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Overclocking (both CPU and RAM) advice requested.

Lokitez
Level 7
I am completely new to overlcocking. I have never run anything other than default bios. However, I have recently built a new computer with the configuration listed below. I would like to achieve two things and I am hoping that there are known settings that would allow these objectives to be achieved with a stable configuration.

1) I would like to achieve a 2100 or 2400 setting with my RAM. I am currently running at 1866 with a slight voltage bump to 1.65.

2) I would like to overclock to about 4.2 GHz, which I understand is not unreasonable for this setup.


  • LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Case
  • ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Gaming Motherboard
  • AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core CPU
  • ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5 Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 Video Card
  • G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) RAM
  • SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128D/AM 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal SSD
  • Rosewill LIGHTNING Series LIGHTNING-1000 1000W ATX12V/EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal HDD
  • EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler
  • Windows 7 Home Premium


Any advice that can be provided to a novice overclocker would be greatly appreciated.

9564
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX
- AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz AM3+ 8-Core
- ASUS Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
- G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200)
- SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III SSD
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD
- Rosewill LIGHTNING Series 1000W
- LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series
- EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium
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10 REPLIES 10

Zka17
Level 16
The best advice for a novice overclocker is: read about OC'ing first! Have you already seen this: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?2585-ASUS-Crosshair-V-Formula-BIOS-Guide-Overclocking&count...

An additional/second advice: let the temperatures lead your OC! When you get to bump voltages, temps will increase fast... just keep one eye on them...

You didn't ask for this, but I think worth mentioning... Why did you setup your PSU for inside intake? If I recall correctly, that case has a vent hole below the PSU with filter... turn it around, don't let it to take away air from other components inside...

Yes, you are correct that the case has a vent on the bottom for the power supply. However, with the lack of space between the bottom of the case and the surface that it sits on, airflow would be severely reduced. I am concerned that this would cause issues for my power supply.
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX
- AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz AM3+ 8-Core
- ASUS Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
- G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200)
- SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III SSD
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD
- Rosewill LIGHTNING Series 1000W
- LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series
- EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium

Lokitez wrote:
Yes, you are correct that the case has a vent on the bottom for the power supply. However, with the lack of space between the bottom of the case and the surface that it sits on, airflow would be severely reduced. I am concerned that this would cause issues for my power supply.
i thought that too,but its fine,mine doesnt even get hot,and also by flipping your psu that long 8pin power cable will fit around the back of your case,because they sure look ugly there LOL

Lokitez wrote:
Yes, you are correct that the case has a vent on the bottom for the power supply. However, with the lack of space between the bottom of the case and the surface that it sits on, airflow would be severely reduced. I am concerned that this would cause issues for my power supply.


You don't have to worry about that! That vent hole was designed for PSUs... - your PSU will get enough air through it! If you really want too, you can place something below the case feet, as chrsplmr said... you even could order some new stands from mnpctech.com...

I have made the change with my power supply. I will monitor temperatues to make sure everything is running okay. Thank you for the advice.

The reason I asked the other questions was that I hoping someone else had the same setup and had experience with known stable settings.
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX
- AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz AM3+ 8-Core
- ASUS Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
- G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200)
- SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III SSD
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD
- Rosewill LIGHTNING Series 1000W
- LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series
- EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium

Lokitez wrote:
I have made the change with my power supply. I will monitor temperatues to make sure everything is running okay. Thank you for the advice.

The reason I asked the other questions was that I hoping someone else had the same setup and had experience with known stable settings.


well i dont own a FX chip,but first thing i would do is turn off turbo core,set the multipliers to x20 maybe up the vcore voltage a tiny bit ,then run prime 95 for a while and see what happens,if thats stable for a several hours,then i would increase the FSB very slowly,that would bring your ram speed up at the same time,,,overclocking is all trial and error and patience,,,every board,cpu and northbridge are different so its hard to give you a stable setting,,anyways thats where i would start,,good luck

Thank you everyone for the advice.

1) I actually don't have room to prop my case on anything. I specifically purchased this case because it was short enough to fit in the allotted space. However, temperatures are running fine with the PSU facing down through the vents.

2) I made use of this ( http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?16431-Crosshair-V-Formula-and-GSkill-TridentX-2400-MHz-test... ) information and am now successfully running stable at 2400 MHz.

3) I took the advice to turn off turbo core, increase my multiplier to 20, and up my voltage slightly. My CPU is reading a cool 4.013 GHz and between 20°C and 30°C (using Core Temp 1.0 RC3).

That's basically everything I wanted from my hardware. Now I'm hoping to learn some more about Ubuntu.
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX
- AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz AM3+ 8-Core
- ASUS Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
- G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200)
- SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III SSD
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD
- Rosewill LIGHTNING Series 1000W
- LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series
- EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium

very glad it all worked out for you,,enjoy your rig,and welcome to the ROG

chrsplmr
Level 18
get some legs .. even two lats of wood.. would be better
than blasting your GPU .. id flip it.