Overclocking (Main Thread)

Alright, I need some help here... these overclocking instructions are practically impossible. I'm running an Athlon 64 3000+ Venice on this "new" ASRock 939A790GMH motherboard. The CPU's default speed is 1800MHz, but I managed to push it to 2100MHz by bumping the HT ref from 200 to 233 in the AMD Overdrive software. I see others using the stock cooler to hit 2.4GHz or even higher. I can't go any further, so I clearly need different settings, but I have no idea what they should be. Here are my current settings; if anyone has any ideas on how to proceed, I would be very grateful...

cpu core multiplier 9x
ht multiplier 1x
HT ref 233mhz
pci speed 100mhz
memory freq. 190mhz
core V 1.4

What exactly do you mean when you say "it won't go any further"?

My PC keeps freezing and crashing, eventually hitting a black screen where it won't even boot. I have to physically unplug the power cable, wait about ten seconds, and then plug it back in just to get it running again—only to find everything reset to a default 1.8MHz. The point is, I can't just crank up the HT ref. clock anymore; I need to stabilize the other settings too, though I'm still trying to figure out exactly which ones to adjust and by how much.

If your BIOS keeps resetting just from you unplugging the power cable, you might have a dead CMOS battery on your hands. It’s worth looking into replacing that, too.

crimsonridge2 said:So, here’s the deal—my rig keeps freezing up and crashing hard. It won't even boot properly; I just get stuck staring at a black screen. I have to literally yank the power cable out, wait about ten seconds, plug it back in, and then when it finally decides to wake up, it’s reset everything back to the default 1.8MHz... or something like that. The point is, I can't just keep cranking up the HT ref. clock and hoping for the best—that's clearly not working. I need to stabilize the other settings too, but honestly? I haven't quite figured out which specific ones to tweak or what the right ratios should be to actually make this thing stable.

Bump that core voltage up to 1.41 V and give it another shot—if it still won't boot, just nudge it up another 0.01V and try again... simple enough, right?

Andrew Fox74 said:If your BIOS resets just from unplugging the cable, your battery might be dead. You should probably just swap it out.

Actually, it isn't the battery. As I mentioned, the PC freezes when it's "overclocked" too much. Since hitting the reset button doesn't work, my only way to reboot is to pull the power cord since I don't have an on/off switch on this unit.

Benjamin King2 said:Bump the core voltage to 1.41 V and try booting. If it fails, bump it by another 0.01V and try again...

Booting isn't actually the issue, so don't worry about that. For example, I just bumped the voltage to 1.45 V, but it still won't go above 9x235. I really need those other settings. Why don't you just test them for me? My BIOS doesn't show that specific HTT multiplier, but there is a memory setting where if I set it to 200/400/600/800/1000MHz, it corresponds to the HTT in that AMD software. For instance, if I set it to 1000Hz in the BIOS, the AMD program shows 1175Hz (not sure why it isn't 1000?), and that HT multiplier (it actually says HT instead of HTT) jumps up to 5x.

Alright, I managed to hit 2.2MHz. I adjusted the memory settings to 600MHz, which effectively sets the HTT to 3x. I also dropped the memory down to 166MHz and bumped the clock up to 245... CPU temp is sitting at 55.

Hey everyone—is it actually possible to overclock a processor if it isn't a Black Edition, specifically an AMD Phenom X4 9550?
I’ve been hearing some chatter about "unlocking" things, but I honestly have no clue how that works. Could anyone lend me a hand? I think I've got the rest figured out...😁

I figured I’d jump in here rather than starting a whole new thread, since we're already talking overclocking.

I'm running an i5-2500K paired with an Arctic Cooling Freezer 13.
The setup is in a Cooler Master Case,
with two 80mm intake fans at the front and one 120mm exhaust out the back.

Overclocking isn't a priority right now, but who knows what might happen down the road? I'm mainly wondering how efficient this cooler actually is—will it hold up if I decide to dive into it?
And given my current hardware, just how much headroom does this CPU really have for an overclock?

ruggedraven10 said:Didn't want to start a whole new thread since you guys already kicked off the overclocking talk.

I'm running an i5-2500K with an Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
inside a Cooler Master Case,
with two 80mm intake fans in the front and one 120mm exhaust in the back.

I'm not looking to overclock right now, but who knows what I'll feel like doing down the road. Basically, I want to know how good this cooler actually is and if it can handle some serious tuning later.
Also, what kind of ceiling am I looking at with this specific setup?

You should've mentioned your PSU and motherboard too.😬

Robert Rodriguez2 said:If you had just mentioned your motherboard and PSU... 😬

😍 That’s enough about my overclocking habits.

Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 Le
PSU: EVGA 550W

You can overclock, I just don't know by how much ^^ or what the phase count is on that board—you really want at least an 8+2 setup if you're looking for stability 🙂
I'll dig up those specs for you 🙂 and the PSU is plenty 🙂
also, that cooler is going to be your bottleneck. It isn't a bucket, but it's definitely not top-tier either 😁

Got it, thanks.
So, I did a little digging on Google and stumbled upon this thread regarding my motherboard...
If I could actually make sense of what they’re saying over there. Honestly, the whole thing smells like there's some serious issue with my board.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2138081

It all comes down to the motherboard, and honestly, yours wasn't even built for overclocking in the first place. 😁

It isn't designed for this, but it works.
...I'll check back in once the processor hits its limit. :P

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, so I'll just drop it here. I’m looking to swap out the thermal paste on my cooler (LC-CC-95), but I really don't want to waste money on some cheap junk. Any recommendations for decent $17 options? Ideally something you can grab via a link.

I've got a quick question
I'm running an MSI R6570 2gb ddr3
I bumped up the Core Clock by 25mhz and the Memory Clock by 203mhz
Now I'm just wondering if I actually gained any real performance...
I used MSI Afterburner to do it

I mean, that's on you to figure out, right? How am I supposed to know? Just run some benchmarking software to check your FPS...

Look, you really need to lay out exactly what you tweaked in the BIOS. Did you set the FSB/DRAM ratio so the RAM is running at its base clock, or did you go ahead and overclock the memory while you were at it? What’s the HT link frequency sitting at? And how did you handle the FSB and multiplier settings? You shouldn't be leaving the RAM latencies and voltage on "Auto"—set those manually.