first time overclocking, not doing too bad, I think

[MKA]

hello all, over the wekend i overclcoked my cpu for the first time. i built up the courage to do it after days of reading (and getting baffled in the process)

i first put up the cpu frequency from 200 to 235 from bios, reduced the hyper transport mulitplier from auto to x4.

i restarted and everything seemed fine but after running 2 instances of prime95 on each core (blend test), one instance detected a hardware failur after 14 mins.

i carried out a memtest after this to check the ram, indivdually that is, a memtest for each stick.

i only did 1 pass for each ram stick, for 2 reasons i was knackered, seeing as it was 6am in the morning by now and i was pretty sure my ocz platinum ram was fine.

after the memtest i increased the cpu voltage one notch, set the cpu multiplier to x11 (from auto) and and the hypertransport mulitplier to x5 (fromx4).

i rebooted and ran 2 instances of prime95 again.

i first ran a "small FTT" check for 6 hours without any problems, straight after the 6 hours were up i ran a blend test, which has now been going for around 9 hours, so around 15 hours in total including the small FTT test.

so far no errors and things are looking good. pcwizard 2007 tells me that my cpu temps are not going above 53C and CPU Z tells me the following: my cpu voltage is reading between 1.376 and 1.392.
my cpu frequency is 2588.0. bus speed 235.3 MHZ and HT link is reading at 1176.4.

1 other point of note, o dont know how much difference this makes. to run a blend test on prime95 i read you should limit the memory usage to half of your actual memnory for each instance. i have 2x1GB of ram. so first time round when 1 instance detected a hardware failure the memory usage was split right down the middle, i allocated 1024 memory for each instance. i then read it is better to do say 800 for example for each instance. just thought i`d add that not sure how much relevence it would have on the tests

memory tab info. Freq - 235.3
cas latency 2.5 clocks
ras cas delay 3 clocks
rasprecharge 2 clocks
cycle time 5 clocks
bank cycle time 11 clocks
command rate 2t
dram idle timer 16 clocks

pc wizard also tells me that mainboard temp is 34C
power.aux temp is 53C
GPU Diode is 33C.

so far there hasn't been a question from me, the reason for my post is to get some expert advice on anything i have done wrong,afterall it is my first time doing an overclock. and maybe even peace of mind about my overclock if applicable from the info i have provided.

also i suppose there is one question for now, how long shall i run prime95? i have no intention of running it 24 hours plus. my pc will never be running at max for that long so seems a bit illogical to me, but i am a noob and i am the first to admit my knowledge could do with alot of improving in these areas. plus i have read so many different answers to my question that it becomes difficult to be sure whos right or not.

sorry for the long winded post. and thanks to anyone kind enough to read this and maybe even reply and give me some feedback on my first over clock.

[s_kinton]

Looks like you're doing good so far. We're running the same chip I believe - x2 4200+

Firstly, try and keep your HT under 1000, this solves ALOT of stability issues when overclocking this combination. Think about dropping it down to x4 and try increasing the overclock.

You RAM seems to be overclocking nicely. You should really loosen the timings when overclocking the CPU, or run a divider. That way it completely rules out the RAM being the limiting factor in the oc. Then, once you've found the max CPU oc, go back and find the max memory speed and timings that are stable. Thats the easiest way to find max overclocks, as you only push one thing at a time.

[MKA]

thanks for the tips, i have reduced the HT, CPU z now says it is running at about 960.

after my first post i tried another slight increase. cpu freq to 240, with muliplier of 11, so cpu clock speed of about 2.640. after running orthos with this new configuration system ended up crashing got this random message saying pc was shut down or something to protect it from harm. i then changed my settings back to what they were on my 1st overclcock and also made sure to keep the HT link under 1000 this time by using x4 HT freq multiplier.

running orthos again now to make sure system is not going to crash on me. if everything is ok, i will do as you say mate and look into loosening my ram timings, i dont know how yet but will read up on it.

cheers

[s_kinton]

running orthos again now to make sure system is not going to crash on me. if everything is ok, i will do as you say mate and look into loosening my ram timings, i dont know how yet but will read up on it.

cheers

Its all done via the BIOS, thats the best way to do it. Just try lowering them to 3-3-3-8 or the like or better still run them on a divider, until you can find the max of your CPU. To run them on a divider just change the memory frequency down to 166mhz or 133mhz in the BIOS.

