New to OCing. Asking for help

[Dingus Kahn]

As the title states I'm new to overclocking. I have come a far way since I built my first computer. Now I would like to expand my knowledge with overclocking. Is there a definitive guide that will take me step-by-step through the process? (Sort of a 'Overclocking for Dummies' guide).

I have an Asus A8N-E mobo w/ Athon 64 3500+ Venice

[newbuilder14]

Have you read the stickied threads? I am not familiar with overclocking AMD processors - I find Intel CPUs to be easier to OC.

[Dingus Kahn]

Yes I did. All they did was confuse me further. And the one from deeppow I couldn't get it to open. I'm looking for a straight forward guide for what I have and not have to muddle through a hundred different types of mobos, cpus, ect.

[tiltazone]

I would like to know more about OC'ing myself. First I need to get into BIOS to see if I can handle or understand that process.

When and if you find that str8 forward guide please share it. I logically assume that each system is unique to it's own overclocking procedures.

[Deagler]

dude join the club The stickes just made my head spin why doesn't anyone just WRITE DOWN HOW THEY OVERCLOCKED THEIR COMPUTER!?!?!?!

I mean cmon, everyone has Core 2 duo's now, and there aren't THAT many mobo/RAM/processor combo's out there.

I have an ASUS P5B, Corsair 667 memory, and a C2D 2.13, why can't people with the EXACT SAME SPECS, who are responding to my threads, JUST TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO??? lol

[Mr.Ferrari]

Ok, theres no cut and dry way to do it. If you dont get the stickies then just dont OC. Theres an excellent begginers sticky by RedFallon that comes as straightfoward as it gets.

Start out by increasing fsb, and then tweak from there.

A good overclock doesnt come in one day.

[alfie2]

to over clock, the first step is to adjust the FSB speed: do small increments.
to increase FSB speed, you have set the CPU speed to "Mannual" under your ASUS's MB BIOS setting in "ADVANCE". next is to set your memory timing...so on. takes quit a bit of time to get it right.

[jfk]

First of all, don't expect that A8N-E to be a great overclocking mobo in the first place. It WILL do it, but it has several limitations, the chief of which is the inability to run your ram 1:1 with your HTT above 230. It is designed more as a solid value board. Again, just to reiterate other's comments, if you can't take the time to read and understand the process of overclocking BEFORE you do it, you probably aren't going to be successful doing it. You don't just slap some numbers in the BIOS and away you go. It takes trial and error, with lots of tweaking and then time spent stability testing afterward. You also risk frying components along the way. The process also depends on your platform as well. As far as Deagler's comments, I'm sorry but not EVERYONE has a C2D system now, in fact I would say the majority DON'T have one, at least not yet. Therefore, you need to learn the specifics for your system. In my opinion, the 939 socket AMD's are among the easiest to OC, but it still takes time and knowledge. Here is what I consider the best guide available for OC'ing the 939's. Read it, and then when you don't totally understand something, ask specific questions. It should make the process easier.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28049

[Dingus Kahn]

Well, I found a nifty overclocking utility at www.techpowerup.com/systool/. It worked rather well until I got greedy on the fsb (my system became unstable as heck). Whatever I did, I couldn't set things straight. That is until I realized it would be best to uninstall the utility (it kept logs and such). Things are much smoother now.

Trying to learn how to OC feels like I'm back in college. I hope I can pass the finals.

[Mr.Ferrari]

I highly suggest against utilities such as that. SETFSB, Systool, and Clockgen, its ONLY for when you want to test out settings while in windows, or hit a fsb wall in bios.

They are in no way a tool to start out overclocking. Always do it through bios.

If you dont understand or dont want to do it that way. Then I highly suggest you stay away from overclocking. There are many more factors then just setting a number for FSB. ;)

By doing so with such utilities, your just asking for trouble with data corruption, or even damage to your components.

:)

[jfk]

Software utilities for overclocking are the FASTEST way to corrupt your Windows install and do a major whack job on your PC. As Mr. F mentioned, either do it correctly, through the BIOS, or don't do it at all. There are NO EASY STEPS to overclocking. Period. Read, read, and read some more, then take your time, test stability, and tweak again. Overclocking isn't done in hours, it takes days/weeks to find the maximum overclocks and stability. If you're not willing to do this, forget about it.

[Dingus Kahn]

Software utilities for overclocking are the FASTEST way to corrupt your Windows install and do a major whack job on your PC. As Mr. F mentioned, either do it correctly, through the BIOS, or don't do it at all. There are NO EASY STEPS to overclocking. Period. Read, read, and read some more, then take your time, test stability, and tweak again. Overclocking isn't done in hours, it takes days/weeks to find the maximum overclocks and stability. If you're not willing to do this, forget about it.

