Hey guys, So I dont have a lot of OC experience. Tweak here, tweak there. Last night, I dove in face first. The system I am OC'ing.... Dont laugh- its the cheapo AMD experiment I have mentioned before. (I wanted to try an AMD system as I have never had one, and I went cheap on the parts) -------------------------------- AMD 955t Black Edition 3.2 stock BioStar Motherboard a870U3 16gb mix and match corsair and G.Skill RAM DDR3 667 -cheap Gigabyte nVidia GTX 550ti Antec Kuhler 620 (stock temp 32 idle/43 loaded.) ---------------------------------- Ok, So I am running stable with 4.1ghz on the CPU 56 degrees loaded on the cooler. All I did was up the voltage on the processor to 1.475 and up the multiplier to 4.1ghz. ----------------- And for the video: 996mhz and 1992mhz shader All I did was drag the slider up on the software OC tool to the largest I could without Battlefield 3 crashing. ------------- Question is: I dont know how else to OC this thing. I mean, you OC guys make this sound like the zen art of stroking your computer just so to get amazing results. So, what am I missing? This literally took me 12 minutes.... can you give suggestions to get it faster? Surely there is more to this. Oh, and I havent touched the memory. Pretty unsure how to properly OC that. I'm also open to being directed to better sources of info. Cheers, guys.
Your voltage is too high. You can leave it like that if you dont care about the system's life, but if you want it to last then dont go above 1.425v on the core Temperature has a lot to do with it, you got a great cooler so that makes your OC much easier to maintain a high speed without errors. Also if you want big performance improvements then you will also want to OC your NB core, which is the memory controller and l3 cache. So while keeping your CPU the same speed now try getting your NB to 3GHz or more. Did you run stability tests like 3DMark 11, 3DMark 06, and Prime95? And in Prime95 are you SmallFFT and LargeFFT stable? If you cannot run those things then the OC is fail because it isnt stable :/ Be sure to run the Prime95 tests for at least 4 hours straight If you want to see the art of overclocking then buy a locked processor. These unlocked ones are super easy to do and take no skill or much knowledge other than to know what is safe voltage and safe temperatures. Also, you have a Thuban core right? Cause thats what the t after the number means... Thuban has turbo speed, so although it is sold as a 3.2GHz model it runs a lot at 3.7GHz probably. Thuban cores usually turbo 400-500MHz, and "Zosma" is basically a thuban core but with 2 cores disabled and sold a quad. So you only overclocked it 400MHz, which isnt much And considering it took you .1v to get that 400MHz it is actually kinda terrible results. lol sorry But the important thing is you are learning and doing it and you will definitely do a lot better as you are learning it As for overclocking the memory, that is far more complicated. Really the only complicated part of overclocking these days. You have to look at your timings and adjust those, also if you want to get advanced then you need to know the subtimings. Start by loosening the timings up to something like 11-11-11-38-2t. Then push up your FSB slowly until you can no longer boot into Windows. At that point drop it back down 5-10fsb. Boot and run a couple stability tests, usually 3DMark 11 and MemTest86. No errors? Good, now tighten up those timings. First try 1t command rate. If that works, then tighten your CAS Latency by 1. Still good? Now try lowering your tRC by 1. If still good then lower your CAS again. If things are still good then try lowering your tRCD by 1. Now days tRCD is the hardest to get low. I have seen some people with an overclock of 2800MHz on memory but their timings are 8-14-11-36. lol If all is good on your RAM, find out what your total latency is. Is this new OCed number better than stock? If not (because timings are too loose) then stock is faster and you need to find a new angle to try and get better speed on your RAM.
The funny thing about those of us who spend ridiculous amounts of time OCing is the first 10 minutes is like 95% of the performance boost and is a few tweaks like you mentioned. Then you have people like me, for whatever reason, will spend hours trying to eek out that extra MHz that in reality makes so little difference it would seem pointless to most. A lot of us are going to stress test the hell out of changes though too with Prime and 3dmark and artifact checks etc etc. We will run these things for hours making sure its stable. Then there's the balance of voltage-heat-performance. For me personally, I'm always going to get as high of an OC I can while making sure to keep the temps and voltage under a certain mark. (Usually stock voltage for me) I'm also going to make little changes instead of big ones, like I would never just up the voltage a bunch and see 'how it goes.' I'm always going to do small increments and make sure its stable with various tests. It really comes down to if you enjoy doing it or not, I spend a lot of time on it because its fun to me.
First time I tried, I thought I had my gfx clocked about that high, and it turned out the software was not actually overclocking it, even though that was I was telling it to do. Maybe it's working but I recommend double checking and then running an intensive test on how well it can sustain max load at that clock speed.
Interesting. I'm pretty sure mine is making a difference as there was a dramatic effect on video stability when I pushed it real high. Immediate effect- the card got hotter and the frame rates got better.
You couldn't be more correct about how easy the 95% of the work is. I can't imagine I will ever give a shit enough to actually finesse out the full potential, but its been an interesting and very educational diversion.
