Welcome tKnilans & Help Him Overclock His FX -60

[yurimxpxman]

The following quotes are from my PM conversation with our new friend, tKnilans. I noticed him in the memberlist and after reading his signature (which mentioned he needed help OCing), I PMed him to offer him some help.

I am posting this new thread so he can get more opinions and advice than just my own. After all, there are plenty of members here with more experience than me.

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

tKnilans,

Welcome to the forum! :)



I noticed that your avatar says that you'd like to learn about overclocking. Are there any questions you'd like me to answer for you? If so, I'd be glad to :)

Originally Posted by tKnilans

First of all, thank you very nuch for the welcome message! Now on to the OC issue. Yes I would like to learn about overclocking of my new CPU and possibly the video cards I have installed. I know very little about OC'ing and nothing about video cards. I have OC'ing software that came with my motherboard which I have installed but know nothing about. I've tried overclocking the CPU (AMD FX60) but could only get it up to about 2.8 Ghz before it became very unstable. Are there any guidelines I should follow? Perhaps you could give me some advice regarding what I should and shouldn't do. I really appreaciate your interest in helping me! Thank you again for any help you can offer. :D

My first advice to you is to not use that overclocking utility. Sure, it may make it easier and more user-friendly, but if your system shuts down, it'll destroy your BIOS.

To enter the BIOS on most motherboards, you have to push F2. Your splash screen will tell you if it's different.

Find the power options and look for the CPU frequency. It should be near the top of the menu. Change it one or two increments at a time until your system won't boot. When that happens, you can either try increasing the voltage (no more than 10% more than stock) or lower the frequency to what will boot.

If all else fails, you may considering setting up a memory divider. I've done it before, but I don't have as much experience as the other guys, so I'm leaving those instructions to some of the others, such as Capper and One4yu2c.

Note: Increasing the voltages is the dangerous part of overclocking. Reservedly increase the voltage with extreme caution, if at all. Overclocking can also corrupt your operating system installation in rare cases, so be forwarned. Overclocking will also void your warranty.

[Jokerswild]

tKnilans

I'll be absolutely no help with your overclocking venture but if you ever need to know anything about machining then I'll have some tips for ya.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

[...]but if your system shuts down, it'll destroy your BIOS.

Whadda what?! I'm not too sure what you mean by that, but I don't recall an application destroying your bios so easily. (or at least, not a non virus application)

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

To enter the BIOS on most motherboards, you have to push F2. Your splash screen will tell you if it's different.

Somewhere at the boot you should see a key with the word "Setup" or "Enter setup" aside it. Press that key. Normally i'd say it is the DELETE key, but on alot of motherboard it is a function key such as F2.

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

Find the power options and look for the CPU frequency. It should be near the top of the menu. Change it one or two increments at a time until your system won't boot.

When that happens, first you'll need to reset your CMOS. To do that normally it's a little plastic pin you need to move on other pins or a button. The location of this little plastic pin (a jumper) can vary from board to board, but normally it's not very far from the battery.[/quote]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

If all else fails, you may considering setting up a memory divider.

Don't hesitate to set a memory divider with A64's, it doesn't hit performance at all like on Athlon XP's.


Then again, may I ask why you want to overclock your processor?

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Whadda what?! I'm not too sure what you mean by that, but I don't recall an application destroying your bios so easily. (or at least, not a non virus application)

I can't say that I've experienced the problem myself; I've always avoided the utilities altogether. But some of the [PC] members of the MPC forums have told me before that they've been known to corrupt the BIOS. Even if it doesn't, you'll probably agree that the BIOS is a better option.

Originally Posted by polobunny

When that happens, first you'll need to reset your CMOS. To do that normally it's a little plastic pin you need to move on other pins or a button. The location of this little plastic pin (a jumper) can vary from board to board, but normally it's not very far from the battery.

That's not always necessary. Often, it's just a matter of having the F2/Del key pressed before your system starts to boot. Anyways, you'll have to make sure you unplug your system first, or it won't work :P (I know that from experience; I'm a dummy sometimes )

Originally Posted by polobunny

Then again, may I ask why you want to overclock your processor?

That's a good point. The FX-60's stock frequency is very good. I asked that same question on the MPC forums to someone that was asking the same thing, and he said that he was satisfied with the stock speed and he just liked flirting with disaster :P

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

I can't say that I've experienced the problem myself; I've always avoided the utilities altogether. But some of the [PC] members of the MPC forums have told me before that they've been known to corrupt the BIOS. Even if it doesn't, you'll probably agree that the BIOS is a better option.

Weird, I really never did hear about that. But I do agree I prefer going the bios way.

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

That's not always necessary. Often, it's just a matter of having the F2/Del key pressed before your system starts to boot.

That I didn't know it was THAT common. :o
And yes, do unplug if you have to though most of the time it's not necessary.

Oh and welcome aboard tKnilans.

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by polobunny

That I didn't know it was THAT common. :o
And yes, do unplug if you have to though most of the time it's not necessary.

I'm not sure how common it is. I was pleasently surprised when I discovered that on my Gigabyte board. My only problem was that the mobo locked me out of the BIOS after it started initializing stuff. Just have the Del key pressed while powering it on, and poof! Into the BIOS I go :)

[polobunny]

Ah Gigabyte! Probably not so common, Gigabyte always have been an innovative company as far as motherboard technology goes.

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Ah Gigabyte! Probably not so common, Gigabyte always have been an innovative company as far as motherboard technology goes.

Perhaps, and I agree. It's worth a try though :)

[tKnilans]

Thanks to all of you. I know how to get into the CMOS already and have a fairly good knowledge how a computer works, I've just never overclocked before.
My interest in overclockng is mostly curiosity. I'd like to see just how fast I can make this procssor go. I probably don't need to overclock seeing as how this processor is faster than anthing I"ve ever used before, but similar to another poster, I like flirting with disaster. My biggest interest is to overclock the video, but, after reading about video cards it seems I bought the wrong type (6600GT). Knowing nothing about video cards, I naively bought 128 bit cards because they had 512mb each of ddr3 vram. knowing that in many cases upgrading ram speeds up a system, I assumed this was the case with video. Seems I was mistaken. I've also laarned by reading posts here that speeding up the CPU won't necessarily speed up the video. I'm not having any video problems, I am just interested in OC'ing overall. I've went into the CMOS and looked at the different options my motherboard offers but, not knowing what they actually do, I didn't change them.
I've picked up some very helpful opinions here about hardware and now wish I had been a member before I bought some of the components I did. BUT, you learn from your mistakes and this was my first attempt at building a system without any outside help. Thanks all!!! :)