# New to overclocking, need step-by-step help for Athlon II X4 640



## sapped (Dec 15, 2011)

Hello guys, I really want to overclock my Athlon 640 to get better performance while gaming.
I have never overclocked before so basically clueless at these sort of things.

my system spec is:
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6850
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 Processor (Quad Core), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 6142MB RAM

MOBO is GIGABYTE GA-M56S-S3
PSU is Cooler Master 460 RS-460-PCAR-A3

will it be decent enough for OC'ing?? my PSU is kinda at the limit already
my CPU cooler is still the stock fan, so my goal for it is something like 3.4ghz

appreciate any help!!!


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## c12038 (Dec 15, 2011)

Not really as you would have to O/C your memory inorder to O/C your CPU which is not a good idea if its not perfomance related memory.... Just google your request and there are many tutorials out on the web concerning this.. 

Hope this helps 

check this out http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22916


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## PsySc0rpi0n (Dec 15, 2011)

There is no such thing as a step-by-step guide that will work smoothly and perfect to your PC...

You'll have to do some reading.

I just can give you a couple of advices that should be followed as they are important.

With stock cooler you won't be able of a decent overclock. If you just want ro raise from 3.0Ghz to 3.4Ghz, maybe stock cooler is enough.

Anyway, install some software to monitor temps, such as RealTemp, CoreTemp, HWMonitor, then you should test the stability of your OverClock with SuperPI 32M, or IBT or Prime95 or all of them, one at a time...

then you can say your OC is stable...


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## sapped (Dec 15, 2011)

ahh alright, but I need a more precise answer about the PSU,
as its the main thing that's worrying me atm


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## PsySc0rpi0n (Dec 15, 2011)

Install Everest and it will say you the consumptions in cpu _load_/_idle_. Then compare them to this.

Cheers


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## anoobarak (Dec 15, 2011)

I have the same CPU and a motherboard from the stone ages. Up the Northbridge voltage to +0.200V, up the BcLK to 227 (that will give you the frequency of 3405MHz). Hope the ram holds the increased frequency. What's their frequency? 667 or 800Mhz? 
Stop shitting on his psu. It's being used, but definitely not to the limit. It's fine. Also the stock heatsink should do ONLY if your case has good airflow. Otherwise, leave it open. The psu will be fine.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 15, 2011)

I must ask, 6GB of memory? Let me guess 2x2GB + 2x1GB? Drop the 2x1GB, you won't notice a difference and you may be able to get a more stable overclock.  Yes, 3.4Ghz is attainable on stock cooling with stock cpu voltage, as everyone else here pointed out you will be limited by the ram. May even need to bring it down to the next divider to allow the overclock.


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## anoobarak (Dec 15, 2011)

That motherboard's BIOS doesn't have a memory divider option, if you're talking about that.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 15, 2011)

anoobarak said:


> That motherboard's BIOS doesn't have a memory divider option, if you're talking about that.



Even if pushing Ctrl+F1 at main bios screen?


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## Mussels (Dec 15, 2011)

with a weak/crap PSU like that, work on overclocking without raising voltages. see how far you can push it at stock volts.


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## anoobarak (Dec 15, 2011)

With mine that doesn't work :/ I suppose that only works with AM2 CPU's. His is AM3.
Also responding to Mussels post, you can't raise CPU voltage on that board with AM3 cpu's either ^^


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## Mussels (Dec 15, 2011)

anoobarak said:


> With mine that doesn't work :/ I suppose that only works with AM2 CPU's. His is AM3.
> Also responding to Mussels post, you can't raise CPU voltage on that board with AM3 cpu's either ^^



yeah i was just giving some generic advice as i skimmed the thread... sounds like he cant do anything with that motherboard anyway.


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## PsySc0rpi0n (Dec 15, 2011)

PsySc0rpi0n said:


> Install Everest and it will say you the consumptions in cpu _load_/_idle_. Then compare them to this.
> 
> Cheers





anoobarak said:


> Stop shitting on his psu. It's being used, but definitely not to the limit. It's fine. ... The psu will be fine.



