Overclocking: First Time

[Gotenks713]

Hi

I am a first time overclocker looking for some help. Now my computer is set to normal right now as i didn't want to mess around with overclocking if i wasn't sure of what i was doing. My Vcore is 1.008 right now and as i have a stock heatsink, my core temp is 42 degrees according to HWMonitor and 35 according to speedfan. I have run orthos and Prime95 for a couple of hours and have passed all the tests at the blend setting. CPUID reports my Ram frequency to be 400mhz and my fsb to dram ratio to be 2:3. Now for my specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e7200 at 2.53ghz with 3mb Cache
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L
RAM : 2GB OCZ Gold Extreme Gamer's edition 800mhz (running at 5-5-5-15) although it is rated at 4-5-4-15
PSU: EarthWatts ea380 380W (Antec 4480b case)
Graphics: Integrated (looking to buy a pci one in the near future)

Now these are the options i get in the bios overclocking section with the options currently selected:

CPU Clock Ratio: [9x]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio [0.5]
CPU Host Clock [Disabled]
x CPU Host Frequency [333] grayed out as i disabled the above option

PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) [Auto]
Performance Enhance [Extreme]
System Memory Multiplier [auto]
Memory Frequency (mhz) 800 800

System Voltage Control [Auto]
xDDR2 Overvoltage Control [Normal] with options like [+0.1v to +0.4V]
xFSB Overvoltage Control [Normal] with options like [+0.1v to +0.3V]
xCPU Voltage Control [1.08] with many other options all the way to 1.3V

Now to safely overclock to about 3.15GHZ what are the optimum settings particularly voltage related. Also how do i make my ram 4-4-4-12?? Oh and i also have speedstep enabled. Is this advisable or not?


Thanks A Lot

P.S. I know i would need an after market heatsink to properly overclock and am looking to buy one. First i need to see if i can learn to overclock properly.

[Natsuiro]

I'm confused.
Shouldn't your multiplier be at 9.5 and your FSB at 266?
Every cpu is different so no one can tell you voltage you will need to attain 3.15.
To get about 3.15, you will need to raise the FSB to about 333 with a multiplier of 9.5 for 3163.5 MHz.
There are two ways to do this. You can raise the FSB slowly and increase the voltage if you need to. Or you could move the FSB straight to 333 and see if it works. If it doesn't, then you keep upping voltage until you can. The first method would be the safest but the second faster.
To make your RAM run at 4-4-4-12 you can up the voltage on it to what it's rated for. If that doesn't work, you can sync the RAM to your FSB and it would run at 667 MHz, and that might be enough to help you.
Personally, I don't bother with the timings because they barely improve performance in synthetic benchmarks and certainly make no real world difference.
I have speedstep enabled on my computer and it didn't seem to make any difference when overclocking.
As long as you watch your temperatures, you'll be okay.

EDIT> You also want to keep your PCI-e frequency locked at 100 MHz.

[board123]

If you overclock by changing the FSB, which you most likely will, you would want to set the PCI-E frequency to 100 MHz.

Set the memory to the lowest ratio. Set timings to 5-5-5-15. Set memory voltage to +0.3v.

Set FSB overcharge to +0.1v.

The final setting to worry about before you start overclocking is CPU voltage. Start with the maximum, which is only 1.3v in your case. I'm not sure why the max voltage on your BIOS is only 1.3v, but whatever. Don't worry, your CPU will not burn out with 1.3v.

Basically, what you're doing here is prepping the system for stability first. You increase voltages at the beginning so that very mild overclocks should be stable.

Now for overclocking...

MAKE SURE MEMORY IS AT THE LOWEST RATIO! Try to keep your memory below or at its advertised specs for now. Save the BIOS settings and reboot before you start overclocking anything. The first step is to find out how much your CPU can overclock. Start by bumping the FSB straight to 334 MHz (for 3.173 GHz overall). See if that works. If it does, boot into windows and run some quick stability tests. If it appears to be stable, then you've reached your goal of 3.15 GHz. If it's not stable, then go back to BIOS and adjust some settings.

After you confirm that you're stable at 3.173 GHz, go back to the BIOS and change the FSB to 332 MHz. This is done to manually manipulate the northbridge strap. I can explain this step in detail if you really need me to, or you can do some research of your own about the northbridge strap. Either way, this is done for performance reasons as 332 will be faster than 334 even though the overall clock speed is slower.

After you're stable at 332 MHz FSB, it's time to find out what your memory can handle. I don't know what ratios your motherboard supports, so just try one that's close to 800 MHz. Keep the timings at 5-5-5-15. Timings have negligible impact on system performance in the case of Core 2 platforms.

Once everything is stable, it's time to decrease voltages. Start by decreasing CPU voltage step by step. Once you find the lowest voltage you're stable at, keep it there. Everything else can remain the same. Maybe you can change memory voltage to +0.2v instead, if you're not too much above 800 MHz.

