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I'm looking for guidance in fine tunning my system.

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Last response: in Overclocking
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August 11, 2014 12:54:42 PM

I'm not looking to get massive results from changing my specifications. I'm just trying to take advantage of the potential in each of my components.

I need to start off by saying I have never done anything like overclocking in the past. I've just bought a new rig and want to get my monies worth out of it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q2t3NG

I'd love any help and advice that can be given. Including but not limited to software and step by step directions on how to go about speeding/overclocking things up.

Thanks!

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August 11, 2014 1:29:44 PM

you dont need to crossfire the r9 270x for 1440p resolution just get a r9 290 .......crossfire comes with lot of baggage more noise, more power consumption, micro shutter and not all games support crossfire...so unless u are using triple monitor setup u don't need a crossfire a strong single card is always better than 2 x mid range cards.....unless u already own a r9 270x and want more performance...and 16 gb ram is too much for gaming if u are not using it for animation and rendering work......the psu u have selected is not up to the mark if u want to crossfire then get a seasonic or xfx psu...http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss75...
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August 11, 2014 1:56:22 PM

prit87 said:
you dont need to crossfire the r9 270x for 1440p resolution just get a r9 290 .......crossfire comes with lot of baggage more noise, more power consumption, micro shutter and not all games support crossfire...so unless u are using triple monitor setup u don't need a crossfire a strong single card is always better than 2 x mid range cards.....unless u already own a r9 270x and want more performance...and 16 gb ram is too much for gaming if u are not using it for animation and rendering work......the psu u have selected is not up to the mark if u want to crossfire then get a seasonic or xfx psu...http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss75...


I already owned an R9 270x prior to my purchases.

As far as the PSU I had been told by many people that 850 was plenty of single rail power to support my cards? Should I be concerned that they might be wrong?
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August 11, 2014 1:59:40 PM

yes 850 watt is enough for crossfiring r9 270x a 750 watt is what u need but i am telling that just go with a good and reliable psu like seasonic or xfx....
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August 11, 2014 2:05:33 PM

prit87 said:
yes 850 watt is enough for crossfiring r9 270x a 750 watt is what u need but i am telling that just go with a good and reliable psu like seasonic or xfx....


Unless it is paramount to adjust my hardware, everything is already assembled and I've been using it for about a week now. Most parts are even past the 30 day mark since they have arrived. So unless it is important enough to swap parts that I should take the current recently purchased parts at a total loss I'd rather not replace anything.

I'm was looking for information about internal tweaking/overclocking/setting voltages etc.

I really appreciate the information though. It helps to know that when users like myself who know relatively little about computers ask for help here that knowledgeable members can guide us!
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August 11, 2014 2:09:23 PM

TT uses at least 3 different OEMs to assemble the Smart Power PSUs (that's a red flag already). Yours is unfortunately one of the Channel Well produced ones. IF you start running into problems like artifacting, instabilites, and overheating, this would be the place to look. Just keep that in mind for now since you already have everything assembled. You might not have any PSU related problems for the life of the unit, hopefully. But anyways study up on your vocabulary and we will get started when you feel ready.
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August 11, 2014 2:10:19 PM

no no i am not telling your pc will not work with that psu i was suggesting that the seasonic or xfx one would have been better :)  .....but still i think the 16 gb ram is a overkill for gaming i have never used more than 6 gb of ram while gaming believe me ....
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August 11, 2014 2:27:50 PM

damric said:
TT uses at least 3 different OEMs to assemble the Smart Power PSUs (that's a red flag already). Yours is unfortunately one of the Channel Well produced ones. IF you start running into problems like artifacting, instabilites, and overheating, this would be the place to look. Just keep that in mind for now since you already have everything assembled. You might not have any PSU related problems for the life of the unit, hopefully. But anyways study up on your vocabulary and we will get started when you feel ready.


Thats very important information to know. I wish I had known this prior to the purchase. I'll have to keep in mind that when I make my next round of upgrades.

prit87 said:
no no i am not telling your pc will not work with that psu i was suggesting that the seasonic or xfx one would have been better :)  .....but still i think the 16 gb ram is a overkill for gaming i have never used more than 6 gb of ram while gaming believe me ....


