The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Overclocking: Need Advice
Professor Snugglesworth
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been putting off the idea about overclocking my computer for a while, afraid I might screw up or ultimately deplete the longevity of my CPU, but I'm always being told by others that it's an easy, painless process, and one that'll greatly increase my performance for heavier-running PC games.
So I'm willing to give it a shot, provided I have all the necessary tutorials and steps listed and ready to go.
First, a look at my specs:
The mobo came with an official software for overclocking, so the first question is whether I should use that, or stick to a more reliable program that will accurately tell me my temperatures and such?
I also have an extra fan built on top of the CPU, which I assume is doing its job since I haven't had any issues.
So the first thing I want to know is what my "ideal" temperature should be, without overclocking, and how I can check it to make sure it's at the ideal readings. If it isn't, then this whole overclocking exercise is useless.
So I'm willing to give it a shot, provided I have all the necessary tutorials and steps listed and ready to go.
First, a look at my specs:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model EP35-DS3L
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F5, 7/16/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.54 GB
Total Virtual Memory 8.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 6.37 GB
Page File Space 4.00 GB
The mobo came with an official software for overclocking, so the first question is whether I should use that, or stick to a more reliable program that will accurately tell me my temperatures and such?
I also have an extra fan built on top of the CPU, which I assume is doing its job since I haven't had any issues.
So the first thing I want to know is what my "ideal" temperature should be, without overclocking, and how I can check it to make sure it's at the ideal readings. If it isn't, then this whole overclocking exercise is useless.
Professor Snugglesworth on
0
Posts
You'll also want to monitor your temps under load, so you should get Prime95 or something similar and run that for 8 or 10 minutes to see how your temps do. Once you do an overclock, you can also use this program to test the stability, for which I generally do a 12 hour run. If the computer doesn't crash in 12 hours, I consider it stable, but there are different opinions out there.
Initially though, you should check your temps and see where you're at right now. With that particular processor you don't really want to be running over 70C under load. With a GOOD heatsink setup, you should max out around 40-50C (possibly less!) depending on ambeint temperatures, which will allow you a fair amount of overhead for overclocking. A typical heatsink might be more like 55-65C which doesn't leave a lot of room.
Edit:
Oh, and for a novice overclocker, just looking to get a little more bang for your buck out of the CPU; I would recommend you do your overclocking by simply adjusting your FSB in the BIOS for now. If you decide you want to take it further, then we can start talking about adjusting voltages and RAM dividers.
First step is to check my current temp, as you said.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
"Under load" means when your processor is being used to it's fullest extent. If you go into your task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and click the performance tab you'll see a little graph (in your case 2) that shows the processor usage. It will probably be somewhere around 1-10% if you're not running much in the background, which means your processors aren't working very hard. The temperature of the CPU in this state is called the "idle" temp, which isn't really useful for our purposes, we dont care what the temp is when the computer isn't doing anything. Since we want the temperature of the CPU while it's working it's hardest (100% on the graph, or "under load") the easiest way to do that is run Prime95, which basically makes your CPU cores do a bunch of ueseless math as fast as they can, and you can watch the temps while that's going.
When you're playing a game or something, your CPU usage is going to fluctuate between 50-100% depending on what's going on. This will just simulate the worst case scenario.
Hopefully that makes sense.
So the first step is to run Prime95 to get the processor running at full capacity. Then while that's going, run a separate program to gauge the temperature while Prime95 is running, right?
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Here are the results I got. It never went above these numbers:
So I should be good for Phase 2 (the overclocking) right?
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Buuuut, I would still do it, and see what temps I get, maybe you don't get much of an increase, but I would definitely recommend trying to lower those temps before anything else.
I have that same processor, and I've got it running at 3.6Ghz, with very similar max temps.
Edit: Don't worry about killing/damaging your processor, the only real way you could this would be if you decided to set a high voltage on it (Anything past 1.45v iirc). Most info I got for OC'ing my processor was from www.ocforums.com
Anyway, what's the bare minimum overclocking step to do next, to see how it reacts, and thus decide what to do from there?
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Any other bottleneck regarding speed is more a limitation of the Core 2 platform or the software used.
An extra fan ontop the actual CPU fan is not be the best idea. In the worst case it can create an "air pocket" and heat will gather up inside the case.
In order to reduce the temperature, which might result in overclocking, you most likley need to replace the CPU fan and get a case with an good airflow - which might be as expensive as simply getting a better CPU.
Secondly, its most likley you need to disassemble your PC, remove the motherboard. Most third party fans require to install a holding bracket behind the motherboard, because of the additional weight which has to be supported. Not everyone is confortable in doing that.
Regarding CPU - fans
I personally use third party fans from "Noctua" - because they are easy to install / include a very good manual / and are very quiet.
You could probably overclock it a little bit right now, but it may not be worth it if your temps get up to like 65c or something. That's pretty warm. If you want to try it (you can't really hurt anything), go into your BIOS and adjust the Front Side Bus (FSB) up a few Mhz. Maybe do 20 Mhz at a time and then do your temp monitoring again.
If you really want to crank that thing up, you want to get a good heatsink on there. You can do a search for the high end Socket 775 heatsinks, but most of the best ones are like $50-60. I ended up getting the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 which is really good and can be found for $20 after a rebate. That keeps my load temps under 50c which is a huge difference from what you're seeing right now.
What do you mean by "applying more heatsink"? If you mean the goo that pairs the heatsink to the processor, then that's called thermal paste. Too much of it will actually increase temps. Fore a Core2Duo, you only need a bead the size of a grain of rice, it will flatten out and spread when you put the heatsink on it.
This teaches the correct way of setting up your fans in your case, because as has been pointed out, adding an extra fan that just blows onto the CPU might be actually increasing temperatures.
Edit:
Also, if your case looks like this:
You will get high temps because of how difficult it is for air to travel through that.
The people that told you this are either liars or idiots. Go pull up game data from video card reviews. Look at how many games are CPU limited with a processor comparable to yours. Answer: very, very few. The truth is, if you want your your games to run better get a more powerful GPU. Overclocking was cool back in the day when processors were measured in mhz, but the realities of modern computing are that the 3 ghz your system runs at now is more than enough for virtually every game out there. The few that are processor limited are normally due to shitty console ports or crappy code optimization. Plus, as Dratatoo mentioned, the returns on overclocking a mid to high end processor are very limited. So your 3.0 ghz can be overclocked to 3.3 ghz, big deal. You think you're going to see a 10% improvement in frame rate in the games you play? Bzzzzt, fat chance. It doesn't work like that.
Jesus, spend all that money on a kickass video card, extra drives, what looks like a SATA RAID card, big ass chassis, and then have a rats nest for cabling? Shameful. A small bag of tie wraps can be had at any electronics store for a few bucks. If anyone's case looks like this, please, fix it. :P
My case is worse. I never spent the time to tie down my cabling. But my temps are all fantastic so I' mnot worried about it.
Steam | Live
It is more from an aesthetic perspective than a cooling perspective. It's like buying a new Porsche and then driving it thru mud puddles and not washing it afterward. But in a much smaller case airflow can be blunted by poor cable management, and most people on this forum probably dont have a full sized ATX chassis to work with, thus why I always recommend people spend 5-10 extra minutes when they build their system to clean up the cabling.
To use computers in car terms, where most people drive coupes I roll in a big rig.
Steam | Live