programs for OC or use BIOS?

I am sure that this has been asked a thousand times but as a total newb to over clocking and alot of computer stuff in general would you sugest using some of the programs on the forums or going threw teh BIOS to OC my computer? If you sugest programs mind helping me choose a good one and reason? Thanks alot!

Here is exactly what programs and how I use them and why.

When overclocking, I use clockgen, Prime95, SuperPI, Coretemp, CPUID (part of CoreTemp Family), A64Tweaker, CPUz

Clockgen - Allows you to change your FSB from inside windows
Prime95 - Stability testing
SuperPI - More of a speed test than a stability test
CoreTemp - Make sure my temps stay in line
CPUID - Allows the change of multiplier and Vcore from inside windows
A64Tweaker - allows you to change the RAM settings in windows
CPUz - checking speeds of all parts

Here is the process I go through when I use these programs.

First thing I do is a follow the guide in the AMD forums on finding out my motherboards max FSB ability and then following the guide for finding max RAM speed. Here is the link to that page for you. Follow that and use the programs listed above to do it.

Now for the part that is not explained in that post. CPUID, SuperPI and A64Tweaker.

After I follow all the instructions on that page I use CPUID to keep going. CPUID allows you to raise voltages up to the max available in your BIOS so for me its 1.5V. I push it up to the next level above what I currently see it at (usually +.025 is the next level up something like 1.425 or 1.325 ect.) Then repeat the process from the OC post I linked to. You don't need to test your motherboard's max and RAM max again, but just leave the multiplier at the max level and keep upping the FSB until you are unstable and adjust like you were doing before using the RAM divider adjustment (a trick is that you can use A64Tweaker to do this rather than going into the BIOS like I believe it says in the OC post my eclipse, this tends to save time if your machine boots slowely.) Once you have hit your limit at that voltage, bump it up again. Usually you can do this until you hit the max voltage in CPUID, however as a rule of thumb if your on air, don't go much above 1.5V unless your temps are still in check and below 50C under load with 1.5V. Once you have hit the point where you can't go any further, reboot and set up the FSB, Multiplier, Vcore (sometimes called VID in BIOS), and RAM divider up the same way you had it in windows.

After you are happy with your CPU clock speed you can run SuperPI. Its sort of a 20-40 second drag race for your processor. The common bench mark settings is the 1M test, the faster you can do this the faster your computer and run data through it basically is what it boils down to. However, CPU speed is not all that this program is about. It also helps if your RAM is running as fast as it can and if you have tweaked your timings a bit. This is where it gets EXTREMELY tedious and where most people say that it is not worth the extra work. I however, say that every 10th of a second counts in a drag race. This is where you use A64Tweaker and start just playing with settings, generally speaking as long as you follow the rule that applies to everything else in overclocking of TAKE YOUR TIME, you can't really hurt anything, ecspecially since using A64Tweaker only makes your settings effective until you reboot, then you start over at the default settings. Just start lowering each settings by 1 step and hit apply, then run SuperPI and write down your time (I like to write this down in excel so in the end I can have a nice graph of my times in comparison to different settings. Keep onto the same settings, bumping it down and then running a 1M test until your computer will basically lock up because you made the RAM to tight. You will have to hard reboot using the reboot switch on your computer and then when your back into windows, open SuperPI and A64Tweaker back up, set A64Tweaker up so that whatever you changed is at its last stable setting and start changing something else. NOTE: if you reboot and find that A64Tweaker is giving you numbers in each of the boxes that is WAAAAY different than before, close A64Tweaker, open up CPUz, close CPUz and then open A64Tweaker again, this always fixes that bug. You can see where this starts to get tedious after you do one or two of these, ecspecially if your computer takes a long time to start up. However, once you have finished you PI score should have dropped at least 1 second overall (See why people say its not worth the work). Once you have all the stuff available tweaked, make sure you know which settings work and which ones dont, and go into the BIOS and change the BIOS RAM settings to match the way they were in A64Tweaker. Also as a note, I meant to add this earlier, if you change something and it doesn't effect anything, don't change it, there is no reason to change something if it doesn't do anything, so unless you see a drop of at least 1/100th of a second, don't bother with it.

Now, on a closing note, if you don't wait to screw with the RAM timings and don't feel like investing a LOT of time into your system, don't bother with A64Tweaker any more than just using it to change the RAM divider when overclocking the processor. All you need to do is follow the guide Eclipse wrote that I linked you to, and your done.

If you have any more questions about anything, just ask, there is always someone here to answer your question.

thanks alot for the help, it is definatly helping me out! i hate sitting in front of my computer thinking "ok what the F#$k do i do now?" I have found alot of cool info on this site and threw it i have purchased some good stuff for my computer and learned how to keep better care of all my parts.

Overclocking is a lot of fun and we'll help you out. Kill4Killin's post is a great resource for you.

If you can, please post your system specs here and we can give you better support for your overclocking. Please list your proc, motherboard, ram, power supply, cooling system, video card, operating system and anything else you think is relevant.

And remember, overclocking is best done by the patient. It take a bit of time and energy, but you'll learn so much about your system and get so much more free performance it will be worth it.

Will any of these work on a dell?

Most Dell's are not overclockable. Some of their high end gaming models expose that feature.. Which one do you have?

I didn't think you could over clock a Dell. The reason is because they don't give you access to the BIOS features for OCing.

software overclocking would be the only way... I'd try clockgen myself... or atitool for the video card.

Boyo said:

I didn't think you could over clock a Dell. The reason is because they don't give you access to the BIOS features for OCing.

Click to expand...

well they use their own bios splash screen and they dont tell you to hit 'del' to enter setup, all of the dells i have used you can get into the bios if you know which keys to push and when. one machine i used you had to hold shift+F8 to get to bios (not that they would tell you this) dell doesnt want you playing with your own property.

in all fairness they do this to cut down on the tech support calls like "i went into bios and changed every setting now the computer wont turn on" because someone stupid went screwing around without knowing what they were doing, but yea it sucks for people who actualy do know what they are doing.

Ok first off, yes, you can overclock any computer assuming you have a PLL chip that is supported by ClockGen. Usually Dell ships with Nvidia chipsets so more than likely it should work just fine. Overclocking through the BIOS is limited pretty much to only computers that are built by hand using brand name motherboards like DFI, Asus and Evga.

In regards to your PM that you sent me (replying here because I think it will benefit everyone, not just you) here is the link to GCPUID.

http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65

and the reason you couldn't find it was because its called GCPUID not CPUID, my mistake.