Question reguarding OC and GPU

zapoqx

Striking Master
Joined
1 Jun 2005
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So While I'm waiting for the new ATI cards, my system should be here on Friday. I want to know if having a system sort of OC'ed would have any effects to a video card that just gets put in at a later time?

I was thinking if I could maybe OC the cpu that I have in the new system (a 5200+ CPU) to 2.8GHZ if possible, but I haven't yet seen what the temperature goes at 2.6GHZ default.
 
Depends on your MB. The "better brands" allow setting all the clocks (ram, cpu, pci, etc) independently. My cheapo MB does have an interaction between upping my CPU/RAM cloc and crashing the pci-e video card so I'm stuck at 5% even though the CPU/RAM will support more.

If the CPU is a newer small geometry core then you may be very pleasantly surprised on temperatures. MB and chipset may be more of a factor. The Intel stuff has been much more overclock friendly than the AMD 64 products.

I run my CPU and RAM slightly overclocked and video at stock speed. The "FSB" overclock lets me get the performance of a 3800 and DDR2 with a 3500 CPU, which for single processor app's like gaming put me pretty much at top performance with high graphics quality on my favorite games.

Overclocking the CPU and RAM will improve performance of some games even with stock video. It depends on the game, video card, etc.

My HDs seem to be the choke point in my system now but I just don't want the hassle to RAID them and 10,000 RPM drives scare me for reliability.

It's really sad. $600 in my upgrade kitty and no upgrades that will really boost my favorite games performance enough to bother with. :(
 
Ok so here is the info:
My mobo is a ECS KA3MVP Extreme Mobo...
As for temps btw, I'm running at 38 degrees C on the cpu, 46 degrees C on the system overall.

So would it be possible and how would I go about it as I know there has to be a certain way or order to oc something so what would it be in this case?
 
Cool, you have the overclockers ECS board. That makes life easier. You should be able to meet your target if you got a decent CPU.

Disclaimer
1) Results will vary depending on your cooling and particular CPU.
2) Check for UPDATED bios. The early bios for that board was missing important overclocker settings!

The board allows wide adjustment of overclcoking features. This review shows the HTT (AMD 64 equivalent of FSB) can be pushed and the MB allows independent RAM control.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/382/2/

Also the MB has a piggy back BIOS chip that can restore a trashed bios if the overclocking goes poorly. (Been there...)

Start with the stock multiplier and push the HTT to 210. Run sisoft sandra CPU and memory burn in and make sure the temps stay pretty flat over 20 minutes of burn in.

Next up the HTT to 220 same process.

Above 210 you may need to increase the Vcore on the CPU. Again small steps, burn in and watch the temperatures. upping Vcore can drive up the temps fast.

When you hit a limit (temperature or stability) back it off 5-10 mhz and retry for stability.

You can also push the RAM. Ideally you'd like the RAM clock and HTT to be an even multiple. You get better performance when they are synchronized.

Relax the ram timings to get higher clock speeds to match the CPU HTT if possible.

Basic tool set:
cpuZ
Sisoft Sandra lite
power now dashboard (AMD oveclock monitor)
ATItool (if you have an ATI video card)

Let me know how this goes. The one thing I miss since buying ECS boards is overclocking flexibility.
 
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Thanks, I will get on that tomorrow as I'm away (you basically just made the message just after I left). I finished doing the video oc and increased default of 400 Core, 200 Mem to 456 Core and 218 Mem and I don't think its done, but if I get it to 460 Core and 230 Mem and it can still go, I'm thinking of just leaving it to that as my max as I just wanted to see mostly how far I can go with it.

So it is a very flexible overclocking system. Good. I'll be sure to be happy if I can get my reasonable target. Also, where I'm at, I was also told that maybe having the super pi program would also help me figure out my overclocking as it would help find errors in the pi if it doesn't calculate correctly or something? Would you say that the tool set you told me is sufficient enough or should I try adding the super pi program?
 
The sandra math and memory burn in tests do the same thing plus they monitor temperature, display it while running and can shut down the test if the CPU over heats beyond the limit you set.

Alos the Sandra program allows you to target one funciton at a time (ram, cpu, cache, etc) so you can spot weak components in your system.
 
Ok LeeJend... I was about to start the OC process but unless my father changed a setting, the voltage appears to be on the max already (1.3V) So would I be ok to continue???
 
Last I checked 1.3V is not the max for that CPU. Are you sure you have the latest Bios? From that link I posted it should allow up to 1.35V.

Or is your CPU one of the new low power ones? They run at lower voltage.

Check what cpuz and sandra say about the settings. Sandra has a list of performance suggestions at the bottom of the system info page. If it thinks you have the voltage pushed it will nag you about it.

My MB runs at 1.4V from the factory btu should be 1.35V. The settings vary a little. More with ECS than the more expensive brands.

BE VERY CAREFUL flashing the bios. I trashed a few MB's a few years back when they were more delicate. The new ones are supposed to be less susceptible to bios corruption...

PS I changed the link. The first one did not work right.
 
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Ok so LeeJend...
I saw the date btw and the date of hte bios upon startup is 10/??/2006 (can't remember the exact date right now, just the month and year).

Sorry I havn't responded much. Was sort of busy.
 
ok LeeJend... I think Idid this correct...
In the Bios, I uped the CPU Clock from 200 to 210. There was a Overclock feature thing that was disabled (CPU Dynamic Overslocking) so I changed it to +10. It had settings of +2, +4, +6, +8, +10 all the way to +30. Am I doing this correct before I continue any further?
 
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You don't need or want to do both. Dynamic overclocking lets the computer decide when to push the speed. The manual setting lets you control it.

Turn off the dynamic setting for now and just use the bios one at 210. Otherwise you won't know what is really going on.

If temps and stability look good at 210 try 220 next.

And the 10/2006 bios should be the latest.
 
Well LeeJend, I got it OC'ed over my target goal at 220 (It brings me to 2.87GHZ). But the thing I'm trying to look for is that RAM Clock you mentioned, it might be different for what its actually asking for. And my system is actually stable thanks to me taking out the Sound Card.
 
If it's working where you want it don't mess with it anymore!

Advanced Menu, DRAM Configuration (enter)
I think you enable DRAM Timing Item, that will make all the grayed out items below it active. Page 3-7 of the manual.

Your bios allows you to mess with a lot more settings than usual which is why it was not obvious what to change.

The Txxx settings listed in bus clocks is what you would relax (increase number) to get marginal ram to run faster. They have a lot more technical detial there than I'm used to seeing. I'd have to research which ones translate to the simple names that usually show up. But since you made your target, and I'm lazy...


PS Sorry it took so long to get back. My ISP was hosed since last Saturday. 8 Seconds to open each internet page. Reminded me of dial up.

PPS I told you so on the sound card. :p
 

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