Can someone please help me OC this system

[SenitaL]

Hi all, as the title says i need some help overclocking my system. Im fairly new, (tried OCing my old p4 a few times and such), but i've read numerous tutorials, guides and tips over time, so i think i understand the concept more or less. System Specs:

 

MSI DKA790GX Platinum

AMD Phenom II 940 (currently stable @ 3.3ghz)

4GB OCZ ReaperX DDR2 PC-8000

Corsair HX620

 

Im using the 'dip switches' on the board to OC -

1:ON, 2:ON = Default

1:ON, 2:OFF = 10% increace FSB

1:OFF, 2:ON = 15% increace FSB

1:OFF, 2:OFF = 20% increace FSB

 

Im running stock cooling for now, still waiting for a TRUE black, but with 1:ON, 2:OFF (10% incr) system idles at 40C and max load 55C (monitored using CoreTemp 64 while Running Prime95 for 40 mins or so)

 

I set all the mem timings to the ones they are designed for and also dissabled Spread spectrum as i found it helps alot with the stablility.

 

So im pretty familliar with the cell menu now, but i cant seem to find an option to give me manual control over any of the voltages, they are all greyed out as auto. Am i being forced to assume that the Motherboard knows best? <_<

Every time i set a different setting on the switches i get crashes, 1:OFF, 2:ON boots up and into windows fine but when i checked CoreTemp there were too many fluctuations in cpu usage at idle, sure enough when i started prime95 i crashed after a few seconds, 1:OFF, 2:OFF doesnt even boot, but im not surprised as im unable to adjust voltage settings and i dont think the stock cooling would be able to keep the cpu temp under 60C.

What am i missing? Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

Edited August 7, 2009 by SenitaL

[SenitaL]

Hello? anyone out there?

[RJR]

You may want to have a look at these:

 

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/dka790gx/

 

http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cf...threadid=107153

 

http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cf...threadid=116116

 

etc., etc., etc., loads of info out there

 

Never messed with AMD (yet) but they are getting more interesting, may have to switch one of these days.

 

You may also want to stick with the Bios to do your OCing.

 

Good Luck.

[potatochobit]

you have an phenom II 940 black edition with an unlocked multiplier?

 

first thing you can do is stop messing with the FSB

why do you not want to set the settings in the bios?

 

go into your bios

find CELL MENU

change the CPU ratio to overclock, not the FSB

your multiplier stock is 15, up it to 17 and that gives you 3.4ghz

make sure it runs stable

 

you can also change the processor voltage here, CAREFUL

you should always overclock as high as you can WITHOUT changing the voltage first. I personally do not like to up voltage.

if your computer BSODs at 3.4, try to up the voltage little by little, someone on newegg said they were running 1.23v, I have no idea what your CPU starts at.

 

BE SURE TO SET THOSE TOGGLE THINGIES BACK TO OFF/STOCK POSITION w

Edited August 8, 2009 by potatochobit

[SenitaL]

Thanks for the links RJR, they were very educating

 

potatochobit, are you saying that all i have to do if i have BE CPU is bump up the multiplier, say for instance to x18 which would be 3.6ghz? and the FSB remains at 200? if this is the case then i may well have been overcomplicating things for myself all this time!

 

My default core voltage is 1.344v which seems to be plenty enough for now (running @ 3.4ghz stable, but i still cant get manual control over voltages, they are still greyed out on auto!) i keep the CPU-NB ratio and HT Link speed set to auto as i still get confused with the calculations, i think NB ratio should be 9 if i were to manually set it?

 

If im not mistaken on all of the above then this explains much. I think ill be able to tighten the latencys on my RAM now as i believe higher frequencys = better benchmark scores and tighter timings are better for game loading times for instance? correct me if im wrong. Ill keep twiddeling arround in the cell menu to see what i can come up with and report back, Thanks again!

Edited August 8, 2009 by SenitaL

[GabrielT]

Thanks for the links RJR, they were very educating

 

potatochobit, are you saying that all i have to do if i have BE CPU is bump up the multiplier, say for instance to x18 which would be 3.6ghz? and the FSB remains at 200? if this is the case then i may well have been overcomplicating things for myself all this time!

 

If im not mistaken on all of the above then this explains much. I think ill be able to tighten the latencys on my RAM now as i believe higher frequencys = better benchmark scores and tighter timings are better for game loading times for instance? correct me if im wrong.

Yes just bump up the multiplier some more, you are making things WAY to hard for yourself.

 

There is kind of a happy medium you have to find in between timings and frequency on ram. You want the settings that get you the highest bandwidth without sacrificing latencies to much.

[SenitaL]

Hey, just a quick update, it turns out (after alot of button pressing) that you have to press the pgdown key to manually scroll through the available voltages , on a side note the voltages go up like: 1.4, 1.45, 1.5, 1.55 ect, is this normal? i thought they were supposed to go up in smaller incraments, also the heat seems to creep up quite fast and the CPU fan seems to descide its going to have a tea break before spinning up to speed <_< the temps teeter at 58-59c then the fan spins up and it comes down to arround 55-56c, it seems i will be needing that new HSF alot sooner. This question seems noobish at the least, but will bumping the cpu voltage to 1.4 help keep temps down?

[Gunner75]

one thing i kept reading and hearing is higher voltages result in higher temps, but voltage is what harms your cpu more then temps.

 

I have no personal experiance with AMD cpus but i would imagine that IF that general statement is true then i would imagine there is an answer to your question

[rourkchris]

You can use AMD Overdrive to overclock in Windows http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15337_15354_15359,00.html. I was against using it at first but found that it was great for testing where my overclocking limits were and then I could set them permanently in the BIOS. For one particular system it was the only way I could overclock the HT Link due to limitations of the motherboard. If your overclock fails it just restarts your system. Great way to jump into overclocking an AMD system.

 

You really need to get a proper aftermarket cooler first before you go pushing the limits of your CPU. I've found 3.6Ghz-3.8Ghz the top range for my pair of 940s with good aftermarket air cooling. Hope you get higher.

 

You'll find your best overclock by a combination of increasing the bus speed and increasing the multiplier. Bus speed overclocking alone or multiplier overclocking alone will limit you. The best is a blend of the two. I've found setting the multiplier to stock and increasing the bus speed to it's highest stable limit first, then setting the bus speed to stock(200) and increasing the multiplier to it's highest stable speed second, then experimenting with a blend of the two will yeild your highest overclock ultimately.

 

Use small incremental increases then thoroughly test for stability after every increase. It will take a lot of time but can be very well worth the effort/time and ultimately very satisfying.

Edited August 8, 2009 by rourkchris