Overclocking Guide

[ferrari_freak]

As stated before, post counted isn't what counts, its the quality of the post. Very useful for noobs to OCing (like me). Great guide!

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[G.N.U.]Fragman]

yeah i am not sure if i am right in my theory about a64 OC ......if i am plz correct me.

theoretically shouldnt it matter very much if you OC via the FSB or the multiplier....(my theory is based on somebody who sounded like they knew a lot about the case) I heard that because of the HTT technology dividers didnt mean any real loss in performance as long as you kept the mhz above 333 on them.....and since i also heard that they love tight timings you should actually just adjust timings as low as possible and then take them to the limit with those timings and then put dividers for the rest.

...IF the CPU had been unlocked in the multiplier you could actually have raised it on that instead of the FSB with the same performance......as long as you keep ram above 333mhz.

is this 100% right, partly or bogus ??

nobody really could answer this anywhere else...what would be a safe 24/7 vcore for a 3700+ SD ??? cooled by a thermalright xp120.

[jt_aus]

Hi ULJarad,
Great OC guide, I found it really useful!!

Just one question though, What about the HTT multiplier?
I'm currently using an FX-57 and (correct me if I'm wrong) if you try to run for example @280 FSB (or for that matter anything above 200) without lowering the HTT multiplier (LDT) you will exceed the 2GHz (1000MHz each way) maximum hypertransport amount, causing the system to cease working?

It would be a shame for a noob to use this great guide and end up crashing their system.

[ULJarad]

Try and keep the speed near 1000, 1050 tops. In your case, use a 3x or 3.5x. The system crashing isn't a big deal since rebooting is the computers way of preventing harmful damage being done.

[jt_aus]

Yeah, learned that the hard way. Comp wouldn't even boot afterwards, had to do a CMOS reset and then it wouldn't read my dual sata drives in RAID 0. Fixed now though.

Just thought it would be worthwhile mentioning it in your guide for noobs. Seems you've put so much work into it already. It's a horrible feeling when you think you've done every right for an OC and then your comp crashes.

[Horikin]

Nice Guide!
but still i need help.
I know my winnie can hit htt275 with 8X multi
memory can hit 240MHz (PC3200)
now i'm trying another oc with multi X10 and HTT230
If i try to push more i get an error message from Prime 95.
(FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expect less than 0.4)
How do I resolve this error?

Specs:Athlon64 3200+
k8NS Gigabyte ultra250 NF3 F5 Bios
512 PC 3200
MSI NX6600 GT
160 GB Sata
Zalman CNPS 7000

[Random]

Great basics guide, i really appreciate it. Not everyone is "leet" in here.

Thank you.

[Raksasa]

Yup, a nother NUB says job well done :-)

Raksasa

[SlyMaelstrom]

Excellent guide! May I recommend an update, however, for the Conroe chips? Like their safety zone temps... I know you can find most of it in the Intel forum, but a few lines about them in this sticky would be prime because I'm sure many people go here first.

Also, does anyone know what the MAX temp is for an E6600 or really any chip? I understand you're supposed to stay below 60°, but I assume that's for daily use (currently my processor stays below 60°C on load). So what about for Overclock testing? Like if I were to really push my processor where the temps were around 70-75°C for about 30-45 minutes, would that be very dangerous?

Thanks for the info, and great guide, again...

[vartkes]

First of all thanks for providing a great source of information on overclocking. I am new at overclocking so I am taking it slowly. I managed to overclock my cpu with only changing the value of the FSB. Now it has reached the point where FSB cannot be increased without changing voltage values and ram speed. I want some idea of what values to change and how much to increment it and what's the limit? Below is the details of my system.

