How Important Is Your Motherboard When Overclocking CPU?

[5thape]

I have a ECS BLACK SERIES GF8200A motherboard, I would say it's a budget MB. I just got a new AMD Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition Toliman 2.4GHz. It seems like I can only get it to 2.5GHz before I can't get into Windows. I want to go higher and after reading some reviews of my MB on Newegg I know people have been somewhat successful OCing their CPUs (atleast more than me). From reading OC guides they say I should increase my multiplier until Windows won't load then increase my CPU voltage until it can then rinse and repeat. But my CPU voltage is already set at its highest. My conclusion is that my MB is pretty limited. Any thoughts?

AMD Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition Toliman 2.4GHz
ECS BLACK SERIES GF8200A
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB

 

[AsAnAtheist]

Motherboard is incredibly important when overclocking. However most budget motherboards should allow you to at least overclock 10% of stock clock, this is at the absolute worst (defective motherboard bad). So 2.4 ghz should at least be able to hit 2.6 ghz. I recommend if you can to do several things.
1. Check processor overclocking on another motherboard.
2. RMA the motherboard.
3. RMA the processor if you cannot check it on another board.

dude what do you mean your voltage is already set at highest?

Take it back to stock voltage, and stock clock.
For starts begin raising multiplier by .5 or 1.0 increments. MULTIPLIER NOT VOLTAGE,


Once you find that Windows does not load, lower the clock by .5 or 1.0 increment, and raise voltage by .050 until Windows loads and runs prime95 stable for a good 10 minutes (this is brief stability).

Rinse/Repeat. DO NOT GO OVER 1.25v... Also why haven't you already got a CPU cooler?

 

[5thape]

Motherboard is incredibly important when overclocking. However most budget motherboards should allow you to at least overclock 10% of stock clock, this is at the absolute worst (defective motherboard bad). So 2.4 ghz should at least be able to hit 2.6 ghz. I recommend if you can to do several things.
1. Check processor overclocking on another motherboard.
2. RMA the motherboard.
3. RMA the processor if you cannot check it on another board.

dude what do you mean your voltage is already set at highest?

Take it back to stock voltage, and stock clock.
For starts begin raising multiplier by .5 or 1.0 increments. MULTIPLIER NOT VOLTAGE,


Once you find that Windows does not load, lower the clock by .5 or 1.0 increment, and raise voltage by .050 until Windows loads and runs prime95 stable for a good 10 minutes (this is brief stability).

Rinse/Repeat. DO NOT GO OVER 1.25v... Also why haven't you already got a CPU cooler?

Thanks for your reply. I can't do steps 1, 2 or 3 because I don't have another computer to test it on at this moment and I bought my MB 8 mos. ago.

As for my voltage being set at the highest, in BIOS it says my CPU voltage is at 1.55v (this is the default setting) and I can't go any higher. I can go lower though...

I'll look for a CPU cooler today

 

[AsAnAtheist]

It appears the 9000 series of phenoms were not good overclockers to begin with. Give me a while I will do some research. I am at work so it may be slow.

 

[AsAnAtheist]

This is really puzzling. Are you positive it's a 8750? Because stock voltages for that CPU are 1.2v. 1.55v would of course automatically be unstable as hell for only a 2.4ghz clock.

Are you 100% the CORE voltage is at 1.55v? I would recommend taking it down asap.

Please read a bit about BIOS/what each overclocking term means. You can easily damage or burn out your chip at 1.55 voltage.

It appears most people have reached decent clocks with that particular processor ranging from 3 ghz- 3.2 ghz at 1.3v-1.4v.

I recommend you give 1.3v a try, and see what clock you can use.

Remember don't go over 1.5v which through some research was confirmed as the highest voltage you should go on that processor according to tests done in the past. Ignore the past statement I made about 1.25v being the highest, I am surprised AMD did not post the correct specs for the processor you have.

 

[5thape]

This is really puzzling. Are you positive it's a 8750? Because stock voltages for that CPU are 1.2v. 1.55v would of course automatically be unstable as hell for only a 2.4ghz clock.

Are you 100% the CORE voltage is at 1.55v? I would recommend taking it down asap.

Please read a bit about BIOS/what each overclocking term means. You can easily damage or burn out your chip at 1.55 voltage.

