Overclocking Phenom x3 8750BE and two 4850s

[james.wired]

I am trying to get a few pointers here.. any suggestions or input would be great!

Comp specs:
Thermaltake M9 case
MSI K9A2 CF-F-V2
Phenom 8750BE (stock = 2.4ghz)
Core Contact Freezer
1x2GB SuperTalent DDR2 667
2 x Sapphire 4850 512mb in CrossFire
Corsair vx550w
160GB HD, 320GB HD
WinXP Pro SP2 32-bit
21.5" ViewSonic 1080p 1900x1080

So, I wasn't sure of a set goal that I wanted to reach for my cpu, because my system isn't a beast of any sort, so I googled around and came across a few websites with information. I decided I want to go for 3ghz. I came across this short article AMD Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition | Budget busting upgrades | Peripherals | Labs Tests | Custom PC and used their told OC settings which is increasing the multiplier from x12 to x15, and increasing vcore from 1.25 to 1.40V. So I opened up AMD OverDrive, and did just that. No BSoDs happened or anything, everything was ok I ran 3dmark with it also:

I was using AMD OverDrive, Core Temp, and cpu-z. Does anyone have other suggestions for good monitoring programs?

Before:

After OC:

Ok, I am concerned about the CPU VDDC increase. Can someone please explain what VDDC is? It went from stock 1.256 to 1.408. Should I be worried about that? After testing stability, I reset everything back to stock because I was unsure and that jump made me feel a little uneasy haha. Any help would be appreciated!

I overclocked my two 4850 cards using CCC's auto-tun function. CCC put the cards from stock (625mhz gpu, 993mhz mem) to 690mhz gpu and 1185mhz memory. Is that a good overclock? Here are my 3dmark06 scores before and after oc'ing the CPU and GPU:

Before (11813):

After (14205) :

Now a few questions besides the ones I already asked! (sorry for the n00bish overflow)

1. I know that these are very low scores, what is standing in the way besides RAM?
2. Is there anything I can do to get a higher clock on either the gpu or cpu with my current system?
3. Is there a way to unlock the 4th core? I can't find much on the net about it.
4. My first 4850 that is connected with my monitor reaches 76c on load, while the other doesn't go above 65c, is that normal?
5. I'm not sure what the deal is the the Red Valley turns in 3dmark06...1fps?

Thanks in advance! I know these results aren't anything special but I am trying to learn here and I really enjoy the forum . Again, sorry for the over n00bness of questions haha.

 

[Poizen22]

your cpu is mainly what is standing in the way. It is a first gen Phenom and they are known to be slower chips but will still fullfill your needs.THevvd is your cpu voltage as far as I know, or is atleast linked to it. Hense they both whent from 1.2 to 1.4. You could try pushing for 3.2 with your current setting raise your clocks to 3.2ghz and go and test it in 3dmark 06. Now before I continue the over clock tips I will tell you the red valey test is a cpu only test in which the image is cpu renderd that is why you get 1 or 2 fps. Anyway run the redvalley test if it fails go and bump your cpu voltage a tad bit. and try again until it doesnt fail. Once it is good in that go test it in orthos or prime. For you gpu get ati tool free download of the web, make sure most recent version and do the auto over clocking itl take it much higher then 690 on your gpu core. Also increase your gpu fan speeds 76c on load isnt bad but is a bit high. as for the fourth core the answer is no, that only worcks on the phenom 2x3 720's, and u need a biostar or asrock mobo, with outdated bios on them.


so quick revamp of what i said.

1- your cpu is mainly holding your system back.
2- ati tool for gpu and more tweaking with your cpu for to get to 3.2 use 3dmark as a first test for stability once stable in 3d mark go onto orthos or prime.
3-simple straight answer no.
4-increase fan speeds.
5- red valley is a cpu only render test. 1-2 fps is normal.

 

[james.wired]

Thanks alot for answering all my questions poizen. When I get home I will try out ati tool and bump up the OC and will display results tomorrow.

JUST two more questions:
1. is an increase of 2392 in 3dmark any good? I really need to get my hands on the PhenomII 720 already
2. Is temperature the main factor in OC'ing? My temps seemed to stay fairly low (core 20c idle, 28c load).

Thanks again!

 

[Poizen22]

those are exelent temps. temperature usualy affects stability. depending on the system 2392 points is quite alot for others it isnt. really your best bet is calculate the % of performence increase. at that score you have a 20.248% increase so yes it is a good jump, a bit on the low end tho.

 

[james.wired]

For the past few days I have been pretty busy with work so I have only been had time to do a few different runs each night. I still can't seem to get a very stable OC on this thing. I have tried about 8 different combinations of multipliers and voltages.

