How Do I Overclock?

[Trakfast11]

yes, you can change the fsb without then need of having an unlocked processor. You can change the fsb setting reguardless of whether or not your cpu is unlocked. You can not change your multiplier settings however unless you or your motherboard has unlocked the processor. I have never heard whether or not if the a7v8x could automatically unlock the T-Bred core cpu, but i wouldn't be surprised if it could since the a7n8x does.

how do i do that?......lol.......sorry.......had to.

i'm not sure off the top of my head where i downloaded my 1002 final rev drivers for my mb. I went to an actual site and downloaded them previously. You could use the ASUSUpdate Utility. Start->Programs->ASUS->ASUSUpdate->ASUSUpdate. That should give you the most upto date driver. if you do happen to find the driver somewhere else, you can then use the ASUSUpdate Utility and instead of choosing to update from website, choose to update from file and then give the location of the file. I would first backup your current bios by selecting 'Save current BIOS to a file'.

When you update from the file (skipping back to update from file) you will then be given a button that you can click to flash the bios. It will then erase the ROM (Read Only Memory) and write in the new bios information. and there ya have it.

Edited April 2, 2003 by Trakfast11

[jcwst1]

Could any of the posters above using an a7n8x deluxe give me a bit of advice? I'm using that board and a T-bred 2400, 1002 BIOS, two 512MB OCZ dual-channel matched enhanced-latency 3200 memory ($), an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 w/ AGP8x (MSI 128MB), lots of fan cooling (42-50C), and still I can't find right BIOS settings to run stable over about 2176 Mhz (I test stability with memtest86, v. 3.0. It will post at faster but has mem errors; I'm doing modeling computations running on win 2k).

The BIOS is set to 'auto' for CPU voltage, seems to raise it as needed; otherwise mult at 8.0/16.0, f= 135 or 136, AGP = 66 Mhz, 8x disabled, tried a zillion combinations of BIOS settings, currently using aggr interface, auto freq, 6-3-3-2.5, and DDR =2.8v. Even have the refresh rate set to 60 Hz. What am I missing? Suggestions or flames please.

Edited May 25, 2003 by jcwst1

[Trakfast11]

alright. now that you can't get a stable oc at 2176Mhz, now you will want to change that option in the bios that has the CPU voltage (vcore) at 'Auto' to manual. Then you will be able to change the default vcore of 1.65 in the bios (more around 1.7 in actuallity), to a higher voltage. You might want to take this more gradually. (remember to always check your temps. the 2400+ with stock heatsink and thermal pad usually has a temperature of around 60*C, although many people that want to overclock do not feel very safe with overclocking a processor that is already in the low 60s.) Before you think about overclocking too much, i would suggest upgrading the type of cooling you have for your processor. (i'm not sure what you have right now. maybe you have already done this)

 

but back to your question.

if you notice your system has become unstable after an overclock, you will want to discontinue overclocking until you can get your system stable at that frequency. One way to help do that is to increase the vcore (the voltage to the cpu). your processor will need more current running through it in order to operate properly at that frequency. We can't tell you exactly what voltage to set your vcore to since each processor could be slightly different, but we can give you a general idea of where to start. But for the best results, you'll have to find out 'at what should i increase the vcore and by how much'. gl

 

suggestion: try not to put the vcore any higher than nessasary for your system to be stable. the higher the vcore, the more heat. and heat is not your friend.

 

p.s: leave the agp frequency at 66Mhz.

and when/if you want to find one of the best settings for your system, you'll want to find the max stable frequency you can get your processor to run at and the highest fsb you can achieve. once you know those two you can adjust the multiplier and fsb frequency accordingly.

Edited May 25, 2003 by Trakfast11

[jcwst1]

T'fast11;

Thanks much; not so much the fsb and multiplier, what confuses me is the bewildering combinations of other BIOS settings available in the a7n8x, for example, 'optimal', 'aggressive', 'auto', that are available for key settings like interface, frequency, CAS (or 'SPD', user-specified %, etc. etc.), and tho I do understand what those are, I found some combinations do work better.

 

But I suspect that it is the CPU voltage as you suggest, which is the only thing I haven't messed with. Am using high output fans & Thermalright SLK-800, so temp is OK I think.

Jim

[Ximo]

Yoyo....

 

Who much did u guys reach overclocking 2400+ without changing the multiplyer?? (on A7N8X)

fsb??

vcore??

Edited June 7, 2003 by Ximo

[Trakfast11]

do you mean, how high did we overclock a 2400+ while being able to change all the settings except for the multiplier?

