Athlon II X4 630 basic overclock question.

3.2 ghz to 3.4 ghz, in all honestly be careful because you are using the on-board video which will get overclocked as well.
I would push it to maybe 3.2 ghz and stop, burning your on-board video can lead to complete motherboard failure. ASUS has pretty darn good motherboards but when it comes to overclocking the north bridge, it can get a bit tricky when your using the integrated graphics.

Thank you for the response. That is good to know about the on-board video. I'm new to overclocking and haven't seen that discussed. I guess because most people that overclock are going to have discrete graphics cards. Is it enough of a concern that I shouldn't bother overclocking until I get a graphics card?

Not really but just make sure you monitor your temps. I would keep the clocks around 3.2Ghz until you decide to get a discrete GPU...

Ok, so now comes the real noob question, how do I do that? My bios has a lot of different overclocking settings and it's a little overwhelming. I already set my memory to 800 so I could have it at 1600. So if I increase the FSB do I need to back off the memory settings so it doesn't go beyond 1600? Is it foolish to have my memory set that way anyway? Should I just keep it at 1:1? I'm not sure if I'm asking these questions right but if anyone has experience with my motherboard (Asus M4A785TD-V EVO) or bios, I'd appreciate some advice.

Your board should handle up to 1800Mhz but since your ram is rated at 1600Mhz the best way to do this would be to lower your RAM frequency to 1333Mhz and raise the FSB till you get 3.2Ghz. You can try leaving your RAM at 1600Mhz but it might become unstable one you start raising the bus...

Thanks for the reply. I will try that.

How do I monitor the GPU temps for my on-board video?

Download Everest.

http://download.cnet.com/Everest-Ultimate-Edition/3000-...

This program gives you all your temps in one screen....

Well I tryed a few things with not much success. I tryed to manuely set the FSB to 221, acctually the bios called this the CPU/HT Reference clock. That failed to boot. It also has a overclock profile setting so I tryed that and set it to 10% left erything else on auto. That failed to boot. I tryed 8%, failed. I tried 5% and that worked only giving me 2900 Mhz. Ran Prime95 blends for about 1 hour and got to 58c according to speedfan (Until I opened my case and it fell to 51c. I think I need to add another fan.) I know I should be able to overclock this CPU so what is holding me back?

Yea, cable management, overall airflow and ambient temp play a huge roll when it comes to your CPU temp....

So now I got it to overclock a little. I'm up to 225 (3.15Ghz). What I had to do was disable cool n' quiet. Should I have to disable that for this to work? It may be something else that I changed but can't think of what it might be. I also dropped my memory down to 400Mhz. Since it is DDR3 1600, shouldn't I be able to run this faster, say 667Mhz? I cant boot if I set it any higher than 400Mhz. How much will this effect performance? I also overclocked the GPU. It is stock at 500Mhz. I'm not sure where a safe setting for this is or what gains it will provide. I went to 800Mhz but that was before I started getting the CPU speed up. After the overclocking started to work I got nervous and turned it down to 666Mhz. Any advice in this area would help.

Also where should my voltage be. When I left it on Auto it was at 1.47. I thought I read that that was on the high side so I tried manually setting it to 1.4. Now CPUZ shows 1.37. I guess I need to run some stability test now.

Most motherboard's voltage to the CPU and or memory are usually not that accurate on lower end boards. This is fine however as those voltages are stable just require a wee bit voltage to reach the true voltage level.
Check for stability at the voltage you have it in, even if the voltages CPU-Z is reading are lower then the settings you put.

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE, THIS DOES NOT MEAN WHAT YOU SHOULD SET YOUR VOLTAGES AT.
For example if you set the voltage to 1.4v, and it reads as 1.375v, you can set the voltage to 1.425 to compensate at receive the 1.4v. Keep an eye on temperatures to make sure it does not increase significantly.

