I recieved a PM today that asking one of the most common questions I get, and what started as a quick reply turned into a great thread idea instead!

I often get inspiration from the new guys, and these little "Guides" can often save alot of time for them..I remember how hard it was to get going way back when, just finding some basic info all in one place without spending hours on Google "Guessing" as to what I needed to search for was frustrating!

Quote: Originally Posted by SpAnKy Hey I'm new to computer building and modding and stuff (I just finished my 2nd pc) and I'm wanting to pump my new rig up a little and was wondering if you had any OC'ing rescources that would help. Or if you had any advice for me that would be much appreciated.

Heya Spanky! Welcome to the world of Overclocking and Benchmarking!

You can often catch me on MSN for some specific one on one help, I have a headset and mic for voice chat if you wish (That is my prefered method actually) I have been busy as of late with an LN-2 QX6800 Quad core/SLI 8800Ultra project, but that is almost finished!

patdelaney36@yahoo.com is my MSN ID. also works on Yahoo too.

What system spces do you have...Intel or AMD?

I/We typically will need to know the Motherboard make and model, CPU specs, Memory, Video Card(s) make and model, Hard Drive(s), Power Supply, Cooling, OS...etc. to be of any more specific help, please include that in your posts or questions

For now, check out Mod the Box..its an older article, but the theory is very important and still extremely relavent!

It was these articles that realy opened my eyes as to how/what/why adjusting the voltage worked on the CPU when overclocking...so pay particular attention to that section (103) especially the chart on page 2.

I have since gotten to know the Author "Big Daddy" and can't thank him enough for writing these, I have been refering people to them for many years now as the place to start!

MODTHEBOX.COM - Canada's Premier Case Modding Source - Articles

• Overclocking 103: Voltage Adjustments
  Date: 09/12/03 - Author: BigDaddy
• Overclocking 102: Taking Your Overclock to the Next Level
  Date: 11/27/02 - Author: BigDaddy
• Overclocking 101: Overclocking Fundamentals
  Date: 06/20/02 - Author: BigDaddy

Just in case you aren't familar with the Bios, typically you have to hit the "Delete" key just after your PC starts too boot to get to the "Good stuff"

You will then be able to access the settings you will need to change, such as the Front Side Bus (FSB) CPU Multiplier, all "Voltage" settings, Memory Timings, Memory Ratios, Fan Controls, etc...

They are often "Hidden" away if you leave them set to "Auto"

By scrolling up and down with the cursor (By using the up and down arrow keys typically... sometimes you may also need to use page up/page down for certain things) on the screen to highlight the desired section, then hit enter and select "Manual" you can then get access to settings that normally appear to be "Locked" such as the voltages lited below them.

Another tip (In general, before getting into the OC) is to get a baseline of how your rig performs "Stock" with your Bios at the default settings, then you can properly gauge your future improvements.

I typically start with Super Pi (1mb test) to see how it performs on the CPU, Memory, and Motherboard side, followed by some 3-D MARK 05 and/or 06 tests to see how the Video portion of the rig is working.

PCMARK 05 is also a great "Overall" system test, and it will include some Hard Drive testing too.

This will also tell you if you have "Borked" your system with too many crashes, you can always go back and compare the scores..if they are realy low, time to take another loo at your bios setting, or possibly even reinstall the OS

A fresh format with the latest Chipset (Motherboard) and Video drivers is best, an old install will oftne result in low scores.(Make sure the video driver is Futermark approved...check the link below)

Futuremark - Community - Futuremark Approved Drivers

Be prepared to reinstall the OS at some point too, cause things often go wrong and the OS can be damaged by too many BSOD's or crashes...make sure you have all your pics, music, important files backed up somewhere safe (I often partition my HD into 2 parts if I only have 1 Hard Drive, and keep this data on the second part!)

Also get a few other utilities, such as Speed Fan for temps (You want to know the 100% load temp in Celsuis (C) idle temp isn't that important, but is always good to know)

A typical rule of thumb is to never let any of them temps get above 50c if you can help it, though video cards and some CPU's will often run comfortably at 60-70c

Prime 95 (For Single Cores) Orthos (It's like Prime 95, but for dual cores) or OCCT (It will work on single, dual, and quad cores!) will do the job for getting a 100% load, watch your temps closely.

Let them run at least 10-15 minutes when trying to get an idea how stable your current OC settings are, and once you are at or near your desired final OC settings, let it run a few hours to overnight.

Nothing beats a few hours of pounding on some baddies in your favorite game though, it is realy the ultimate test, cause that will stress your video card(s) too, and max out the draw from your power supply.

