noob needs help

M

MIRTBelGeran

Weaksauce
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Apr 28, 2006
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First time overclocking K8. System in Sig

What should I expect with my stepping?
Where should I start on settings?

BG
 
see sig :D

for a starting point, i'll leave that to somebody else, but i can help you max it out. no point of guessing what you can do when you can actually find out ;)
 
Read eclipse's overclocking guide first before your start, most 165s will do at least 2.6Ghz though.
 
Thanks that guide definaly gives me a place to start and put me on target with the consepts that I needed.

I'm waiting for my MB and Vidcard. UPS Screwed me. My package took a detour 3 states over and instead of a Friday Delivery I get a Monday delvery. I'm totally twisted over it!!

BG
 
Anothr great guide with all the basics is here: The 165 is truely remarkable, really the first chip that put the same smile on my face as my ancient OC experience with the 300A to 450 that led so many of into the world of overclocking. I am running 2.61 with the stock HSF. I have an EXOS but didn't use it when I first threw in my new CPU and mobo for convenience reasons but the stock HSF is so good the lazy side of me has dominated and I still haven't put it back in. I have an Asrock Dual SATA2 for a mobo because I stupidly thought I wanted to keep my AGP X800 XT PE and that board is one of the very few that has both PCI-E and AGP capabilities, amazing budget board IMO but your DFI should be a joy.

Just remember take it slow, read the links and you should have no problem reaching CPU Nirvana, I went from a 3.2 Northwood @ 3.6 to the 165 and could not be happier with the upgrade, really the only thing I would do different is the mobo, I only lasted 5 days before replacing my AGP X800 with an X1800 XT, there are a lot of things to like about the Asrock but I had I not been an idiot thinking I would keep the X800 I would have bought a more OC friendly and feature laden board.
 
I'm at 2.43Ghz at stock voltages still going up. 2 instances of prime running without issues for 30 min or so. I think it will cap out soon at stock voltages.


BG
 
Yup and it seems like it caped at that speed with stock volts. I'm goign to try to change a few things and see If I can get to 2.6 with stock volts
 
I hit a brick wall I'm just over 2.7 @1.525 volts by tems apear to be not an issue if I can trust nvidia monitor. Under load it is under 50C.

My CPU mult is at 8.5 and FSB is at 320. I would like to see 2.8 out of this thing. Is there any recomendations that can push me just a little bit farther. I'm trying to limit voltage but is that my only option at this point. I'm confedent that memory is not my limiting factor. HTT is under 1000.

BG
 
Just to verify what you think...try slowing down the memory below it's current speed with a dram ratio in your BIOS and try again. If it's a matter of temps...it might meen a slightly better cooling solution...but theres not a LOT beyond the CNPS9500 in terms of air cooling.

One thing that probly would make a different would be removing the 165's IHS...but I'm not sure if you're ready for that or not.

Don't be scared of a little more voltage...but even though your temps are still acceptable, they could be starting to hinder your OC already.
 
cornelious0_0 said:
Just to verify what you think...try slowing down the memory below it's current speed with a dram ratio in your BIOS and try again. If it's a matter of temps...it might meen a slightly better cooling solution...but theres not a LOT beyond the CNPS9500 in terms of air cooling.

One thing that probly would make a different would be removing the 165's IHS...but I'm not sure if you're ready for that or not.

Don't be scared of a little more voltage...but even though your temps are still acceptable, they could be starting to hinder your OC already.
Click to expand...

Interesting, what temps do you think start to hinder overclocks, like I can get my 3800+@1.5volts to 2800Mhz but then the temps get up to like 57C duel prime load.
 
sculelos said:
Interesting, what temps do you think start to hinder overclocks, like I can get my 3800+@1.5volts to 2800Mhz but then the temps get up to like 57C duel prime load.
Click to expand...