If you were referring to me, i wasn't shitting on his PSU. I was just telling him how to check how voltages should react in the PSU rails on _idle_/_load_. I don't even know the PSU so I couldn't shit on it... xD


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## Mussels (Dec 15, 2011)

to both those quotes:

psy: those software readings are often very, very inaccurate. you cant rely on software for any voltage/power readings. hell, even temperatures are guesswork most of the time.

as to annobarak: we're shitting on it, because its cheap junk. many of us here have had experience with those low end coolermaster PSU's, and we know how bad they are. they can run for years on a low end <150W system like my media PC without a problem, but they sure as hell dont do anywhere near their rated wattages. serious overclocking would cause serious problems on any budget PSU.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 15, 2011)

anoobarak said:


> With mine that doesn't work :/ I suppose that only works with AM2 CPU's. His is AM3.



It's not cpu dependent(ctrl + f1), it strictly board & bios.


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## PsySc0rpi0n (Dec 15, 2011)

Mussels said:


> to both those quotes:
> 
> psy: those software readings are often very, very inaccurate. you cant rely on software for any voltage/power readings. hell, even temperatures are guesswork most of the time.




Ok... Well, personally i know that... But 90% of us, or even more, don't have any measurement tools as some of those extreme overclockers we see around.

And for the level of overclock sapped wants, I think it won't be an issue to rely on software readings... IMO, of course... And it's better to have software readings than to have nothing...

Cheers


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## anoobarak (Dec 15, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> It's not cpu dependent(ctrl + f1), it strictly board & bios.



Now that is not true. Check this review out. It's of my board, note the CPU they're using and all the options thei have in M.I.T. I don't have any of those, and my board has the latest BIOS.
It is CPU dependant.



PsySc0rpi0n said:


> Ok... Well, personally i know that... But 90% of us, or even more, don't have any measurement tools as some of those extreme overclockers we see around.
> 
> And for the level of overclock anoobarak wants, I think it won't be an issue to rely on software readings... IMO, of course... And it's better to have software readings than to have nothing...
> 
> Cheers



Lolz  It's not my thread, I'm just trying to help the guy do a moderate overclock. I know my setup in and out


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## PsySc0rpi0n (Dec 15, 2011)

Corrected... Sorry anoobarak...


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 15, 2011)

anoobarak said:


> Now that is not true. Check this review out. It's of my board, note the CPU they're using and all the options thei have in M.I.T. I don't have any of those, and my board has the latest BIOS.
> It is CPU dependant.



Well of course thats true, Hypertransport 1.0 vs 3.0 different architecture. Of course their will be different options under anything regarding the IMC, because it's totally different. What I am saying is that there are going to be some options that can be unhidden by Ctrl+F1 on most Gigabyte board * WHICH IS BIOS & BOARD DEPENDENT*


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## micropage7 (Dec 15, 2011)

sapped said:


> Hello guys, I really want to overclock my Athlon 640 to get better performance while gaming.
> I have never overclocked before so basically clueless at these sort of things.
> 
> my system spec is:
> ...


3,4 gig is about 10%, so if you have good airflow that should be fine
for cooling you can replace the standard fan or try lapping the hsf and add better thermal paste
but the heat that generated depends to how your rig load, if you do heavy task the heat may increase.
for PSU, it looks it can handle it but better you take higher wattage 
and one more if you do OC the result may vary, so do it step by step dont push too much and every time you done, dont forget to test it. does it work fine?


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## sapped (Dec 18, 2011)

Alright guys thanks for the reply!! I have uploaded my CPU-Z report here,
appreciate it if u guys can take a look.
http://www.mediafire.com/?9cpf7d7bi9pd9co

Anyway, to answer everyone's questions

@PsySc0rpi0n
alright I will give everest a look, thx for this!!

@anoobarak
hmm I think it actually says 400mhz on the Max Bandwidth on each slot,
is this the frequency ur looking for?? I'm not sure, maybe u should take
a look at the report : )

@JrRacinFan
yeah its 2x2gb and 2x1gb, so I guess I will remove the 1gb ones for this??
their max bandwidth seems to be the same, can u take a look at the report
and see whether I should remove them or not??

@anoobarak & JrRacinFan
yeah I don't have alot of additional options when using ctrl+f1, but I'm
not sure whether I have the memory divider option or not, should I give this
a check?? what's its full name, just memory divider, where should this option be??

@Mussels & PsySc0rpi0n & micropage7
hmm, so 3.4ghz should be a safe value for my PSU??
is it possible for me to get a better cooler and overclock further
given that I still use the current PSU???

sorry guys if I sound really stupid, I am really noob at all this, my
only experience with hardware is when I upgraded parts on my rig,
so please bear with me.

really appreciate any replies!!!


