Noobie needs help

[Gotwood]

Hi there

I have built many computers for customers but have never done any over clocking.

Any help and starting pointers would be greatly appreciated.

AMD PHENOM II 955 BE QUAD CORE 3.2 GHZ AM3

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 CASE

COOLER MASTER V8 CPU HEATSINK COOLER

MSI 790 FX-GD70 MB MODEL MS-7577

8 GB CORSAIR XMS3 DHX TW3X4G1600C9DHX RAM

CORSAIR HX1000W PSU

2 SAPPHIRE RADEON HD4890 OC 901MHZ 1GB 4GHZ GDDR5 VIDEO CARDS (CROSS-LINKED)

LOGITECH G15 GAMING KEYBOARD

LOGITECH VX NANO CORDLESS LASER MOUSE

WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE 64 BIT

2 Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD

LG 24X SUPER MULTI SATA DVD WRITER

LG 22X SUPER MULTI SATA LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER

It just isn't what I expected for speed but it seems everytime I try something it locks up..

 

[VonBlade]

No way it should lock up. We've run 2.6ghz X4s at the 3.2 speed and it was really quick.

I'd suggest things to do to overclock, but you really need stability first. Try a memtest.

 

[Gotwood]

I have done a mem test and all seems well there..it runs fine as long as I don't play with it, just s litte slower than I would think it should be.....but as soon as I try to make a few adjustments to get some more speed out of it, it usually locks up and I have to start from scratch again....Perhaps I am making too big of adjustments...I haven't messed with it for a few months now...I got fed up with it,,I am thinking of getting rid of Vista and going with Windows 7 but wanted to get speed up before I did the reload....haven't had a chance to check out Windows 7 but assume you can load xp then W7 for a dual boot...Anything has to be better than Vista, I was supposed to get a free upgrade to Windows 7 but they won't give me free w7 upgrade with Vista Ultimate...I am also not sure if you can load W7 with both 32 and 64 bit at same time...I guess I have to get busy and do a little more research..

 

[AMDFTW]

OS should not matter dude yer vista is a HOG for rescources but it is depending on your increments but i make 100-200mhz increments altho i made a 700Mhz increment i just uped the voltage till it was stabe,your proc should hit 3.8-3.7 as a maximum

 

[biscuitboy]

You have a very similar rig to mine dude... I used to see 3.7ghz out of my 955 on air at near stock voltages. I would suggest a clean windows install. I'd install with stock clocks to make sure its clean and stable.

Then You can have a play with your clocks...

Clock your CPU up to around 3.7ghz and raise the voltage to about 1.45v (will easily handle that.)

According to Corsair that ram should run at: 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 so aim for close to that. You might need to up the voltage a little, say to 2.0v....

Then give that a whirl... Would say, even at stock clocks it shouldnt seem sluggish...

I'm running a 5870 (pretty much the same in performance as 2X4890's) and DDR2 and Its sweet.

(P.s are you overclocking in windows or in the Bios? If your overclocking in windows scrap that, get a fresh install and then overclock it in the bios. + Yes, you can dual boot a 32 and a 64bit OS)