I've had/seen cases where once I would get up into the 50's...my OC would start to flake out. It may vary from chip to chip...I'm not saying that that IS what's holding him back...I've just seen similar circumstances is all.
 
sculelos said:
Interesting, what temps do you think start to hinder overclocks, like I can get my 3800+@1.5volts to 2800Mhz but then the temps get up to like 57C duel prime load.
Click to expand...
there isn't a magical limit where temps start effecting the overclock.. dropping my cpu temp from 40c to 30c gets me an extra 100mhz, then down to 10c gets me another 100mhz.. ;)
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
there isn't a magical limit where temps start effecting the overclock.. dropping my cpu temp from 40c to 30c gets me an extra 100mhz, then down to 10c gets me another 100mhz.. ;)
Click to expand...

And (as far as I'm aware) it can vary quite abit from cpu to cpu...which is why I was merely stating that it is possible it could be a heat "thing".
 
What is everyone's impression of Nvidia monitor and temps. Accurate/Inacurate?

I'll go ahead and change my memory divider since that is the only concrete recomendation.

Guys please dont turn this thread into a debate over the physics of heat and electron flow.

Because.

I'm not spending any more money on my system any more performance will come from blood sweat and tears.

I would like to stress that the primary use of this system will be Gaming so woult it be fair to say that I would probly get better performance from 100+ Mhz higher memory speeds than from 80Mhz on the CPU?

I do have one other thing that I'm going to do but I do not think it is a big gainer. I think I may benifit from turning around one of my 120mm fans to solidify one way air flow. in my case.

Right now I have air being vented out the 120mm fans in front and back of case and air comming into the case from three 80mm cans in the side of the case. If there is any benifit at all there will be only 1 or 2 degree ambiant temperature in the case.

Any settings that I can flip around to tweek this out would be great.

BG
 
First off, it is always best to try and "even out" the airflow in your case...but typically, any front and side fans you have should be intake fans, and any fans in the back/top of the case would normally be exhausting air out of your case. This setup allows for air to come in through the front and side of the case, over your hard drive(s) and video card/cpu...and then out the back of the case, and out the top...as heat naturally rises.

For temperature monitoring, it varies from motherboard to motherboard. The chipset really has nothing to do with it...some motherboards (varying by manufacturer/model) just aren't as accurate as others, due to the way/place they have their temperature sensors. If you're going to be following the readout of the motherboard sensors then the best thing you could probably do is download/install Smart Gaurdian or Motherboard Monitor 5 (prefered) to give you a clear/customizable view of the different temperature/voltage readings of your motherboard. A little more time intensive way to get more accurate temperature readins would be using temperature sensors connected to a 5.25" bay device. Most temperature sensors that come with such devices can be placed anywhere, and will give you an accurate reading of temperatures in different locations. Case and hard drive temperature is easy to measure with manually placed sensors...but in terms of the GPU and CPU, it can depend. If you have An AMD cpu that either does not have a heatspreader protecting the core, or an AMD chip that you have removed the heatspreader from, then the temperature sensor can be manually placed on the surface of the cpu, directly beside the core...which will typically give more accurate readings then motherboard CPU temp sensors. Most recent videocards use temperature sensors that are within/near the GPU itself...and it isn't often necessary to try and place a temperature sensor beside the GPU itself unless you want to have a reading displayed on the front of your case while you're gaming...otherwise you can only monitor temperatures before and after any 3d activity.

If you are going to be primarily gaming with this computer then I wouldn't get OVERLY worked up about hitting a snag overclocking or having difficulties. Typically, unless your cpu is bottlenecking the performance of your video card, you're not going to see massive FPS gains in today's games from overclocking to begin with. There are gains to be had, especially if you are overclocking your cpu and video card...but I wouldn't bother taking days and weeks trying to sqeeze an extra 100MHz out of the cpu if you're primarily going to be gaming...as the time would probably be better served actually USING the machine.
 
cornelious0_0 said:
If you are going to be primarily gaming with this computer then I wouldn't get OVERLY worked up about hitting a snag overclocking or having difficulties. Typically, unless your cpu is bottlenecking the performance of your video card, you're not going to see massive FPS gains in today's games from overclocking to begin with. There are gains to be had, especially if you are overclocking your cpu and video card...but I wouldn't bother taking days and weeks trying to sqeeze an extra 100MHz out of the cpu if you're primarily going to be gaming...as the time would probably be better served actually USING the machine.
Click to expand...

