Hey guys. A few months ago you helped me build this. I've just been using it at stock levels, but now I'm interested in overclocking it a bit. I don't have any idea how to overclock safely though, and you guys do, so here I am!

First things first, is the AMD Overdrive Utility any good? It looks like it makes the process pretty easy, but I assume you'd still need to know the basics of what you're doing?

If that utility isn't any good, how would I go about safely overclocking myself? Keeping in mind I've never done it before.

Also, I've been reading around and apparently the 710 is actually a quad-core that has one-core disabled, making it tri-core. According to what I've read, sometimes the core that's been disabled still actually works. Assuming my motherboard supports the feature I need to mess with to enable it, how would I go about doing this safely and then testing the stability of the unlocked core? If you guys even think this is worth trying, that is.

The overdrive utility is okay for overclocking on stock volts but as soon as you want to up the volts do it in the BIOS instead. The stability test tool and temperature gauges are pretty decent though along with it telling you pretty much everything about your comp that you'd ever need.
Dont remember how exactly to unlock the core but do a search to see if your motherboard supports it.

For the overclocking just overclock your htt by 10 or so mhz at a time at first but as you get closer to your goal or the highest you're willing to overclock go by 5's to 1's. Once the computer crashes from instability up the voltage until it is completely stable. Repeat until you get the desired OC. Be mindful to watch your temperatures while running the stability test, as long as they dont go over 70c or so you're good, if it does downclock till it doesnt.

Okay, thanks. I'm looking for a bit more involved guidance, though; Like, whether or not I should tamper with volts, how I go about changing the settings, how I make sure I don't *bleep* everything up, that sort of thing.

Edit: Also need to add that AMD OverDrive Utility doesn't work on anything but 7-series. So can't use it for my Phenom.

This message was edited by Barmy Brat on Nov 03 2009.

Here this is a phenom II overclocking guide

http://www.ocia.net/articles/k10overclock/page1.shtml

it will walk you through step by step

Thanks for that bp.

Right now I'm looking through two guides - this one from Tom's Hardware, and this slightly more complicated one from ocforums - and things are starting to make sense (except how TH are able to use the Overdrive Utility is beyond me...). If you guys could give these articles a quick skim and make sure that the information is sound, then that would do a great deal for my confidence.

Okay, I've done a fair bit of reading (but no actual tweaking yet!) and I've got some more specific questions than before.

Everything I've read has said that the speed of the CPU is calculated by (FSB x CPU Mutiplier). So a FSB of 200 MHz and a Multiplier of 14 would result in a CPU speed of 2800 MHz (2.8 GHz). However, when I look at my system specs on CPU-Z, the results are confusing: I have a FSB of 200 MHz and a Multiplier of 4, which means my CPU speed is 800 MHz (0.8 GHz). But my CPU shows up in Windows as running at 2.6 GHz. Obviously, the numbers don't seem to match up. I'm assuming that the 800 MHz is the speed of a single core, but even with my other two cores added in that is still only 2.4 GHz, not 2.6. What's the deal?

FSB:DRAM ratio. According to CPU-Z, my current ratio is 1:2. Should I touch this setting at all? If so, what should I be doing with it?

RAM Timings. Are these worth tampering with? If they are, how do I know what to do with them?

After each small tweak, what tools do you guys recommend I run to check stability? As well as stability I want to monitor things like temperature, as well.

I only want to overclock as far as I can safely, without risking my computer being able to turn on (I really don't want to have to open the case). With that I mind, can anyone give me a rough estimate of how high I should be aiming to push? I know a lot will depend on temperature and limitations of my motherboard as well as the CPU, but a ballpark figure is all I'm after.

That's all for now, I think. I'm starting to get pretty excited about tinkering with this, but at the same time I'm still pretty scared to go playing around in my BIOS, haha.

Dont worry as long as you keep track of your temps everything will be fine.I have the answers to some of your questions.

quote Barmy Brat

Everything I've read has said that the speed of the CPU is calculated by (FSB x CPU Mutiplier). So a FSB of 200 MHz and a Multiplier of 14 would result in a CPU speed of 2800 MHz (2.8 GHz). However, when I look at my system specs on CPU-Z, the results are confusing: I have a FSB of 200 MHz and a Multiplier of 4, which means my CPU speed is 800 MHz (0.8 GHz). But my CPU shows up in Windows as running at 2.6 GHz. Obviously, the numbers don't seem to match up. I'm assuming that the 800 MHz is the speed of a single core, but even with my other two cores added in that is still only 2.4 GHz, not 2.6. What's the deal?

This is probably because you have the AMD cool n' quiet feature enabled. this will lower the voltage of your processor to save power thus bringing down the speed.

quote Barmy Brat

After each small tweak, what tools do you guys recommend I run to check stability? As well as stability I want to monitor things like temperature, as well.

After each tweak boot into windows and run either prime95 or orthos prime for at least 10 minutes to make sure everything is stable. I would use CPUID HW monitor to keep track of your temps. and of course CPU-Z to keep track of your increases.

quote Barmy Brat

I only want to overclock as far as I can safely, without risking my computer being able to turn on (I really don't want to have to open the case). With that I mind, can anyone give me a rough estimate of how high I should be aiming to push? I know a lot will depend on temperature and limitations of my motherboard as well as the CPU, but a ballpark figure is all I'm after.

I think 3.2 would be a good goal, depending on your mobo, and processor you should not have to up the Vcore to far, and the temps should still be in the safe range.

Which particular test should I run in Prime95? It's got 3 default options (Small FTTs, In-place large FTTs and Blend).

Also, what are good temperatures for the various components to stay at? Here's my current temperature list for reference.

edit: And should I turn off Cool 'n' Quiet while I do this?

yea go ahead and turn off cool and quiet

just run blend, it will stress your cpu and ram. as these will both be OCed.

if i were you i wouldn't let anything go over 60C but you could go 70C max if you needed to.

you are using the stock AMD cooler correct?

I didn't specifically buy another cooler, so I'll assume that yes, I'm using the stock.

okay, any other questions?

let us know the results of your OC when you're done

I just did my first little bump, and put the FSB at 210 (up from 200). Then I ran a 10 minute test in Prime95. These are the temperatures I was getting.

As you can see, some stuff was over 60C. Press on?

I would, but it's up to you.

I bumped it up to 215, and also enabled an alarm on the BIOS that starts if the system gets hotter than 60C. Within one second of starting the stress test, the alarm was going off.

What is everyone's opinion? Keep going, or stop? What can I do to cool it down?

What are your temps at idol?

turn the alarm off or set it to 70C, you can use HW monitor.

I would keep going, but we need to know your idol temps.