Where can I get more in depth overclocking information?

[FEEDTHEADDICTION]

Hello all,

 

After reading the guide (1.7) a few times and even going through several advanced guides (including GTL, advanced voltage, advanced memory timings), I still feel like a lot is left unexplained.

 

I cant quite put my finger on it, but I am clearly missing some key information on what certain values do and how to safely figure out the best values for each setting.

 

Can anyone recommend a book, or website or basically any means by which I can really dive into advanced overclocking concepts???

 

Or better yet, can those of you with solid knowledge in the field tell me how you got to know all of it so well?

 

Thank you for info!

[scr4wl]

You'll be hard pressed to find a guide that will tell you exactly what settings to use to overclock your CPU. This is because all CPU's are different 1 Q9550 will not clock as well as another Q9550.

 

If you'll be more specific in what you're looking for I'd be glad to help you.

[Great_Gig]

If you have read a lot of guides, you will probably realise there are no 'universal' maximum settings or certain values for any CPU/GPU and that overclocking is a very in-exact science.

 

First and foremost, overclocking results are never guaranteed. Many factors can influence what a system is capable of, including complimentary components (motherboard/processor/RAM/power supply), user experience, and simple luck of the draw. Two identical systems will not necessarily yield identical results and anything over the rated specifications should be treated as a bonus, not an expectation (IMO). You need to explore the limits of your individual component's gradually, until you hit a wall. If people here gave you what they considered maximum or universal settings, things could end in disaster for you - so the more experienced guys may be reluctant to do so, for those reasons.

 

The only way you can learn is by slow steps and to test, test, test! I started in May last year and it took some time till I felt comfortable with what I was doing and I'm still a real novice - it won't happen overnight unfortunatley and as far as I know, there are no books or definitve giudes available. I read as much as I could here and on other forums, I also kept notes of everything I did, which really helped my understanding.

 

This is possibly why you are not receiving the responses you would like, it's not that people don't want to guide you? I know how you feel about this, as I felt the same way, but the only way you can learn is by reading as much as you can and by trying it yourself and gaining experience. One thing that really helped me though, was keeping comprehensive notes of what you do and the results you get. It's time consuming, but pays dividends in the end.

 

Hope this helps in some way? If you do get into difficulties with specific problems, the guys here are very helpful and incredibly knowledgeable. The way the guys on this forum got so good was by reading about it, trying it, discussing it here and on other forums and also by being prepared to accept some failures and problems every now and then. My first overclock ended in failure as I went too far too quickly, blew a PSU and corrupted my O/S. However, by outlining exactly what I had done and what happened, I got answers and solutions.

 

All I can say is have a go, take it slowly and good luck - it can be frustrating at times, but also great when you get it right.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Great_Gig

[ebarone]

What information specifically are you looking for? Like you mentioned being unclear on what some of the different values actually affect, whats an example of one? If you're looking to get uber technical, I also tried, and failed, to find one place that has all the technical stuff I crave (like what voltage skewing is or understandable explainations of some of the different memory subtimings) but I did have a little bit of success with my old pal Yahoo! Search Engine, maybe I came across something you're wondering about also Let me know and I'll do my best to help you find what you need.

[FEEDTHEADDICTION]

All righty then!

 

Let me be a little bit more specific.

 

Note: I am well aware that settings are different from setup to setup, even from identical to identical build (with revisions, steppings and even minute manufacturing dissimilarities). That is why I want more in depth on the process behind figuring those values out.

 

So, here are some concepts that are causing me grief to unravel:

 

VTT - Aside form intel's suggested vtt setting, I know nothing about this voltage value. (something about termination???) Anyways, I have read time and again that playing with this can help lower vcore and temps. Any way of calculating this value with other known variables? Any charts available? What exactly does VTT do? what will raising it do? how about lowering it? When setting GTL references, vtt is important in getting that 67% ratio (or so ive understood from my readings), I will probably be asking how to figure those references out... only once i know about VTTs!!!

 

GTL - Everyone says its HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to set these manualy with my striker II extreme... Without proper VTT knowledge and that 67% ratio, I have no clue how to even start with these.... also, most litterature was in regards to duo cores.

 

Memory and its effect on overclocking - My board supports 1333 1600(OC) 1800(OC) 2000(OC) what does this mean? why this (OC) for some values. -I am running 1333 and have 2 dividers (3:2 5:4), sync and unlinked mode; I am running unlinked. When I set my fsb, even though the mem is unlinked, it seems affected by the fsb i set (unlinked probably means it just creates a custom divider for each setting), when i set say 1730fsb, it will give me 1320 actual memory (1333 desired), when i chose 1733, it gives me 1333 actual Should i stick with the fsb values that result in dead on memory, or should I ajdust my memory clocks tilll the actual memory shows 1333? (ie put the mem at 1344 so the actual mem will be 1333)??? Can I overclock my 1333 memory and tell it to read at 1600 for example? Is my 1333 memory holding me back in my overclocking?

