Alright!! Overclocking time
As always, I like to start out with the CPU, for a few reasons. Mainly because this is the first thing to fail if you have a bad OC during a stress test, so getting the CPU stable is always a must!
Software~Overclocking-Normal BIOS! There are a few dedicated CPU overclockers out there, but I tend to stick to the BIOS for any larger changes that need to be made.
Stress Test-For CPU stress testing I use Prime95. Puts one of the highest stress and temp readings out there, but I also like Intel's BurnTest. For now, Ill just stick to P95 for the CPU.
Temp Monitoring-For temp monitoring I use CoreTemp. Nice little free one, and it keeps the temp down in the task-bar when not in use.
Overheat Protection-Always run overheat protection when doing serious overclocks! I have a few safeguards in place. First is in Prime95, and it will stop the test if anything is acting different within the chip. Next I use CoreTemp, and has a self-shut down if temps get to high. And last is the BIOS, again will shut down the computer if anything reaches high levels.
Alright, first things first. Its good to run a Blend test in P95 with the stock settings. This will give you a good baseline for what temp and voltage to look for. This was run at stock voltage, with the stock 36x CPU ratio. Test run for about 45min to get max temps out of the CPU.
Once that was done, then it was time to get some power into her! With most CPU's, your able to take the ratio up to about 40x without ever touching anything else. Just a few BIOS settings to fix things like Vdrop and clock fluctuations. But I pushed it a bit farther, getting her up to 44x with one notch of extra power. Temps where all pretty low, so I could easily move forward. But as always, you should only move the ratio up by 2 each time. This test was run for about an hour, getting max temps and small test of reliability.
Next up was also pretty easy, this just requiring a small boost in voltage to keep things running smoothly. But, this is also where I start to draw it as a harder overclock, so stress test are run for longer times and temps where monitored regularly. The first test was ran for about an hour or so, then the first system crash! Temps where all in the green during the test, so it was a simple fact of low voltage. After another small boost, the test was ran again. This time for about 3 hours, and all temps in the green!
Now is where things get tricky. Anything past a 46x ratio can get a bit hairy even with a hefty cooler. But that's just all part of the fun right!? Haha, next up was a number that I had never gotten. The dreadful 47x... From this point on I decided to only kick it up by one notch each time, preventing some crazy crashes from poor voltage settings from the last run. With the clock set at 47x, it was testing time. Sadly, this clock did not even pass boot up, and I got stuck with the overclockers bad luck. Complete BIOS lockup. Basically, the clock could not hold anything, even just starting up into the BIOS to change the settings around. Luckily, my MB has a build in Clear BIOS button, so I was able to reset the BIOS back to its original settings. After restoring the settings from the last save file, I was back in business! 47x, and this time, a higher voltage. But again, after only a few minutes in the stress test, another crash. So just repeat the steps. Reboot, raise voltage, start over. After about 3 times of this happening, the computer seemed to finally be happy! After about 6-7 hours in the test, all was running steady! Temps started to peak my interest, but nothing to worry about just yet.
Next was 48x. I always like to start from the voltage from the last CPU ratio, even though I know it will fail. And yep..it failed. After raising the voltage some, another fail. But only 2 total fails this time (and thankfully no lockups) she seemed to be pleased with it! After about a 12 hour test, things where good! About the same temps, this time pushing past the 80 deg mark. Nothing to be concerned about, but I still wish they where lower! Higher temps can only mark the near end to your overclocking fun.
At this point I was pretty much ecstatic at the though of reaching a 50x on this system. Something that I ever though this system could handle. But after a 49x ratio was dialed up, there went my dreams! After countless fails and raising the voltage up by a alarming rate, I finally got something. She managed to survive, but not happily. After running the test for about 3 min, temps where crossing my limit. Even though it is safe to push past this limit, I know that the next test only brings higher temps, so there was no way that this thing was going to make it. So after just barely peaking at a 90 deg temp, the test was off.
Now it was time for the last step, witch consisted on a few other steps. First was taking her down a notch to 48x ratio, the final number for it. After a few test where run, next came the voltage. This part was never fun, as it required lots of small movements to the voltage in order to find the smallest stable number you can reach. This is just to help with temps in the long run. After a few other stability tests, it was time for the real test. With Prime95 set on Small FFT testing (The highest CPU stress test temp wise) it was time for the 24 hour test. So, booting her up and running the test like normal. For the first few hours I checked on it a few times, just checking temps and making sure nothing went wrong. Temps seemed good, only reaching about 75 at the highest point. At this point I just let her sit and do its thing. Checking every once in a while for anything new. But nothing, and the test went well. With CORE#1 with a top temp of 77 deg, I was happy!
So Final clock was a conferable 48x CPU clock, running at a stable limit!
As always, any questions, feel free to ask!
And as always, have a good day everybody!
