Overclocking Help

Hey Folks, in the meantime while im saving up for new components I was gonna overclock my processor – I have absolutely no idea how to go about doing this,
I tried looking on google but I cant find instructions specific to my mobo …
Heres my system, thanks to anyone who helps
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate (x86)
Processor: 2.30 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
HDD: 250 Gigabytes Hard Drive
Memory: 2Gb DDR2 Ram (soon to be upgraded)
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 4870×2
Motherboard: Gigabyte M57SLI-S4 –
Answer #1
I need some CPU-Z screenshots of your processor and memory. This is required since I need to know your CPU model and memory specs.
Edit: I sourced a older article that I wrote on Overclocking, its the same motherboard.
First of, its pretty safe to OC if you have good cooling management and the voltage don’t exceed 10%. You will obviously void the warranty, but it isn’t a big deal I recond, are you going to use that PC for more than 10 years?
If your like me, 3 years is at most and OC’ing is the answer to squeeze a little more performance out of the envelope.
I found some reviews based on your motherboard, so it makes the steps a bit easier for me since I know what I’m doing.
First of take a screenshot of your memory tab in CPU-Z, this tells you what your memory is currently running on. Usually with your DDR 2 800 ram it should be at 400Mhz, since DDR make makes 400Mhz double data rate.
Usually since the CPU memory divider makes the ram frequency different, the ram tries to be as close as possible to its rated frequency to get the best performance.
Before you want to OC, you want your CPU to at least stay in the 40 degrees celsius zone and when overclocked at max load in the 50 degrees zone.
Over 60 degrees is of limits to most CPU’s.
If after cleaning the thing, or its clean its still kind of high on Idle. You should replace the CPU cooler. I got some pretty good results on a Evercool Buffalo HPFA-10025. This was pretty cheap only about $30 NZD.
Still never the less, get into the Bios screen.
To do this, hold Delete key during bootup.
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=398&type=expert&pid=4
You can use the Easy Tune 5 to do a 10% OC, which is obviously easy since you just run it in the OS.
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1628_6.html
Though I always use the Bios since it gives you more control over memory etc, so it gives you a better OC result.
Which ever suits you best.
Note: if your computer hangs black screen during bootup, don’t worry, just take the left hand side of the case, removing 2 screws with a Philips screwdriver and take out the CMOS battery, its a button sized one on the motherboard on the bottom right hand side according to your motherboard pictures. Remove this for 10 seconds and plug it back in.
I’ll cover what is required for the Bios attempt, first of when you head into the main menu in the Bios, go into advanced Bios features.
Turn off AMD K8 Coolin Quiet Control, then head back to the main menu.
Next head into MIT Intelligent Tweaker
And your bus speed is 200Mhz (CPU frequency), set it to 230.
Change the 3 lines from the Chipset/ PCI-E to the CPU/ HT link, add 0.375V each.
Go back to the main menu, head into advanced chipset features.
Push Control + F1 (courtesy of Gigabyte for hiding their memory tweaking).
Go into DRAM configuration, change set memory clock to manual
set memory clock to DDR 667. You will know this afterwards.
Head back to advanced chipset features using escape key.
Change K8<-> SB HT Speed to 4x.
Boot into OS, and check memory frequency in CPU-Z, as you see the memory isn’t on 333Mhz like DDR 2 667. As it will be higher since you OC’ed the bus, which is linked to the memory.
Run Folding@Home for 4 hours, if its stable you should still be able to have the OS running. Although its a good idea to use Prime 95 as a stress test.
If its stable.
If unstable drop the bus in 5Mhz and test, if okay increase 1 Mhz each time and test.
After reading all of this, you have some OC knowledge.
Note: Whatever you do, don’t OC the PCI-E clockspeed, as in benchmarks it doesn’t improve performance and it causes instability of your PC.
There are other ways to overclock, this way that I’m using is far by the most safest way.
Memory speed is dropped, so you don’t have to add voltage towards the RAM.
If you want to OC your videocard, PM me a request and I’ll write a guide for you. OC the videocard is much easier since its pretty short.
Answer #2
Unfortunetly some motherboards can’t be overclocked, one of the most usual ways would be to go into BIOS and find the CPU sections and change the FSB.
Answer #3
BTW: I checked your PM and I got the same revision and core as your CPU, so the highest overclocking archived using those was about 4Ghz.
I got about 3.1 Ghz using a cheap Asus M2N68, from a 2.6 Ghz 5000+ EE series, on the stock cooler its a bit hot after prime 95. So a thirdparty cooler is a must. That core has a limitation of about 55 to 60 degrees celsius in temps.
So I wouldn’t want a fully loaded CPU working for 4 hours plus to reach within that range or even higher.
Answer #4
Dragon pretty much covered it, but I wouldn’t use F@H for stress-testing. It only uses about 30% of my Phenom II, and I set it to max.
If no errors occur after a few hours of Prime95, you are safe.
Good luck, I hope you have good cooling.
Answer #5
Dragon pretty much covered it, but I wouldn't use F@H for stress-testing. It only uses about 30% of my Phenom II, and I set it to max.
If no errors occur after a few hours of Prime95, you are safe. :)
Good luck, I hope you have good cooling.
F@H must be the SMP version otherwise it only uses 1 core. Or that it won’t utilize each core properly. Yes Prime 95 is the best option as it climbs up the CPU’s temps like mad, this is good for a temperature simulation during prelong working hours.