Sgt.Igneri
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Guide: Newbs guide to overclocking
Follow this link for an overclocking guide with Intel's Core 2 CPUs.
In light of all the OCing threads and questions, i thought i would make a tutorial here.
Here are the requirements:
1. At least one fan blowing into the case, and one blowing out.
2. Good cooling method. I would reccommend not OCing unless you have a quality cooler.
3. Good temperatures. I would say around 40-50C load on Barton AMDs, and 50-55C on P4 "C".
4. A decent ambient temp(room temperature)
5. A STABLE motherboard. Abit and Asus are reccommended.
Now, lets get going.
Pentium 4 "C" Overclocking
First, get very familiarized with your BIOS, your going to be in there alot, and i mean that. Before you start, make sure you have all newest mobo drivers available, and check what the newest BIOS fixes. If it fixes something you should be conserned with, you need to do a BIOS flash (instructions will be on manufacturers website) Go into BIOS and set all options to "user defined" this way you now have full control of the OC***ALSO SET THE RAM:FSB RATIO LOWER BEFORE YOU START, KEEPING IT AT 1:1 CAN RESULT IN THE BEEP OF DEATH
:x***
Next, download a CPU stress test such as prime95. This will raise your CPU temps to the max while testing system stability. The slightest fault found will shut down the test. Run prime95, and monitor your temps. They shouldnt go above 55C, unless you have an Abit IS7 or IC7 series, they display 10C higher then they really are.
Get into BIOS again. Set the AGP/PCI to fixed, on 66/33mhz. Now start the OC. P4 multipliers are locked, so you can only OC by changing the FSB. I would say go up at about 20-50mhz intervals, ONLY if you have a P4C. If not i reccommend lower increments. Ok, so you up it 30mhz or whatever. Now you exit BIOS and do a simple run in prime95, for about 15-30 min. while monitoring temps. If it doesnt find an error, proceed to OC more, if it does, then you MAY need to up the voltage core on the CPU. Ok so as you get higher in your OC, each time, run prime95 for a longer and longer time. Eventually you will start getting instability problems. Now its time to up the voltage.
***NOTE***CHANGING THE VCORE RESULTS IN TEMPERATURES SEVERAL DEGREES HIGHER THEN BEFORE, IF YOUR TEMPS WERE BAD BEFORE, DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS. Go into BIOS, and under the soft menu, look for the Vcore. Up it to the next one available. Run prime95 for about an hour *closely* monitor your temps. If they stay under 55C, move on to OC some more. Its pretty much rinse and repeat from here. Once you get to your final destination, its time to do a serious stress test, like 12-24 hours to ensure complete stability. Now, lets start tweaking everything else out to match the OC.
Go into soft menu, were going to start tweaking the RAM. Start to set it to a tighter ratio, getting closer in sync to the FSB. Keep doing this until you cant anymore.*5:4 divider is reccommended for new OCers*
Check stability. Go into BIOS again, this time go to "advanced chipset features" Set the RAM timings to user defined. The higher the number, means looser. Looser= less memory bandwith, lower=tighter= more bandwith. Pay attention, timings are key to getting performance out of an OC. First find out your CAS timing, it should be on the manufacterers website. If its not at that rated timing, put it there. Now seperately tighten each timing and test stability.
Those are the basics for the P4.
AMD AthlonXP/Sempron Overclocking
NOTE:Most AthlonXP's and all Semprons have locked mulitplyers now.
AMD is very similar, but a little diferent. The biggest thing youll notice is the layout of softmenu in BIOS. You dont have to only up the FSB to OC, AMDs multipliers are unlocked so you may change them. Just in case your wondering, you get the CPU speed from multiplierxFSB. To use the OCed CPU, you need to select "enabled" for one of the options in BIOS(cant remember name, just look to the right, itll show an explanation of each setting) Dont forget to chose a good FSB:RAM ratio that wont screw your RAM up.
Ok, so choose what you want to do. Up the multiplier and keep the FSB the same, or up the FSB, which will also up the clock speed without touching the multiplier. Basically, just OC with the FSB unless you want to keep the FSB at stock.
Same thing, slowly apply the OC, instead of 20-50mhz increments, i would do 20mhz increments, or less, on an AMD. Blah, do the stress testing and monitor temps, etc etc. Once it gets unstable try upping the vcore to the next level.
Once at destination, peform a 12-24 hour stress test with no faults. If all goes well, move on to tweak the RAM(read P4 sec. for details) if it doesnt underclock in 5mhz increments till its ok.
AND, there you have it! Wasnt too complicated was it? Those are just the basics, as you get more experienced youll learn more and better techniques.
