The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Alright I've been trying to test the stability of my gpu OC for a little bit now but I can't seem to find any reliable way to test it.
3dmark isn't really a stability test although it seems to me that if it's 3dmark stable it's real-life stable (not fully tested just first impressions from a couple hours of normal use).
Next I tried FurMark which had mixed results. It would crash/freeze after a few minutes at speeds near those that 3dmark was fine with, except all but once I was able to just close FurMark when it froze so I'm not sure what caused FurMark to quit working.
ATITOOL has got to be the strangest of the bunch though and I don't know what to make of it. What are the yellow flecks that appear during artifact scanning? They appear before ATITool detects artifacts and when the card is at default clock and memory speed (68C temp). Most say they are artifacts but one did say they were just a glitch in ATITool, which seems more likely since my card has been running at the previous OC it's entire life and never once did I experience any artifacts or instability. How would you guy's test for stability?

Thanks in advance,

Parker

 

Not so I'm afraid. I encounter several occasions where GPu is stable enough to pass 3dmark but will crash after a while in a real game. Fortunately, the scaling of GPU overclocks is pretty strict. If it crashes in 3dmark, just take it down a couple of notches and you'll usually be fine.
Yellow flecks are artifacts, that's how they manifest themselves in ATITool. The scanner is just a bit poor at picking them up. The second you see a yellow speck appear in that cube, you stop the test, and drop the speeds down a notch.

 

Do you think it's possible ATITool doesn't work with my gpu properly? If I wanted to remove the yellow flecks I'd have to drop the core and memory speed below the default speed which doesn't sound right to me. If there have been artifacts the past 1.5 years I've never seen them so I guess it doesn't really matter if they're they're there or not lol.

 

remind me, what GPU do you have? Not in your sig...

 

My GPU is a 8800GTS. FYI the cpuz validator pic is a link to full system info (mine is a bit out of date atm, all the hardware is the same though).

Thanks for the help,

Parker

 

Hmm, I haven't seen any problems with the most recent build of ATITool and 8800s, but if you don't see artifacts in real life, you've nothing to worry about. 3DMark06 is surprisingly good at showing artifacts. I've never seen an artifact at a setting where there haven't been any in 3dmark.

 

Those are exactly my thoughts; thanks for the confirmation.

 

Hi Guys,

I just got a request from a friend of mine who wants me to overclock his q6600. This wouldnt be a problem if it was a Gigabyte motherboard, unfortunatly its not!, its an ASUS P5KPL-CM and havent a clue where to start fiddling inside the Bios!. Heres his specs:

ASUS P5KPL-CM / Bios Version 08.00.12 / Bios Type: AMI(05/19/08)
Q6600
Memory is 3gig of some sort of generic crap.

If anyone can help I would be most appreciative!

Regarads -->> Sheeny

 

If it was a gigabyte, HUH? Well...just made me feel somewhat helpless. I have a gigabyte, and my overclocking got ran short, til I can do some research into my processor, ram, etc. I hope this doesnt sound like anger. Its more like frustration. Frustrated that the knowledge just isnt coming quick enough, LOL

 

That's a really weak board, I'd hold off overclocking it. Doesn't really have much to do with it being an Asus, but it's a very basic board, and won't have solid enough power regulation to overclock a quad without melting. (Overclocking a Quad requires an 8-pin CPU power connector to avoid fire hazards)

 

Hi Sam,

Yeah I totally agree, just looking at it, it looks erm crap!. I think my friend and his wife have been ripped off actually, the power supply they have in it is a RITMO (Nasty), Ive seen thicker silver foil than what thats wrapped in!

 

Quick question, when you talk about cpu voltage is that before or after Vdrop?

 

eparker89,
It depends on the motherboard. My new GigaByte MA790GP-Ds4H has no Vdrop at all, in fact it slightly raises the voltage under load!

Vdrop is there for a reason, to provide a buffer to prevent damage by a sudden increase in voltage. Without Vdrop it could fry things! How they do it with my new MB, I can't say. But it works just fine!

Russ

 

hehe, completely forgot about the MB differences. TBH I don't like the idea of the MB raising Vcore, would probably make me nervous lol.

 

Quick question guys, will a GTX295 work on a ASUS P5KPL-CM motherboard??

 

It should, but why on earth would you use one with a system that basic?

 

Well...I just witnessed something VERY unusual. Atleast to me. Im watching my CPU stats jump all over the place via CPU-Z! Multiplier, core voltage, core speed, FSB, literally all specs! This is windows 7 by the way! Probably some power scheme! I dont like seeing my voltage vary by .3 volts though. That suggests the possibility of instability if you ask me! Well... I guess the cpu will run pretty cool in idle though.

 

FSB shouldn't change, but multiplier and CPU volts will vary significantly, that's speedstep in action.

 

Ahhh! Thank you for VERY much for that education Speedstep: OR STEPPING??? The FSB didnt vary much. I only seen it change by 5mhz. That doesnt seem significant to me. Although that depends on the multiplier i'd imagine

 

Sam,
Unless they call it something different, I don't see and EIST or speedstep on my AMD board! I think he may have the AMD K8 Cool and Quiet turned on! It does things like that when idling!

Russ