FSB 1.250 V
MC/ICH 1.525 V
CPV CoreV) 1.3250 V

RAM 1.84 V

ANTEC TRUEPOWER TRIO 650 POWER SUPPLY
INTEL 975XBX2 MAIN BOARD (with latest bios update)
INTEL E6700 (overcloked to 3020 ghz)
4 KINGSTON KVR800D2N5/1G DDR2 RAM
INNO3D 8800 GTX (overcloked to 616/2150)
ZALMAN LED9700NT CPU COOLER
ANTEC VGA COOLER
1 ANTEC SPOT COOLER (graphic card)
2 ANTEC SPOT COOLERS (RAM)
ANTEC TRI SPEED 80MM LED COOLER CASE FAN
2 7200RPM 160GB HD
1 7200RPM 80GB HD
SAMSUNG DVD/+-R/WR
HP DVD 16 X R
CASE ENLIGHT
20" HP LP2065 LCD MONITOR

P.S. I read something about locking the PCI BUS. Is this valued locked by default or not?

[Student01]

first of all....MAN!!! thx god. THANK YOU for this guide!!!!

one thing tho, im a little confused.
You say fsb x multiplier = cpu speed.

but an e6300 stock clocks 1860 mhz, and it's spec says it has an fsb of 1066MHz. soooooooo, it's duo-pumped, which means 1066/2=533 <-- is this it's fsb speed? as i found out e6300's fsb speed is 266. plz tell me what i've done to make my calculation wrong? T_T

[boardonwheels]

Thank you so much for this guide!! I havent been able to find anything like this serching google...

[MindhacK-]

nice guide, thx!

[Frag Maniac]

Can someone tell me where Saaya's i7 overclocking guide is? I watched the NCIX i7 overclocking guide which was said to be based on his guide, but they blew through it too fast for me to follow it well. They referred to XtremeSystems when they mentioned Saaya, so I thought I'd find it here, but no luck so far. I need an up to date step by step guide for beginners specifically for the i7s.

[koda]

Can someone tell me where Saaya's i7 overclocking guide is? I watched the NCIX i7 overclocking guide which was said to be based on his guide, but they blew through it too fast for me to follow it well. They referred to XtremeSystems when they mentioned Saaya, so I thought I'd find it here, but no luck so far. I need an up to date step by step guide for beginners specifically for the i7s.

Hi,
Did you refer to this one or maybe this one ?

Good luck with your CPU

[Frag Maniac]

Thanks Koda, those must be what NCIX was talking about. Unfortunately they are no easier for me to follow and I'm not even sure now after reading his saying that the FPS gains are only about 10% average that I should bother with it at all. I've been toying with the idea of using a stock i7 870 instead of OCing a i7 920, which has a much higher Turbo Boost of 3.2GHz with 4 cores active, but I was counting on getting an X58 board because of the better upgrade path. After having seen an ASUS model P55 for well under $300 with SATA III though, I'm tempted. I'm not sure the 16 lane Pci-Ex restriction would be adequate for two top shelf single GPU DX11 Nvidia cards though, which is the upgrade scenario I'm considering. Those cards may be the first single GPU ones to exceed 8x usage.

I miss the Core 2s that were clocked as high as 3.6GHz stock. Stock speeds on quads are a joke considering what OC speeds they're capable of. I really don't get Intel's thinking there. Seems to me they are limiting sales somewhat by forcing people to OC to get non bottle neck speeds with high end GPUs. Many don't care to get involved in OCing, in fact I would say probably most don't, especially considering how most all the guides for it breeze through it too fast without actually showing you the step by step process and/or inundate you with charts and numbers. I'd be willing to buy a DVD video of a thorough OC guide, but I know of no such thing. A 10 minute limit YouTube video does not cut it for this kind of guide, and the videos are the closest thing I've seen the to the step by step instruction I'm looking for.

[ULJarad]

Ohai. Glad to see my guide is still helping people even if it's super outdated.

Wow, my sig system is outdated too!

[Frag Maniac]

Glad to see my guide is still helping people...

Well, so much for reading my response.

Doesn't matter anyway. I've decided to get an i7 960 and forget about OCing. If all goes well I'll get it right after the i9s come at a reduced price.

