Getting more out of my PC / Overclocking

[Shorty]

When I got my PC last year I was totally happy with it, core 2 duo, 2GB RAM, 7600GT... what I had before that was an AMD 1.16GHz - how could I not be happy? Things happened instantly, games looked lovely etc..

 

I kinda took it for granted that my PC would be running to its best capabilities, but of course that's not true. It's gotten to the point where I'm noticing times it could do better....

 

Unfortunately I've never dabbled in overclocking, and I'm quite sure my conroe is capable of much more than it's currently doing. Can anyone tell me where to start with improving things? I'm not afraid to open up my case or go into my bios if I'm told to by someone who knows their stuff.

 

Here's a html file of my main specs, and attached to this post are 2 pics from cpu-z. The first is how it reads most of the time, the second is what it jumps to when I try loading an app. I've seen people sharing results of systems overclocked to 3+GHz per core. Also is there anything I can do to improve the performance of my memory?

 

Would anyone be kind enough to share some tips? I'm a fast learner but this is one aspect of computing I've always neglected.

 

 

Edit: Stupid attachment uploader, didn't know it would resize my pics... these should be better:

 

CPU-z screenshot 1

CPU-z screenshot 2

[Caris]

First things first, download Speedfan and post your temps.

 

I'll help you through this as much as i can.

[Shorty]

Sure, thanks a lot man

 

 

When the PC is busy, for example when I launched photoshop to save my screenshot, the core 0 and 1 speeds briefly go into the red (40) and even for a second fiery (50) zones - guess that's normal though? Here's a pic of the graph:

 

[Caris]

Okay. Just a little disclamer everything you do is at your own risk etc and ill try my best but without sitting down in front of your pc i cant make sure 100% of everything.

 

What i would do is go in the Bios, and go to jumperfree settings.

Raise the front side bus by 5, save and come out. See if it takes it, if it doesnt it will say overclock failed and give you some optioins, choose the apropiate. See how that goes, post CPUZ and Speed fan again once you ahve done that

[Shorty]

Thanks muchly Caris.

 

But...

Maybe I accidentally gave the impression that I know more about computers than I actually do I went into my Bios but I couldn't find anything to adjust by those names. Could it be referred to as something else? And what is the value likely to be at the moment?

 

Cheers

[Caris]

Value should be 266.

[Guest Jordan]

If this is anything like whats on the AMD chips then basically:

To reduce the amount of heat and energy usage of the computer, its nothing to worry about, most computers auto matically downclock themselves when not in use these days.

 

EDIT: In relation to your CPU-Z giving off different speeds.

[Caris]

Speed step?

 

Useless.

[Shorty]

With bus speed at 271.1 PC booted with no probs - core speed is now reading 1626.6MHz and core temps are going between 39 and 40 which is a green "tick" when PC not busy.

[Caris]

post your memory speeds and timings from cpuz please.

[Shorty]

Is this enough, or should I take another screenshot?

 

Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory type		DDR2
Manufacturer (ID)	Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000)
Size			1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth		PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
Part number		VS1GB667D2        
Manufacturing date	Week 22/Year 06

Attributes
Number of banks		2
Data width		64 bits
Correction		None
EPP			no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)		200	266	333	
CAS#			3.0	4.0	5.0	
RAS# to CAS# delay	3	4	5	
RAS# Precharge		3	4	5	
TRAS			9	12	15	
TRC			11	15	19	


DIMM #2

General
Memory type		DDR2
Manufacturer (ID)	Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000)
Size			1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth		PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
Part number		VS1GB667D2        
Manufacturing date	Week 22/Year 06

Attributes
Number of banks		2
Data width		64 bits
Correction		None
EPP			no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)		200	266	333	
CAS#			3.0	4.0	5.0	
RAS# to CAS# delay	3	4	5	
RAS# Precharge		3	4	5	
TRAS			9	12	15	
TRC			11	15	19	

 

 

Thanks again ^^

[Caris]

Seems ok, on some systems after you overclock past a certain point your memory timings change and your memory can slow down. I would keep over clocking bit by bit till about 300. if your temps are no more than 45 idle and your memory is still fast, leave it run some virus scanners, de frag, play games stress the pc for a few hours make sure it can cope and it's stable.