Oh and enigma, as usual thank you for the snappy and informative response! Seeing as my motherboard was 40 bucks, I'm a little concern about pumping it too hard. I mean, one one hand- it was 40 bucks and who gives a shit but one the other hand- its extremely similar to lighting a $50 bill on fire. You think that cheapy bostar has the self cooling capacity to handle a 400mhz oc? Oh, and its not a thubian. Just a 955 BE. My bad
Ah ok, then it is a 900MHz overclock which is pretty good. However you are in the unsafe and lifetime degrading voltage range right now. So while it might actually be stable, dont expect more than a few years out of the processor if you keep it running at these levels. Maximum "safe" voltage on AMD's 45nm process node is 1.45v before you see damage done to the processor, however for true "24/7" running of the processor without lifetime degradation you need to keep it somewhere below 1.425v As for the motherboard, it looks like it is only a 3-phase power design. Which is pretty low end, I wouldnt want to push more than 125w through it. Which at your OC you are well above that number. Also it has no cooling whatsoever, so if you keep it running too long you risk damaging the VRM's and possibly blowing one of them. Which if one blows, your motherboard is dead and your CPU will go with it. Also as the VRM's get hotter then your voltage will become less stable, also possibly damaging the CPU with a big voltage spike
I lol'd at your won't last more than a few years comment. and when I get home I will back that voltage down and test for stability. Then, I will pump the fsb a few hundred mhz and see what happens. I may also invest in a couple ram heatsinks and chipset fins. Who knows, I may just get the bug. I'm maintaining the silence of this system, thus far... ecxcept when I oc'd the video card. That fan was really moving. I thought it was gonna take flight. I wish there was a company the made a semi modular closed loop gpu cooler.
Well, the CPU is *supposed* to last 10+ years, so bringing it down to 2-4 is a big drop. Id be more worried of it being murdered by your motherboard is a spectacular rage quit scenario though. They do make closed loop coolers for a GPU, kinda. Take off your heatsink and measure the mounting holes, would your Kuhler fit there? I know other people who have used them and the Corsair versions as GPU coolers. Problem is you NEED good VRM cooling for your GPU as it gets VERY VERY hot, usually runs around 100 degrees celsius with the stock cooling even. And you need some little heatsinks for the RAM chips on the GPU too. You might be able to get away with no ramskins, but never EVER try and get away with no VRM cooling on the GPU. If you can really do 992MHz on the core right now, Id guess if you can fit the Antec Kuhler on there you could bring temps down and push another 50-100MHz on it. One more thing about RAM overclocking, bring your CPU speed down about 1GB while doing RAM stuff so you dont get unstable from too high of CPU speed. Just concentrate on the RAM and when you are happy with it then you can bring the CPU back up to where you want again. The CPU speed is based on FSB * multiplier. SO right now you are at 200 + 20.5. If you raise the fsb to overclock the RAM, lets say only 210, then your RAM gets overclocked but your CPU would also now be running 210 x 20.5 = 4.305GHz You can use AIDA64 to check your performance of things like Memory and CPU. It will tell you your exact memory latency and also can tell you bandwidth. It is a very good learning tool for beginner overclockers. You can see what you are at, and then make a change and see exactly how it affects your system.
Mmmm smells like geek now! Thanks for the info. Ill be trying this shortly Edit: oh yeah, and I've considered the closed loop cpu jobs for a gpu and I have summarily dismissed it as a viable option for the exact concerns you outlined. This is why I mentioned a "semi-modular" solution. This would entail a standard loop with an optional cooling block. I knowit has its own issues like bleeding out the air etc but there has to be a simple solution without going diy, maybe we should go in business.
Ok, So I think I am pretty satisfied with the results I have gotten. I said I would put about 30 minutes of tweaking into it, and I've done just under that. Final specs: AMD 955 BE multiplier @3800mhz voltage @ 1.435 Biostar a870U3 FSB @ 215mhz Total OC @ 4.08 Ghz 58C under full load. Still stress testing but looks solid. ------------------------------------------- Gigabyte GTX 550ti Core @ 1008mhz Shader @ 2016 (have not experimented with decoupling these... yet) Memory clock @ 2232 ------------------------------------------------ Temperature under load 71c -pretty effing hot, buts its only 5c more than stock. not bad for a first try and just eyeballing it. I'd say it was a half hour well spent. Thanks for the awesome information and assistance! I may dick with the RAM later.
So you know that RAM I told you about mwhays? I have a couple kits on the way to me right now to play around with. I was thinking maybe we could do a bit of friendly competition and help you learn all about RAM overclocking. Im thinking when I get the kit that I will try and get the lowest total latency possible while staying under 1.7v. Then once I am satisfied I did the best I could, Ill ship the kit to your place and you can play around with it to see what you can get. We both have the same processor so that will make it pretty fair. I have a bit more experience but you have better cooling so that evens the playing field. Once we try for lowest latency, then we could switch to highest bandwidth and see what we can each get. Since you would have the sticks already you can do your run on max bandwidth first and then ship the sticks back to me and ill have a go at it. You interested? And anyone else in the US who has the same Phenom II x4 955 processor want to join in? We would use AIDA64 to check bandwidth and latency. It works really well and will tell you all sorts of things about your computer system.
sounds like a pretty interesting challenge. I am actually in the process- about to get started anyway- in building yet another computer. I need to get a second hackintosh running so I can load share the ... blah blah blah I'm making another post there. Check it. Anyway, I am going to be buying some RAM very soon. Why not make it identical to this? I'll get the RAM you suggest, install it in my AMD rig, and chuck the older RAM in the newer one I am building so I can have it for my work stuff. This way, I have what I need and we can compete at the same time. Then it would be a competition with a little simultaneous one-upsmanship? Anyone else interested would then be able to take challenge someone else and take both our sets as I am sure we would both move on from the RAM by that point. I bet we could even get some nerdy Tech Talk Xoo Award for the top winner approved by the Xenate, too.
haha Ill see if we actually can get some sort of award like that going. And I like your idea on it too, that sounds good to me
I just got my RAM kit in today. So ill be playing around with it soon. Look for my screenshot of what I got with it tonight or tomorrow.
Actually, I fried my phone today instead. And I have a college class tomorrow and Saturday so screenshots and play time will have to wait till Sunday.