I think my rational was " 16>8, and 8 = good" then "16 = great". I think looking back now with what little more I have learned about RAM I may have been better served by buying 8gbs of higher clocked RAM.

Sadly one of the pratfalls of building your own pc for the first time is the lack of advanced knowledge.
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August 11, 2014 4:10:26 PM

damric said:
But anyways study up on your vocabulary and we will get started when you feel ready.


Ok, I read through every page of that PDF. I also did some internet browsing on Overclocking just to see if there was a less tech-speak way to understand it. To be honest, most of it looks like greek. Way to many numbers thrown at me at once. I'm going to keep at it till I feel a bit better.
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August 11, 2014 4:15:38 PM

Ibechief said:
I'm not looking to get massive results from changing my specifications. I'm just trying to take advantage of the potential in each of my components.

I need to start off by saying I have never done anything like overclocking in the past. I've just bought a new rig and want to get my monies worth out of it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q2t3NG

I'd love any help and advice that can be given. Including but not limited to software and step by step directions on how to go about speeding/overclocking things up.

Thanks!


The UD3 is a decent board but it won't give you the clean power you need to get a heavy overclock out of the 8320. For that your best bet is a Sabertooth R2.
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August 11, 2014 4:42:06 PM

bmacsys said:
Ibechief said:
I'm not looking to get massive results from changing my specifications.


The UD3 is a decent board but it won't give you the clean power you need to get a heavy overclock out of the 8320. For that your best bet is a Sabertooth R2.


I was reading where the article here seemed to say it was decent enough to be competitive?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/990fx-motherboard-r...

I don't pretend to know enough to debate things like this, all I have to go on is articles and user advice. At any rate changing motherboards is likely not practical.
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August 11, 2014 6:32:27 PM

Ibechief said:
bmacsys said:
Ibechief said:
I'm not looking to get massive results from changing my specifications.


The UD3 is a decent board but it won't give you the clean power you need to get a heavy overclock out of the 8320. For that your best bet is a Sabertooth R2.


I was reading where the article here seemed to say it was decent enough to be competitive?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/990fx-motherboard-r...

I don't pretend to know enough to debate things like this, all I have to go on is articles and user advice. At any rate changing motherboards is likely not practical.


Don't worry the UD3 is a good overlclocking board. There were problems with early versions of the board but it has been revised.

Ok first thing is to download AMD Overdrive so you can use it to monitor your thermal margin. It's a great all-in-one program for stress testing, monitoring, and making changes on the fly.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/markets/game/downloads

We are going to start with finding your maximum CPU frequency that your cooling solution can handle, then tune the memory controller, then the RAM.

As a precaution, you should familiarize how to reset your motherboard for when things go a little too far and it won't boot.





Clear CMOS, HOW IT WORKS
There are several ways to do this and it depends on your motherboard model. Always do this with your computer turned off, and unplug the power to make sure it is off. For laptops, pull out the CMOS battery. It's usually reachable by opening a... See full content
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August 11, 2014 6:48:37 PM

damric said:


We are going to start with finding your maximum CPU frequency that your cooling solution can handle, then tune the memory controller, then the RAM.

As a precaution, you should familiarize how to reset your motherboard for when things go a little too far and it won't boot.



Amd Overdrive is installed. If you don't want to skype or call I'll log on my wifes laptop so that I don't have to wait for things to resolve before I can post again. I think I remember some things needing to be done via BIOS.
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August 11, 2014 6:51:34 PM

Pretty much we're going to be tuning in the BIOS. I'd rather discuss it in the thread here so others can find the info if needed.
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August 11, 2014 6:55:38 PM

One more thing though, Solid State Drives don't like crashes/resets/loss of power. If you can run from a HDD while you tune it would be much safer. When it's done you can run off the SSDs again. I say this because I have finally learned my lesson after killing about 4 SSDs through hard resets (manufacturers always were cool and sent me a replacement though).
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August 11, 2014 7:06:53 PM

Ok, I'm on another pc now. I've got a Hdd from my previous build? Should I disconnect my SSDs and connect the HDD? If so I need to install AMD overdrive on that disk. Also I don't have any drivers for the current devices on that Disk.

