AMD athlon ii bios processors. The Best Overclocking Programs for AMD Processors

Athlon 64 x2 model 5200+ was positioned by the manufacturer as a mid-range dual-core solution based on AM2. It is on its example that the procedure for overclocking this family of devices will be outlined. Its margin of safety is quite good, and with the appropriate components, it was possible to get chips with indices 6000+ or ​​6400+ instead.

The meaning of overclocking the CPU

The AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor model 5200+ can easily be upgraded to 6400+. To do this, you just need to increase its clock frequency (this is the point of overclocking). As a result, the final performance of the system will increase. But at the same time, the power consumption of the computer will also increase. Therefore, not everything is so simple. Most components of a computer system should have a safety margin. Accordingly, the motherboard, memory modules, power supply and case must be of higher quality, which means that their cost will be higher. Also, the CPU cooling system and thermal paste must be specially selected specifically for the overclocking procedure. But it is not recommended to experiment with a standard cooling system. It is designed for a standard thermal package of the processor and will not cope with the increased load.

Positioning

The characteristics of the AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor clearly indicate that it belonged to the middle segment of dual-core chips. There were also less productive solutions - 3800+ and 4000+. This is entry level. Well, higher in the hierarchy were CPUs with indices 6000+ and 6400+. The first two processor models could theoretically be overclocked and get 5200+ out of them. Well, the 5200+ itself could be modified up to 3200 MHz, and due to this, a variation of 6000+ or ​​even 6400+ could be obtained. Moreover, their technical parameters were almost identical. The only thing that could change was the amount of second-level cache and the technological process. As a result, the level of their performance after overclocking was practically the same. So it turned out that at a lower cost, the end owner received a more productive system.

Chip specifications

AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor specifications may vary significantly. After all, three versions of it were released. The first of these was codenamed Windsor F2. It worked at a clock frequency of 2.6 GHz, had 128 KB of cache in the first level and, accordingly, 2 MB in the second level. This semiconductor crystal was manufactured according to the norms of 90 nm technological process, and its thermal package was equal to 89 watts. At the same time, its maximum temperature could reach 70 degrees. Well, the voltage supplied to the CPU could be 1.3 V or 1.35 V.

A little later, a chip with the code name Windsor F3 appeared on sale. In this modification of the processor, the voltage changed (in this case it dropped to 1.2 V and 1.25 V, respectively), the maximum operating temperature increased to 72 degrees and the heat pack decreased to 65 watts. On top of this, the process itself has changed - from 90 nm to 65 nm.

The last, third version of the processor was codenamed Brisbane G2. In this case, the frequency was raised by 100 MHz and was already 2.7 GHz. The voltage could be 1.325 V, 1.35 V or 1.375 V. The maximum operating temperature was reduced to 68 degrees, and the thermal package, as in the previous case, was 65 watts. Well, the chip itself was manufactured using a more progressive 65 nm process technology.

socket

The AMD Athlon 64 x2 model 5200+ processor was installed in socket AM2. Its second name is socket 940. It is electrically and software compatible with AM2+ based solutions. Accordingly, it is still possible to purchase a motherboard for it. But the CPU itself is already quite difficult to buy. This is not surprising: the processor went on sale in 2007. Since then, three generations of devices have already changed.

Motherboard selection

A fairly large set of motherboards based on socket AM2 and AM2+ supported the AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200 processor. Their characteristics were very diverse. But in order to maximize the overclocking of this semiconductor chip, it is recommended to pay attention to solutions based on the 790FX or 790X chipset. These motherboards cost more than average. This is logical, since they had much better overclocking capabilities. Also, the board must be made in the ATX form factor. You can, of course, try to overclock this chip on mini-ATX solutions, but the dense arrangement of radio components on them can lead to undesirable consequences: overheating of the motherboard and the central processor and their failure. Specific examples include Sapphire's PC-AM2RD790FX or MSI's 790XT-G45. The M2N32-SLI Deluxe from Asus based on the nForce590SLI chipset developed by NVIDIA can also be a worthy alternative to the above solutions.

