Need assistance performing my first overclock of my system

[scottie86]

Hi guys, Let me preface this by saying I was looking around the forums for this "black edition guide to CPU overclocking" whatever and could not find it even though they said it is "at the top"?

Anyways,

I am new to overclocking, and about intermediate with hardware knowledge of a PC.

I know my rig is not running at its best, I feel I have room and power to take advantage of, but I honestly don't know how to get started.

I guess the first question would be, what is the best way to display all the information about your system hardware and the clock/speed/voltages/temps/ etc that it is running at. Is there a commonly accepted program or do you use information from the BIOS boot? (My rig might offer me that, it has a ROG motherboard).

So yea, my first question on my quest to OC is, where do I get the best info to get help?

 

[eddieroolz]

System tools: CPU-Z, HWMonitor are commonly used examples.
Temperature monitoring: Core Temp, Real Temp are often preferred, but some use SpeedFan.

I'm assuming you have an AMD CPU. This article is a bit dated, but the basics of overclocking an AMD CPU is covered here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-phenom-pentium,2366.html

Our forum member 4Ryan6 has also written a slightly more technical guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1874931/amd-black-edition-overclock-guide-raisng-multiplier.html

 

[scottie86]

You would be correct in your assumption of my Chip, it is a FX8120 running at the standard 3.1ghz 8 core.

I will try out either CPU-Z or HWMonitor and then post my results so I can have some help anazlyzing and deciding what boosts I can make.

 

[scottie86]

Here is a posting of my specs from cpu-z. I figure it would be easier to view the application than to post the report because it's a so many pages long.
http://imgur.com/a/YdTSF

 

[eddieroolz]

Here's a guide on ASUS: link

Guide on Overclock.net with ASUS motherboards: link

General Bulldozer overclocking guide: link

Essentially, make sure the following:
1. Proper cooling
2. Basic BIOS/UEFI knowledge