Now I don't recall ever saying I was not willing to read, read, and read some more. I don't know where you got that idea. What I previously asked for was a comprehensive guide for my specific mobo. I do know each mobo will have different ocing capabilities. I'm pretty sure you did not wake up one morning with the knowledge on how to oc. I'm betting someone started you off in the right direction. That's what I was asking for...to be directed.

And a thank you to Mr. Ferrari for the heads up on such utilities. I'm glad I didn't get to involved with it before I did any damage.

[jfk]

No, I read, read, read, then started playing with my mobo....an A8N-E to be exact.;) When I ran into specific issues (the 1:1 bug I mentioned earlier) I asked for help. In my earlier post I gave you a link to the most "definitive" overclocking guide for Socket 939's boards that I have found. It is concise, straightforward, and not overly technical. To me, that is "direction" on where to go. There IS no comprehensive guide for your mobo. I know of absolutely no guides out there for a specific mobo. You stated you read the stickies and they "confused" you. The guide I linked to is very simple and straightforward and will work with the majority of the 939 socket mobos out there. That's the best you're likely to get.

[MaxRat]

Basically you start off by finding your rams limits...

Pretty easy to do on a Nforce board...
drop the cpu multiplier by 2 (if it's 12 set it at 10)
drop the LDT multy down to 3 (for AMD only)

now play with the FSB (or HTT) while upping it in icrements of 5mhz test it with memtest with Test # 5 or # 8... till you get errors...

Once you do then you'll either need to loosen the timing or up the voltage to the ram...usually both... thats your job to find out... pretty easy to do...

It took me 4 hours to go from 200 fsb to 300fsb with testing... then another 2 to find the cpu limit them 9hrs of prime after that...;)

Where would you like to start...?...;)

[Dingus Kahn]

Basically you start off by finding your rams limits...

Pretty easy to do on a Nforce board...
drop the cpu multiplier by 2 (if it's 12 set it at 10)
drop the LDT multy down to 3 (for AMD only)

now play with the FSB (or HTT) while upping it in icrements of 5mhz test it with memtest with Test # 5 or # 8... till you get errors...

Once you do then you'll either need to loosen the timing or up the voltage to the ram...usually both... thats your job to find out... pretty easy to do...

It took me 4 hours to go from 200 fsb to 300fsb with testing... then another 2 to find the cpu limit them 9hrs of prime after that...;)

Where would you like to start...?...;)

Believe it or not, that was the most informative answer to my question. Thank you. Sometimes I need something rephrased to "click" in my mind. After reading the hundreds of How To articles out there, I was becoming more and more confused. Your answer just brought it all into clarity.

I'm on vacation soon, I think I'm going to build a really inexpensive computer to have as my test subject.

I found a really good article on OCing. Written in a way that was easy to understand http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=300.

[MaxRat]

For overclocking I would just jump right into the rig you plan to build...

Build it with overclocking in mind...

You'll need a good board....A real good PSU and decent ram...

Let use know what CPU you'd like to go with and we'll give you a heads up on a easy board to get started with...

If you want to learn...some DFI boards are smooth clockers....like the ones in my sig...but if you get more involved boards, like the Expert version well you'll really work for what you want...;)

I barely read the guides myself but pretty much knew from all the forums i've searched the way I had to approach things...;)

[Dingus Kahn]

Basically you start off by finding your rams limits...

Pretty easy to do on a Nforce board...
drop the cpu multiplier by 2 (if it's 12 set it at 10)
drop the LDT multy down to 3 (for AMD only)

now play with the FSB (or HTT) while upping it in icrements of 5mhz test it with memtest with Test # 5 or # 8... till you get errors...

Once you do then you'll either need to loosen the timing or up the voltage to the ram...usually both... thats your job to find out... pretty easy to do...

It took me 4 hours to go from 200 fsb to 300fsb with testing... then another 2 to find the cpu limit them 9hrs of prime after that...;)

Where would you like to start...?...;)

Thank you for the reply. I have been reading, researching, ect :)
What does LDT multy stand for?

[MaxRat]

In AMD64 series chips it's the Hypertransport multi...

In 939 cpu the default is 5...

if you plan to overclock set it to 4 then when you hit 250fsb set it to 3...

if you use CPU-Z and check it in windows you dont want to go over 1000mhz...