Cooling system

Overclocking an AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor is impossible without a high-quality cooling system. The cooler that comes in the boxed version of this chip is not suitable for these purposes. It is designed for a fixed heat load. With an increase in CPU performance, its thermal package increases, and the standard cooling system will no longer be able to cope. Therefore, you need to buy a more advanced one, with improved technical characteristics. We can recommend using the CNPS9700LED cooler from Zalman for this purpose. If you have it, this processor can be safely overclocked to 3100-3200 MHz. In this case, there will definitely not be any special problems with overheating of the CPU.

thermal paste

Another important component to consider before AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200+ is thermal paste. After all, the chip will not function in the normal load mode, but in a state of increased performance. Accordingly, more stringent requirements are put forward for the quality of thermal paste. It should provide improved heat dissipation. For these purposes, it is recommended to replace the standard thermal paste with KPT-8, which is perfect for overclocking conditions.

Frame

The AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200 processor will run at higher temperatures during overclocking. In some cases, it can rise to 55-60 degrees. To compensate for this increased temperature, one quality replacement of thermal paste and cooling system will not be enough. You also need a case in which air flows could circulate well, and this would provide additional cooling. That is, inside the system unit there should be as much free space as possible, and this would allow cooling the computer components through convection. It would be even better if additional fans were installed in it.

Overclocking process

Now let's figure out how to overclock the AMD ATHLON 64 x2 processor. Let's find out on the example of the 5200+ model. The CPU overclocking algorithm in this case will be as follows.

1. When you turn on the PC, press the Delete key. This will open the BIOS blue screen.
2. Then we find the section associated with the operation of RAM, and reduce the frequency of its operation to a minimum. For example, the value for DDR1 is 333 MHz, and we lower the frequency to 200 MHz.
3. Next, save the changes and boot the operating system. Then, using a toy or a test program (for example, CPU-Z and Prime95), we check the performance of the PC.
4. Reboot the PC again and go into the BIOS. Here we now find the item related to the operation of the PCI bus, and fix its frequency. In the same place, it is necessary to fix this indicator for the graphic bus. In the first case, the value should be set to 33 MHz.
5. Save the settings and restart the PC. We re-check its performance.
6. The next step is to reboot the system. Re-enter BIOS. Here we find the parameter associated with the HyperTransport bus, and set the system bus frequency to 400 MHz. Save the values ​​and restart the PC. After the OS has finished loading, we test the stability of the system.
7. Then we reboot the PC and enter the BIOS again. Here you must now go to the processor parameters section and increase the system bus frequency by 10 MHz. Save the changes and restart the computer. Checking the stability of the system. Then, gradually increasing the frequency of the processor, we reach the moment when it ceases to work stably. Then we return to the previous value and again test the system.
8. Then you can try to further overclock the chip using its multiplier, which should be in the same section. At the same time, after each change in the BIOS, we save the parameters and check the system's performance.

If during the overclocking process the PC starts to freeze and it is impossible to return to the previous values, then it is necessary to reset the BIOS settings to the factory settings. To do this, just find at the bottom of the motherboard, next to the battery, a jumper labeled Clear CMOS and rearrange it for 3 seconds from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3.

System stability check

Not only the maximum temperature of the AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor can lead to unstable operation of the computer system. The reason can be caused by a number of additional factors. Therefore, during overclocking, it is recommended to conduct a comprehensive check of the reliability of the PC. The Everest program is best suited for this task. It is with its help that you can check the reliability and stability of the computer during overclocking. To do this, it is enough to run this utility after each change made and after the OS has finished loading and check the status of the hardware and software resources of the system. If some value is out of range, then you need to restart the computer and return to the previous settings, and then re-test everything.

Cooling system control

The temperature of the AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor depends on the operation of the cooling system. Therefore, at the end of the overclocking procedure, it is necessary to check the stability and reliability of the cooler. For these purposes, it is best to use the SpeedFAN program. It is free, and the level of its functionality is sufficient. It will not be difficult to download it from the Internet and install it on a PC. Then we launch it and periodically, for 15-25 minutes, control the number of revolutions of the processor cooler. If this number is stable and does not decrease, then everything is in order with the CPU cooling system.