[ULJarad]

You only asked one question, and it was about someone else's guide.

[Frag Maniac]

You only asked one question, and it was about someone else's guide.

I was referring to your saying glad it's still helping people after my indicating I need a more up to date, step by step guide. In other words I did look at it, couldn't get much use out of it, and my words pretty much went ignored when you said it was still helping people.

I know it's a valued contribution to make such a thing, I just think too many guides assume knowledge from the user that isn't necessarily there, like the minute steps between point A and B when you make all the tweaks necessary for a stable, efficient OC. No one really writes them that way, that is my frustration. They all talk more in terms of what end result should be aimed for vs detailing the process along the way.

Some have indicated all settings but Vcore and memory bus can be left at auto to simplify things, but from what I've read you don't get as efficient an OC that way, yet the people that say that won't detail how to make all those tweaks as you go. They just assume you know.

[ULJarad]

I was referring to your saying glad it's still helping people after my indicating I need a more up to date, step by step guide. In other words I did look at it, couldn't get much use out of it, and my words pretty much went ignored when you said it was still helping people.

I didn't quote you nor refer to you directly in the post in question; I was direction towards anyone who read/posted in the thread in general.

I know it's a valued contribution to make such a thing, I just think too many of them assume knowledge from the user that isn't necessarily there, like the minute steps between point A and B when you make all the tweaks necessary for a stable, efficient OC. No one really writes them that way, that is my frustration. They all talk more in terms of what end result should be aimed for vs detailing the process along the way.

There are no direct steps between point A and point B because there aren't any. It's a learning process that uses trial and error, and the guide is only intended as just that: a guide.

Although a lot of stuff from my guide is outdated, the basics are the same.
1) Find out (aka Google) for a vcore others with your CPU say to not go above
2) Find out (aka Google) the max safe load temperature
3) Start with stock voltage
4) Increase bus speed by 5mhz until unstable
5) If voltage is below recommended limit, increase by 0.05v
6) If temps are okay, go back to step 4
7) Success! You have unlocked the overclock achievement!

Some have indicated all settings but Vcore and memory bus can be left at auto to simplify things, but from what I've read you don't get as efficient an OC that way, yet the people that say that won't detail how to make all those tweaks as you go. They just assume you know.

Knowing what to do does help, but if you're still unsure about the above mini-guide I listed above, don't worry about it just yet.

[onex]

ULJarad,
thanks for the guide,
it's actually one of the fewest that really simplifies the basic details for an OC approach,
u'r effort comes above the details that that guy has mentioned, though he's point was true - not talking currently of course.
it seemed like a bit of underestimation or a misunderstanding relatively to the standard which is seen at XS, it is an OC forum (in general), and saying people would hardly be interested in LN2, phase, cascade cooling etc, seems a bit awkward , probably even at that time of posting .

regardless of that matter, the guide (even though it got old with time), is very nice, and it is actually a necessity that people shall share such simplified guides concerning each and every other misunderstood area through computing - and in general.

so it might have been long ago, yet, it count still as a basic step entering that area -or more precisely-, it brings a more profound understanding of computers and HW -respectively-.

it seems as if recent years weren't too kind with OC'rs, yet currently the wheel has rolled and manufacturers, the HW, and the enthusiasts, are more open to to this field,
posing more options, wider support (whether it's with a more reliable HW - manufacturer responsiveness to this area - BIOS compatibility, modding options, cooling, cases and etc.).

the best thing to see is that people who has gone long ago, do find they're way back to the forum and hopefully,
we all get even more cooperative, more together - as timer comes!

this is awesome

and the way to go .

[ScottALot]

Thanks for this guide. I appreciate how long it's been since the last update, but most of the basics still apply. Still, maybe an update is in order for the RAM and the new elements like HyperThreading.

[miahallen]

Thanks for this guide. I appreciate how long it's been since the last update, but most of the basics still apply. Still, maybe an update is in order for the RAM and the new elements like HyperThreading.

Check the sticky in the Intel section