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 18, 2011)

Would be an option named dram frequency or something similar. And you may have better luck with pulling the 2x2GB sticks unfortunately and just upping FSB/Bclk. For now try just the 2x2GB sticks and upping bclk/fsb.


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## Hayder_Master (Dec 18, 2011)

I am try 3 different samples of 640, all of them work at 3.3ghz work well on stock voltage, try go over maybe you have better chip.


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## anoobarak (Dec 18, 2011)

Right now it's running at 3,6GHz lol. I want it running even higher, and I bet I can hit 4GHz on that motherboard.


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## sapped (Dec 20, 2011)

can someone check my ram?? is it 400mhz???


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## Mussels (Dec 20, 2011)

sapped said:


> can someone check my ram?? is it 400mhz???



sure just hold it up to the monitor, and i'll have a look with my hidden spy camera.


(can you at least tell us what ram you have?)

edit: and what bo$$ said, he beat me to it.


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## Bo$$ (Dec 20, 2011)

sapped said:


> can someone check my ram?? is it 400mhz???



it is double what is stated in CPU-Z, so 400mhz would really be 800mhz


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## anoobarak (Dec 20, 2011)

If CPU-Z shows 400MHz, it means your ram is at double the speed, hence the name of the memory: DDR meaning Dual Data Rate. Dual means double.. so..


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 20, 2011)

sapped said:


> can someone check my ram?? is it 400mhz???



They both are able to run 400's although they are defaulting to 333. The 2x1GB kit is faster in timings (CL5 5-5-18 2T).


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## sapped (Dec 21, 2011)

ahh I see, so what multiplier should I set the new RAM frequency to??

btw what is DRAM frequency and NB frequency??

are they relevant to this overclocking??


btw my NB frequency is 1607.3 MHZ and my DRAM frequency is 334.8 MHz


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 21, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> They both are able to run 400's although they are defaulting to 333. The 2x1GB kit is faster in timings (CL5 5-5-18 2T).



After a Bios Reset on AMD boards, they always revert to the lowest setting, so that would be 333MHz (667MHz Effective) for DDR 2.

when ram is mixed, its always best to run at the lower spec ram so the machine doesnt experience any issues. (Clock Speed, Timings, Voltage)

You may want to try to use the ctrl and F1 Key at same time next time you start machine (certain GA boards have advanced bios menu options)


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## sapped (Dec 28, 2011)

guys I was wondering will my PSU/mobo can handle a better cooler for increased overclocking??


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## Bo$$ (Dec 28, 2011)

sapped said:


> guys I was wondering will my PSU/mobo can handle a better cooler for increased overclocking??



What PSU do you have, i cannot see it anywhere


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## sapped (Dec 28, 2011)

hmm didn't I post it on front page?? anyway its suppose to be 460 watts but maybe lower


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## Bo$$ (Dec 28, 2011)

sapped said:


> hmm didn't I post it on front page?? anyway its suppose to be 460 watts but maybe lower



COuld you give me a brand name. or even a photo of the label please?


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## sapped (Dec 29, 2011)

Cooler Master??


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## NdMk2o1o (Dec 29, 2011)

Mussels said:


> sure just hold it up to the monitor, and i'll have a look with my hidden spy camera.
> (can you at least tell us what ram you have?)



How you ever made mod I don't know, though this is typical of your responses. You can see the guy is a noob with overclocking as has asked for help and advice and instead of doing the decent thing and explaining things to him, you make him out to be stupid and insult him with your oh so witty response, well done you!  

The PSU should be fine for your system OP, theres no way its draining 300w let alone 460w.


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## sapped (Jan 2, 2012)

alright looks like it is already setted to 333Mhz,

should I change any settings other than the FSB??
and if not what value should I set the FSB to??

I was thinking of increasing the CPU frequency by
an increment of 50Mhz every time, is it a good value??


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 2, 2012)

Try to adjust CPU FSB going up in increments of 5, pushing F10 save/exit between each increment, until you either get no windows boot or up to 800mhz dram speed. If no windows boot, drop back by an increment of 7, then run prime95 for at least 1 hour. If you crash or workers stop in prime 95, drop FSB again by increments of 3 until you can pass it.


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