Chip temperature

The operating temperature of the AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor in normal mode should vary from 35 to 50 degrees. During overclocking, this range will decrease towards the last value. At a certain stage, the CPU temperature can even exceed 50 degrees, and there is nothing to worry about. The maximum allowable value is 60 ˚С, approaching which it is recommended to stop any experiments with overclocking. A higher temperature value can adversely affect the semiconductor chip of the processor and disable it. To take measurements during the operation, it is recommended to use the CPU-Z utility. Moreover, temperature registration must be carried out after each change made to the BIOS. You also need to withstand an interval of 15-25 minutes, during which you periodically check how hot the chip is.

The word "overclocking" has firmly entered the lexicon of PC owners, and in computer magazines and articles on the Internet it is quite common. However, many users have no idea how to overclock the processor, or experience difficulties in this when changing platforms from Athlon XP or Pentium 4/Celeron to Athlon 64. New motherboards have their own characteristics that affect overclocking, due to which is why attempts to force the processor to work in forced mode are sometimes unsuccessful. In this article, we will give a number of recommendations for overclocking the AMD64 platform, which will be useful to "novice enthusiasts".

First of all, let's look at how Athlon 64 fundamentally differs from Athlon XP or Pentium 4/Celeron in terms of overclocking: this processor is connected to the northbridge on the motherboard by a special HyperTransport bus that operates at 800/1000 MHz, and if earlier the frequency processor frequency was the product of the bus frequency and the CPU ratio, now this indicator is determined by multiplying the CPU ratio by the frequency of the motherboard master oscillator. By default, the generator outputs 200 MHz, while the frequency of the HyperTransport bus, like that of the processor, is regulated by the corresponding multiplier. Nevertheless, some motherboard manufacturers continue to call the oscillator frequency selection point bus frequency selection, which is not entirely correct.

Now let's move on to the overclocking features. First, the PCI and AGP bus frequencies are also tied to the generator frequency by default. Therefore, if you do not explicitly set them in the corresponding BIOS items, then they will grow during overclocking. A video card, hard drive controller, network card and other devices running on these buses do not tolerate high frequencies well and may fail. Unfortunately for owners of motherboards based on VIA K8T800, this chipset cannot fix PCI/AGP bus frequencies during overclocking. Owners of motherboards based on nForce3/4 can change these frequencies manually in the BIOS.

Another feature of Athlon 64 overclocking is the way to set the memory bus frequency. If the owners of motherboards based on nForce2 could set this parameter hard regardless of the processor bus frequency, now it is also tied to the generator frequency. Therefore, the item in the BIOS Setup, called Memory Frequency - DDR400, actually means that the frequency of the memory bus coincides with the frequency of the master oscillator and will also increase during overclocking. The remaining memory modes - DDR333, 266, 200 - are implemented using divisors, which are approximately 1.22; 1.55 and 2. Let's explain this with an example: by setting the oscillator frequency to 244 MHz in the BIOS and setting the memory type to DDR333, we get a frequency of 244: 1.22 = 200 MHz (DDR400).

For overclocking it is useful to reduce the multiplier for the HyperTransport bus to three, since its frequency also increases and becomes an additional cause of instability. Those who are concerned about the question “Will lowering the HyperTransport frequency affect the system performance?” can be reassured – the bandwidth of this bus is enough even in this version.

Let's now consider the overclocking of the Athlon 64 processor in practice. As a test bench, we used the ASUS A8N-E motherboard based on the nForce4 Ultra chipset, the AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor with a real frequency of 1800 MHz on the Venice core, two Transcend DDR400 memory modules (timings 2.5-3-3-8), a video card NVIDIA GeForce 6600 overclocked to 430/630 MHz.

So, in the BIOS, go to the second tab, called Advanced, and then to the CPU Configuration item. Here we lower the HyperTransport bus multiplier by changing the HyperTransport Frequency from Auto to 3X. Next, go to the DRAM Configuration sub-item and change the Timing Mode value from Auto to Manual. After that, the Memclock index value item becomes available. We install DDR266 instead of DDR400 in it, so that the memory does not turn out to be a limiting factor during overclocking, which will allow us to reach the generator frequency of at least 300 MHz.