Also check your memory's voltage capability through the manufacturer and check the voltage on the bios. I too had memory problems when I was overclocking using multipliers/ht ref, on my AMD Phenom 550 x2, and found out it was actually my memory being way undervoltages from 2.1v to 1.85v. Once that was done was free to move my speed a bit up. (1066mhz ram to almost 1100 mhz stable on the memory but not stable on the CPU which was at 4 ghz on air)
You should be able to run it must faster, perhaps leaving it to 1600 mhz as 25 mhz on the ht ref is not a significant over clock.

So are you saying that 1600 for my memory is better than going from 2.8 to 3.1 on my cpu but only having 900 for my memory? Or do I need to overvolt my memory to get it to work? When I leave the CPU timings alone (everything Auto) I can set my memory to 1600.

So I tried setting the memories voltage (according to specs it should be 1.8.) CPUZ shows 1.5 so I put it up to 1.8 and tried to speed it up 400 to 533 or 667 but neither one will boot. This is a learning experience for me and I'd like to understand what my limitations are. Reading reviews this CPU should go higher, this motherboard should support faster speeds, and I assume the memory should work also. Do I need to tweak NB or SB or timings or anything else? If I don't know what it means I leave it set to auto.

If I leave the memory to auto it will not boot. I have to force it to 400.

im not saying either actually hehe.

What I am saying is when I had installed my memory modules I had never thought of double checking the voltage it was receiving. Once is started noticing memory issues a month later with over clocks dealing in the frequency is when i noticed my memory voltage was below the specifications, which caused it's instability. When I set the memory voltage to it's specification, thats when i noticed my memory could actually over clock to 1100 mhz from 1066 mhz (ddr2) with stability. The only issue was my CPU which was clocked at 4 ghz was not stable, so I took the frequency down.


Now where am I going at? Check the voltage on your RAM, make sure it's at specification. The factory DDR3 1600 mhz ram is actually an over clocked DDR3 ram of course running very stable with a higher voltage (typically 1.5v to 1.65v from 1333 mhz to 1600 mhz, although a lot of low voltage 1600 mhz have come around). Not all motherboards can correctly set all the settings on 1600 mhz ram.

I cannot find info on your memory set, the Corsair CM3X2G1600C9DHX. Im sure you can find the voltage for the memory, double check with the model number. Im fairly certain it's probably 1.65v, but double check to make sure.

Leave your frequency at 1600Mhz, you will not achieve anything by changing you ram settings when it comes to overclocking the cpu from 2.8 to 3.1Ghz.

Do you mean leave it at 800Mhz or leave the cpu at 2.8? My ultamate goal would be to get the CPU faster than 3.1 eventually. I'm just trying to figure out why it is not working. on lower settings. Is it my motherboard that is limiting me or the RAM?

800Mhz = 1600Mhz DDR3, so yes leave your ram alone.

What I meant is that you should not have to touch your ram settings when it is time to go from 2.8 to 3.1Ghz. For example : My CPU runs at 3.1Ghz stock, if I want to overclock the CPU all i have to do is raise the multiplier and voltage to whatever is needed for the overclock. The ram settings stay the same. You should also invest in an aftermarket cooler as well if your temps start to reach 60c at LOAD. I have seen the 630 reach 4Ghz with a decent air cooler.

Are you looking into buying a discrete GPU anytime soon?

No what I mean is 400Mhz (total 800Mhz) My memory is rates 1600 (O.C.). If I let the bios decide it runs it at 400Mhz (800Mhz) I think but this doesn't work if I do any kind of overclocking. The Athlon II X4 630 is not a black edition chip so I can't increase the multiplier. It is locked at 14x. I can make it lower but that is not what I'm trying to do. Thus i have to use the bus speed and that also effects RAM and everything else. I also have read that the 630 can reach 4Ghz. That is why I'm trying to figure this out. Even if I am using the stock cooler. I should be able to achieve the overclock but get to hot to be stable. I can't even get to the bios on some of these settings. Luckily my mb has a safeguard if an overclock fails.