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August 11, 2014 7:09:37 PM

Just sayin' it will be safer like that. If it already has Windows on it then great!
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August 11, 2014 7:12:27 PM

it does. So just disco the two SSD's and connect the old HDD. Install drivers for the motherboard and all hardware? Then let you know when I'm good?
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August 11, 2014 7:16:49 PM

Yeah I would only install drivers that you absolutely need. You're going to pull it back out when this is done.
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August 11, 2014 7:23:48 PM

ok I"m on it!

Have a recommendation for which ones are must have? Do I uninstall any before installing new ones?
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August 11, 2014 7:26:52 PM

None of them are must have if you are reading this now.
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August 11, 2014 7:28:03 PM

Got AOD installed?

Let's get started. Get into your BIOS.
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August 11, 2014 7:31:22 PM

Set all of your fans to full blast (you can change them back later). Page 41 of your manual.
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August 11, 2014 7:39:30 PM

I'm on the other pc still. My pc got the blue screen when I booted with the HDD. So I'm running system restore to try and boot.
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August 11, 2014 7:44:40 PM

No prob. There's going to be crashes, freezes, ect as we find limits. I'm guessing we will run into a thermal wall with your H60, but hopefully not before you get at least a few hundred MHz.
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August 11, 2014 7:47:17 PM

I wonder if that H60 was a decent enough cooling option for me. After looking online it appeared to be less impressive than they made it out to be. Round two of startup repair by the way. Blue screen again.
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August 11, 2014 7:52:30 PM

H60 just doesn't have much volume. When we hit its limits you will see it quickly get totally saturated when we run a steady state stability test. During normal operation water cooling takes advantage of transients and the water volume is like a buffer. Lot's of people use a reservoir for that reason.
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August 11, 2014 7:55:02 PM

If that HDD is borderline dying you probabaly don't want to use it for this.
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August 11, 2014 7:58:44 PM

Once we get rolling, you are going to set up a "scratch profile" and a "safe profile" in your BIOS. By the end of this you will have a "tuned profile"
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August 11, 2014 7:58:45 PM

Is it something that can be upgraded in the future or that has to be replaced totally for better results?

About the HDD after this second attempt I'm going to give up on the HDD. What is the plan then? I could not find anything online about SSDs being in danger when overclocking. But my search terms are probably poor given my lack of competence on the subject.

Sadly, I think the HDD is dead. At least in terms of being able to be booted from.
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August 11, 2014 8:02:00 PM

When the first batch of these all-in-one coolers hit mainstream use with the H50, people modded them like crazy to get more performance out of them. I'll show you some examples later.

Alright, it's up to you if you want to try on the SSD. We probably won't break it, but it's possible. When you google it, search for "SSD not recognized by motherboard after reset"
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August 11, 2014 8:06:21 PM

The drives have nothing paramount on them and other than time lost they are around a month old and 2 weeks old. Should I disco the secondary drive just in case? Worst case I RMA the drive if it doesnt work.
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August 11, 2014 8:07:03 PM

Yeah you can do that.
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August 11, 2014 8:16:20 PM

damric said:
Set all of your fans to full blast (you can change them back later). Page 41 of your manual.


ok I'm in BIOS, keep in mind that I use a fan controller for 5 of my fans. They are set to max on the controller.
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August 11, 2014 8:18:48 PM

Cool. Page 40 shows all of your volages. I want you to take them all out of auto but leave them at the default setting. Does that make sense? Example if your CPU normally runs with a VID of 1.35, just set it to 1.35. It's going to vary.
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August 11, 2014 8:20:12 PM

I'm not sure I understand how to set the fans to full blast. I see
Cpu fan control mode : Auto
Cpu fan speed control : Normal
Slope PWM (in blue) : 0.75 pw... (this option is not able to be adjusted, I assume it is due to the normal setting)
1st System Fan Speed Control : Normal
Slope PWM (in blue) : 0.75 pw... (this option is not able to be adjusted, I assume it is due to the normal setting)
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August 11, 2014 8:22:58 PM

Ibechief said:
I'm not sure I understand how to set the fans to full blast. I see
Cpu fan control mode : Auto
Cpu fan speed control : Normal
Slope PWM (in blue) : 0.75 pw... (this option is not able to be adjusted, I assume it is due to the normal setting)
1st System Fan Speed Control : Normal
Slope PWM (in blue) : 0.75 pw... (this option is not able to be adjusted, I assume it is due to the normal setting)


Page 42

Quote:
Disabled Allows the fan to run at full speeds.