AMD Athlon 64 Overclocking
Athlon 64's have their multiplyer locked while the FX's have their multiplyer unlocked.
Technically Athlon 64's don't have a FSB. They have a base clock which controls the CPU speed and a hypertranport (HT) link which is the path from the System to the CPU. The base clock on all Athlon 64's is 200Mhz.
The BIOS will either list the HT speed as a multiplyer (1x,2x,3x,4x,5x) based off of the CPU's base clock or it will say the full speed (600MHz, 800MHz, 1GHz). If your BIOS lists it as a multiplyer, it would be a good idea to lower it one notch so that it does not interfer with your OCing. Lowering the HT speed a bit will not hurt performance, unlike lowering the FSB speed on other CPUs.
The base clock controls the CPU speed just like the FSB does on other CPUs. It can be listed as Base Clock, CPU Speed or FSB in the BIOS. Increase it in increments of about 20Mhz before booting into Windows to see if it is stable.
Higher memory speeds will have a big impact on performance because of the Athlon 64's onboard memory controller. Memory speed is determined by a ratio (in 6ths) of the CPU's base clock. So an example of some of the ratios would be: 4/6 (133MHz), 5/6 (166MHz), and 6/6 (200MHz).
If it become unstable and crashes then increase the voltage slightly. Temperature will rise more with higher voltages of course. If you have an Athlon 64 FX CPU and you have hit a wall then you can try to increase the multiplyer to see if you have any more room.
*by Asus
ATI/Nvidia Overclocking
Much easier then OCing the CPU, but it canbe more dangerous. Make sure at LEAST one fan intake and one exhaust. Youll need special applications to OC a gfx card.
For nvidia, youll need either coolbits: http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/a_coolbits/ OR Rivatuner: http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/
For ATI, youll need Rage3d tweak: http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/
Ok, so lets start. OC in 1-5mhz increments, DO NOT take a big step, you screw it up big time and itll fry. You screw up a CPU OC and just reset CMOS on motherboard, a bit different, especially on expensive cards. After each OC, run a game that is gfx dependant, or a benchmark like 3dmark03. If you get artifacts, like messed up gfx, then the card is unstable and overheating, and youll start undercloking, if its fine, move on. So instead of monitoring temps like on a CPU, your going to look for artifacts in a game. Do the same until you find instability, then underclock 1mhz at a time till its stable.
And thats all for gfx card OCing.
Questions anybody???
Follow this link for an overclocking guide with Intel's Core 2 CPUs.
In light of all the OCing threads and questions, i thought i would make a tutorial here.
Here are the requirements:
1. At least one fan blowing into the case, and one blowing out.
2. Good cooling method. I would reccommend not OCing unless you have a quality cooler.
3. Good temperatures. I would say around 40-50C load on Barton AMDs, and 50-55C on P4 "C".
4. A decent ambient temp(room temperature)
5. A STABLE motherboard. Abit and Asus are reccommended.
Now, lets get going.
Pentium 4 "C" Overclocking
First, get very familiarized with your BIOS, your going to be in there alot, and i mean that. Before you start, make sure you have all newest mobo drivers available, and check what the newest BIOS fixes. If it fixes something you should be conserned with, you need to do a BIOS flash (instructions will be on manufacturers website) Go into BIOS and set all options to "user defined" this way you now have full control of the OC***ALSO SET THE RAM:FSB RATIO LOWER BEFORE YOU START, KEEPING IT AT 1:1 CAN RESULT IN THE BEEP OF DEATH
:x***Next, download a CPU stress test such as prime95. This will raise your CPU temps to the max while testing system stability. The slightest fault found will shut down the test. Run prime95, and monitor your temps. They shouldnt go above 55C, unless you have an Abit IS7 or IC7 series, they display 10C higher then they really are.
Get into BIOS again. Set the AGP/PCI to fixed, on 66/33mhz. Now start the OC. P4 multipliers are locked, so you can only OC by changing the FSB. I would say go up at about 20-50mhz intervals, ONLY if you have a P4C. If not i reccommend lower increments. Ok, so you up it 30mhz or whatever. Now you exit BIOS and do a simple run in prime95, for about 15-30 min. while monitoring temps. If it doesnt find an error, proceed to OC more, if it does, then you MAY need to up the voltage core on the CPU. Ok so as you get higher in your OC, each time, run prime95 for a longer and longer time. Eventually you will start getting instability problems. Now its time to up the voltage.