For specifics on AMD or Intel CPU Overclocking, check out the Overclocking sections here at Apex, There are some nice "Stickies" at the top of them that can help get ya going!

http://forums.pcapex.com/intel_cpu_motherboard_oc/

Memory Overclocking:
http://forums.pcapex.com/memory_ram_oc/

Video Card Overclocking:
http://forums.pcapex.com/video_card_oc/


http://forums.pcapex.com/amd_cpu_motherboard_oc/

I have compiled a list of links that include links to my favorite downloads of Ultilities, Drivers. Benchmarks, etc..in the link below!

http://forums.pcapex.com/other_oc_ha...ollection.html

Here are a few of the other ones not neccesarily mentioned above you should probably grab too frm the link above.

Utilities

CPUZ
This tells you DETAILED information about your CPU (FSB Multiplier, family, manufacturing sixze such as 130NM, 90NM,65NM, 45NM. It also provide info on your Memory, Motherboard etc..

Speed Fan
Monitor your temps and voltages..has a great "Charting" too too!

Overclocking Utilities for Video Cards

Riva Tuner (For NVIDIA, but also wors with ATI)

ATI Tool (For ATI, but also works with NVIDIA)

CPU "Software"Overclocking

Clock Gen
Sys Tool
Soft FSB (For very old PC's)

Benchmarks

Super Pi

I use the 1MB test for quick tests, the 32MB for stability..but that can take quite a while on older PCU's!)

3-D Mark 2001~2006

Systems with older video cards/cpu's should use 01 or or 03, newer cards with dual or quad core CPU's should use 05 and/or 06)

What do you do once you have a good OC going?

Well...how about comparing/uploading your scores to others here at Apex in the "HWBOT" threads

http://forums.pcapex.com/results/


EDIT: I will be updating this with a few more "Targeted" links a bit more later, this should get you started though!

What is the best Benching tool for motherboards?

In response to you question THRASHER2.

Everest, SiSoft, and SpecView are some good one. Testing the actual board is hard, showing memory bandwidth of a few things the board does helps alot. I use the trick of reading lots of Motherboard reviews, to see the actual tests used. Those very large span of tests i narrow down to the three above for the single most important thing about the board, it bandwidth. (pretty much the lines from the memory to CPU to chipsets)

Alot of time the closer the Memory to the CPU, and the closer the chipset (think Athlon XP and P4 days, although alot of boards intel side still do this) the higher the bandwidth. One thing i loved about Memtest DFI BIOS edition, was it showed the L1, L2 and memory bandwidth right at the top (of course it was this times this times this) but it gave you a roundabout number to think of.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d In response to you question THRASHER2. Everest, SiSoft, and SpecView are some good one.

SiSoft is a nice a easy one to work with

SPECViewperf is a Pain to work with

EVEREST Ultimate Edition i want to Try

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 SPECViewperf is a Pain to work with

Yes it is, but well worth it, try using linux or solaris (UNIX) it works better in those enviroments

SiSoft SANDRA is always the first thing I load up on a new system that I want to benchmark and test. Next usually comes Everest and the FutureMark Suite (3DMark06, 05, PC Mark). SuperPI is another good one to give you an idea of how things are going.

Once I find an OC that I think is good and the best I am going to get that is stable, I will usually let the system run overnight with 3DMark looped while running Folding@Home for each core. If the system is still running when I wake up, we are in really good shape.

How do you "LOOP" a 3Dmark ???? I'd like to try that on my E6300 , i got it to 3322Mhz from 1.86 and it seems to run fine , but im wanting to stress it for a long time ( 24+ hours )

Quote: Originally Posted by HigHTecHReDNecK How do you "LOOP" a 3Dmark ???? I'd like to try that on my E6300 , i got it to 3322Mhz from 1.86 and it seems to run fine , but im wanting to stress it for a long time ( 24+ hours )

Wouldn't that be a ScreenSaver

Quote: Originally Posted by HigHTecHReDNecK How do you "LOOP" a 3Dmark ???? I'd like to try that on my E6300 , i got it to 3322Mhz from 1.86 and it seems to run fine , but im wanting to stress it for a long time ( 24+ hours )

I think you have to buy the professional version. Try OCCT or Orthos for stressing too.

Quote: Originally Posted by killert I think you have to buy the professional version. Try OCCT or Orthos for stressing too.

you could run 01 it has free looping. F@H always works?

Folding won't realy stress the vid card or PSU as much...loop 01 and Prime 95 (Or Fold)...that is as stressfull as it gets!



You can do an infinite loop. or select a set amount of times for it to run.

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