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August 11, 2014 8:23:17 PM

my pump is on the Number 5 header on page 22. my radiator fan is on 3 header. And my bottom case fan is on the bottom 4 Sys_fan 1/2
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August 11, 2014 8:25:31 PM

damric said:

Quote:
Disabled Allows the fan to run at full speeds.



Ok, Got it. Though a bit embarrassed now lol.
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August 11, 2014 8:25:57 PM

From your manual:

Quote:
CPU Fan Speed Control
Allows you to determine whether to enable the fan speed control function and adjust the fan speed.
Normal Allows the fan to run at different speeds according to the CPU temperature. You can adjust
the fan speed with EasyTune based on your system requirements. (Default)
Silent Allows the fan to run at slow speeds.
Manual Allows you to control the fan speed under the Slope PWM item.
Disabled Allows the fan to run at full speeds.
& Slope PWM
Allows you to control the CPU fan speed. This item is configurable only when CPU Fan Speed Control is
set to Manual. Options are: 0.75 PWM value /o
C ~ 2.50 PWM value /o
C.
& 1st System Fan Speed Control (SYS_FAN1 Connector)
Allows you to determine whether to enable the fan speed control function and adjust the fan speed.
Normal Allows the fan to run at different speeds according to the system temperature. You can adjust
the fan speed with EasyTune based on your system requirements. (Default)
Silent Allows the fan to run at slow speeds.
Manual Allows you to control the fan speed under the Slope PWM item.
Disabled Allows the fan to run at full speeds.
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August 11, 2014 8:27:22 PM

Ibechief said:
damric said:

Quote:
Disabled Allows the fan to run at full speeds.



Ok, Got it. Though a bit embarrassed now lol.


No worries. No one automatically knows this stuff, and most people don't read the mobo manual. It's been a while since I used gigabyte so I have the pdf open in another tab for reference.

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_g...

Now set those voltages.
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August 11, 2014 8:27:43 PM

damric said:
Cool. Page 40 shows all of your volages. I want you to take them all out of auto but leave them at the default setting. Does that make sense? Example if your CPU normally runs with a VID of 1.35, just set it to 1.35. It's going to vary.


and this is in the advanced voltage settings?
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August 11, 2014 8:29:01 PM

Ibechief said:
damric said:
Cool. Page 40 shows all of your volages. I want you to take them all out of auto but leave them at the default setting. Does that make sense? Example if your CPU normally runs with a VID of 1.35, just set it to 1.35. It's going to vary.


and this is in the advanced voltage settings?


It is.
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August 11, 2014 8:30:56 PM

damric said:
Ibechief said:
damric said:
Cool. Page 40 shows all of your volages. I want you to take them all out of auto but leave them at the default setting. Does that make sense? Example if your CPU normally runs with a VID of 1.35, just set it to 1.35. It's going to vary.


and this is in the advanced voltage settings?


It is.


change all of them or only the ones that say voltage?
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August 11, 2014 8:32:37 PM

Yes you can leave the LLC on auto for now. We may change that if you observe some voltage droops. Which reminds me, I need you to download CPUID CPU-Z.
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August 11, 2014 8:36:22 PM

damric said:
Yes you can leave the LLC on auto for now. We may change that if you observe some voltage droops. Which reminds me, I need you to download CPUID CPU-Z.


it wont let me adjust any of them... It looks like I should be able to click them. but when I do nothing happens I can move the cursor to them, arrow keys or mouse. But, when I click nothing happens.
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August 11, 2014 8:37:53 PM

Next step is to turn off all of the power saving stuff (you can turn it on again later).

Page 37-38 disable all this:

Core Performance Boost
Cool & Quiet
C1E Support
Core C6 State
APM
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August 11, 2014 8:38:24 PM

Ibechief said:
damric said:
Yes you can leave the LLC on auto for now. We may change that if you observe some voltage droops. Which reminds me, I need you to download CPUID CPU-Z.


it wont let me adjust any of them... It looks like I should be able to click them. but when I do nothing happens I can move the cursor to them, arrow keys or mouse. But, when I click nothing happens.


Try the +/- on your numpad (so much for GUI UEFI Right?)
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