Nooberclocking

bluepan

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Sep 18, 2009
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OK, so I'm not really a noob when it comes to computers but I am a liitl new to overclocking.

I have a Phenom II 720 and I've read a lot of the past forums on overclocking and I'm a little confused so bear with me.

I went into my BIOS and raised the FSB and got he freq up to 3400.

Restarted, everything was fine and I had an idle temp of 29c

After reading some more it seemed that the best way to overclock was to raise the multiplier. So I set the fsb back to auto and raised the multiplier to 3000 and the voltage up just one tick.

Now i am at 3000 with an idle temp of 32c

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to either method?

Please be gentle.......

 

AsAnAtheist

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Okay bud, there is two methods you mentioned to overclock (both can be used at the same time or not, depending if you have a aftermarket cooler)...

1st method is the most stable, however it can be limited due to your memory. FSB overclocking, also effectively overclocks your ram. This causes your ram to work faster, thus producing more heat etc etc.... If you have CHEAP ram without a heatsink, forget this. I wont recommend this for you, so I won't go into details.


The 2nd and easiest, but still quite stable method is the multiplier method. I recommend this for new overclockers. It requires you to manipulate your multiplier (multiplier is the number of times your FSB is multiplied by, thus giving you the CPU clock speed).

So for example if your FSB is 200.00 mhz, and your multiplier is x13, than your clock speed is 2.6 ghz. If your multiplier is x18, than your clock speed is 3.6 ghz. Get the idea? Pretty straight forward.
Now for the actual overclock. I recommend you research extensively results for overclocking your exactly processor. Once you do, you will have an idea what you can get out of it. Since it's a triple core, I wouldnt recommend pushing it past 3.6 ghz if your using your stock fan/heatsink.

Now what you normally do is up the multiplier, and then up the voltage by .05, NOT .5 the most you should increase it by is .1...
Now once you get into Windows, run Prime95 (used to stress your CPU/memory) if your PC reboots than you need to increase the voltage by .05.... Keep doing that until either:

A) Prime95 can run for atleast 3 hrs. While keeping the temperature BELOW 58c~ under FULL LOAD.
or B) Your voltage passes 1.45, in which case lower your multiplier/try again.

For temperature readings, you can use AMD Overdrive. Which happens to also be a somewhat effective overclocking software.
 

unclefester

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Using just the multiplier only raises the speed of the CPU. Raising the FSB turns up the frequency on other components also (ie... memory, harddrives ...ect.)
Either way is ok, it's kind of a personal preference. Me I try to find my highest stable multiplier setting, drop down a notch and then start raising the FSB which OCs the memory a little without stressing other components and taking them out of thee equation for capping/limiting the OC.

I see form your post that at Idle temp went up with a slower clock speed, this leads me to believe you have you CPU voltage set to AUTO. You may want to set it to the stock voltage to start with (manually), while on auto as you up your setting the MoBo will throw more voltage then you need, resulting in unwanted heat.

Always monitor temps!
 

bluepan

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I do have an after market cooler and I used silver 5 compound when I installed the CPU.

I actually got better results and felt more comfortable raising the fsb as apposed to the multiplier.

Although I feel like my processor could handle more than my RAM.

I think I'll start with the fsb and test it with prime95 and then the multiplier.

I really appreciate the crash course in overclocking. I've never had a PCU I could overclock before (sad I know).
 

AsAnAtheist

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If you have an aftermarket cooler/you used silver 5 compound than you can consider using both FSB/Multiplier to get the maximum clock.

Basically first thing you need to do is to set up your multiplier first, or the fsb it doesnt really matter I prefer to start with multiplier for ease-of-use purposes.

Now for FSB what you want to do is increase the FSB/test for stability ever 2 mhz increase. The test could be simple, perhaps 15 minutes. Depending on your motherboard, cpu, and memory will determine how much you can raise the FSB while remaining stable. Also the FSB can be lowered in % for the RAM in most motherboards to prevent the ram from getting overclocked, however I am not too clear on how to do this since my ram is designed for gaming..