How to become an overclocker?

[ketrab]

Hi

i just wonder if you guys could spam me with any good guides,websites etc starting from the foundations, basic knowledge of overclocking. Well i know the very basics about pcs like building new ones, general issues with them but i never went into the deep science. What i mean is like the voltage knowledge... how to raise it and dont kill your pcu, stuff like that. i know i can find all that on the web and trust me i do some reasearch but i thought that some of you guys might know some VERY good resources i could use.

in advance thanks alot and im hoping for some good replies thx

 

[Zecow]

Tip : Google it

There are tons of sites and communities which provide tutorial regarding OCing. Google it - join the community they will share what they have.

 

[ketrab]

found some good website how to calculate your OC

formula is :

M(multiplier) x FSB = MHZ

where ie 12x200=2,4ghz ive got that but i wouldnt get it with let say q9550 where its fsb is 1333

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

i dont get that

1333x12=15996??? what am i doing wrong??

 

[ketrab]

or should i do this math recording to this

INTEL "C" AMD "Barton"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2.4GHz = 12 2500 x 11
2.6GHz = 13 2600 x 11.5
2.8GHz = 14 2800 x 12.5
3.0GHz = 15 3000 x 13
3.2GHz = 16 3200 x 11
3.4GHz = 17

1333/14=95--- where this would be my real FSB???

so if i want to have my cpu at 3,0ghz i would just do this

"95x15=1425 which equals to 3,0ghz?????

help im lost

 

[ketrab]

also how should i know to either:

"CPU Overclocking

Modern processor cores operate at a multiple of interface clock rates; a simple example is a Pentium III http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_III 500 MHz processor running at five times its 100 MHz front side bus: 5 x 100 MHz = 500 MHz. Adjusting either the multiplier or interface frequency upwards yields a higher speed; for example, 600 MHz could be achieved by either raising the multiplier to 6 (6 x 100 MHz = 600 MHz) or by raising the bus speed to 120 MHz (5 x 120 MHz = 600 MHz)."~~tomshardware

what is the difference or there is none or just tell me everything....

 

[Zecow]

No.. no.... 1333 isn't your FSB..
I'm using a Q6600, so i'll stick with my settings.
default FSB is 266, default ratio is 9
9x266= 2.4 Ghz (round it off)
now, if i want to OC it to 3 Ghz I just bump it up to:
9x333=3Ghz or I can do 8x400, which will give me 3.2Ghz

A FSB of 400 will give you a bus speed of 1600
A FSB of 333 will give you a bus speed of 1333 <- this is where you got it wrong. You dont use the bus speed 1333 x 12, you use 333x12

The FSB is quadpumped meaning multiply it by 4.

 

[dechy]

You're lost basically because a FSB is quad pumped (so whatever your CPU FSB is rated at, divide by 4) and DDR memory is DOUBLE Data rate, meaning take that number and divide it by 2, then all the calculations suddenly clear up.

So, a CPU with 1333FSB = 333.25MHz (so round down to 333MHz) and that's what you calculate with the CPU multiplier to give you CPU speed.

Q9550 has an 8.5 multiplier, so 8.5 * 333 = 2.83GHz!

To find out the MINIMUM RAM speed you need, just take the FSB and multiply by 2; so a Q9550 would need 666.5MHz RAM (rounded up = 667MHz), meaning PC2-5300.

Overclocking it? Buy a good heatsink+fan combo, buy PC2-6400 (800MHz RAM) and push the FSB to 400MHz. Chances are, you won't even need to change the voltage as it's an extremely conservative overclock.

Then you end up with a 3.36GHz overclocked Q9550

 

[dechy]

rofl, beaten by 29 seconds

 

[Zecow]

the aim is to achieve highest bus speed possible.

9x355 vs 8x400 (both at 3.2 ghz) - I'd choose the latter.

 

[Zecow]

rolf... just saw the post...

 

[aeiouandxyz]

Give the stickies on the forum a read and it should clarify and answer most of your questions. I was new to overclocking just 3 months ago and after reading the stickies, it wasn't as mind boggling.

 

[aeiouandxyz]

Some software you'll want to get are CPU-Z, GPU-Z, Real Temp, Speedfan, and Prime95. All of these will be mentioned in tom's guide.

 

[ketrab]

Give the stickies on the forum a read and it should clarify and answer most of your questions. I was new to overclocking just 3 months ago and after reading the stickies, it wasn't as mind boggling.

where can i find those stikies?

 

[ketrab]

Overclocking it? Buy a good heatsink+fan combo, buy PC2-6400 (800MHz RAM) and push the FSB to 400MHz. Chances are, you won't even need to change the voltage as it's an extremely conservative overclock.

Then you end up with a 3.36GHz overclocked Q9550

also how should i know either i need to change the voltage or not... i totally dont get this part.... how can i check when either cpu,vga, rams need extra voltage??? i should look into the bios and see if the voltage is correct??? like let say i.e cpu should be 1.5 --->then i overcloked it and in bios shows .8 so then it would look that my cpu doesnt get enough power or how the heck you guys know all that .... please explain or follow up with some good source that i could read... thanks alot. ~~~~~~ thanks for explaining withe the quad pump thing ..... so you guys mean for the core 2 duo we would fsb/2= current fsb right ?? "duo pump"???

 

[dallasjoh]

Sticky's the first five cover different processors just pick the one you are using. This should give you a good start. You can also find some info on other forums that deal in overclocking.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-29-180.html

http://www.ocforums.com/

 

[kyeana]

start by reading the stickies. AFTER that if you have questions regarding overclocking then start asking.

