1. #1

    Overclocking...HELP PLZ!!

    Ok, so ive just built myself my first pc in a few years and i am looking to overclock it. I know what overclocking does, and potentially how it works but i dont know enough about it to feel comfortable trying it. Essentially here is what i need to know.

    How far can i clock it
    do i need to increase voltages
    how much do i need to increase voltages
    how to would i go about increasing the voltages if i need to.

    My tools are as followed

    CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727
    Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131636
    CPU cooler- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-011-_-Product
    and a 630 watt PSU

    the mobo came with some tools for overclocking and i can increase things from there but i dare not mess with them without knowing if they are increasing everything else that needs changed before i do it.
    Personal Rig: AMD FX-8350 / Gigabyte Windforce G1-GAMING GTX 980 / 8-GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1600Mhz / EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU / Corsair Carbide Air 540 / NZXT Kraken x60

  2. #2
    Legendary! llDemonll's Avatar
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    You can't expect someone to tell you this, overclocking is an "art" and you have to learn to do it yourself. Sure we could give you general settings, but each computer is different from the next, each processor made different from the others. If you are going to overclock, you need to read up on it and understand it. For a CPU/Mobo like you have, there should be tons of information out there.

    All overclocking is done either through the BIOS, or through a Windows environment that changes settings in the BIOS.
    "I'm glad you play better than you read/post on forums." -Ninety
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  3. #3
    Seriously. dude I ask a question and I get, "Figure it out yourself". You think i havent looked around? All I can really find is a video of people going ok here it is stock...and here it is overclocked..... no info no nothing just benchmarks, and not even temperature charts. I wouldnt come here and ask an asshole like you if i hadnt looked around first. I know there are a few actually helpful people on these forums who have helped me on a few things so thats why i post. I didnt post this thread because i wanted someone to say figure it out on your own. i have enough tech knowledge to be able to do it if i can get some general guidelines. There are just things i do not know. I dont need a fucking youtube video walking me through this shit, just some general pointers like.

    -when do i know im getting close to my limit to where i either have to stop or pump more voltage or something.
    Last edited by Dezrow; 2010-11-20 at 11:15 PM.
    Personal Rig: AMD FX-8350 / Gigabyte Windforce G1-GAMING GTX 980 / 8-GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1600Mhz / EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU / Corsair Carbide Air 540 / NZXT Kraken x60

  4. #4
    The Lightbringer Asera's Avatar
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    Few tips to get started:

    - If you have a spare hard drive, unplug your primaries and plug that in, install a fresh copy of Windows on it (if its vista or 7 you wont have to bother with activation) (Also don't bother with updates, just basic drivers, enough so it runs)
    - Download Prime 95 and CoreTemp
    - KNOW what your stock voltages are for every part in the system. Write them down if you have to, then set all of them in the BIOS to their stock value instead of auto. You don't want anything set to auto when you start pushing clock speeds.
    - Overclock ONE THING AT A TIME. Since you're using a Phenom II, if you have DDR3-1333 ram in the system, I highly recommend setting it to 1066mhz to start so it has safe headroom.
    - Overclock slowly. small mhz increments on the reference clock, or one multiplier step (0.5x). Boot up, go into windows, run Prime 95 for a while. If the system crashes*, start raising voltages a little bit. Never raise voltages too high too fast, you'll be asking for smoke.
    - Pay attention to temperatures while Prime95 is running. If your CPU is starting to bolt up to 70c instantly when it runs, you either want to tone the clock back or get better cooling.

    That's all I can think of right now. Keep in mind I'm no overclocking expert either. (lol warning)


    *this is why using a separate Windows install is handy, if you corrupt the OS by crashing it all the time, it won't matter because it's not your main install! :3
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Dezrow View Post
    Seriously. dude I ask a question and I get, "Figure it out yourself". You think i havent looked around? All I can really find is a video of people going ok here it is stock...and here it is overclocked..... no info no nothing just benchmarks, and not even temperature charts. I wouldnt come here and ask an asshole like you if i hadnt looked around first. I know there are a few actually helpful people on these forums who have helped me on a few things so thats why i post. I didnt post this thread because i wanted someone to say figure it out on your own. i have enough tech knowledge to be able to do it if i can get some general guidelines. There are just things i do not know. I dont need a fucking youtube video walking me through this shit, just some general pointers like.

    -when do i know im getting close to my limit to where i either have to stop or pump more voltage or something.
    well there is a person that wont get my help. demon is not being a asshole at all. he is telling you what every body else would.
    if you say you have looked around on the net?....... how come you haven`t found www.overclockers.com then?. there is all you need to know on OC
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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by pansertjald View Post
    well there is a person that wont get my help. demon is not being a asshole at all. he is telling you what every body else would.
    if you say you have looked around on the net?....... how come you haven`t found www.overclockers.com then?. there is all you need to know on OC
    Everybody else? look at the post above your. That is a helpful person. Maybe i would rather post something on here rather than go to overclockers.com. the problem i have with sites like that is that its full of elitist a-holes. I would rather post something here because like i said, i know there would be a couple of people who actually know this stuff off hand or even if they dont would be more than happy to share what they know, and if they dont really know but know where i could look they could point me in that direction.