That is why you need to adjust the ram timings/frequency and voltage manually. Set your ram frequency to 800/1600, raise or lower the voltage to whatever is specified by the manufacturer and make sure you key in the correct timings. Once that is done you leave it alone. I know that the 630 has a locked multi, I was just giving you an example of how I overclock my CPU.

What voltages are you using for the CPU/NB and SB? Hopefully these are not on "AUTO" because it will not boot properly (BSOD) unless you have the correct values.

im starting my build this month just like yours.. but hvnt decided on the ram

my question is have you successfully unclocked L3 cache on the 630?
when i google that question i see a lot of people with the 620, im wondering which cpu to get cause they are currently the same price at the place where im planning on buying.

what type of ram is best suited for this setup? before i go out and purchase

thanx

From what I understand, it was only the first 620's that had L3 cache. The propus core does not have L3 cache and therefore cannot be unlocked. As to what is the best RAM I couldn't tell you. I think my problems with overclocking is do to the modo. I can overclock the ram or the cpu but not both for some reason. Of course I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to overclocking. I've been running with my cpu @ 3290 MHz for a while now and everything runs smoothly. My ram is running @ 470 MHz. I'm using the stock cooler so I don't want to push it any more than that. I wish I new why I cannot run my ram @ 800 MHz or at least 666 MHz.

Did you change the ram frequency to 400Mhz (800Mhz DDR2) in the Bios?

Yes.

It says 470Mhz and I realize I'm running @ 940Mhz. But my ram is rated to go up to 1600Mhz.

then go into the BIOS and change the Frequency from 800 to 1600Mhz....

I understand that and that works if I leave the CPU alone. If I overclock the FSB at all it fails to boot with any other setting besides 400 for the RAM (800Mhz). As stated before I have opted to run my CPU @ 3.2Ghz instead of OCing the memory because I can't do both and be stable.

Ok, if you are going to overclock the CPU you need to lower the frequency to 1333Mhz and start raising the FSB, but you also have to raise other voltages/values depending on the overclock. What are you looking for? 3.2/3.3/3.4Ghz?

Well, I'm using the stock cooler on my Athlon II X4 630 so I don't want to push it very far. Right now I have it running at 3290 Mhz and everything seems to stay cool. I haven't run Prime95 for very long but I been using it this way for a while and haven't had any problems. I think is is probably enough for me. So I guess the answer is 3.3Ghz.

Raising other voltages and values is where I kind of get stuck. I'm not experienced enough in overclocking to know what I'm doing and I'm to poor to risk screwing something up.

I have tryed setting the memory to 666 and it works until I get to about 210 FSB. After that, no boot.

did you give the CPU some voltage? If you leave all your other voltages on AUTO you will hit a wall... You need to adjust most voltages and values to get a stable system..

If I can overclock the CPU with voltage set to auto and ram set to 400Mhz (800), then how is increasing the cpu voltage going to allow me to overclock with the ram set anything other then 400Mhz? Do you mean I need to adjust the ram voltage?

No, if you are raising the FSB it will raise both the DRAM freqency and the CPU clock. When the CPU clock is raised over 400/500Mhz you normally have to raise the CPU voltage as well so it can keep up with the rest of the system. If you do not raise the voltage at least a notch or two you will not find stability. When I have my x4 at 3.4Ghz I at least give the CPU 1.38/1.39 or 1.4v. Not all chips will require the same voltage, just don't leave most values on AUTO if you are looking for extra speed =)

Hmm, question how could all of this overclocking of the (gloriously almighty powerfull) amd athlon x4 630 be possible with a inspiron 570 4GJJT motherboard?

Hmm, question how could all of this overclocking of the (gloriously almighty powerfull) amd athlon x4 630 be possible with a inspiron 570 4GJJT motherboard?