Overclocking (Main Thread)

Hey everyone, just thought I’d jump in here. I was wondering if anyone knows if it's actually possible to overclock an x1550 256MB? Honestly, I'm just looking for a temporary boost while I'm grinding through GTA IV, just until I can scrape together enough cash for a decent upgrade. It runs, sure, but I'm sitting below 25fps, which is basically a slideshow. I’m really hoping there's some kind of software-based overclocking tool within Windows—something where I can just dial it up for a gaming session and then instantly revert back to stock settings once I'm done.
Thanks. If you have any ideas, maybe shoot me a PM with the specific program names and direct links if you can.

In my opinion, it’s just not worth the hassle..

Alright, I’m going to give this a shot and see how far I can push the overclocking. I'm curious to see what kind of results I can get out of the Asus P5QL Pro paired with an E7200 while sticking with the stock Intel cooler. I'm not looking to break any world records here—just aiming for something reasonable like 3 to 3.2 GHz would be perfect.

There is a tutorial available, so please take a look at that.

So, I’m just curious—what kind of performance can I actually squeeze out of my GA-MA770-DS3 paired with 2x1GB Kingmax CL5 PC6400 and an amd 64 x2 5000? I’ve been digging through some tutorials lately, and from what I gather, my options are pretty much limited to messing around with the HTT and tweaking voltages...

You might squeeze a few hundred MHz more out of the processor..

gentleowl66 said:I am just curious about what kind of performance gains I could squeeze out of my GA-MA770-DS3 paired with 2x1GB Kingmax CL5 PC6400 memory and an amd 64 x2 5000... I have been reading through some tutorials, and it seems like my only real options are playing around with the HTT and the voltages.

which manufacturer
?

gentleowl66 said:So, I was just sitting here thinking about my current setup and wondering exactly how much more juice I could actually squeeze out of it if I really pushed things. I was just sitting here thinking about my recent hardware adventures, and I honestly can't help but smile at how much fun this hobby can be, even when things don't go exactly according to plan. It’s funny how we spend all this time obsessing over every little spec and voltage setting, only to realize that sometimes the simplest setups end up being the most rewarding. I've been spending quite a bit of time lately tinkering around with some older gear, trying to see just how far I can push certain components before they decide they've had enough of me! It’s definitely a learning process, and if I’m being completely honest, I think I spend more time troubleshooting than actually using the machines, but there's something strangely satisfying about finally getting that perfect stability after hours of tweaking.-I've been spending quite a bit of my free time lately tinkering around with the GA-MA770-DS3, and I have to say, it’s been quite an interesting journey getting everything dialed in just right. It's one of those projects where you start out thinking it'll be a quick afternoon task, only to find yourself still hunched over the motherboard late at night, wondering why certain settings aren't behaving quite the way you expected! But honestly, that's half the fun of this hobby, isn't it? Even when things get a little finicky, there's something incredibly satisfying about finally hitting that sweet spot where everything runs smoothly. So, I've got this setup running with an amd 64 x2 5000 paired up with 2GB of Kingmax CL5 PC6400 RAM, and I've been spending quite a bit of my free time digging through various tutorials to see what I can do with it. From everything I've gathered so far, it looks like my options for tinkering are pretty limited—it seems like I'll mostly just be playing around with the HTT and tweaking some voltages to see if I can squeeze out any extra performance.

Edward Peterson70 said:I was just wondering, which manufacturer actually made this board?

🙂

Off-topic. Honestly, I feel like anything would be possible if we just gave it a shot. 😉

So, I spent some time earlier just messing around and gradually bumping up the HTT. Everything seemed perfectly stable until I hit about 245 MHz. Once I tried to push it to 250, the whole system just refused to POST. Since my multiplier is set to 13, I was sitting at roughly 3.2 GHz at that 245 mark. Now, we'll see how much further I can actually push this thing before it gives up on me.

Pardon me, 😁

It should work...

Just read through the tutorial, pay close attention to the HTT link, and you'll be all set.

Edward Peterson70 said:which manufacturer is the board?

Gigabyte labels their boards that way.

I immediately assumed it was a Gigabyte board because I saw the "ga" prefix, but I had a few things distracting me at the time, so I just asked, "which manufacturer"
I have to admit, was that all the drama for nothing? ☕

Alright, let me give you some more specifics on where I'm at... I hit a total dead end the other day while trying to push for 3.2 GHz with the FSB set at 245 MHz. My RAM is clocked at DDR 400, I've manually locked the PCI-E frequency to its stock value, and all the critical voltages are set to their standard levels. Here’s the situation: once I cross that 245 MHz FSB threshold, the system won't even POST. If I stay right at 245 MHz, it manages to boot, but then I get hit with a BSOD during the Windows startup sequence—once it was a "page fault in nonpaged area" and another time an "irq less or not equal." At this point, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything left to tweak to get past this.

Increasing the CPU voltage

I bumped the voltage from the stock 1.35V up to 1.45V while pushing the HTT to 260, though I did drop the HT link down to 600 and set the DDR to 400 as well. This time, Windows actually seemed to attempt a boot—it froze mid-way through with a black screen—but it’s still fundamentally unstable. It actually managed to reach the desktop once, but then it crashed during an OCC stability test (likely due to thermal issues, if I had to guess). With the lower HT link, it functions somewhat reasonably under light loads, but as soon as there's any actual stress applied, I get an immediate BSOD.

So, here goes my very first attempt at overclocking😁. I've got my E7200 running at 3.17GHz right now. But I've run into a bit of a weird issue: CPU-z keeps jumping around. It shows 3170MHz, then drops down to 1950MHz for a few seconds, and then jumps right back up to 3170MHz again. What's actually going on there? Is it possible that the two cores are running at different speeds😕 or something else? All I did was bump up the FSB voltage; I didn't touch anything else.

The multiplier (which I assume is pretty obvious 🙂)
I’m in the exact same boat—honestly, don't sweat it too much!

EDIT - here you go

Kevin Nelson said:Ah, my very first attempt at overclocking😁. My E7200 is running at 3.17GHz. However, I have a question: CPU-z shows 3170MHz, then drops to 1950MHz for a few seconds, and then jumps right back up to 3170MHz. What is causing this? Are the two cores running at different clock speeds😕 or something else? I only increased the FSB voltage and didn't touch anything else.

EIST

Alright, thanks everyone for the help! I'm back at it on my own now.🙂

There we go—rocking it at 3201 MHz!😁

As soon as you put any kind of load on it, the thing just jumps straight to its highest multiplier 😁