Advice on how far I can OC my hardware please?

[Padilla]

Hey everyone, had this computer now for a little while, I have previous OC experience but I'm reaching out to the experts for general advice on how far I can overclock the current hardware that I have so I can get a little bit more juice out of what I own.

The only thing I've ever overclocked was CPU + FSB slightly. But I'm interested in NB/HT/RAM.
I'm looking to overclock and start getting into voltage adjustments (which I've never overclocked enough to do). Here's the periphs I wanna work with:

CPU: (I have this on watercooling with a corsair H50 I believe)
AMD Phenom II x4 955 (deneb) Black Edition AM3 3.2Ghz Stock [ 0.875V - 1.5V ]

RAM:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) [9-9-9-24][1.5 - 165v]

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX.

I'd like to be able to increase my northbridge speed, which right now is at 2200. HT speed is at 2000. When I go any higher on those I cant boot really, need advice on voltages etc. Same with CPU. Help me juice this badboy up!

 

[borisvodofsky]

Ok, hmm...

Corsair H50 is not the most powerful cooler, so keep a very close eye on the heat.

Maximum safe voltage is 1.5v

It should be able to go up to 4.0 - 4.2 ghz with that voltage.

Start with 4.2, if crash, try 4.1, if crash, try 4.0

4.0 is almost 100% guaranteed at 1.5v

Next step will be to make sure the CPU is not overheating.

Download "Intel Burn Test" and "core temp"

Use 75% of your memory in the Intel Burn Test setting

Run 3 runs of intel burn test, while watching the core temperature in coretemp.

the max operating temperature is around 65C, However, since we're overclocking, you want to make sure you stay below 60 so you have a margin of safety.


That's everything you need to know.

don't bother overclocking the ram, it won't help a deneb.

Northbridge does not need overclocking either.

As for HT, someone else might chime in, cuz as far as I know this needs to be turned down instead of up to guarantee stability at high overclocks.

 

[2is]

Overclocking HT does virtually nothing. You'll just add an element of potential instability for no gain.

 

[borisvodofsky]

Overclocking HT does virtually nothing. You'll just add an element of potential instability for no gain.

I thought as much

 

[Padilla]

What about Northbridge modifications? Im at 2200 now, think I can go higher with a voltage adjustment? its at stock now1.1 volts according to amd over drive

 

[Padilla]

Ok, hmm...

Corsair H50 is not the most powerful cooler, so keep a very close eye on the heat.

Maximum safe voltage is 1.5v

It should be able to go up to 4.0 - 4.2 ghz with that voltage.

Start with 4.2, if crash, try 4.1, if crash, try 4.0

4.0 is almost 100% guaranteed at 1.5v

Next step will be to make sure the CPU is not overheating.

Download "Intel Burn Test" and "core temp"

Use 75% of your memory in the Intel Burn Test setting

Run 3 runs of intel burn test, while watching the core temperature in coretemp.

the max operating temperature is around 65C, However, since we're overclocking, you want to make sure you stay below 60 so you have a margin of safety.


That's everything you need to know.

don't bother overclocking the ram, it won't help a deneb.

Northbridge does not need overclocking either.

As for HT, someone else might chime in, cuz as far as I know this needs to be turned down instead of up to guarantee stability at high overclocks.

Tried your advice. Started off with 4.0Ghz @ 1.5v, booted. TOTALLY noticed the difference. ram prime95, instant crash.

Tried 3.9ghz @ 1.5v, ran prime 95, temps hit 61.2 celcius after just a few moments. Didn't wanna pop my chip so I quit prime 95. Kind of sucks though. Wondering why the heck the h50 couldnt handle that. Could it be because of the summer, and my room temp being almost 90f ?

Tried 3.7Ghz @ 1.35v, ran prime, temps never went over 60c. I'm pretty sure they may have If I primed for 24hours, but I'm definitely thinking its because my ambient temp is so high.

Pretty crappy overclock on CPU if you ask me.

Still looking for northbridge OC suggestions.

 

[Puppies04]

Wondering why the heck the h50 couldnt handle that. Could it be because of the summer, and my room temp being almost 90f ?

In a word, yes.

Also have you made sure your cooler has good TIM and a decent contact.

 

[borisvodofsky]

Tried your advice. Started off with 4.0Ghz @ 1.5v, booted. TOTALLY noticed the difference. ram prime95, instant crash.