My 4200 is sat at 3GHz. It runs 2.8 with ease once its set up right, 3ghz needs a bit of extra voltage. You might be as lucky as me with yours.

[MKA]

i`m slowly beginning to understand this overclocking business, though i stress "slowly" lol

i understand the divider bit you mentioned, but whenever i`ve changed my memory frequency the cpu frequency automatically changes as well.

i`m going to have another look now mate. i`m probably making a basic error somewhere.

EDIT:

haha yep as i suspected, basic error from me, reduced ram clock to 333mhz from 400mhz, cpu z now says freq is 187mhz. will bump up the cpu clock a bit more see what happens.

[s_kinton]

ok, try increasing the cpu frequency, leaving the ram at 333mhz and the HT at x3.

Only increase the voltage as a last resort i.e. when you cant a certain clock speed stable. When you do, only increase it by the smallest increment your board allows and always monitor your temps!

Post back with your results and we'll go from there.

[MKA]

hmmm, have just had another go doing this, i was sidetracked by a small issue of a format, i`d had enough of vista and put xp back on.

anyways, i left my ram at 333mhz, used x3 on the HT multiplier and cranked up the CPU frequency, system wouldn't even boot. i tried to crank the cpu to 2.700 trying the multiplier method and also a direct increase of the cpu frequency and a mixture of both. none seemed to work. for example i tried 250(CPU freq) on a multiplier of 11 and also x9 x10 and x10.5 with higher cpu frequencies, none of the settings allowed me to boot to my desktop. i have gone back to my last known good settings for now.

do you think a CPU voltage increase is needed? it is currently set at 1.375, which is one notch above stock settings i believe.

overall though a raise from 2.2 stock to 2.6+ is not bad, for me anyway, i`m getting a bit scared now, have already had a bluecreen today and failed boots. i`m not sure if my system is trying to tell me something, probably saying, stop because you are gonna wreck me with your amatuer OC'ing skills lol

now that the cpu has been set to a 'safe' upper limit. can i now try to increase my ram back up to at least 200mhz and maybe even a bit more. OCZ ram apparently OC's well, or so i have read.
interestingly my AVG resident shield refuses to turn on now as well. before anymore OC'ing i`m going to try to sort that out.

cheers for the info again s_kinton, you have been very helpful.

[MKA]

hmm, pc just restarted by itself . have reduced the cpu back to 2.588 now from 2.64. that definately worked.

i give up now. too stressful lol

[s_kinton]

Dont give up now, its just getting interesting

If it were me, I'd give it a small voltage increase, provided your temps are ok. Im sure that would stabilise it.

2.5-2.6Ghz seems to be the area where these chips need a little voltage boost. Only ever increase by the smallest increment possible though.

[MKA]

scary stuff this OC'ing business lol

i had already raised my voltage by one notch already it is at 1.375v at the moment, do you think another raise is needed then mate? i`m not sure the maxuimum my cpu can take, have read numbers ranginf from 1.4 to 1.45.

i have just raised my ram voltage to, my stock should be 2.6v it is at 2.65 now, OCZ cover you for 2.9v i think and have ordered a ram cooler as well to be on the safe side. reason i raised my ram voltage is because i raised my ram freq to 200mhz from 166mhz so it is effectively running at 237mhz at the moment because of the cpu OC. i`ve haven't touched ram timings yet though. i`ve only just begun to understand how they work to be honest.

this was interesting i thought. last night i ran orthos for one hour just to quickly check my overclock. it ran fine and i stopped orthos after an hour like i said. just before i went bed i started orthos again, this time i wanted to make sure and leave orthos running overnight. when i last looked at my pc screen before i went bed, about 25 minutes had passed. when i got up today, turned on my monitor, pc was frozen, and the orthos time was stuck at 26 mins

i didn't quite understand that, how it was fine for an hour but then froze after 26 minutes second time round.
so it lasted over an hour while i was using my pc, but seemingly froze 26 minutes in when i wasn't.