Each step can be elaborated further, but this is just the overall "process" that I always follow and it makes a lot of sense.

[Gotenks713]

my multiplier is at 9.5 if you add the fine cpu clock ratio to the cou clock ratio. And my fsb is at 266 as the cou host conrtol is disabled. the only reason i wrote 333 in my post is because i have already tried to bump it up to 333 and then diabled the option so it still shows but that is not what it is running at. Plus for the memory thing what if my pc dopens boot up what will i have to do then??

[Gotenks713]

some questions:

1) why the fsb overcharge to 0.1V?
2) how do i SET timings to 5-5-5-15 when there is no option like that in the bios???????
3) isnt it better to keep the pci frequency at auto rather than 100mhz. What is the difference?? How do you know what the auto setting is and if it already isnt 100
4) For the cpu voltage why do i need to setr it at 1.3v first. What i did was set it to 333 and it went to 3.15ghz while the boltage sttings were at auto and it showd my a vcore voltage of 1.12. Iran orthos and it was stable. Shouldn't i start there as i know that that is a stable point at which the pc runs smooth??
5) what do you mean by this "MAKE SURE MEMORY IS AT THE LOWEST RATIO! Try to keep your memory below or at its advertised specs for now" and how do i acheive this. Step by Step please i am a noob
6) What do you mean by this "Maybe you can change memory voltage to +0.2v instead, if you're not too much above 800 MHz.
"????

Thanks please do not get frustrated as i really am a noob

P.S. If i do anything wrong and my pc doesn't boot up, what do i do then. heard something about clearing the cmos but i have no idea how. i don't really want to attempt anything unless i know how to go back if i mess up.

[Natsuiro]

some questions:

1) why the fsb overcharge to 0.1V?
2) how do i SET timings to 5-5-5-15 when there is no option like that in the bios???????
3) isnt it better to keep the pci frequency at auto rather than 100mhz. What is the difference?? How do you know what the auto setting is and if it already isnt 100
4) For the cpu voltage why do i need to setr it at 1.3v first. What i did was set it to 333 and it went to 3.15ghz while the boltage sttings were at auto and it showd my a vcore voltage of 1.12. Iran orthos and it was stable. Shouldn't i start there as i know that that is a stable point at which the pc runs smooth??
5) what do you mean by this "MAKE SURE MEMORY IS AT THE LOWEST RATIO! Try to keep your memory below or at its advertised specs for now" and how do i acheive this. Step by Step please i am a noob
6) What do you mean by this "Maybe you can change memory voltage to +0.2v instead, if you're not too much above 800 MHz.
"????

Thanks please do not get frustrated as i really am a noob

P.S. If i do anything wrong and my pc doesn't boot up, what do i do then. heard something about clearing the cmos but i have no idea how. i don't really want to attempt anything unless i know how to go back if i mess up.

Well if you already got it to 3.15 then I guess you don't have anything to worry about as it works already. The question now is how much higher can you go =P
1)You set the FSB overcharge so that your motherboard can go high enough. If you are staying at 3.15 then forget it, but you may need the extra voltage to attain a higher FSB.
2) I'm not familiar with your motherboard, but you should have settings to set the timings if you look around for it.
3)You should lock it for two reasons, one to prevent it from being a bottleneck, and two, to prevent damage to your motherboard or video card.
4)1.3v is a safe voltage so you can use it to get to your target clockspeed and then lower the voltage once you get there. You can also stay at 1.3v and see how high you can go.
5)The reason you set memory to the lowest ratio is to prevent it from being a bottleneck. Yours is already locked at 800MHz so I wouldn't worry about it.
6)You would need to raise the voltage to get a high clock or tighter timings. I wouldn't worry about it for now since 800MHz is already enough headroom to get to 3.8 GHz.

If your pc doesn't boot back up, read the instruction manual and you'll find a jumper you can change to clear cmos. You put it back to where it was after. You can also take out the battery.

[board123]

1) why the fsb overcharge to 0.1V?

Because you're increasing the FSB and just for stability's sake, you should give the northbridge a little more voltage to keep up.

2) how do i SET timings to 5-5-5-15 when there is no option like that in the bios???????

Oh yeah...you might not be able to. Don't worry about it then.

3) isnt it better to keep the pci frequency at auto rather than 100mhz. What is the difference?? How do you know what the auto setting is and if it already isnt 100

No, always manually set it to 100 MHz. It changes based on the FSB, and too high of a PCI-E clock will interfere with other devices in the system like the SATA controller.

4) For the cpu voltage why do i need to setr it at 1.3v first. What i did was set it to 333 and it went to 3.15ghz while the boltage sttings were at auto and it showd my a vcore voltage of 1.12. Iran orthos and it was stable. Shouldn't i start there as i know that that is a stable point at which the pc runs smooth??