We return to the topmost level and go to JumperFree Configuration. By default, the oscillator frequency settings are not available, but after setting the Overclock Profile to Manual, the CPU Frequency item appears. The processor frequency that can be achieved during overclocking depends largely on the user's luck - it is different for each instance. In this case, in the preliminary tests, the processor started up with an oscillator frequency of 285 MHz instead of the standard 200 MHz. In general, the frequency should be increased in increments of 20 MHz, raising it until the system passes stability tests. After that, it makes sense to reduce the step to 1 MHz and more accurately select the maximum operating frequency. In addition, to increase stability, you can increase the voltage on the processor in the CPU Voltage item to 1.55 V. Also, here you should set the maximum CPU Multiplier value instead of Auto (in our example, this is x9) and change the PCI Clock Synchronization Mode item from Auto to 33, 33 MHz (never set To CPU). Since this board does not have an AGP port, nothing else needs to be changed. Otherwise, we would have to fix 66 MHz in the AGP Clock item. On some motherboards, however, due to errors in the BIOS, during overclocking, the AGP and PCI frequencies may increase even when manually selecting standard bus frequencies. This can be easily avoided by setting the frequencies for them to 67 and 34 MHz, respectively. It is also not uncommon for the points for AGP/PCI frequencies to be combined into one, but the frequencies, despite this, are fixed for both buses. The name and location of the above BIOS items on other motherboards may vary, but, nevertheless, the principle remains the same, and it will not be difficult to find the settings you need for overclocking.

As a result, the actual processor frequency increased from the nominal 1800 MHz to 2565 MHz, i.e. increased by 42.5%. Growth rates in common applications are presented in diagrams and depend on the specific task.

Processor overclock:
I) for K8 processors (Sempron s754 - Athlon64 s939)
Despite the fact that overclocking is mainly disassembled for the K8 platform, with other platforms (370.478.462.775) there will be almost the same story, with the exception that the BIOS may have slightly different names of tabs, parameters, the whole process is 90% similar to considered.
1. We go into the BIOS. To do this, at the very initial moment of system boot (before the Windows boot screen), press and hold the Delete (Del) key.
2. Using the arrows, select the “Load Optimized Defaults” item.
3. Power Bios Setup => Memory Frequency => DDR400 (200Mhz)
4. AMD K8 Cool & Quiet => Disable (if there is such an item)
5. Save and exit. To do this, press Escape, when the message “Save changes and exit Y / N” appears, enter Y from the keyboard, then Enter.
6. After the reboot, we go back into the BIOS. Go to the Advanced Chipset Features => DRAM Configuration tab, this is a tab for editing memory timings parameters. Further, in each line, instead of “AUTO”, we put the number that is to the right of the dash.
7.HT Frequency => 3x
8. Power Bios Setup-> Memory Frequency -> DDR200 (100Mhz) is a memory frequency divider, more details below.
9. Save again and exit. After restarting - again in the BIOS.
10. Power Bios Setup => CPU Frequency => Increase HTT (FSB) from 200MHz to 250MHz (if it's scary, it can be less, if not, more ).
11. Save and exit. We go to Windows.
12. Using the S&M program, we check the processor for stability. To do this, in the “Settings” tab, set the test parameters: Time “Normal” or “Long”, Load 100%. In order not to waste precious time - on the “Processor” tab, uncheck all the checkboxes (checkmarks), leave only the CPU (FPU) test (Floating Point Unit), a floating point unit that loads the CPU as much as possible. (It is also desirable to scroll through the 3Dmark tests several times). At the time of the check, the computer may freeze, turn off, or simply jump to the memory test. But, in any case, do not be upset! Solution:
1) Increase the voltage on the processor. To do this: go to the BIOS again, Power Bios Setup => Vcore Voltege set +0.1 (more is possible, in the range of 0.1-0.3). Important! On different motherboards there may be such ways: 1) Simply select the added voltage; 2) indicate the added voltage as a percentage, relative to the nominal value - 100%; 3) specify the voltage itself. You can find out the nominal voltage of the processor using the programs CPU-Z, CBID.
2) Improve cooling. Change cpu cooler.
3) If nothing helps, you will have to reduce the frequency. But most often, following the instructions of paragraph 1 + paragraph 2 completely eliminates all problems