[Dyson]

Is there much point in OCing though? I did it with my graphics card in the past and if anything, it ended up being in worse condition. I was careful, too.

[Shorty]

Will I be ok for power if I keep increasing the speed? 300 is the max btw. And Dyson has a point too, do you reckon I'm likely to see a good positive change?

 

Anyways, thanks for the help It was actually because you mentioned overclocking in the other thread that I thought to do this in the first place

[Shino]

Just out of curiosity, what made you think you needed to OC?

[Caris]

@ dyson All overclocking does is make a componat faster, i dunno how it made it worse.

 

And yeah you will be fine power and voltages, if you go above 2.5ghz then you will need to think about them though.

 

and as for performace, my 3Dmark score went up from 7167 to round about the 8000 mark so it does.

 

Hope i've helped

[Shorty]

Just out of curiosity, what made you think you needed to OC?

Well, I have found that some things are not as fast as they once were - but mostly I just randomly realised that I hadn't considered it - and was missing out on some of the potential I had paid for

[Shino]

Well, I have found that some things are not as fast as they once were - but mostly I just randomly realised that I hadn't considered it - and was missing out on some of the potential I had paid for

 

You had me worried there for a moment as your specs are really similar to mine. But remember by doing this you are shortening (LOL) the hardware's life.

[Caris]

You had me worried there for a moment as your specs are really similar to mine. But remember by doing this you are shortening (LOL) the hardware's life.

 

You wont affect it if the cooling is right.

[Bogbas]

You wont affect it if the cooling is right.

 

But if you want some really nice performance gains, you have to adjust the voltage. Which will shorten the hardware's life. I'd like to OC my E6300 but I'd have to buy new RAM for that.

[Caris]

Yeah but i never OC enough to alter them, you can OC enough imo.

[Mr_Odwin]

[Thread Highjack]

I am probably going to upgrade my system over the next month or two and as money is tight tight tight I'm hoping to overclock.

Any thoughts on buying a e4300, an ASUS P5B mobo and some PC4200 RAM, then doing a CPU FSB overclock on stock cooling to 266?

 

Ta dah? An e6600 with less cache and special virtualisation instruction things?

 

[/Thread Highjack]

[Jackster]

OK, first things first, if some things seem to be getting slower than they once were then I don't think over clocking is your answer, it's not as if your computer has physically gotten slower, it's just that Windows has a sort of half-life, it gets slower over time. I have found that the best way to combat this is to back-up and reinstall Windows every year, maybe year and a half, although I think there are ways to clean up your system without reinstalling. These would include things such as defragging, cleaning up your registry and making sure you aren't infected with spyware/viruses.

 

Personally I think that's a pretty good CPU you have there, if you were to overclock anything then I would go for the graphics card if you want better performance in games. Check google for Nvidia overclocking or ATI overclocking.

 

If you do end up overclocking your CPU and GPU then be aware that alot of the performance increases you see may ultimately be psychological, in that your brain subconsciously knows that the system is a bit faster so it makes it seem faster to you even although it may not actually be all that much faster.

 

It's been a good while since I've had to optimize a Windows box , but I know Google knows a lot about this, go ask it about Windows Tweaking and Registry Edits and that.

[system_error]

Anyone with a sense of electronical knowledge would tell you to stop decreasing your components life for the gain of a few percent speed.

 

Do as you please but remember the cooler a CPU is the longer it lasts. I know a Core Duo can withstand much higher temperature but that doesn't mean you have to push it.

 

Remember how much you or anyone else paid for that system and then imagine how long it would take to earn that much money...

 

Rather try to keep a efficient system by maintaining your software not by altering stuff just because so many people do it. Even if your system is stable and even if the values you changed are small - electronics notice that.