OCing FX55

[rspassey]

Anyone here every OCed an FX55, If I'm Ocing I use the AIbooster and notch it up to 105% and I get it running at 2723.73mhz as opposed to the 2613.73mhz when its not OCed. How many mhz do you think I can safely OC up to?

[David M]

That depends largely on what you are using to cool the FX-55. If it is the same HSF that came with the CPU, then not much. If you are using watercooling then I would guess at least 10%. Other things will also limit your ability to overclock including your RAM.

Whatever you do, overclock in small increments, use a good benchmark that really stresses your machine and when you start getting any system instability, back it off a few. Keep a sharp eye on your temperatures.

You can always do a Google search under "overclock FX-55" and see what others did.

Ryan...post your system specs in your signature! I always think its interesting to see what others with high end machines have for components.

[rspassey]

Yeah, I added my specs to my signature, but when i tried ot OC at 110% I got a lock up and i had to manually restart. I can go up to 108% and get 2808mhz, any more and it locks up, any ideas wahts going on?

[spyder003]

You're probably pushing your RAM out of spec. Is that Value RAM?

[rspassey]

Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 2GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200 Memory w/Black Heat Spreader Retail that is the RAM I am using, I think that when I OCed to 110% I encountered an error because now, the regular power on button thats on the case starts the computer up but I dont get and image and I have to push the restart button to get the a signal to the monitor. Any ideas of what happened? I checked all connections and trialed it about 5 times same result each time.

[spyder003]

Ok... so it wasn't your RAM. It sounds like it pushed your PCI-E slot out of spec. Try this... go into your BIOS - jumperfree configuration - and manually set the PCI Express clock to 100Mhz.

[rspassey]

Even with sli I set the pci express clock to 100 MHZ?

[Redfallon]

I'd recommend you set everything back to stock, re-think *why* you want to overclock with that hardware in the first place, *then* if you still want to give it a try, settle in and do a hella lot of reading before you proceed. Asking "how far can I overclock this" is a pretty arbitrary question that no one here will be able to give you a definitive answer on. There's far to many variables, the biggest one being which wafer of silicon your chip was produced from at the factory, and that's a little out of your control.

[rspassey]

Thank you all so much, I discovered the problem to be in the jumper free configuration setting in BIOS, the was a setting that was " AI NOS" and it was set at 10% overclock on start up, I am sure that those settings must have been changed, b/c when I set up my BIOS I had no intentions of OCing, somehow the settings for boot graphics device got changed from PCI express to PCI. For now I have no more intentions of OCing, it is fast enough the way it is. Thanks again.

[Tin]

OCing is alot of fun too. think about it in terms of cars. no matter how much performance junk you toss at it, you still have to drive the speed limit. normally, i dont condone OCing with a Windows based program, but in the case of the A64, it does more good then harm, plus you avoid having to restart all the time. the 2 programs that i recommend are A64 Tweaker and Clockgen. A64 is a memory tweaking program. it allows you to fine tune your memory timings for optimal performance, allowing you to adjust any and all timing options that are/arent available in the BIOS. Clockgen allows you to adjust the hypertransport frequency and adjust your CPU multiplier through Windows. A64s OC differently than Intels and Socket A AMD CPUs. on an A64, you have hypertransport frequency instead of FSB. hypertransport even has an adjustable multiplier...which is usually best run at 3x to 5x....although it makes a very small difference in performance. the stock HTT multi is 4x for socket 754 CPUs and 5x for 939s....hence they get their ratings of 800HTT and 1000HT respectively. the stock memory frequency is 200MHz, so 200MHz x 5HTT = 1000HTT in the instance of your FX-55. since A64s have a built in memory controller, running on a divider is no issue. i run my memory at 83% of the HTT speed. the BIOS on my board has settings to run memory...100MHz, 133, 166, and 200....well, those are really dividers. if youre running your memory at 200, that means youre running 1:1, since your stock speed is 200MHz, the memory speed goes up when you up the HTT frequency. lets take for instance a 166 divider, or 5:4 as i call it. 166 / 200 = 0.83....so your memory is running at 83% of the hypertransport frequency. heres the catch, as long as youre using the 166 or 5:4 option, your memory will always be running at 83% of your hypertransport. im at 277 right now, so my memory speed is 230MHz. oh yeah, one important thing, disable Cool n Quiet before you OC, your computer wont boot at anything but stock clockspeed with it enabled.

[rspassey]

WOW TIN, you outdid youself, thanks so much, I never knew that OCing was such a science. This thread is getting added to my favorites, I'll use it for referance when I go to OC the next time. I hope i dont get addicted, might be the first time someone is rushed to the hostipal for ODing on OCing.

THANKS

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by Tin OCing is alot of fun too. think about it in terms of cars. no matter how much performance junk you toss at it, you still have to drive the speed limit. normally, i dont condone OCing with a Windows based program, but in the case of the A64, it does more good then harm, plus you avoid having to restart all the time. the 2 programs that i recommend are A64 Tweaker and Clockgen. A64 is a memory tweaking program. it allows you to fine tune your memory timings for optimal performance, allowing you to adjust any and all timing options that are/arent available in the BIOS. Clockgen allows you to adjust the hypertransport frequency and adjust your CPU multiplier through Windows. A64s OC differently than Intels and Socket A AMD CPUs. on an A64, you have hypertransport frequency instead of FSB. hypertransport even has an adjustable multiplier...which is usually best run at 3x to 5x....although it makes a very small difference in performance. the stock HTT multi is 4x for socket 754 CPUs and 5x for 939s....hence they get their ratings of 800HTT and 1000HT respectively. the stock memory frequency is 200MHz, so 200MHz x 5HTT = 1000HTT in the instance of your FX-55. since A64s have a built in memory controller, running on a divider is no issue. i run my memory at 83% of the HTT speed. the BIOS on my board has settings to run memory...100MHz, 133, 166, and 200....well, those are really dividers. if youre running your memory at 200, that means youre running 1:1, since your stock speed is 200MHz, the memory speed goes up when you up the HTT frequency. lets take for instance a 166 divider, or 5:4 as i call it. 166 / 200 = 0.83....so your memory is running at 83% of the hypertransport frequency. heres the catch, as long as youre using the 166 or 5:4 option, your memory will always be running at 83% of your hypertransport. im at 277 right now, so my memory speed is 230MHz. oh yeah, one important thing, disable Cool n Quiet before while youre OCing, your computer wont boot at anything but stock clockspeed with it enabled.

And THAT, ladies and gents, is the reason I respectfully refer to Tin as the OC Guru!

[Tin]

remember, start out low. your FX has all multis open, so you can go above the stock multi if you wish. a good one for you to start out with would be 9x so you can find your max HTT speed, then up the multi accordingly. remember to test with prime95 in between changing your settings.

[David M]

Truly impressive Tin. How do you learn his stuff?

[Tin]

Originally Posted by David M Truly impressive Tin. How do you learn his stuff?

research, trial, and error .