So gradually, in slow steps, we increase the frequency of HTT (FSB), increase the voltage (it is not advisable to raise it above 20% relative to the nominal value). Gradually we come to the maximum workable frequencies. That's the whole overclocking, scary?))
*approx. In no case, do not despair that most of the conference participants have much more overclocking than you. It all depends on luck, a particular instance of the processor. I don’t have a monster either - AMD64 (Venice) with TT Big Typhoon cooling, as a result - the maximum frequency is only 2600MHz at a voltage of 1.7v. This is despite the fact that some specimens easily reach the 2700MHz mark with a standard BOX cooler. Do not despair, sooner or later you will still be lucky.

Of course, our readers know all about overclocking. In fact, many reviews of processors and video cards would not be complete enough without looking at the potential for overclocking.

If you consider yourself an enthusiast, forgive us for some background information - we'll get to the technical details shortly.

What is overclocking? At its core, the term is used to describe a component that runs at higher speeds than its specifications to increase performance. You can overclock various computer components, including the processor, memory and video card. And the level of overclocking can be completely different, from a simple increase in performance for inexpensive components to an increase in performance to an outrageous level that is normally unattainable for retail products.

In this guide, we will be focusing on overclocking modern AMD processors to get the best possible performance based on your chosen cooling solution.

Choosing the right accessories

The level of overclocking success is highly dependent on the components of the system. To begin with, you need a processor with good overclocking potential, capable of operating at higher frequencies than the manufacturer specifies. AMD is currently selling several processors that have fairly good overclocking potential, with the "Black Edition" line of processors directly aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers due to the unlocked multiplier. We tested four processors from different families of the company to illustrate the process of overclocking each of them.

For overclocking the processor, it is important that other components are also selected with this task in mind. The choice of a motherboard with an overclocking-friendly BIOS is quite critical.

We took a couple of Asus M3A78-T (790GX + 750SB) motherboards, which not only provide a fairly large set of BIOS features, including Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) support, but also work great with the AMD OverDrive utility, which is important for squeezing the most out of Phenom processors.

Selecting the right memory is also important if you want to achieve maximum performance after overclocking. When possible, we recommend installing high-performance DDR2 memory that is capable of clock speeds above 1066MHz on AM2+ motherboards with 45nm or 65nm Phenom processors that support DDR2-1066.

During acceleration, frequencies and voltages increase, which leads to an increase in heat dissipation. Therefore, it is better if your system will run a proprietary power supply that provides stable voltage levels and sufficient current to cope with the increased demands of an overclocked computer. A weak or outdated power supply, loaded "to the eyeballs", can spoil all the efforts of an overclocker.

Increasing frequencies, voltages and power consumption, of course, will lead to an increase in heat dissipation levels, so the cooling of the processor and case also has a significant effect on overclocking results. We didn't want to hit any overclocking or performance records with this article, so we ended up with rather modest $20-25 coolers.

This guide is intended to help users who are less experienced with overclocking processors to enjoy the performance benefits of overclocking a Phenom II, Phenom, or Athlon X2. Let's hope that our advice will help novice overclockers in this difficult but interesting business.

Terminology

A variety of terms, often denoting the same thing, can confuse or even frighten an uninitiated user. Therefore, before we go directly to the walkthrough, we will look at the most commonly used terms related to overclocking.

Clock speeds

CPU frequency(CPU speed, CPU frequency, CPU clock speed): The frequency at which the computer's central processing unit (CPU) executes instructions (for example, 3000 MHz or 3.0 GHz). It is this frequency that we plan to increase in order to get a performance boost.

HyperTransport link frequency: interface frequency between the CPU and the northbridge (for example, 1000, 1800 or 2000 MHz). Usually the frequency is equal to (but should not exceed) the northbridge frequency.

Northbridge frequency: frequency of the northbridge chip (for example, 1800 or 2000 MHz). For AM2+ processors, increasing the northbridge frequency will result in better memory controller performance and L3 frequency. The frequency must be at least as high as the HyperTransport link, but it can be increased much higher.

