KBot.Niels

Hi,

I'm new to overclocking and i tried it myself and i got a decent result. I still have some questions:

- I tried oc'ing using the AMD Overdrive Utility. I got it to 3,147 Ghz on 1,36 volts 48C full load at stock cooling (although not completely stable). Should i keep using the AMD overdrive utility or is it best to use the BIOS?

- Can i overclock my CPU and still have Cool&Quiet enabled?

- Whats the best way to overclock? I overclocked by raising the multiplier (since i have a black edition CPU) from 13,5 to 15,5 and the Hypertransport ref clock from 200 to 203).

- Is it best to keep the DRAM:FSB frequency to 1:1, i have 1066Mhz RAM?

- I have a cooler master elite 331 midtower case, which CPU cooler do you recommend?

Hardware:
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 7750
GPU: MSI Radeon 3850 OC
RAM: 2X 1GB OCZ Fatal1ty 1066
MoBo: ASUS M3A78 PRO
PSU: OCZ 400W ModXstream Pro
Case: Cooler Master Elite 331 with 2X 120 mm fan
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1 250GB

OS:
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit



Thanks,
Niels

KBot.Niels

Ok, i did some overclocking in the BIOS and these are my results:

CPU:
Core clock 3,0 Ghz (200 * 15) @ 1,264 V
Temp @ full load 40 C (with stock fan + heatsink) / 23 C idle
Cool & quiet is still functioning
Running stable (Orthos)

RAM:
1066 Mhz
CAS 5.0
RAS to CAS 5
RAS Precharge 5
tRAS 15
tRC 22
Command Rate 2T
@ 2,1 V

Niels

Kalim

Both methods are fine. Sometimes, overclocking through the BIOS disables C'n'Q (on some motherboards).

Use the latest AMD OverDrive 3.0.2: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_overdrive.aspx

With it, you can set Smart Profiles. What that allows is for you to run different clock speeds based on the task you're running. Once you've configured an application to run at certain clock speeds/voltages in the OverDrive software, upon launching the application your chosen settings will be applied (like when launching a game). When you exit the application, you can run very low settings back again automatically.

That way allows Cool and Quiet to remain functioning too.

Best way to overclock that particular CPU is by increasing CPU and CPU-NB multipliers until you hit your stability limit. Keep the CPU temperature below 70 degrees and voltage below 1.55v (the maximum allowed safe limit).

After you've reached the multiplier limit, slowly increase the HT frequency by 1MHz until you reach a dead-end for stability. You've done well in following most of this.

DDR2-1066 performs slightly faster than DDR2-800, so it's best to keep it 1:2.66 as long as you can, which gives DDR2-1066. 1:1 will give you DDR2-400 at 200MHz HT frequency. HT frequency multiplied by divider equals RAM speed.

Zalman 9500/9700 coolers and Xigmatek HDT-S1283 are the best bang for buck for such a CPU.