Overclocking is a game :D
 
cornelious0_0 said:
It starts as a game, but quickly grows into an obsession, and soon a way of life. :)
Click to expand...

I know I can't seem to stop changing my clock speeds in try to optimize, well I've got practicly the best air cooling I can now and am not willing to go cooler, I've got a fan from my window blowing air into my computer then two fans in my computer, last night my cpu temps got down to 23C (30 something load) and video cards where both 30C.
 
sculelos said:
I know I can't seem to stop changing my clock speeds in try to optimize, well I've got practicly the best air cooling I can now and am not willing to go cooler, I've got a fan from my window blowing air into my computer then two fans in my computer, last night my cpu temps got down to 23C (30 something load) and video cards where both 30C.
Click to expand...

Nice man, but it doesn't top my aircooled chassis/setup that I had sitting in my parents deepfreeze. :) It's awsome to see a watercooled X800XT-PE idling at around 10C. :)
 
You Guys are Phreaks. Yea OC'ing is a game. I wish I could allow myself to get into it like that it would be a ton a fun.

Looks like my opty 165 caped at 2.73 @ 1.45v.
I stoped adding voltage at 1.55 even though I'm fairly confident that heat was not an issus I was not getting any additional improvements after 2730 on more volts. I tried several differant combinations. One with an 8.5 multiplyer and one with 9. I lost stability in Prime every time above 2730 even with giving it more voltages. I have changed my memory ratio and ensured that HT did not go over 1000.

This is just too fun!! How far would you be willign to go on volts and air?

BG
 
You Guys are Phreaks.
Click to expand...

I'll take that as a compliment I guess. :p

This is just too fun!! How far would you be willign to go on volts and air?
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you're having a good time. Typically, most processors have a general range where they stop showing any kind of gains when it comes to additional voltage. For example...if you're at a certain clock with 1.5v on air cooling (or anything else for that matter) and going all the way up to 1.6v or so nets you no kind of change...it's about time to call 'er quits or pickup some better cooling.

Good luck with everything bro, and welcome to my/our way or life. :)
 
MIRTBelGeran said:
You Guys are Phreaks. Yea OC'ing is a game. I wish I could allow myself to get into it like that it would be a ton a fun.

Looks like my opty 165 caped at 2.73 @ 1.45v.
I stoped adding voltage at 1.55 even though I'm fairly confident that heat was not an issus I was not getting any additional improvements after 2730 on more volts. I tried several differant combinations. One with an 8.5 multiplyer and one with 9. I lost stability in Prime every time above 2730 even with giving it more voltages. I have changed my memory ratio and ensured that HT did not go over 1000.

This is just too fun!! How far would you be willign to go on volts and air?

BG
Click to expand...

I personally went up to 1.585 volts, but that was only a run to see how far I could go on air cooling, I got up to 2850Mhz, I bet I could get an extra 50-100Mhz if I switched to watercooling.
 
sculelos said:
I personally went up to 1.585 volts, but that was only a run to see how far I could go on air cooling, I got up to 2850Mhz, I bet I could get an extra 50-100Mhz if I switched to watercooling.
Click to expand...

You most likely could. It kinda sux that some chips just have a point where they will not clock any further, weather they're on water or not...and it takes a purchase of an h2O setup to find that out in many cases. Be ready for that if you do "take the plunge" (pun intended) but also remember that you've got a very good chance of taking that chip past 3GHz. :cool:
 
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