone testing is important whatever the hell that is I cant remember) take a whole day to up your Clock frequency by tiny increments, stress test the shit outta it (twice) and see if it's stable, then OC a lil more

Power, OC will suck more out of the PSU, make sure you have enough

Lastly, COOLING COOLING COOLING!!!!!!!!! easiest and best way to get stability with an overclock, I used to use a room fan (big fucker) and a set of 3 ice packs (that I'd have on a freezing rotation in the freezer so I always had some spare) Where I overclocked my old 180mhz x300 GPU up to 650mhz :P
I'd imagine going all the way to 2.7 would be a bit unstable without extra coolness

3 Essential links

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/showthread.php?p=567765#post567765

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/showthread.php?p=569854#post569854

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/showthread.php?p=511137#post511137

[MadTommy]

thanks mate, i'm building up the courage :D But havent yet got the strength!

[Masaq]

I'll talk you through the process if you want Tommy - just remember the golden rule:

If you can't afford to replace it, you can't afford to OC it.



It's generally not THAT risky but it can lead to fried components and of course, the second you start making things do what they're not supposed to, you void the warrantee.

What's your current level of knowledge, mate? Comfortable with the BIOS etc?

[Viglen]

i have a good suggestion DON'T DO IT

1. it lowers the life of the CPU

2. it gets hotter so you need more fans

3. you risk blowing it

4. in my experience of overclocking the amount of trouble you put in to it for the amount of extra FPS it really isn't worth it

Mate you better to just upgrade your hardware every now and then

[MadTommy]

Thanks Mas.. i'd like that mate. Yeah no problem with BIOS settings, i remember building rigs when you had to set everyting in the BIOS, makes present systems look easy. But i've not had to mess with voltages etc for years now... and the guides are pretty damn confussing.

Vig, its old, it needs a speed boost, if i fry it i'll have a legit excuse to get a new rig :D

[Masaq]

Right mate, post up your full rig details of RAM - type and speed etc, motherboard make, model and revision and BIOS version, CPU etc.

We'll look at exactly what you've got and what you should reasonably be able to get as a stable and safe OC.

Viglen: degredation of components occurs when you put extra voltage through them. If you can get a steady OC without needing more voltage - I can push my 2.66GHz Core 2 to 3.2 without touching voltages, for example - then you can gain the benefit of an OC without sacrificing component life.

Even if you use your PC for 12 hours a day, every day, a component certified for 10,000 hours is only going to potentially die after almost two and a half years. So even knocking 5% off that isn't going to hurt your PC anything seriously.


Tommy - if we aim for a 5-10% increase in clock speed, and see how you go. 10% is about the threshold most components should comfortably handle without buying very high quality pieces.

Like I say, post up full specs for all your core information, and ideally - some photos of your various BIOS screens, and we'll be well away. If you can't manage the latter don't worry, so long as you lemme know what the BIOS is and which version you're running it shouldn't be a problem.


M.

[MadTommy]

Nice one mate.. i'll get this info up tomorrow.

I suppose i could photograph BIOS pages... not sure how else to get screen shots :D, but that's easy enough.

Anyway, thanks for the help. :)

[SqnLdr]

*Gets a cup of tea, pulls up a chair*

[MadTommy]

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/bombsdavid/owie1.jpg

I JUST FUCKING WRECKED MY RIG!

I fucking flashed my BIOS and it failed.. now it wont boot, no post, the only recovery method wont work! I'm really annoyed with myself, i didn't even really need to up date it!

Looks like i'm getting a new rig! I dont know whether to laugh or cry!

I suppose i could try and get a new agp/939 motherboard. grrrr

[wooly-back-jack]

Tommy try taking out the cmos battery and changing the jumper for 10 seconds, then change the jumper back and replace the cmos battery.
It should be in your mobo manual, if you have lost your manual just google your motherboards instructions on resetting the bios with the cmos battery method.

[wooly-back-jack]

that's the 1st thing you should learn before you try any overclocking is how to reset the bios lol

[MadTommy]

LOL thank you for those insightful words :rolleyes:

It never crossed my mind.