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Overclocking....still wary of attempting it....

Navy Chief

Senior Member
Some months back, just after I had gotten my system rebuilt, I posted about wanting to overclock my cpu.

Central Processing Unit(CPU): Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU X 980 @ 3.33GHz

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series




I still haven't made any attempts at overclocking. If anyone here has experience with this, and is willing to provide me some EASY to understand pointers/tips, then please do!

I won't even try anything like that unless I am absolutely sure what to do, and how to do it!

I think my graphics card itself can be overclocked too!


Thanks.

NC
 
Yep, I'm wary of it too, that's why I'll never do it. Spent too much money on a fast system to "jack it up on coke" and try to make it live an exciting and short life!
 
I am probably just stupid:gameoff:, but could someone please explain what overclocking is? If it's a way of making a bad system better, then I want it!
 
I am probably just stupid:gameoff:, but could someone please explain what overclocking is? If it's a way of making a bad system better, then I want it!

As I understand it, computer processors are capable of faster speeds than what they are set at, coming from the manufacturer. Overclocking is the means to making the processor work at a higher capacity.
 
If it wasn't for my wife's knowledge on computers I probably wouldn't even be in this hobby but when I see all the stuff you guys accomplish on here "we" try to do the same. As for overclocking I have not tried yet but came across this site seem too have alot of good info. Might be helpfull. Have not had a chance yet to really read in detail yet myself. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=7

J.J. (Gator)
 
Wow NC, you are rocking the big system. How is the 6 cores (it is the latest 6 core one right) working in FSX? I have been debating OC'ing my chip as well. I have an older 4 core i7-950 that I have already bumped up to a conservative 3.33ghz. I was debating going up maybe another 500 or so to 3.8ghz. I saw a video the other day of someone with a i7-920 pushing some 4ghz, and a GTX 480 and it looked smooth as glass. I have OC'd an older AMD FX-60 (I know, very very old), and managed to get about 3.2 stable out of it. I had water cooling on that system though. My current one with the i7 is air cooled.
 
Basic OCing is not that hard, most mobo venders have their own programs to OC from windows.
The i7s run hot. Soooo before OCing you want to check that your rig is running "normal" temps to start with. My i7 920 ran around 39c at stock 2.66ghz with a freezer 7 cooler.
ATM running at 3.44ghz it's running at 44c, both unloaded...web browsing.

1st consideration with OCing is, do you need the higher clock speed to run something or you lookin for bragging rights?
I've had this 920 running battleground europe while OCed to 4.3 ghz, on air cooling. It never got to the 80c thermal throttle point. *BE is extremely cpu intense*.
However I did'nt see that big of fps increase over the 3.4 ghz clocking....just a hotter cpu...and a hotter room.
At the curent clock speed nothing bogs it down so no need for me to go higher, yet ;)

Now to get serious into OCing means not just upping the sidebus or BLC but also adjusting ram timeings to as tight as possible. Also if you want to get realy into the rideing the razorblade areas, upping voltages.

But don't expect to double fps in a game via a OC. 10% fps increase, 20% fps increase in rare cases of extreme OC.

Some mobos OC easisly. Some not at all, depends on the brand alot. Asus boards are easy clockers (with a OC from windows app that does somewhat ok) and generaly will simply tell you the oc failed and revert to stock settings if you go too far or set something wrong.

Bottom line. If you OC you own what you get. So read up 1st, talk to any you know with experience and then weigh whether or not you can afford to replace your rig if things go bad.
Not to scare anyone just simply a reality.
 
And yes a i7 920 will run on air (stable at that) clocked to 4.3 :)

4.3.jpg


Getting the ram timeings tighted up at that speed though does take some time.
 
I overclocked my Dell Dimension XPS with a stock Intel Q6600 from 2.4GHz/core to 3.0GHz/core quite awhile ago with great results. I didn't modify the stock cooling and the CPU temp is fine. Don't go too far with the overclock and you should be fine. I'd try doing an overclock search for your specific system and specific CPU to find "how to's" about your set-up. Mine was done solely through BIOS setting changes and a simple re-boot.

