Where to learn to overclock?

T

Technoob

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 21, 2006
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I finally got a somewhat respectable rig recently, and I'd like to learn to dabble with OCing my parts.

First thing I'd like to try is ocing my e6320. Some notes:

Processor: e6320 with stock cooler.
Mobo: msi 650i p6n sli
RAM: corsair xms2 ddr 800 pc6400

All I'd like to do is get my 6320 up to say, 6600 speeds. Is that possible on stock cooling with my parts?

If so, where is a good place to go for a really hold your hand step by step guide for someone who's never done much of anything in his Bios other than changing boot orders and such :0

edit: vista 32bit
 
hm, the overclocking guide stick is gone...

Well, you can probably search for it and then read that. There's one here and in the AMD forum.

The basic idea behind overclocking is bumping up the frontside bus until the rig crashes ( usually done by stress testing ). Then when it crashes, screw with the voltages and timings and everything and try again. Obviously, there's a lot more to it, but at least you don't have to deal with the HT link speed.

Since you have DDR2-800, then you probably won't have to worry about overclocking your RAM just yet..which simplifies things a little ( DDR2-800 runs at 400 MHz at stock, 400×9 = 3600 MHz which might be where you'll top out on your chip ).

I'd try doing more of it on your own and coming here once you get stuck. =) Or maybe I'm just a nerd for trying to figure out things on my own ( seems like everyone just wants to be told the magical "ZOMG OVERCLOCK" settings so they can have a bigger e-penis ). =X
 
thanks for the reply. I'm really at this point totally unfamiliar with how to change my fsb at all, whether temps would get too high with my stock cooler, etc. I'll search for more guides in the meantime.

any links to good help guides or sites would be appreciated.
 
It is definitely possible, but I'm not sure about using the stock vanilla Intel cooler.
Essentially in your BIOS (usually entered by pressing a certain key when you boot the PC) you would need to raise the FSB to 342 Mhz. ;)
 
Well, you don't know how well the stock cooler is going to hold up until you try it.

Typically, 60-70°C ( under load of course, if those were idle temps.. ) is considered warm. Personally, I keep things under 65°C.

For "safe" vcore, I'll quote eclipse :D
Max voltage kinda depends on the cooling and cpu. for convenience, here is what i consider the max safe overvolt from stock voltage based on your cooling type:
Stock: +0.1v
Good Air: +.15v to +.2v
Water: +.2v
Phase Change: wtf are you reading this for if you have phase?! :p
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.eclipseoc.com/index.php?id=6,9,0,0,1,0

edit: well, you can just work off of that really..you can ignore some stuff...but it gives you a general idea. You don't have a "HT link" though, that's just your frontside bus ( FSB ).

edit2: for testing software you can refer up to the sticky at the top of this forum. Under "Stability of a Computer Benchmark" and I'd use memtest as well ( scroll down some ).
 
Couple of tips that might help.....

1. Like Eclipse said, know what the bios option are and what they do...
2. Make it simple, run your memory at 1:1 regardless of its spec..
3. Find out what needs to be disabled/enabled in the bios from somebody using the same board..... Try not to use auto in any voltage option....
4. Dont be scared of voltage, on a normal motherboard the voltages are not high enough to damge anything ( doesnt mean you should max everything )....
5. It is really difficult to fry anything these days.... maybe youll corrupt your hd but thats about it......
6. The most important thing IMO is " Never blame the hardware" , isntead of bitching about it, find out why its not performing........ I see too many people bitching that his ram is crap, or he got unlucky on his cpu, most of the time, its not the hardware thats the bottleneck but the user itself......

Good luck....
 
I personally like to keep things simple when overclocking and only fiddling with the settings I absolutely need to. But if I where you, I'd start raising the fsb in small steps as long as it will go with everything else untouched. When it starts to get unstable, raise the vcore a little, but I wouldn't go above 1.45, because it really starts to heat up after that. Leave mem timings to the mobo..
 
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