Tried 3.9ghz @ 1.5v, ran prime 95, temps hit 61.2 celcius after just a few moments. Didn't wanna pop my chip so I quit prime 95. Kind of sucks though. Wondering why the heck the h50 couldnt handle that. Could it be because of the summer, and my room temp being almost 90f ?

Tried 3.7Ghz @ 1.35v, ran prime, temps never went over 60c. I'm pretty sure they may have If I primed for 24hours, but I'm definitely thinking its because my ambient temp is so high.

Pretty crappy overclock on CPU if you ask me.

Still looking for northbridge OC suggestions.

The heat is fine for now. It's only bad if you're hitting 65+

With daily computing loads, this is unlikely to happen.

TURN DOWN your HT, not up

I'm not totally sure how the mem is clocked, whether it's based on a locked bclk or based on fsb.

Make sure your memory runs default settings at load, while you're checking for CPU stability.

I looked at a picture of your motherboard, it doesn't look like it has many vrm heatsinks. Make sure to put a fan blowing against the power circuits on the board. This is actually very important for good overclock stability. People neglect this, and their boards burn up, and they go cry and get an rma. And they'll receive a board that's almost as broken as the ones they sent in.

VRM needs active cooling. PERIOD, especially overclocked

 

[Padilla]

The heat is fine for now. It's only bad if you're hitting 65+

With daily computing loads, this is unlikely to happen.

TURN DOWN your HT, not up

I'm not totally sure how the mem is clocked, whether it's based on a locked bclk or based on fsb.

Make sure your memory runs default settings at load, while you're checking for CPU stability.

I looked at a picture of your motherboard, it doesn't look like it has many vrm heatsinks. Make sure to put a fan blowing against the power circuits on the board. This is actually very important for good overclock stability. People neglect this, and their boards burn up, and they go cry and get an rma. And they'll receive a board that's almost as broken as the ones they sent in.

VRM needs active cooling. PERIOD, especially overclocked

I don't know perhaps there is some confusion. I am not overclocking my HT. I am trying to overclock the CPU Northbridge speed.

Heres what I've done so far, let me know if you guys thing I have gained some performance.


CPU 3.2ghz to 3.7ghz @ 1.35v
Northbridge from 2000mhz to 2400mhz @ 1.125v (only increased .025v)
Ram 1333mhz x 5.33 to 1600mhz x 8.00 (9-9-9-24 to 10-10-10-26) no voltage increase

CPU is acceptable to me:

What further can I do with my northbridge speed?
Was I wrong to decrease ram timings to achieve that ram speed?
What else can I do with my ram, increase voltage to drop timings?

I think my cooling in terms of motherboard is pretty good, dropped my ambient temps to 70f. I have antec 900, two front intake 120's one top exhaust 200mm one case window fan 120mm.

 

[2is]

Before putting any unnecessary stress on your components you need to start running benchmarks and see which changes actually make a difference. Benchmark your current settings, then up your NB to say, 2600 (but keep everything else as close to their current settings as possible) and bench again. If you see little to no difference, drop it back down.

 

[borisvodofsky]

I don't know perhaps there is some confusion. I am not overclocking my HT. I am trying to overclock the CPU Northbridge speed.

Heres what I've done so far, let me know if you guys thing I have gained some performance.


CPU 3.2ghz to 3.7ghz @ 1.35v
Northbridge from 2000mhz to 2400mhz @ 1.125v (only increased .025v)
Ram 1333mhz x 5.33 to 1600mhz x 8.00 (9-9-9-24 to 10-10-10-26) no voltage increase

CPU is acceptable to me:

What further can I do with my northbridge speed?
Was I wrong to decrease ram timings to achieve that ram speed?
What else can I do with my ram, increase voltage to drop timings?

I think my cooling in terms of motherboard is pretty good, dropped my ambient temps to 70f. I have antec 900, two front intake 120's one top exhaust 200mm one case window fan 120mm.

have you tried turning DOWN the north bridge, to see if the CPU will be more stable at a higher clock speed.?

Northbridge speed won't do anything for you. you don't need to bench to find this out, it' doesn't do jack.

CPU speed is king, you sacrifice EVERYTHING you need to, in order to achieve the highest CPU clock speed.

That ram set should be able to hold 99924-1t @ 1600 1.65v