PS: Made a big difference with FSX for me. Not that it runs completely smooth, but I'm happy with FSX for now (until I can buy a new rig).
 
Chief, the one you want to talk to is Ted aka txnetcop
user-offline.png

. He is great at this. He wrote an overclocking guide for the board I use and he tests all combinations of graphics cards cup's and mobo's. The guy is a walking encyclopedia as well a very helpful individual. Good luck.
 
I'm pretty sure I have aleady posted several guides on OCing a i7 Core they are all the same. However Chief what is the exact make/model motherboard you have and I will give you instruction. OCing i7Core is very easy.
Ted
 
I'm pretty sure I have aleady posted several guides on OCing a i7 Core they are all the same. However Chief what is the exact make/model motherboard you have and I will give you instruction. OCing i7Core is very easy.
Ted

Hi Ted,

My motherboard is a Republic of Gamers Rampage III Extreme

The part #90-MIBC10-G0AAY00Z

Graphics card is a:

ASUS ROG Matrix 5870 2GB


Pete
 
First a disclaimer: I can be held in no way responsible for any damage done by altering the BIOS or CPU function of a PC. You overclock at your own risk!

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Ted-test engineer station 1C



Simple To Do Overclocking a Core i7 980X on the Rampage Extreme III



First check your temps with Everest Home or SIW. SIW is a free download and provides more info than Everest Home. Your idle speed should never exceed 50C. Your full speed test run for stability should never exceed 72C for any length of time.

After enabling manual overclocking in the BIOS you'll find a 133 MHz register called the Base clock; look at that as your 'FSB' to play around with. Of course, since you have an Extreme Edition processor, things are much easier. Just play around with CPU voltages and the multiplier and even on the stock air cooler you can achieve some pretty snazzy results.


Check what your current values are. The ASUS Rampage III X58 mainboard applies a dynamic multiplier. A baseclock of 133 MHz times a multiplier of 25 is 3.33 GHz. That is your base clock frequency.


In the default configuration however, it can also apply a multiplier of 26 with Turbo mode enabled. So your Core i7 processor will go beyond spec at default already.


ASUS Rampage III Extreme has an easy OC function in the BIOS:
If you if you want to do things simple, go into the BIOS and select the CPU level up function.
With the 980X Gulftown you can select 4.0 and 4.2 GHz, enable, save and reboot. and bam .. you OC is steady and running completely automatic.



This part is NOT for New Beginners and make sure you are using water-cooling to go above 4.0-4.2GHz
If you want to overclock extensively by hand, first off in the BIOS please disable Speedstep, C1E and TM functions preventing the processor from clocking down or up dynamically based on diverse variables including heat and CPU load. Now simply increase the multiplier until the system crashes, then increase voltages and start over again. Inevitably you’ll find the maximum frequency or temperatures simply get out of hand.
For our overclock we increase voltages towards 1.35V-1.4V on the processor and use a water cooler. We easily booted into Windows at ~4.2 GHz with the Core i7 980X processor.


Temperatures now start to increase fast but regardless of that, I ended at a 100% stable 4.5 GHz. That is a baseclock of 151 MHz with a 30 MP. Overclocking itself is a pretty easy thing to achieve with this processor and motherboard. Bear in mind that overclocking draws much more power from your system and also take into consideration that your cooling solution needs to be proper as going from four to six cores should produce more heat.


Now test for stability!
Ted
 
I've spent every available second of the last few days overclocking my new mainboard and RAM. It's tedious process, but soooooo rewarding!
 
I've spent every available second of the last few days overclocking my new mainboard and RAM. It's tedious process, but soooooo rewarding!

Haven't done it yet, but thanks to Ted, I have all the information I need. I have printed it all out, and will do this in a day or so....

Thanks.

NC
 
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