***NOTE***CHANGING THE VCORE RESULTS IN TEMPERATURES SEVERAL DEGREES HIGHER THEN BEFORE, IF YOUR TEMPS WERE BAD BEFORE, DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS. Go into BIOS, and under the soft menu, look for the Vcore. Up it to the next one available. Run prime95 for about an hour *closely* monitor your temps. If they stay under 55C, move on to OC some more. Its pretty much rinse and repeat from here. Once you get to your final destination, its time to do a serious stress test, like 12-24 hours to ensure complete stability. Now, lets start tweaking everything else out to match the OC.
Go into soft menu, were going to start tweaking the RAM. Start to set it to a tighter ratio, getting closer in sync to the FSB. Keep doing this until you cant anymore.*5:4 divider is reccommended for new OCers*
Check stability. Go into BIOS again, this time go to "advanced chipset features" Set the RAM timings to user defined. The higher the number, means looser. Looser= less memory bandwith, lower=tighter= more bandwith. Pay attention, timings are key to getting performance out of an OC. First find out your CAS timing, it should be on the manufacterers website. If its not at that rated timing, put it there. Now seperately tighten each timing and test stability.
Those are the basics for the P4.
AMD AthlonXP/Sempron Overclocking
NOTE:Most AthlonXP's and all Semprons have locked mulitplyers now.
AMD is very similar, but a little diferent. The biggest thing youll notice is the layout of softmenu in BIOS. You dont have to only up the FSB to OC, AMDs multipliers are unlocked so you may change them. Just in case your wondering, you get the CPU speed from multiplierxFSB. To use the OCed CPU, you need to select "enabled" for one of the options in BIOS(cant remember name, just look to the right, itll show an explanation of each setting) Dont forget to chose a good FSB:RAM ratio that wont screw your RAM up.
Ok, so choose what you want to do. Up the multiplier and keep the FSB the same, or up the FSB, which will also up the clock speed without touching the multiplier. Basically, just OC with the FSB unless you want to keep the FSB at stock.
Same thing, slowly apply the OC, instead of 20-50mhz increments, i would do 20mhz increments, or less, on an AMD. Blah, do the stress testing and monitor temps, etc etc. Once it gets unstable try upping the vcore to the next level.
Once at destination, peform a 12-24 hour stress test with no faults. If all goes well, move on to tweak the RAM(read P4 sec. for details) if it doesnt underclock in 5mhz increments till its ok.
AND, there you have it! Wasnt too complicated was it? Those are just the basics, as you get more experienced youll learn more and better techniques.
AMD Athlon 64 Overclocking
Athlon 64's have their multiplyer locked while the FX's have their multiplyer unlocked.
Technically Athlon 64's don't have a FSB. They have a base clock which controls the CPU speed and a hypertranport (HT) link which is the path from the System to the CPU. The base clock on all Athlon 64's is 200Mhz.
The BIOS will either list the HT speed as a multiplyer (1x,2x,3x,4x,5x) based off of the CPU's base clock or it will say the full speed (600MHz, 800MHz, 1GHz). If your BIOS lists it as a multiplyer, it would be a good idea to lower it one notch so that it does not interfer with your OCing. Lowering the HT speed a bit will not hurt performance, unlike lowering the FSB speed on other CPUs.
The base clock controls the CPU speed just like the FSB does on other CPUs. It can be listed as Base Clock, CPU Speed or FSB in the BIOS. Increase it in increments of about 20Mhz before booting into Windows to see if it is stable.
Higher memory speeds will have a big impact on performance because of the Athlon 64's onboard memory controller. Memory speed is determined by a ratio (in 6ths) of the CPU's base clock. So an example of some of the ratios would be: 4/6 (133MHz), 5/6 (166MHz), and 6/6 (200MHz).
If it become unstable and crashes then increase the voltage slightly. Temperature will rise more with higher voltages of course. If you have an Athlon 64 FX CPU and you have hit a wall then you can try to increase the multiplyer to see if you have any more room.
*by Asus
ATI/Nvidia Overclocking
Much easier then OCing the CPU, but it canbe more dangerous. Make sure at LEAST one fan intake and one exhaust. Youll need special applications to OC a gfx card.
For nvidia, youll need either coolbits: http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/a_coolbits/ OR Rivatuner: http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/
For ATI, youll need Rage3d tweak: http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/
Ok, so lets start. OC in 1-5mhz increments, DO NOT take a big step, you screw it up big time and itll fry. You screw up a CPU OC and just reset CMOS on motherboard, a bit different, especially on expensive cards. After each OC, run a game that is gfx dependant, or a benchmark like 3dmark03. If you get artifacts, like messed up gfx, then the card is unstable and overheating, and youll start undercloking, if its fine, move on. So instead of monitoring temps like on a CPU, your going to look for artifacts in a game. Do the same until you find instability, then underclock 1mhz at a time till its stable.
And thats all for gfx card OCing.
Questions anybody???