    As for Asera. Thank you. ill definitely be taking a look into all of that. you have been most helpful, even if your not an expert its better to get some knowledge than none.
    Personal Rig: AMD FX-8350 / Gigabyte Windforce G1-GAMING GTX 980 / 8-GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1600Mhz / EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU / Corsair Carbide Air 540 / NZXT Kraken x60

  7. #7
    Legendary! llDemonll's Avatar
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    http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherb...-x4-955-a.html

    first result in google. 955 / 965 are the same processor, just sent from the factory at different speeds.

    The reason I say to learn it is if something goes wrong, you will just continually keep coming here saying 'Ok this is what happened, what do I do now' and not actually gaining anything out of the experience. If you want to overclock, you need to know what to do when something goes wrong.
    "I'm glad you play better than you read/post on forums." -Ninety
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dezrow View Post
    Seriously. dude I ask a question and I get, "Figure it out yourself". You think i havent looked around? All I can really find is a video of people going ok here it is stock...and here it is overclocked..... no info no nothing just benchmarks, and not even temperature charts. I wouldnt come here and ask an asshole like you if i hadnt looked around first. I know there are a few actually helpful people on these forums who have helped me on a few things so thats why i post. I didnt post this thread because i wanted someone to say figure it out on your own. i have enough tech knowledge to be able to do it if i can get some general guidelines. There are just things i do not know. I dont need a fucking youtube video walking me through this shit, just some general pointers like.

    -when do i know im getting close to my limit to where i either have to stop or pump more voltage or something.
    This sentence shows you havn't actually done any research into the process of overclocking. You could have the same model motherboard, CPU and memory as someone else and still not be able to use even slightly similar settings. Overclocking is experimenting with forcing your hardware to run sometimes well out of its default operating parameters - not something you want to be doing if you can't afford to lose that hardware.

    You do need to figure it out for yourself, and there are lots of basic and indepth guides out there. Google is a good start, if you don't know how to effectively use a search engine, try pansertjald's link.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dezrow View Post
    Everybody else? look at the post above your. That is a helpful person. Maybe i would rather post something on here rather than go to overclockers.com. the problem i have with sites like that is that its full of elitist a-holes. I would rather post something here because like i said, i know there would be a couple of people who actually know this stuff off hand or even if they dont would be more than happy to share what they know, and if they dont really know but know where i could look they could point me in that direction.

    As for Asera. Thank you. ill definitely be taking a look into all of that. you have been most helpful, even if your not an expert its better to get some knowledge than none.
    You feel you have to just post and ask for information to be handed to you, instead of looking on the guides section? Good luck overclocking - if you're as lazy with that as you are with research you'll probably blow something up soon.

    Mmm. Darwinian.
    Last edited by FlawlessSoul; 2010-11-21 at 12:08 AM.
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  9. #9
    Moderator Cilraaz's Avatar
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    Let's avoid the insults.

    OP: A search for "overclock" in this forum alone would pass along a decent amount of information. Most of it being along the lines of:

    • Research first to learn what the different voltages are (vCore, VTT/QPI/IMC, PCH, MCH, ICH, PLL, etc), how different voltages interact, and what your chip/motherboard's maximum voltages are
    • Research why you should never leave ANY voltage on "auto"
    • Research settings such as base clock, CPU multiplier, RAM multiplier, etc
    • Overclock in small increments

    Once you've researched, it's actually very easy. However, as FlawlessSoul said, you could have the same hardware as someone else, but hit two different maximums on your overclocks. Everything matters. The smallest flaw in hardware will limit you. The smallest difference in TIM (thermal interface material) application. Ambient room temps. Airflow dependent on where in the room you put your case. The basics are always the same, but it's inherently dangerous to take someone else's settings, apply them as your own, and call it a day.

  10. #10
    I understand that its all different but the basics still stay the same across the board. Just being extremely careful and making sure that i am clear on everything.

    And thank you Cilraaz for clearing some things up for me. i see a lot of acronyms and such getting thrown around and i am a little behind the times on terminology anymore. Because i never really understood what goes into overclocking that when i go somewhere its hard for me to figure out where to start. what information is it i need to be looking for, but now i know where i need to start. A lot of times i just like to hear information from people that i chat with on the forums, and not some instruction manual on a site from people Ive never had a convo with, thats all.

    And i apologize if i seemed like i was being lazy but i really have looked this stuff up but i havent really fooled around with the internals of a pc and the settings and such to always know what they are talking about, and i figured i could get a dumbed down version here so i could look at it and say "oh thats what they were talking about". I just figured posting something up here would be the same as walking up to a friend i have in person and asking them the same thing. If they knew the answer they would help me with my problems or questions if not then they would tell me to go look it up, not badger me about handouts.
    Personal Rig: AMD FX-8350 / Gigabyte Windforce G1-GAMING GTX 980 / 8-GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1600Mhz / EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU / Corsair Carbide Air 540 / NZXT Kraken x60

  11. #11

  12. #12
    I have been overclocking for 5 years or so and I would still consider myself a novice. I understand where you are coming from OP. Most places I received too much info too fast or was just told to go somewhere else to 'learn.'

    I treat my oc'd computers like wild mustangs that have been broken in, always keeping a wary eye.
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