Thread: Question about Overclocking...

Namely, what should I read to learn more about/how to do it?
Please don't say google, as I know that is the "easiest" way to find this info. I, instead of "easy," want to know what would be the most "authoritative," or "trusted," place to learn.

I just built my first computer from scratch two months ago. Before that I had replaced many parts, but nothing so drastic before that. So I am now looking to learn about overclocking, and I ask, where is a good place to learn?


P.S. - As the Tech forum is for computer "problems," and this is not a problem, per se, I thought it best to ask here. =p

I checked this site, and it seemed to be good, and basic, for starters.

The explanations are not complicated at all. Actually, they are quite easy. Besides, overclocking is not really difficult.

List all your parts.
Power supply, motherboard, RAM, CPU, video card and cooling system.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5WDH Deluxe
2 Gigs of Corsair XMS2 "TWIN2X2048-6400" <---Plan to add more memory, maybe from the Dominator series
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750w(love it, so quiet, but also so large I had to remove the upper fan from my case, and I don't like the fact that the cables aren't removable)
BFG Tech Nvidia Geforce 7900 GTX 512mb
Three case fans(1 90mm, 2 120 mm), one 250mm case fan on the side of the case, and a Thermaltake CL-P0114 CPU Cooler with Heatsink.

Why would you want to overclock that?

Originally Posted by AKofC

Why would you want to overclock that?

More to learn how than anything else. Would help me understand the parts, and how they work together, better, I think. Same reason why I bought the "Guide to Linux Certification" textbook, and am learning it in my free time, though I don't plan to switch to Linux.

Dude, don't risk damage on that rig. I mean, if our PC's met, my PC (as manly as it is) would bend over.

Go find an old PC to mess around with if this is for educational cheers.

Though you should go do something more productive. Like cooking lunch on a 360.

Oh that's easy.
Set FSB to 375MHz, RAM to Auto, Vcore to 1.375V and RAM voltage to 2.0V.
You should be cruising at 3.37GHz with that.
Then just keep increasing the FSB slowly and only increasing the Vcore if it doesn't POST.

Leave PCIE bus at 100MHz/Auto.
As for RAM timings, tighten them only when your CPU is overclocked and stable. You might have to increase the voltage of your northbridge as well.

And don't forget to check the temperatures in BIOS after POSTing.

If you feel confident enough, set FSB to 400MHz. It SHOULD be POSTing without any problems. The P5W-DH is a really stable board till 475MHz.

AK, it really is hard to damage a system when overclocking. The guidelines are: Never set VCore past 1.4125V, never let the CPU cores go beyond 65C and check the voltage rails at load.

And finally, when you get into Windows (if you can), install Speedfan, Intel Thermal Analysis Tool, Coretemp, Prime 95 and SuperPi.

Originally Posted by Jyuu

Oh that's easy.
Set FSB to 375MHz, RAM to Auto, Vcore to 1.375V and RAM voltage to 2.0V.
You should be cruising at 3.37GHz with that.
Then just keep increasing the FSB slowly and only increasing the Vcore if it doesn't POST.

Leave PCIE bus at 100MHz/Auto.
As for RAM timings, tighten them only when your CPU is overclocked and stable. You might have to increase the voltage of your northbridge as well.

And don't forget to check the temperatures in BIOS after POSTing.

If you feel confident enough, set FSB to 400MHz. It SHOULD be POSTing without any problems. The P5W-DH is a really stable board till 475MHz.

AK, it really is hard to damage a system when overclocking. The guidelines are: Never set VCore past 1.4125V, never let the CPU cores go beyond 65C and check the voltage rails at load.

And finally, when you get into Windows (if you can), install Speedfan, Intel Thermal Analysis Tool, Coretemp, Prime 95 and SuperPi.

Yeeeah, bad things happened.
I used the program that came with the motherboard, Asus Overclock, and set it to 375mhz, and the Memory to 2.v. On reboot, it would start up, had to go back into the bios and clock the CPU down to 220. Will try again.

On a related note, is there any place that has a tutorial for this, with some background?
P.S. VCore is auto set on my system to a little over 1.5, should I lower that?

Lower it asap.
And NEVER overclock from a Windows app. ALWAYS do it from BIOS.