Need help with OCing a Phenom II X3 720

[Shyfe]

Motherboard: ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Ram: OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600EB4GK - Retail
PSU: Antec Signature SG-850 850W Continuous Power ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Cooler: Scythe Mugen2

I've never actually overclocked before. I've heard that it will easily go to 3.7 ghz so what I imagine I'll do is increase the multiplier so that it will be at 3.5 ghz? Is that a safe first step? Then I'll adjust the RAM:CPU ratio so that is stays at 1600 mhz. That's about all I've got. Can someone help me as far as voltages and temperatures and testing methods and anything else I should know? Thanks.

 

[drizek]

No, the safe first stip is to got ot 3.1ghz, then see if it will do 3.2 or 3.3 at stock voltage. Once you get the max at stock, play with the voltage to get your absolute maximum overclock. Minde can go to 3.7, but I max it out at 3.5 because the difference is minor and it stays a lot quieter this way.

 

[Shyfe]

What would you say is the max safe voltage?

 

[Rhoxed]

1.52V CPU for 24/7 use is the highest i would recommend
1.4V NB

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: drizek
No, the safe first stip is to got ot 3.1ghz, then see if it will do 3.2 or 3.3 at stock voltage. Once you get the max at stock, play with the voltage to get your absolute maximum overclock.

While what you're saying is absolutely true, I would argue that he should set an arbitrarily high CPU speed first then try to find the voltage for it. If he can get it stable to 3.5ghz right away, it would save many hours of time

The process I'm thinking of would go like this:
-manually set the voltage to whatever CPU-Z says the automatic voltage is (just so we have a known starting point)
-set the CPU speed to 3.5ghz
-if the computer boots, run OCCT's Linpack to test for stability for 5 minutes (it will probably not boot at this point)
-increase the CPU voltage by 0.025V steps until the computer boots and is able to pass 5 minutes of Linpack
-if you absolutely cannot get this to work because it gets too hot at the required voltage, lower the CPU speed by 100mhz and try again
-if you can get it stable at 3.5ghz and the CPU is still relatively cool, increase the CPU speed by 100mhz and repeat the voltage/linpack process.


I just think it would save time to start at the end and work back. The reason I say this is because linpack will immediately fail if your voltage is too low or if your voltage is too high (too hot). Every failed step only takes a minute to fix and try again. if you start at the bottom, you need to run linpack for like 5 minutes to be reasonably certain that you can move on the to the next step. It takes too damn long.

 

[Shyfe]

Since it has an unlocked multiplier do I need to change only that and don't need to bother with the ram:cpu ratio?

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Shyfe
Since it has an unlocked multiplier do I need to change only that and don't need to bother with the ram:cpu ratio?

Correct. If you have 10 hours to kill, you can figure out how to overclock all the ot her parts of the computer, but I don't think it's worth the trouble. Stick to the CPU multiplier and CPU voltage for a very simple overclocking experience.

 

[alkemyst]

volts and TEMP is what matters. If you have to go much beyond 1.45V though it really pushes up the total power consumption...there is a link somewhere on the TDP...it goes from like 90 (stock) to over 140 or so for those last few MHz.

most are finding 3.4-3.6 a nice sweet spot.

Keep in mind too with the 1600 memory many motherboards can't run it at the 1600 setting, the memory can overclock to that though (like a 250Mhz FSB with a 1333 setting giving into the 1500's on actual memory clock).

Some can do it though...most will find running 1600 memory at 1333 with one or two less CAS much faster.