First time overclocker

[brich37]

Hey everyone just completed my first build on my own and things went excellent no errors or problems whatsoever. Now I need a little help I am a complete beginner at overclocking and have 0 experience and was wondering if you kind folks would guide me through the process. I have read some stickies but it doesnt really make sense right now. All the settings and math seem so frightening. Well here are my specs and thanks in advance!

ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

 

[zipz0p]

Jeez. That's some hardware! There's very little math involved. And if you have trouble with multiplication, just use a calculator.

Look for some of the overclocking guides in these forums. Another couple of good articles (though quite technical) are:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3184&p=1
and
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208

There are several other great articles about motherboards and overclocking on Anandtech, and many great resources in these forums. Just take some time to look through them, then formulate specific questions... it'll be a lot easier to get the answers you're looking for.

 

[brich37]

Thanks I have been waiting a while to get a new one and I must say after just a couple hours of having it running I love it... Okay I will re-read the stickies again and see if I can come up with some questions. I really have no idea where to begin lol.

 

[shadowthor]

You definitely have the best mobo for overclocking, there are a lot of settings on the rampage formula. Run realtemp or coretemp and list your VID.

 

[brich37]

VID is 1.2500v according to real temp!

 

[shadowthor]

Okay that the same VID as mine. It needs roughly 1.36volts with LLC enabled to run it at 3.6ghz. Read through the overclocking guide, its as simple as changing the fsb to 400 and the vcore to 1.30v, the rest leave on auto and run prime95 small ffts, while having realtemp open as well to monitor temps and cpu-z to show vcore.

 

[brich37]

Okay FSB is 400 and vcore is 1.30 with LLC on. CPU-Z says im running at 3.2Ghz avg temp is 41 idle. Is that good did I do everything correctly?? Will start running prime95 as well. CPU-Z says core voltage is at 1.288

 

[shadowthor]

Let prime95 run for 12 hours and see if it is stable with small ffts

 

[shadowthor]

Are you using the stock intel fan or an aftermarket cpu cooler?

 

[brich37]

Im using a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler. While running small ffts so far avg temp has been 60C

 

[shadowthor]

looks good, keep it running for 12 hours priming, if it doesn't error out its good . I would prime for 24 hours to ensure complete cpu stability.

 

[kad]

I have the same mothrboard
can you mention your bios settings
I was expecting you can do 3.6 (8X450)
but with average temps 60 it is not possible

 

[brich37]

I have left everything default except changing vcore and FSB along with enabling LLC. That is average temp while running prime95, idle temp is much lower...

 

[brich37]

prime95 test finished with 0 errors. Avg temp during the morning was 55 and afternoon it was 60 idle temps are 15 degrees less respectively. My room faces the setting sun and it heats up quite a bit during the afternoon hours.

 

[zipz0p]

@kad: The reason the temp was 60 was because of the high voltage.

Either start down-volting to find your lowest stable core voltage, or increase your FSB to see what your highest overclock can be. When overclocking the FSB further, you should lower the multiplier on the CPU to concentrate all stress test on the MCH and make sure it can run at a given frequency stable before upping the multi on the CPU again to try to get it stable at the increased speed.

 

[Bopper]

Which case are you using? You could also add an extra fan or two to your case and/or check your fans are set to high if you don't mind the noise. That combined with a slightly lower voltage should see you running at a reasonable temperature.