Overclocking help

Technology and Gaming
#1

So far this is the only place on the internet that seems to be helpful in any way what so ever. How do you overclock a processor? I have and Intel Quad Core Q8300 which runs at 2.5 ghz. I’ve seen on a lot of websites that people have gotten it to run at 3.0 ghz and higher, they just never gave any explanations at how they accomplished this. I’m not a total noob when it come to computers. I built a couple of gaming rigs for my friends and they are working great, I just have no experience with overclocking. I know what overclocking is, I just don’t know how to do it.

Mobo: Intel G43 Express
Cooling: Zalman 9500
Processor: Intel Quad Core Q8300

#2

BIOS - I would tell you further instructions but I have yet to OC via BIOS myself. This is also to pump your thread and to note some needed questions

What Mobo do you have?
What kind of cooling for your CPU are you running?
Last but not least, does your case make sadvich?

#3

Jean’s quick introduction to OCing

#4

The first step to fail at OCing is to post this question on any forum. There are hundreds of tutorials for newb overclockers on the internet.

#5

There are some useful guides stickie’d on https://www.overclock.net/

#6

So much about the op’s assumption of this forum being helpful, fortunately it still is.

As for the topic, the links already posted should help you in the details, but with that Intel mobo I doubt you have the option to OC at all, it needs to be supported from the BIOS which certain manufacturers do better than others, and intel doesn’t support it at all.

But honestly, you don’t really need it anyway, a quad core 2.5ghz is enough for pretty much everything you could use it for. An extra 500mhz would be barely noticeable, only through specific cpu benchmarks, which people only use to show a difference at overclocking anyways, making it totally pointless.

#7

Truth is I’m not even sure if my motherboard IS an intel motherboard. CPU-Z says its manufactured by ASUSTeK. What’s really sad is that I know how to build and repair computers, but not how to find out what parts I have in my rig, unless they are parts that I installed myself. This is what I get for buying a computer from Best Buy instead of building one this time around. Its an ASUS CG5270 by the way.

#8
  1. reboot PC
  2. enter the BIOS
  3. look around for a submenu containing “CPU clock”, “Vcore”, “Memory multiplier” and stuff like that.
  4. In there enable custom CPU clock and set it just above the default
  5. save and exit
  6. if PC boots fine, increase the clock some more. If it doesn’t, clear CMOS, repeat step 4 and up the Vcore voltage a bit. Search for maximum recommended OC voltage for yor CPU and keep it under that.
  7. Report progress.

[EDIT] just for the record, I don’t know jack shit about OCing

#9
  1. Enjoy the almost totally unnoticeable increase in performance.
#10

Depends how good your processor is and what you’re doing. If you have a shitty processor and you get it up 700 MHz, you’ll probably notice it in cpu-centric games and stuff like rendering. If you have an awesome processor already and you’re in gpu-centric games, you won’t notice shit.

#11

Since raising the FSB by definition overclocks RAM and pretty much everything else, I’d say a 25-40% increase is bound to be noticable. Unless the GPU sucks ass, of course.

#12

Where are you getting these numbers from? Also, what games really use that much CPU power? I mean, I guess there’s games like the Tycoon games and X3, or physics-intensive games when there’s tons going on, but other than that, I don’t think any decent processor is really going to have much trouble with most games. Hell, I upgraded from a so-so processor to one that’s still pretty close to top-of-the-line today, and I really saw almost no difference in system performance.

#13

OCing any less makes no sense at all. OCing any more probably requires uprgaded cooling, messing with RAM timings and northbridge voltage and understanding at least something about OCing in general.

Well, in that case case CPU is not your bottleneck. Try OCing your GPU! :stuck_out_tongue:

#14

GTAIV. BFBC2 as well, but not as much as GTAIV.

also, source doesn’t really benefit from high end graphics, and performance scales pretty evenly as you upgrade your cpu. (not that source really needs an amazing processor to get decent performance).

#15

Most games don’t. These days, the GPU, RAM size and speed, and HD speeds are the big limiting factors to computer speed these days.

#16

I have a Nvidia GTX 220 which so far has run most of my games fine, and I’ve had really good performance while running Fallout 3 on max graphics. I want to run Crysis at the maximum graphics, but it lags out. According to the specs my graphics card should be more than enough to run it at max graphics, but my game lags, so I’m assuming its the processor. I have 8 gigs of RAM, which should also be more than enough. Plenty of hard drive space, I defrag once a week and run 3 different virus and spyware scans every night. It almost has to be the processor that is holding me back, right?

#17

Maybe. Crysis CAN be more demanding in the thinky department, but not usually. Also, what specs say you should be able to run it at max settings? Because I’ve got a GTS 250, and a fairly beefy CPU, and I certainly can’t run it maxed out (and hope to average 30fps or higher). That IS what you mean by “lag” right? Sorry, I’ve just been noticing more and more people using “lag” to mean a drop in performance, rather than some aspect of the game lagging behind everything else.

#18

There’s your problem. Try disabling them 3 when playing a game and you’ll see a major difference.

#19

I’ve read the specs for Crysis and based on the recommended specs I should be able to run Crysis on max settings. That reasoning has worked for me in the past, but I guess Crysis is just a different beast all together.

#20

You’d better believe it is. I’m looking forward to my next system upgrade in a few years so I may be able to see Crysis at 60fps. I don’t care if there’s better graphics out there!! I was happy to see Quake 4 at 60fps for the first time, and I’ll marvel at Crysis at 60fps when the time comes, too!!

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