Overclocking question

[Judy Yahoodi]

Like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥, I went into UEFI BIOS for no reason to look at CPU voltage and speed. I went into advanced mode and saw everything for CPU was under Auto and just below everything was something called OC TUNER. I accidently pressed that and PC rebooted and I went back into BIOS to see what I had done and I saw my CPU going from 1.236v 2800mhz to 1.308v 3406mhz. My setting was set to normal, but it was now under ASUS OPTIMAL (for the 990fx R2.0 mobo).

My main question is, is this a stable set up since it did it automatically? I have a stock cooler with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste in there.

Edit: After 2 games of Bf3 on ultra (Shadow was on High setting), I always stayed above 50 fps on 1920x1080 with no freezing or any crashes.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Yeah its stable, but youll have to check the CPU temps to make sure.

All in all its a decent overclock and shouldnt pose any problems.

i use the automatic overclock for my i5 2500k on my ASUS board and im at 4450 stable. Auto OC's have come a long way and its safer to use it if you dont know how to manually OC.

[_I_]

990fx is an amd board
what cpu?

if its the amd 125w style cooler
http://techreport.com/r.x/phenom-ii-x4-955/stock-hsf.jpg

a mild oc <5% should be fine
stock voltage is around 1.2v

20% oc is too much for the stock cooler

if the temps are staying under 70c at full load its fine

[Judy Yahoodi]

The motherboard is the ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R 2.0 CPU is Phenom II x4 830
the idle temp was 39C when it is 3.37 and under full load I assume its about 50 or 55C (My room is airconditioned and always cold) and when it was 2.8ghz it was about 32C in idle
The cooler is similar to that one you posted, but the one I have has a larger fan and its CoolerMaster

Escrito originalmente por _I_:

990fx is an amd board
what cpu?

if its the amd 125w style cooler
http://techreport.com/r.x/phenom-ii-x4-955/stock-hsf.jpg

a mild oc <5% should be fine
stock voltage is around 1.2v

20% oc is too much for the stock cooler

if the temps are staying under 70c at full load its fine

[_I_]

to find out the max temp, use hwmonitor
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

and run prime95 blend for about 15min
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

[Judy Yahoodi]

I might change my cpu cooler in a month, I was thinking of something not so large, but gets the job done and cools better than stock cooling.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103177

or

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_129&item_id=042699

Im not comfortable running p95, but I'll try crysis 3 and see my temps, idle right now is 35C
when cpu us about 70% in load, it goes to about 43C-47C (in crysis 3)

95% cpu usage goes to about 50C in crysis 3, so I guess I'm safe now xd

[_I_]

if you have room for the gemini ii S524, you can fit the 212 evo
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_129&item_id=044952

if you dont stress test you wont know if it stable and may get random crash/bsod or other problems

[ZERO]

I wouldn't recommend overclocking with a stock cooler, especially if the thermal paste has not "set" yet, kind of like paint drying, takes about a month. I have a 125W CPU OC'd to 3600 with multiplier no voltage increase from 3200 @ stock Volt. I use an overt amount of cooling (Modified Cooler Master V8) to keep it in check and I keep it lower than 45C full load and lots of dust. I say that because you don't want to push it to the limit when your comp is "clean". Oh, and if you like arctic silver, try their ceramic compound, better thermal transfer, good for another 2-10C lower temps.

Cheers ^^

P.S. if you want to manually OC AMD BE a good place to start is the multiplier, then test each time. Like I said before I OC'd +400 with no voltage stable and low temps thanks to heatsink/fan combo. That's a 12.5% increase, well outside the 5% "norm".

[Judy Yahoodi]

I built this PC around end of Feb and begining of March. The thermal paste has been on since then.

@ _|_, I have the CM Storm Trooper, I think it is possible to fit a evo in there

[LoTekRabbit]

Escrito originalmente por ☥ - CJ -:

Yeah its stable, but youll have to check the CPU temps to make sure.

All in all its a decent overclock and shouldnt pose any problems.

i use the automatic overclock for my i5 2500k on my ASUS board and im at 4450 stable. Auto OC's have come a long way and its safer to use it if you dont know how to manually OC.

That is incredibly naive. Every chip is different and to suggest it's stable without any sort of proper testing doesn't make any sense.

The only way to know if that OC is stable is to Prime 95 Large FFT and Small FTT 8 hours each minimum. If memory timings and speeds are changed as well you should blend test or run a seperate memtest.

You don't just overclock, play a game for 20 minutes and go "yeah it's stable." Even if it is an auto overclock which prove on many occassions to over volt the CPU for no good reason. It has to do with more than just CPU temps.

[Judy Yahoodi]

Thing is, I don't often play heavy demanding games only sometimes. Mostly CSS zombie escape :p

I was playing bf3 for a solid 3-4 hours with no issues if that counts :p

[LoTekRabbit]

Sorry but it doesn't count. Gaming is a good test after you properly test it with the right software.

An unstable overclock can cause crashing, blue screens, and data loss/corruption. Not to mention if you are adding extra voltage when it is not needed you are degrading your CPU at a faster rate for no reason at all.

Your CPU might be stable all I am saying is someone going "yup it's stable" out of thin air is terrible advice. Every chip is different. If you don't want to properly test it it's your call but my advice is that you do.

If I auto overclock with Asus it sets my CPU to 4.5GHz at 1.350 volts when in reality I am 100% stable at 1.280 volts.

[Judy Yahoodi]

Okay, I see where you're coming from with this. I might do a test this weekend. This is my first time overclocking a cpu and it wasn't intentional lol. I'm crammed with school stuff until the weekend now.

(My cpu is kinda old anyways btw)

Ehh screw it, I'll do the test now. I'll go find Prime95 download and run it for about 20 minutes. So I do a blend test for 20 minutes or should I do a small test?

[LoTekRabbit]

If you want the bare minimum smallFTT for 4 hours (it will cause the most heat) and blend it for another 4. Check your temps as well.

Personally what I do is...

Intel Burn test maximum stress 50 runs

Prime 95 Large FTT 16 hours (I've crashed at the 12th hour before and to me that's not acceptable)

Memtest for 12 hours

Then I just play Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, and other stressful games.

[ZERO]

I would suggest upgrading the stock fan with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233101 , it's a four pin connect fan that boasts a quieter bearing, longer life, lower speeds and higher cfm output. Generally the stock fans that come with coolers are "ok" but can be upgraded significantly, if you do chose to upgrade make sure you know what type of bearing it uses, many manufacturers "fancy" up a new design, but it doesn't work. Rifle sleeve bearings and fluid dynamic in any mounting situation have held up great for me.

[Judy Yahoodi]

I'm running a small test as I write this, few minutes in and my CPU is not going over 60C-62C and its at 100% I'm probably gonna end it about 12 minutes later. (Quick testing)