The highest clock I was able to do with a successful 3dmark06 run was a 3.4ghz CPU oc and stock GPU clock. I bumped up the voltage to 1.4v and x17 multiplier. When I did that, CPU-Z was sort of glitching on me, giving me cpu readings of 3400 and then flashing to 1760..not sure what that was about. I ran 3dmark06 anyway and got 14916. That's the highest yet. But then after running Prime95 for 45 minutes, all 3 "workers" failed.

Then I tried 3.3ghz at 1.4V and got a 3dmark score of 14633, but prime failed again after about 1 hour. After that I tried 3.2ghz at 1.46V, ran prime, and all failed after 3 hours. I want 3.2ghz at least! I am nervous about messing with voltages without being very experienced, but my core temp has yet to go past 29c. I have the benefit of having my A/C on whenever I am the room

If my temps are keeping low shouldn't there be a way to get a nice stable OC on this cpu? Even with prime failing after 3 hours at 3.2ghz..I am never on load with my PC for 3 hours straight anyway...or is that not the point of stress testing?

What should I do next? Help! Thanks in advance

 

[TheOtis]

I can't touch on all of your questions but I can chime in on the video card OC.

What I've always done is increase the GPU clock and RAM clock by 5mhz or so, ran a video stability test( Nvidia does have a video stress test on Nview, so I'm not sure what ATi has), and adjust more if I could. Once I start running into problems, I take it back down a notch. And of course monitor your temps through out it. Since you're running two video cards I would imagine heats going to become an issue rather quickly compared to running one card.

 

[james.wired]

I can't touch on all of your questions but I can chime in on the video card OC.

What I've always done is increase the GPU clock and RAM clock by 5mhz or so, ran a video stability test( Nvidia does have a video stress test on Nview, so I'm not sure what ATi has), and adjust more if I could. Once I start running into problems, I take it back down a notch. And of course monitor your temps through out it. Since you're running two video cards I would imagine heats going to become an issue rather quickly compared to running one card.

ATI's Catalyst Control Center has a "stability test", but I can't rely on it because it will pass some of my clocks but sometimes when I do a 3dmark run I end up seeing artifacting. I tried ATI tool last night but it didn't recognize my card for some reason. I didn't have time to mess with it but I will give another try in a couple of days. I also couldn't figure out how to use RivaTuner haha.

Anyways, I seem to get much better scores in 3dmark when OC'ing my cpu and leaving my gpu at stock. Maybe the right way to do it is to get a stable cpu overclock and then start on the GPU? Just got at 5mhz at a time like you suggested would be smart.

You are right about temperatures. My temps on my first 4850 were reaching up to 76c on load, so I manually set the fans like Poizen suggested and the temps went down a bit.

 

[Poizen22]

you needt he latest version of ati tool to recognise your gpu's. I usualy like ocing my cpu first aswell then do my gpu's. also you dont need to worry abotu volts if you temps are still fine, 29c idle is very low, and amd chips run quite hot. so you can add a litle more .00 volts to it, to get stability at 3.2.

 

[TheOtis]

Yea, OC'ing your CPU does net you a decent 3DM increase.

Focus on one thing at a time. Get your CPU stable and settled (Prime95, etc). If you're going to OC your memory, make sure to run Memtest! Then the video cards. You're going to want to have all other components rock solid, because any instabilities on components other than the one you're overclocking, is going to effect system stability and mess up what could be a good OC. That's why people generally downclock their memory to make sure it's not going to get in the way of their CPU overclock. Once the CPU is settled, you move onto the memory and OC if you can or want to.

 

[james.wired]

you needt he latest version of ati tool to recognise your gpu's. I usualy like ocing my cpu first aswell then do my gpu's. also you dont need to worry abotu volts if you temps are still fine, 29c idle is very low, and amd chips run quite hot. so you can add a litle more .00 volts to it, to get stability at 3.2.

I will double check my ATI Tool version I downloaded. You said "add a little more .00 volts", should I increase the voltage like .5v at a time until Prime runs over night without any errors at 3.2? Thanks again for the help

Also, I meant 29c on "load" when prime was running for a few hours. Unless I am reading the wrong temp...I should be looking at what CoreTemp reads right?

Yea, OC'ing your CPU does net you a decent 3DM increase.

Focus on one thing at a time. Get your CPU stable and settled (Prime95, etc). If you're going to OC your memory, make sure to run Memtest! Then the video cards. You're going to want to have all other components rock solid, because any instabilities on components other than the one you're overclocking, is going to effect system stability and mess up what could be a good OC. That's why people generally downclock their memory to make sure it's not going to get in the way of their CPU overclock. Once the CPU is settled, you move onto the memory and OC if you can or want to.

That does sound like a plan. No point in getting one thing nice and stable and then having to redo it all later! I think I will stay away from my memory for now as it is only a 2GB stick of SuperTalent 667mhz CL5. Thanks again!