It appears most people have reached decent clocks with that particular processor ranging from 3 ghz- 3.2 ghz at 1.3v-1.4v.

I recommend you give 1.3v a try, and see what clock you can use.

Remember don't go over 1.5v which through some research was confirmed as the highest voltage you should go on that processor according to tests done in the past. Ignore the past statement I made about 1.25v being the highest, I am surprised AMD did not post the correct specs for the processor you have.

Once again thanks for your thorough replies. So here's an update. I don't know why but 1.55v was the default setting for my chip, I reset my BIOS setting to default just to make sure. So following your advice I lowered it to the minimum and started OCing until I got my got stable at 2.9GHz at 2.275v. But I checked my CPU temp and it was at 77C which I'm guessing is WAY too hot. So I went back to the default clock speed and I'm going to leave it there until I get a CPU cooler. But at least I know it's possible to OC! Thanks for your help!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Hi end overclocking features such as extremely stable power and BIOS features can easily add $100 to the price of a mobo.

 

[AsAnAtheist]

Once again thanks for your thorough replies. So here's an update. I don't know why but 1.55v was the default setting for my chip, I reset my BIOS setting to default just to make sure. So following your advice I lowered it to the minimum and started OCing until I got my got stable at 2.9GHz at 2.275v. But I checked my CPU temp and it was at 77C which I'm guessing is WAY too hot. So I went back to the default clock speed and I'm going to leave it there until I get a CPU cooler. But at least I know it's possible to OC! Thanks for your help!

2.275v!?! im sure it's a type-o and it's 1.275v right?
If it is 1.275v@77c, then you NEED to re seat your heat sink as well as add new thermal paste since the thermal pad provided in most AMD coolers is not exactly reusable. 77c is extremely high for such a low voltage, and can easily burn out your CPU or damage your motherboard or both.

I am starting to wonder if your messing with the correct voltage setting.
When you set your BIOS to default, what temperatures do you hit? If they are lower, please set it to default and post a picture of what your BIOS' overclocking features look like. Or post them here, letter for letter.


@ JackNaylorPE

Your right but even "cheap" motherboards come with basic overclocking features which are enough to get you a stable over clock for a beginner.

Also those kinds of motherboards are better suited to more expensive processors, or higher end over clocking systems like water cooling or for benchmark scores or all three. Not to mention someone with the knowledge to tune the settings for higher stable clocks.

 

[5thape]

2.275v!?! im sure it's a type-o and it's 1.275v right?
If it is 1.275v@77c, then you NEED to re seat your heat sink as well as add new thermal paste since the thermal pad provided in most AMD coolers is not exactly reusable. 77c is extremely high for such a low voltage, and can easily burn out your CPU or damage your motherboard or both.

I am starting to wonder if your messing with the correct voltage setting.
When you set your BIOS to default, what temperatures do you hit? If they are lower, please set it to default and post a picture of what your BIOS' overclocking features look like. Or post them here, letter for letter.


@ JackNaylorPE

Your right but even "cheap" motherboards come with basic overclocking features which are enough to get you a stable over clock for a beginner.

Also those kinds of motherboards are better suited to more expensive processors, or higher end over clocking systems like water cooling or for benchmark scores or all three. Not to mention someone with the knowledge to tune the settings for higher stable clocks.

That was a typo. It is 1.275v. At default I am at around 55C, although I'm playing a video game right now so probably a few degrees cooler normally. Is that still bad? I'm on a stock cooler.

 

[AsAnAtheist]

I do not understand how a default voltage of 1.55v can produce less heat then a voltage of 1.225....

Please post a picture of the BIOS' overclocking section, including any other pages which refer to voltages for the CPU, and multipliers for the CPU. As well as bus speed frequency.

I want to make sure the voltages you were changing were indeed the core voltages and not the NB voltages.

 

[graboy]

"...although I'm playing a video game right now so probably a few degrees cooler normally..."
This doesnt have anything to do with OCing, but computers have something called "system idle prossess". becuase prossessors can never doing nothing. this is what the other precentage of your prossessor is working on. So as long as your game is not at 100% (unresponsive) it wont heat-up any more than it would on your desktop.

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.