You didn't say this so I assumed you haven't overclocked yet. If you already know where you're stable at, then of course you start there. Change it to 332 and see if it runs faster. If not, then stay with 333.

5) what do you mean by this "MAKE SURE MEMORY IS AT THE LOWEST RATIO! Try to keep your memory below or at its advertised specs for now" and how do i acheive this. Step by Step please i am a noob

Either the System Memory Multiplier option or the Memory Frequency (is this an option or just an indicator??).

6) What do you mean by this "Maybe you can change memory voltage to +0.2v instead, if you're not too much above 800 MHz." ????

You might need additional voltage if you overclock your memory way beyond its specs. Auto means 1.8v. The initial 2.1v is just a safe starting point. If you end up with a FSB of around 333 then the 800 MHz ratio is probably available, in which case you can use 1.8v or 1.9v on the memory and it should be perfectly stable.

P.S. If i do anything wrong and my pc doesn't boot up, what do i do then. heard something about clearing the cmos but i have no idea how. i don't really want to attempt anything unless i know how to go back if i mess up.

It's on the instruction manual. There should be a jumper on the motherboard that you use to reset the CMOS. The manual might refer to it as "CLR_TC" or something like that.

Thanks please do not get frustrated as i really am a noob

It's okay. Less than 4 years ago I was a complete noob as well. The first system is always the biggest challenge. I learned quite a bit after that.

[Gotenks713]

i dont get what you want me to do with the system memory multiplier?? and i dont even know how to overclock my memory so why would i add the extra 0.2v I just want it to run at 800mhz and can you tell me how to do that using the settings i described on my motherboard??

Also for the pcie thing do i set it to 100 even if i am not overclocking??

THanks

the memory frequency is an option. i dont remeber what it says though . i can check if you want

[board123]

Also for the pcie thing do i set it to 100 even if i am not overclocking??

No, it doesn't matter if you don't overclock the FSB.

the memory frequency is an option. i dont remeber what it says though . i can check if you want

That's the memory ratio and yes, that's what I want you to change. Memory clock changes automatically based on the FSB and the ratio. The lowest ratio is 1:1, which means your memory is the same clock as the FSB.

[Gotenks713]

hi

I entered the system memory multiplier and it gives me four options,

auto
2.0
2.50
3.0

which one is best do you reckon and why whats the purpose of these numbers??

Thanks

Also for the 332 and 333, how do you know which one is faster, a benchmark perhaps and if so ewhich one do you reccomend

[board123]

hi

I entered the system memory multiplier and it gives me four options,

auto
2.0
2.50
3.0

which one is best do you reckon and why whats the purpose of these numbers??

These are the memory ratios.
FSB:MEM
2.0 = 1:1
2.5 = 4:5
3.0 = 2:3

Use 2.0 ratio to start with. Memory clock = FSB x Mem ratio

Also for the 332 and 333, how do you know which one is faster, a benchmark perhaps and if so ewhich one do you reccomend

SuperPi Mod because it's quick.

[Gotenks713]

k i will try your settings here they are please tell me if they are right and if i missed anything,

CPU Clock Ratio at 9x
Fine CPU Clock Ratio at 0.5x
CPU Host Frequency at 332mhz
PCI Express Frequency at 100MHZ Even though my pci slots are empty
Performance Enhancer at Standard
System Memory Multiplier set to manual at 2.0 FOR NOW

System Voltage Control at Manual

xDDR2 Overvoltage at Normal
xFSB Overvoltage at +1.0V
xCPU Voltage Control at 1.1V (my normal vcore voltage is 1.008)

Please check these over and tell me if i am ready

Thanks

[board123]

Yeah you're good to go.

[Gotenks713]

Okay so i did it!!!

I ran a pi test and i came up with 16 seconds for the 1m calculation. Is that good?? I am currently running an orthos test to see how stable the system is. Also i have heard that overclocking decreases the life of a system. If that is true by how much . Especially since i am overclocking with the stock heatsink. I am currently getting a temp of 60 at load according to hwmonitor and 56 according to speedfan. Is that good.

Thanks for your help

I will let you know the results of orthos in an hour. In the meantime, what is the procedure for overclocking the ram??

[board123]

16 seconds in Superpi is pretty fast for a 3.15 GHz chip. Being a Penryn variant definitely helps.

Overclocking does decrease the life of a CPU, but it's negligible. There haven't been any formal studies on how much it affects the lifespan simply because there are so many factors in overclocking, and every CPU behaves differently. Lifespan is really a non-factor as long as you're put feeding excessively high voltage to the CPU and you have adequate cooling.

Btw, what do you mean by "procedure for overclocking the ram??