Overclocking Help

Deshman

New member
I've had my CPU/mobo/ram combination for 4 years now and the prospect of real overclocking has always scared me (PC = prized possession and all that nonsense) but now I've invested in some form of watercooling and seeing as I'm upgrading after christmas anyway I figured why not.

System:

AMD64 4000+ San Diego

4 x 512MB PC3200 RAM (2xDS 2xSS, Value - horrible I know)

Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI

OCZ 700W StealthXStream PSU

BFG 768MB 8800GTX OC (Factory OC)

I've tried using the NTune software to tweak before but the results were completely unstable and quite regularly resulted in freezes.

Where would you guys recommend an OC noob like me starts?
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat, just OCing my intel for the first time, but I know the guys on here are pretty hot at this Overclocking thing :)

As for watercooling. depends how you want to go, and what you want to cool, just the cpu? or the cpu/gpu?
 
name='nunzio' said:
I'm pretty much in the same boat, just OCing my intel for the first time, but I know the guys on here are pretty hot at this Overclocking thing :)

As for watercooling. depends how you want to go, and what you want to cool, just the cpu? or the cpu/gpu?

I've already got the watercooling in :p It's just CPU cooling at the mo but I might expand to a chipset block. As the RAM isn't fantastic and the GPU is already OC'd I'm only really looking to push the CPU and decrease the bottleneck I have going. Still I have absolutely no idea where to start with this so could anyone recommend a FAQ or walkthrough for basic CPU overclocking?
 
1. lower ur divider from 200 to 100/133/166.

2. increase ur bus speed slowly

3. if stable go to step 2, if not stable go to step 4

4. if not increase ur cpu voltage. go to step 2

5. play with ur ram timings.

This is just a noob oc guide. It might not yield a maximum performance for your system.
 
name='taqies' said:
1. lower ur divider from 200 to 100/133/166.

2. increase ur bus speed slowly

3. if stable go to step 2, if not stable go to step 4

4. if not increase ur cpu voltage. go to step 2

5. play with ur ram timings.

This is just a noob oc guide. It might not yield a maximum performance for your system.

Cheers, why lower the divider?
 
name='taqies' said:
Use this site to calculate ur oc.

http://www.gurushane.com/site/webUtilitiesAMD64OCcalculator.aspx

forgot one more step, lower ur ldt from 5 to 3 or 2.

im yet another new overclocker and am confused over that calculator (although im sure its a good tool), is it possible for someone to list these things to show where the numbers to input can be found?

e.g.:

Max Motherboard Speed = BUS Speed? (asus a8n-sli deluxe = Max Bus 2 GHz)

LDT Bus = i have no idea

HTT Multi = again i have no idea

Maximum Clock / CPU Speed = processor speed? (Opteron 185 = 2.6ghz)

Divider = not a clue

Maximum Memory Speed = my memory mhz speed? (3200, 400mhz)

CPU Multi = i dunno

these ones i dont know are scaring me, i dont want to get scared off overclocking by these, sorry if its glaringly obvious where i find these values, but i have tried looking. :(

the ones in brackets are for my system i want to attempt to overclock by 25% if possible.

Im trying to understand, I swear

Bodo
 
I know you guys are talking about AMD but here is a really good guide for intel (I think it is). And from what I understand there isn't a whole lot of difference other than your FSB is built into your processor and called HT.
 
Would be fun to see what you get your 4000+ to..

I managed to get mine to 2.89GHz but 2.95 it becomes unstable (either my mobo or ram)
 
Yeah my RAM is definitely the weak link here as it was initially value RAM, is 4 years old and doesn't really match :p
 
OK so I had a free night last night and decided to really have a go at an overclock. I tried upping the LDT but realised that the RAM speed also followed it and my RAM being terrible meant that it only just made it through POST but definitely wouldn't make it into Windows. I have no experience in this area so I didn't want to push the voltages too far, then I checked Ebuyer and realised you can now get a 4000+ for £20-30 so thought screw it :p

My first stable overclock was 2700Mhz:

LDT - 225

HTT - 4

Multi - 12

Div - 2/2

An average over 3 tests of SuperPi 1M made 32.323 seconds.

My second stable OC came after many blue screens and looked like this:

Freq - 2823Mhz

LDT - 235

HT - 4

Multi - 12

Div - 2/1.66

SuperPi - 32.219 sec

Upping it from here proved difficult as the RAM didn't respond well to high speeds so I decided to experiment with the voltages.

Next stable OC came in a while later:

Freq - 2883Mhz

LDT - 240

HT -3

Multi - 12

Div - 2/1.66

CPU Volts - 1.525

DDR - +0.1V

HT - +0.1V

SuperPi - 31.936 sec

Deciding not to stop there I tweaked the previous setup and managed to get:

Freq - 2906Mhz

LDT - 242

CPU Volts - 1.55V

HT Volts - +0.2V

SuperPi - 31.604 sec

I checked the HT link and found it was running just under the stock speed of 800Mhz so decided to up the HT to 4. This produced a HT speed of 968Mhz, just shy of the higher levels available on better motherboards. Needless to say I was happy with this :D The only problem was found under a stress situation in Windows, it bluescreened. Preferring stability over speed I dropped back to the previous OC and kept the HT high.

I decided the next step would be to tweak the RAM timings:

CL - 3>2.5

Tras - 9>8

Trcd - 4>3

Trp - 4>3

Testing at this point produced SuperPi - 31.395 sec

Pushing a little further I got this:

Trc - 11>10

Tref - 200Mhz, 15.6us > 200Mhz, 7.8us

SuperPi - 31.338 sec

This was the best stable OC I managed to get in that session and after heavy gaming it still holds. I would like to hit 3Ghz at some point but it seems that the cheap RAM I have is holding me back. Is there anything else I can do to this setup to grab a bit more speed?
 
Sounds like ur on your way mate, doing the right things. With an AMD don't got too much above 1.6v under water and good temps
 
Cheers man, I heard 1.6 was kinda the limit for this chipset but I'm hoping to get some experience before I upgrade and it gets serious.

I'm relying on you guys to help me pick the right stuff when the time comes :)
 
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