Overclocking (Main Thread)

Hey there!

Quick question—if I have a processor with an unlocked core running on a motherboard that supports UCC, does that core stay unlocked if I move the chip over to a different board that doesn't support core unlocking at all?

Thanks. 🙂

No, look, unlocking the core depends just as much on the motherboard as it does on the processor itself. If the motherboard doesn't support unlocking, then it’s just not going to happen. It isn't like the status stays "saved" inside the processor once it's unlocked.😉

I honestly don't get how some guy on Craigslist was even trying to sell a Phenom X3 as if it were unlocked to an x4... what a joke.
No motherboard included, either. 😁

Thanks, Andrew Fox74. 🙂

Either this guy is clueless, or he actually thinks the processor comes unlocked like that.

Whether it was by design or just pure accident, he hasn't a clue... 🤷

ASUS MCP6P m2
DDR2 800MHz (though the BIOS displays a 400/800 split)
HD 6670 DDR5
AMD Athlon 64 2.21 (dual core, 2.8GHz)
Up until now, I’ve only experimented with the Front Side Bus, pushing it from 200 to 215 without touching any voltages, mostly because I lack the certainty regarding which specific settings require an increase and by how much.
When I attempted to push the FSB 222, the system became unstable, crashing during games—sometimes immediately, other times after a short duration.
If I managed to bump the speed from 2.8GHz up to 3.3GHz, how much of a difference would that actually make in resolving my current bottleneck?
DDR (set at 400)
CPU VID default
CHIP VID default
HT VOLTAZE default
Memory Voltages (1.950)
NPT FID (Is this actually the setting for CPU Vcore? It currently sits on AUTO and just fluctuates.)
PCIE CLOCK at 100
NB HT SPEED (Currently at 4x; is there any real reason to overclock this?)
NB HT WIDTH (It toggles between 16-8 and similar variations)
What exactly should I be adjusting here? At the moment, everything has been reverted to stock settings with no overclock applied.

Hey, I'm looking for a decent cooler for my $100 AMD Phenom II X4 945 on an AM3 socket... right now I'm just running the stock one and man, as soon as I fire up OCCT, the temps just go absolutely nuts. I didn't even get a chance to really test it before I had to kill the power because it hit 60 degrees already.

or maybe

So, this Arcticov thing is basically just an upgraded version of the Freezer Pro—and from what I’ve been digging through the reviews, the ratings are actually pretty solid.

Benjamin King2 said:or maybe

That Arcticov thing is basically just an upgraded Freezer Pro... from what I've been reading in reviews, people seem to really dig it.

Thanks man, I think I'm gonna grab the Hyper 212. Looks like it's on sale in that link you sent, and honestly, everyone and their mother seems to swear by it! 🙂

My Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2 runs totally fine when I bump it up to 2.4—everything's smooth. But the second I try to push it even a little past that, the BIOS just gives up and resets back to the default 2.2. Temps are sitting at 40 degrees under load at 2.4, so it’s clearly not an overheating issue. Any idea why it won't go higher than 2.4?

You didn't mention which motherboard you're running, what kind of RAM is in there, or even what you actually tweaked in the BIOS...

Benjamin King2 said:You didn't even mention which motherboard you're using, what the RAM situation is, or what you actually tweaked in the BIOS...

I bumped the frequency from 200 up to 220 and that's where it stays—anything over 220 just forces the BIOS back to defaults.

Motherboard: ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGI Express, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

System Memory: 3072 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

2X DIMM1: Kingmax KLDD48F-A8KB5 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)

DIMM2: Kingston 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (6-6-6-18 @ 400 MHz) (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz)

Look, I’m telling you—this motherboard is absolutely not built for overclocking. You’re basically locked out of almost every setting except for the Front Side Bus. It’s probably just a crappy voltage regulator that can't pump enough juice to the CPU to even squeeze out an extra 200 MHz.

Hey everyone—I've run into a bit of a snag. I'm running an nForce3 250 motherboard paired with an AMD Athlon 64 2.21, but when I boot into the BIOS, I can't find any overclocking options—specifically, that overclocking tweaker I was looking for. Does anyone know how I can actually locate those settings?

Not gonna happen. If it isn't there, it simply isn't there—not every motherboard out there is actually built for overclocking.

Benjamin King2 said:Not at all. If it isn't there, then it simply isn't there—not every motherboard is built for overclocking.

Well, fair enough—thanks for the heads-up.

Check the manufacturer's site to see if they have any software available—though I wouldn't hold my breath—since, from what I can tell, we're dealing with an ancient Socket 754 motherboard here.

You didn't mention the manufacturer or the specific model, but if you're working with a Gigabyte board, they actually have some hidden settings tucked away. Try heading into the BIOS and hitting Ctrl+F1—that should pop open the OC settings for you.

Andrew Fox74 said:You didn't specify the manufacturer or the exact model—but if you happen to be using a Gigabyte board, they actually have some hidden settings tucked away. Try heading into the BIOS and hitting Ctrl+F1; that should pull up the overclocking options for you.

Well, I don't own a Gigabyte, and even when I tried the Ctrl+F1 trick, nothing happened.

ASRock M3N78D Motherboard.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (3.6GHz) processor.
The GeForce GTX 460—just a classic piece of hardware.
GTX 460 RAM-Corsair Vengeance 4
The Corsair CX 600—basically the budget workhorse of the power supply world. Not exactly high-end stuff, but it gets the job done if you aren't trying to run a NASA supercomputer out of your bedroom.

Just some extra Cooler Master 80mm fans—for that rear exhaust setup.
Just stick a 120mm fan on the side to pull some air in—simple as that.
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU cooler.

So, I recently picked up some new gear to finally overclock this Black Edition chip—you know, the one with the unlocked multipliers. It should’ve been a total breeze, right? I figured with a solid aftermarket cooler, hitting 3.8 GHz would be easy money. Well, surprise surprise—turns out nothing is ever that simple. After spending way too much time messing around with the multiplier and voltage settings, I realized this specific chip is just plain unstable. It's a bit of a headache, honestly. After grinding through endless stress tests in Prime95, these are the only settings that actually hold steady:

Core speed: 3600 MHz
Multiplier-x18.0
Core Voltage-1.440V — honestly, that’s pushing it—just asking.

Running some stress tests and seeing temps hit 58—which is actually fine, since AMD says the limit for this chip is 62—but I'm still playing it safe. Since I’m pretty much a rookie when it comes to overclocking, I didn't want to mess with the Northbridge voltage or frequency just yet... but I did take a shot at bumping up the multipliers and CPU voltage.

The most I ever dared to push was 1.5V at a 19x multiplier—which basically just gave me the Blue Screen of Death after a minute or two.

Is there any way to actually get this system stable at 3.8 or 3.9 GHz? I’ve already thrown a ton of stuff at it—clearly nothing's working yet—so now I'm wondering if I just flushed my cash down the toilet or if this last option might actually pull through.

Hey there.