(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading ...My last blog covered how much progress the AMD Phenom X4 has made with overclocking (1) during the last 9 months. I have been overclocking systems for 10 years in my spare time and wanted to share with you a few tips…. OK, you’ll see I am having fun when you read some of these, but I think many of you overclockers can appreciate these. I Twittered on a few of these last weekend and got good private responses so I decided to finish the list below. Some responses I got were very serious so I will go out of my way again to point out that I am having some fun here.
#1: Wear safety goggles. Don’t get thermal paste in your eye as it burns…. burns badly. I was informed from a Facebook friend that this is because of the “silver” in the paste. It might as well have been made out of razor blades. Plus heavy-duty eyewear is in.
#2: Keep all appendages away from those thermally effective, but sharp and finny heat sinks. I have 17 symmetrical cuts on one finger…..almost like an “overclocking tattoo”. I have the pictures but if anyone is eating while reading this I will spare you.
#3: Don’t question why on some motherboards to get dual channel memory working you must plug your DIMMs into the same color slots while for other motherboards you must plug into different color slots. Better yet, with 64-bit operating systems, fill ‘em up!
#4: If you hear a firecracker sound and smell smoke but the PC reboots fine, you probably just smoked your MOSFET in the core VRM (voltage regulator module) on the motherboard. You didn’t blow up your CPU. This is my personal favorite….sound, smoke then working fine.
#5: PS/2 ports are actually still your friend, not some “wonder-why-its-still-here” legacy deal. Stick with a PS/2 mouse and PS/2 keyboard while experimenting. Sometimes USB likes to take a one boot “nap” after a failed OC. In case you have forgotten what PS/2 ports look like, I put a picture below.
#6: Buy a motherboard with power and reset button on the board itself. If you are using a bench-set, this will save time and headache versus plugging in a switch. Small but useful.
#7: Get a power supply with those cool plug-in power modules to reduce clutter in your workspace. Don’t mix the connectors between different makers of power supplies. I have heard it’s like Ghostbusters “crossing the streams.”
#8: Go for the high-end CMOS clearing jumpers with a real handle. If you have big fingers or bad eyes you will be thankful. It’s OK, you can admit it… real men do clear CMOS. There is counseling for this as well, I hear.
#9: Don’t spend any time gazing at your motherboard wondering why there is space for convenient, vertical serial and floppy connectors yet no room for convenient vertical SATA connectors.
#10: Don’t spend any time wondering why different motherboards have consistent colors for back panel connectors, but different colors for the power switch, power LED, reset, and hard drive light. There is no good reason. Differentiation?
I would love to hear from you if you have any CPU overclocking tips, serious or funny.
1) ***WARNING*** AMD and ATI processors are intended to be operated only within their associated specifications and factory settings. Operating your AMD or ATI processor outside of specification or in excess of factory settings, including but not limited to overclocking, may damage your processor and/or lead to other problems, including but not limited to, damage to your system components (including your motherboard and components thereon (e.g. memory)), system instabilities (e.g. data loss and corrupted images), shortened processor, system component and/or system life and in extreme cases, total system failure. AMD does not provide support or service for issues or damages related to use of an AMD or ATI processor outside of processor specifications or in excess of factory settings. You may also not receive support or service from your system manufacturer.
DAMAGES CAUSED BY USE OF YOUR AMD OR ATI PROCESSOR OUTSIDE OF SPECIFICATION OR IN EXCESS OF FACTORY SETTINGS ARE NOT COVERED UNDER YOUR AMD PRODUCT WARRANTY AND MAY NOT BE COVERED BY YOUR SYSTEM MANUFACTURER’S WARRANTY.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
(4.11 out of 5)
#1 by ken - March 13th, 2009 at 10:09
I really like the right angle sata connectors since the vertical ones often get blocked by large gpus.
Installing 4 dimms in a system often requires you to increase the memory voltage for system stability. Try 1.95V for DDR2. Try 1.66V for DDR3.
#2 by Bryan Bartow - March 13th, 2009 at 10:09
If your motherboard beeps at you, don’t assume it means what the poorly translated Asian documentation says it does. Most likely, it’s an entirely different issue.
#3 by Michael - March 13th, 2009 at 10:10
I have a tip, don’t stick a screw driver onto the motherboard while the system is on.
I’ve actually done that by accident.
#4 by Rogue - March 13th, 2009 at 10:10
Too comment from ‘Michaels’ comment. Don’t even touch you motherbaord with a screwdriver or anything for that matter, until about 1 to 2 mins after your computer is disconnected from the wall socket. You could still get a zap from the “Capacitors” on the mobo baord. Capacitors; ‘tubular’ or ‘disc’.. They hold a voltage- current in them’ even when power is off. That’s why they say’( don’t hit re-set for 30-60 sec’s on ur comp) on manual restarts…
It really don’t take much to stop your heart…. Who’s going to “Re-Start You”.?????
#5 by Jim - April 7th, 2009 at 08:35
Any insights on overclocking the 8384 in a 4-socket system?
#6 by Patrick Moorhead - April 7th, 2009 at 08:43
Let me get an expert in here to comment. What u building? Sounds delightful.
#7 by Simon Solotko - April 7th, 2009 at 12:12
@Jim, Wouldn’t be my overclocking platform of choice – you are about to void a warranty on some heavy-duty hardware. You don’t have the knobs that you have on enthusiast-class boards, you don’t have clock multiplier control, and with multiple physical processors your headroom will be limited. You may even have trouble stepping up the ref. clock depending on your motherboard (which is likely your only real option). I am the last guy to rain on overclocking but you don’t have a lot of knobs to turn…
#8 by Stuart Foy - August 16th, 2009 at 17:18
I’ve got a really good one. DON’T leave the graphics card unscrewed. This will stop it from falling out randomly.
Not that I did that
#9 by Mike - September 9th, 2009 at 16:01
Always remember the following:
Though watercooling is a grand way to keep overclocked components cool, the tubes are there for a good reason. Spraying expensive de-ionised TEC coolant all over your shiny new (at the time) AMD X2 and fancy motherboard is -not- an effective way of increasing clock speeds.
Ask me how I know…
#10 by Borellus - September 22nd, 2009 at 15:45
Sweet tips.
Don’t be a fool and buy memory without checking it is compatable…
#11 by superkermit - September 23rd, 2009 at 00:24
Remember to put spacers between the motherboard and the case. First time i ever installed a motherboard on my own, i almost fried it by doing that.
#12 by charles - December 2nd, 2009 at 23:13
when I look back at what I didn’t know and what I know now I’ve come to the conclusion I will never know everything. My tip is its ok to admit you can’t fix everything