 

[ketrab]

before ill start playing with my q9550 i would like to do some tests on my
old P4 HT 3,0Ghz.


is that the right formula??:

ie. when you dont know the multiplier:

(X)xbios fsb=3000
p4 ht 3,0ghz ie.

[x] x 200(that is what my bios shows on the old rig) = 3000 which equals=15---->my multiplier???? ~~please check my math

so if i want my old p4 to run on let say 3,3 ghz i would do this???

15x [x] = 3,300
x=220
15 x 220 = 3,3 ghz -------> tell me if im getting this right???
another example:

let say if you know the multiplier like for q9550 is 8,5 so the formula would be:

8,5 x [x] = [whatever speed you want to achieve]
i.e for q9550:
8,5 x [x] = 3,0
x = aprox 352,941

so if i want my q9550 2,8 work on 3,0 ghz i would have to switch fsb from 333 to aprox 353???? am i getting this right????

also DO I HAVE TO RAISE RAM FSB WHEN OVERCLOCKING PCU OR HAS IS THAT WORK?

so if im talking memory that is 1066 i would do this: 1066/4=266,5

SO THAT MEANS THAT [266,5mhz is the max my fsb can work??]
i dont get that it means that memory should be equal to cpu??
since q9550 works on 333 and my rams work on 266,5 i cant overclock or what .... im lost :/ ... got this confusion from this sticky:
"The number after it is the data transfer rate. Simply divide it by 4 to get the maximum FSB speed for which the module is rated. Example: 1600/4 = 400 MHz. Therefore, DDR3-1600 can work on systems with a FSB of up to 400 MHz (anything more and you’re lucky). " ~~tomshardware

In advance thanks alot

 

[kyeana]

The ram speed is determined by the FSB (double the FSB). ie lets say the multiplier is 10 and your FSB is 333. In this situation your ram would be running at 666 (333 * 2 for the double data rate) and the cpu would be running at 3.33 GHZ

You should really go over those stickies in depth again, they go over all of this and in much more detail:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

 

[kyeana]

Also make sure you understand what the ram divider is (another way to determin how fast the ram runs). If you have no idea what im talking about google Ram Divider.

Note that when you are attempting to overclock you should keep the ratio to 1:1

 

[ketrab]

no no i think i mest things up it was about ddr3 but since im going to use ddr2 with 1066 check my math please:


1066/2=533
533mhz this is the max my memory can work right? and since pcu and memory must keep up to each others lets take q9550 and try this:


8,5 x 533 = aprox 4,5ghz ---> which probably is impossible but my point is mathematicly is this the right number????

but let say i just want 2,8 to go up to 3,3:

8,5 x [x] = 3300
x= aprox 388
8,5 x 388 =3298

where 388 is much less then 1066/2=533 so do i have to do something with my rams or leave it how it is.????

 

[kyeana]

your math is correct, and yes your ram wont be running at 1066. The reason 1066 ram is helpful is because it gives you more headroom to overclock (because you will never get your fsb up to 533+, so you dont have to worry about that bottleing you overclock).

Your ram will be running slower but that isn't going to make much of a performance difference at all, just get your cpu as high as you can.

 

[ketrab]

Your ram will be running slower but that isn't going to make much of a performance difference at all, just get your cpu as high as you can.

why my ram will be runnin slower??? cuz we dont have 1:1 ratio or what

1066/2=533mhz where my cpu ie 1333/4=333 but buy overclocking them we actually are closer to 1:1 ratio so how come we will make ram slower??? please clarify

 

[cerulean]

You're confused about the terminology of the ratio that everyone is referring to. Generally when people speak of the RAM ratio they are referring to the ratio of your FSB to your DRAM, where a 1:1 ratio means (in the case of DDR) that a 333 FSB would effectively run its DDR DRAM at a 667 (rounding error) MHz clock rate. Basically the ratio is the number of clock cycles that advance on the FSB vs. the clock rate at which DRAM is accessed.

People generally stick to a 1:1 ratio because you don't have wait times due to the FSB and DRAM not being synchronized identically. This can mean that if they are at different ratios your system may have to wait for the data on the mem bus to become available, even though you might be running the memory at a higher clock rate if the ratio is increased. Basically the MHz rating on RAM is the interval rate (1/clock) at which data can be accessed (DDR data can be accessed on both the rising and falling edge of a cycle, of course). The CAS timings on RAM that you may see basically tells you the number of clocks that it takes the memory to provide the requested data to the mem bus so that the CPU can make use of it. This is why some people may try to reduce the timings on their RAM, especially if they are running it at a lower frequency than its default rating. i.e. DDR-800 running at 667 may be able to reliably provide data at higher speeds (lower mem timings, since the interval time is 1/clock, as I mentioned earlier) than its 800 rating since it is accessed less frequently.

The CPU multiplier is a direct multiplier of the FSB, which gets you your CPU clock rate. Similarly, this is, basically, the rate at which the CPU processes instructions.

Edit: Clarifications. Rounding error is a bit vague also. In the example I gave, the real FSB is 333 1/3 which becomes 666 2/3 when doubled due to the DDR, but generally speaking is rounded up to 667.

 

[zodiacfml]

tsk, this is too complicated for the new guy.
hey, just overclock your processor first by increasing or playing with the FSB first in small increments.
Reaching the limit, raise to voltage of the processor in small increments to allow higher FSB.

from there, you'll learn easily how to overclock/tweak other systems.
also, you might want to skip tweaking the memory because it adds negligble improvements in games unless on synthetic benchmarks, encoding, and rendering stuffs.

 

[V3NOM]

look, just read the ocing quads and duals guide and computronix's temp guide.. don't see how you couldn't understand after them.