 

Also, you are telling that the people who come up with the guides and the people hitting high stable overclocks with everything custom tweaked learned there trade from DIY guides online and forum searching????!!!!

 

 

Another thing: When u set say vcore manualy and memory v manualy, does that cause problems for the settings left on auto?

[ebarone]

I'll say this right now, you're over the head of almost everyone who overclocks Thats some advanced stuff, and although I dont know what system you're using, I can tell you that knowing what those types of settings do will be 99.99% useless. Heat will almost always limit you before any of those settings need to be tweaked. That said, if you're a technical armchair computer scientist like me who doesnt care about the usefulness of info, read on and I'll do my best to explain

 

I'll start with the easiest question you asked, about why there is an (OC) next to some of the supported speeds listed. The organization JEDEC sets the memory standards that classify memory. In order to sell DDR3 memory, it has to meet their specs for speed and orientation. Officially, JEDEC lists DDR3 memory to run at 1333MHz, and anything faster is considered an overclock (OC). Putting memory that comes from the factory with its SPD set to run at 1600MHz is considered to be overclocked, even if you dont do anything to it. Thats where the OC comes from.

 

For your memory, there will always be dividers. Those dividers need, and are set, to be integers, and ideally non repeating or easily rounded ones, so the system doesnt take longer than needed to actually calculate what the ratio should be, or when to send data from the memory to the bus. For example, something weird like a 13:7 ratio would equate to a 1.857142____:1 ratio, which would mean the data can only be transferred across domains at times that are fewer and further between. When you run unlinked, it will look at what you want your memory to run at, and then choose a divider that yeilds a close value and at the same time keeps a clean number for the ratio.

 

You can increase your memory clock to whatever you want, 1333 can be upped to 1600 for example, but it comes at a price. The price is voltage, heat, and looser memory timings. Speed sometimes can make up for timings, its a balance that you need to find on your own, but all in all your memory is not hindering your processor overclock at those speeds. You can leave it at 1333 and still OC your processor quite a bit, because as you already know, everything is dependant on the Front Side Bus speed. Raising it will increase your proc speed, and the board will find the divider for you for running the memory at 1333.

 

GTLs and VTTs are much tougher to explain without pictures. I'll get back to you when I find the ones I used to sort of understand them.

[ebarone]

OK I found it.

 

Read this first. Its an explaination of Vdroop and offsets and whatnot, and is a very good segway into the science of the actual voltage switching that takes place.

 

Here is the techy explaination of the GTL reference voltages and VTT voltages. Again, you shouldnt ever need to tweak them, but its good to know they're there.

 

In the article, Vref is the same as the GTL Reference Voltage you probably see in your BIOS.

 

I believe the answer to your question comes at the very end of that article, so read through the whole thing. I had to read it 2 or 3 times, its chock full of stuff I didnt go to school for.

 

Hope that helps, let me know any other questions you might have.

[RJR]

All righty then!

 

Also, you are telling that the people who come up with the guides and the people hitting high stable overclocks with everything custom tweaked learned there trade from DIY guides online and forum searching????!!!!

 

Another thing: When u set say vcore manualy and memory v manualy, does that cause problems for the settings left on auto?

 

 

Well, ebarone took care of the fun stuff

 

I'll try and help with easy ones. DIY guides, forum searches and GOOGLE searches are an invaluable source of information. Between those and trial and error it will not take too long to understand what you are doing. Once you get a general understanding of all the Bios options (you've got a good handle on this already) and start adjusting your Bios settings, one at a time, you will learn very quickly what you may need to change when an OC fails. A common problem I see with beginners is the need to OC very fast and change multiple Bios setting at the same time. If you change only one setting at a time, then test, you will learn if that was indeed the correct setting to change.

 

As far as manual vs auto voltage settings, you can ask ten different people and get lots of different answers. I would suggest unless you know the exact voltage that is being set on auto to set the voltages manually. I usually tell people to clear the CMOS and set all the voltages from the default values (unless you know the defaults off hand) and start your OC from there. But as I stated lots of people like leaving a lot of values on auto and as long as it doesn't under or overvolt it's not a problem. Hope this helps a little.

 

Good Luck.