 

if you don't change the vcore or multiplier, you can generally post with a fsb of 141Mhz. Back then i didn't run stability tests, i just was seeing at what settings were able to boot into the OS. if you leave the multiplier at 15x (default) then in general, you will have to increase your vcore once you get a fsb somewhere in the 140s.

 

p.s: OC'd the 2400+ to slightly over 2400Mhz using the a7n8x deluxe (with no voltage mods), but i used a multiplier of 13 and a fsb of 185. the vcore was set to 1.85 in bios, but was actually 1.9v (the a7n8x overvolts).

just make sure you have sufficient cooling, ie: its not a great idea to oc a processor that is already 60*C idle. gl

[Ximo]

thanx!!

but if i change the multiplier do i need to unlock the CPU?

And should i just change the settings and put them like u told me in the ps or do i need to do something els first?

But y do u lower the multiplier when overclocking isnt it better to increase it??

 

 

ps. how do i do a stability test?

nd it is at 45

Edited June 8, 2003 by Ximo

[Trakfast11]

you do not need to worry about unlocking your cpu. your a7n8x deluxe will do that for you.

 

 

the highest you can overclock your system will be the highest frequency you can get your processor to run at. Having a higher multiplier will make you reach the max frequency that your processor can stably operate at much more quickly.

 

ie: if the max frequency your cpu can handle is 2195Mhz and it comes stock at 2000Mhz (15x133.33), then you could increase your multiplier to 16.5x133 and you would reach 2195Mhz really quickly, but you would not get as much performance out of your system because your cpu is only communicating with your memory at 133Mhz fsb. The higher the frequency of the fsb, the more quickly your cpu will be able to communicate with the memory.

The only way to increase your fsb without going over 2195Mhz is to decrease your multiplier from 16.5x to something like 12.5. this way your will be able to have a fsb frequency of 175Mhz (12.5x175=2187.5)and still be within the overall limit that your cpu can operate at.

 

to get a good idea of what multiplier you will want to use, you will take your processor limit (####Mhz) and divide that by the frequency that your ram operates best at (###Mhz) and that will give you a multiplier number that you will either round to a multiplier of #.0x or to #.5x. One way may give you a higher cpu frequency, but the other may give you a faster fsb speed to operate at.

 

 

a good stability test, like Curtis mentioned, is Prime95. And if you looked at his post, he put a link to a site where you can download the program from. this program will put a lot of stress on your cpu and other components. they will get much hotter, maybe 10 or more degrees C. This will make your cpu hotter than any other program i've used, so if you can run this without your system freezing up do to heat, or run with no errors for multiple hours, you can feel more at easy about your system being stable under normal operation.

 

i can say that there are people that like to have their cpu running below 50C at full load, but this is not essential, although the cooler you can get your processor temperatures, the better off you'll be. I would start to worry if you began to see temps in the 60s. in this area, your processor's life expectance will decrease more. and the effects will be more dramatic as the temp goes up from there.

[Ximo]

So before oc the cpu i should oc the ram??

this crapes everything up again.... its 1 week im rading about cpu overclocking and now i have to overclock the ram

so how do i do that???

 

Reading in the forum i understood that to overclock u have to go slowly step by step.....hmmm imm getting confused....

ok...there are 3 variables.... the multiplier, the cpu fsb, and the ram fsb..right? so.... you said that to find the right multiplyr i need to know the max spped of the cpu so to find that out i need to try slowly to find it...right? but how.... lowering hte multiplier and makeing the fsb higher contiuesly untell i get to the max??

 

m sry if u have to explain everything to me but want to learn verything even if i know nothing....hehehe

im a newbe in comps but i love em.... so thanx for the pateince

Edited June 8, 2003 by Ximo

[Trakfast11]

you don't have to overclock the ram in order to oc your cpu. it just makes your system work more quickly and more efficiently. if you feel like holding off on ocing your memory, its perfectly fine. it can be more enjoyable to take things one step at a time (have less things to worry about). do what makes you feel most comfortable. there is plenty of time to learn/experiment

[Ximo]

ok... so if i understood right i have to rais the fsb to th max when it reaches it i have to lower the multipier and continue rasing the fsb until i reach the max.. and so on....right??

Edited June 8, 2003 by Ximo

[Ziggy54354]

A good way to find out what your processor maxes out at is just by raising the multiplier, that gets rid of all other variables like ram speed so you know what your cpu can truely handle. Then put it back down and try and get your fsb up to match that speed. Your fsb should be sync with the ram speed but it doesn't have to be. (exp: pc3200 - fsb 200mhz)