[Danstar10]

Hello all,

Im in need of a little assistance. Im basically trying to OC an AMD X2 4400+ Toledo to around 2.4 (tho 2.6 would be nice).

I have no prior experience of OCing a CPU however i have built up my computer a fair bit and am generally good with computers so im no noob.

As stock my cpu cores run at around 30c idle and max 51c full load - when put under the small FFTs 'torture test' of Prime95.

I have had a 'quick' OC try and upped the CPU freq from 200 to 210 in BIOS (it appeared not to boot at any higher) which gave me around 2.3Ghz i think, and added a couple of degrees to the max load temp maxing at 53c ish.

My question is how would you seasoned OC'ers go about getting a little more from this old chap of a CPU. Should i increase the voltage? as i have heard this gives a minimal benifit for the risk it poses to the hardware.

I dont seem to have access to the 'HT multiplier' in the BIOS (the one which is 5x by default) but i think i have access to the CPU multiplier (listed as 'K8 CPU clock ratio' in the BIOS)

My motherboard is a 'GIGABYTE Nvidia Nforce 4 SLI the model is GA-K8N Pro-SLI' and i have 2x 1GB pc3200 RAM

think that is all you need to know for this, and i have uploaded a pic of CPUz showing no OC readings and the menus I get in my BIOS.

Id be happy to use some software to OC if any can be reccomended?

Also, any ideas how i can access my CPU fan speed so i could keep it cooler under load as i dont seem to be able to find how.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Dan

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Edited by Danstar10, 07 April 2009 - 03:12 PM.

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...you have a Gigabyte motherboard; did it come with a utility called EasyTune? If so, you could try installing that, or go to the Gigabyte website and get it there. EasyTune has a control panel that you can use for setting overclocking, setting fan speeds based on temperatures, and monitoring voltages, fan speeds and temperatures. I have it in my system (don't overclock, but I do use it to keep an eye on temps)...

[ZedU54]

...you have a Gigabyte motherboard; did it come with a utility called EasyTune? If so, you could try installing that, or go to the Gigabyte website and get it there. EasyTune has a control panel that you can use for setting overclocking, setting fan speeds based on temperatures, and monitoring voltages, fan speeds and temperatures. I have it in my system (don't overclock, but I do use it to keep an eye on temps)...

[Danstar10]

Thanks ZedU54, Had a go with it but it still doesnt change the fact that i cant seem to boot over 210mhz. Any other ideas?

[ZedU54]

...no other ideas about overclocking. I don't do it myself (I'm not a hard-core gamer or anything like that, so I never felt I needed to...plus the fact that I already have a X2 6000+ CPU...). I suggested the EasyTune because I also have a Gigabyte motherboard (Socket AM2) that came with it on its drivers and utilities disc. I'm not familiar with those BIOS settings ; do any of them have an 'Auto' option? Also, does your m/b have 'QBios' (which allows you to search for and install BIOS updates from the Gigabyte website)? EasyTune should allow you to overclock right from that funny-looking user interface...
...as for temperatures: What are you using for a heatsink/fan assembly? And have you tried experimenting with the fan speed settings in EasyTune (Smart Fan)? It allows you to set temperature threshold settings for 100% and 25% CPU fan speed; if you lower those threshold settings, you'll speed up the CPU fan and get more cooling. (You might, however, also run the risk of shortening the life of the CPU fan...) I ran the factory heatsink/fan assembly that came with my CPU and kept my CPU temps below 40ºC for the most part after tweaking the Smart Fan settings. However, the fan eventually started getting noisy (which is why I mentioned the risk of shortening fan life!), so I replaced it with an oversized Thermaltake 'Blue Orb II' cooler and a little Arctic Silver compound and re-tweaked Smart Fan. CPU is currently running at 30ºC... The AMD factory cooler is adequate for normal use, but you can do better...and if you intend to overclock, you'd probably be smart to upgrade your cooler...