Legit Reviews

Hey guys, I would like to learn how to overclock my processor...and I got a few questions on how to go about doing so.

1) Do I need to download any certain programs to make this possible? Or, do have to rework everything through the BIOS.

2)If the latter, (working through the BIOS) then are there any tutorials on how to go about doing so??

3) Is there anything else I should know before I set out to do this? Anything at all?

Thanks for your help!

-Chris

read this... http://www.legitreviews.com/article/373/1/ it may help...

Thanks for the article mate! I also did a little searching and found these articles here:

http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=2052

So, after browsing through these 3 articles I have a firmer grasp on what I need to overclock and how to go about it.

Anything else I should know?

Also, when I did a test overclock last night and restarted my computer a little gray box popped up and said
"Input not supported" however my computer ran fine and I ran 3Dmark06 to watch the temperature gauge and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Something I need to worry about? Either way, I undid the overclock until I can learn a little bit more.

-Chris

If you are with the AMD cpu cooler monitor the temp often... if not then depending on the cooler you can be more or less relaxed... have fun on the OC

Allrighty, here is some overclocking I did.

Here is my CPU at stock, without any OC done.



Here is my stats after I did a Manual Overclock. (The Manual OC is on the right - the stock is on the left)



Here is a pic of my status when I did an AI OC using the BIOS



It seems that my computer OC'ed it better than I did on my first attempt. So, is it safe to push it further? Can I keep going? Also are than any other programs I could use to monitor any improvements?

One last thing, I have been monitoring the temperature and there have been no bad temp's. Everything is running within normal temp's for my computer.

well i'm guessing this is an AM2? I have a bunch of 939's and the 3800's always seem to oc very well. I have seen most go to 2.6ghz. with a slightly better than stock cooler. with no voltage at all. Just raising the fsb and lowering the ram multiplier. give it a try. just remember to take small steps and use something like orthos or prim95 (x2) to test it for stability.

Allright Dgood, I have a few questions for ya.

Where in the BIOS can I find the FSB to raise it and alas the RAM Multiplier? I found a Multiplier but lowering it seemed to decrease the benefits of an OC. I'ma go look around i my BIOS for both. I'll post back any findings.

well the fsb is the Front Side Bus it and the Multiplier are what give you your clock speed on your processor. It should be default at 200 mhz fsb and your multiplier should be 10 so you get 2000 mhz or 2.0 GHz. It should be under something like frequency and voltage control. The ram speed is based on the fsb. with a multiplying ratio. so for ddr 400 its 400mhz/200mhz fsb etc. so you have to change the ram ratio to something liek 333mhz/200mhz fsb before overclocking to make sure you keep your ram stable too. so you know what your maximum fsb overclock is first. I can't find a bios shot at the moment of my bios I don't know what I did with it. maybe someone else can pop one up. I only have my 939's anyway might be better to have a shot of someone with an am2 board, Though they are essentially the same.

http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=8017 this thread on my overclocking of my fx-60 might help to illustrate it.

Allright, well before proceeding any further I went and downloaded Orthos to test the stability of everything. I ran it fine under the Blend Test for 30 min's, passed the first 8 tests (took about 30 min's or so) then stopped it. Seems like everything is fine so I am going to go try and find the FSB and RAM Multiplier in my BIOS to try and OC some more.

Edit --> I read your adventure on OC'ing your Fx-60 and it did help me out. Thanks for posting the link there.

-Chris