[Thready]

I have an AMD 965 BE and I want to push it from 3.4 to 4.0 Ghz because I got a 7870 GPU and I read on here that the stock CPU will bottleneck the 7870. I plan on running my games on my 1080p monitor or 1080p TV depending on whether or not I want to move my gaming chair into my room. So everything is going to be 1080, I plan on using high settings because I want to turn antialiasing on at least medium and also get at least 50-60 FPS on games like Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, and the new Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider. ( I usually don't play the newest game because I have to wait until about a year later when it goes on sale so I don't care about Crysis 3 or Far Cry 3).

Problem is that I have no idea how to do any of that because I just got into computers about a year ago. I don't even know what voltages are (I looked on wikipedia but that is less that useless).

I have AMD overdrive on my PC but I don't know how to use it and then I don't know how to keep it stable either. Actually now that I think about it I don't even know what stable means in this context. I just hear people saying "keep it stable by using Prime 95." I downloaded Prime95 but I have no idea how to use it. There are too many options and youtube videos are of little help.

I got an Evo 212 heatsink which everyone said to get because my stock fan was loud. This one keeps the CPU at about 35C because my case is an open and well ventilated case too. So everything is ready to go. I have a UEFI bios that I think I can use well.

Whew... ok so with all that being said... help?

 

[Rushua]

Okay, here we go.

For starters, yes that CPU will bottleneck on some games at stock speed (3.4GHz), i know i have the same one. Moving from 3.4 to 4.0 GHz (what i am running) will help, but you really need to consider heat. When you overclock a CPU you force it to run faster and harder than the manufacture intended it to, so the stock CPU cooler may not be sufficient. That said, if you go no higher than 4GHz, you might be okay with the stock cooler.

With regard to voltage, if you are willing to overclock to 3.9GHz instead of 4.0GHz you wont need to touch the voltage, for someone as inexperienced as yourself i would recommend this.

Right, the best way to overclock is probably in your BIOS. Enter it on start up and find the section regarding overclocking (If you cannot find it, refer back to your manual) Find where it says 'multiplier' and change it to x17 then look for Bus Speed and change it to 230, save and exit and you should be done.

Hope this helps, and Prime95 is a CPU stress test, just youtube how to use it.

Note: stability is how stable to CPU is after applying higher clocks, unstable CPU's can encounter problems, but these are usually temporary and can be undone by resetting the bios settings to default.

 

[Thready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rushua

Okay, here we go.

For starters, yes that CPU will bottleneck on some games at stock speed (3.4GHz), i know i have the same one. Moving from 3.4 to 4.0 GHz (what i am running) will help, but you really need to consider heat. When you overclock a CPU you force it to run faster and harder than the manufacture intended it to, so the stock CPU cooler may not be sufficient. That said, if you go no higher than 4GHz, you might be okay with the stock cooler.

With regard to voltage, if you are willing to overclock to 3.9GHz instead of 4.0GHz you wont need to touch the voltage, for someone as inexperienced as yourself i would recommend this.

Right, the best way to overclock is probably in your BIOS. Enter it on start up and find the section regarding overclocking (If you cannot find it, refer back to your manual) Find where it says 'multiplier' and change it to x17 then look for Bus Speed and change it to 230, save and exit and you should be done.

Hope this helps, and Prime95 is a CPU stress test, just youtube how to use it.

Note: stability is how stable to CPU is after applying higher clocks, unstable CPU's can encounter problems, but these are usually temporary and can be undone by resetting the bios settings to default.

Thanks so much for that. I already installed the Coolermaster heatsink which everyone says it the best air cooled heatsink. I get idle temps at 35C which is fine with me.

Someone said to run Prime95 for 24 hours when overclocking. If I do this, what should I look for in terms of stability? What will happen if it is unstable?

 

[VitalShot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thready

Thanks so much for that. I already installed the Coolermaster heatsink which everyone says it the best air cooled heatsink. I get idle temps at 35C which is fine with me.

Someone said to run Prime95 for 24 hours when overclocking. If I do this, what should I look for in terms of stability? What will happen if it is unstable?

Look for a core failing the test lol. Also you only really need to do 8-12 hours of Prime. 24 hours is a little extreme in my opinion, I personally did 13 hours but that's because I was asleep longer than intended lol.

 

[Thready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VitalShot

Look for a core failing the test lol. Also you only really need to do 8-12 hours of Prime. 24 hours is a little extreme in my opinion, I personally did 13 hours but that's because I was asleep longer than intended lol.

I used AMD Overdrive and I got it up to 3.9 Ghz. Since it is a black edition I assume that it was made to be overclocked. I also didn't go over 60C with my Coolermaster Evo 212 and the fan didn't go over 85%. I have an ASUS motherboard and it comes with temp and fan speed programs

I ran Prime95 for about 1 hour but I think I can run it for longer. I don't see why though so can you explain to me why I want to run it for so long?

 

[VitalShot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thready

I used AMD Overdrive and I got it up to 3.9 Ghz. Since it is a black edition I assume that it was made to be overclocked. I also didn't go over 60C with my Coolermaster Evo 212 and the fan didn't go over 85%. I have an ASUS motherboard and it comes with temp and fan speed programs

I ran Prime95 for about 1 hour but I think I can run it for longer. I don't see why though so can you explain to me why I want to run it for so long?

To ensure stability, an unstable CPU can cause games to crash, os to corrupt, etc. It's just no fun when an unstable CPU makes you reinstall Windows and all of your games/programs.