Memory frequency(DRAM frequency and memory speed): The frequency, measured in megahertz (MHz), at which the memory bus operates. Can be specified as either a physical frequency such as 200, 333, 400, and 533 MHz or an effective frequency such as DDR2-400, DDR2-667, DDR2-800, or DDR2-1066.

Base or reference frequency: The default is 200 MHz. As you can see from the AM2+ processors, other clocks are subtracted from the base clock using multipliers and sometimes dividers.

Frequency calculation

Before we move on to the description of frequency calculations, it should be mentioned that most of our guide covers overclocking AM2+ processors such as Phenom II, Phenom or other Athlon 7xxx models based on the K10 core. But we also wanted to cover early AM2 Athlon X2 processors based on the K8 core, such as the 4xxx, 5xxx, and 6xxx lines. Overclocking K8 processors has some differences, which we will mention a little later in our article.

Below are the basic formulas for calculating the frequencies of the AM2+ processors mentioned above.

• CPU clock speed = base frequency * CPU multiplier;
• northbridge frequency = base frequency * northbridge multiplier;
• HyperTransport link frequency = base frequency * HyperTransport multiplier;
• memory frequency = base frequency * memory multiplier.

If we want to overclock the processor (increase its clock speed), then we need to either increase the base frequency or increase the CPU multiplier. To take an example, the Phenom II X4 940 is running at a base frequency of 200 MHz and a CPU multiplier of 15x, resulting in a CPU clock speed of 3000 MHz (200 * 15 = 3000).

We can overclock this processor to 3300 MHz by increasing the multiplier to 16.5 (200 * 16.5 = 3300) or raising the base clock to 220 (220 * 15 = 3300).

But it should be remembered that the other frequencies listed above also depend on the base frequency, so raising it to 220 MHz will also increase (overclock) the frequencies of the north bridge, the HyperTransport channel, as well as the memory frequency. On the contrary, simply increasing the CPU multiplier will only increase the CPU clock speed of AM2+ processors. We'll look at simple multiplier overclocking with AMD's OverDrive utility below, and then move into the BIOS for more advanced base clock overclocking.

Depending on the manufacturer of the motherboard, the BIOS options for the processor frequency and northbridge sometimes use not just a multiplier, but the ratio of FID (Frequency ID) and DID (Divisor ID). In this case, the formulas will be as follows.

• Processor clock speed = base frequency * FID (multiplier) / DID (divider);
• northbridge frequency = base frequency * NB FID (multiplier) / NB DID (divider).

By keeping the DID at level 1, you'll get to the simple multiplier formula we discussed above, meaning you can increase CPU multipliers in 0.5 increments: 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, etc. But if you set the DID to 2 or 4, you can increase the multiplier in smaller increments. To complicate matters, values ​​can be specified as frequencies, such as 1800 MHz, or as multipliers, such as 9, and you may have to enter hexadecimal numbers. In any case, refer to your motherboard manual or look online for hex values ​​for different CPU and Northbridge FIDs.

There are other exceptions, for example, it may not be possible to set multipliers. So, in some cases, the memory frequency is set directly in the BIOS: DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 instead of choosing a memory multiplier or divider. In addition, the frequencies of the north bridge and the HyperTransport link can also be set directly, and not through a multiplier. In general, we do not recommend worrying too much about such differences, but we recommend that you return to this part of the article if the need arises.

Test hardware and BIOS settings

Processors

• AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition (45nm, Quad-Core, Deneb, AM2+)
• AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition (65 nm, Quad-Core, Agena, AM2+)
• AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition (65nm, Dual-Core, Kuma, AM2+)
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Black Edition (65 nm, Dual Core, Brisbane, AM2)

Memory

• 4GB (2*2GB) Patriot PC2-6400 (4-4-4-12)
• 4GB (2*2GB) G.Skill Pi Black PC2-6400 (4-4-4-12)

Video cards

• AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2
• AMD Radeon HD 4850

cooler

• Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
• Xigmatek HDT-S963

Motherboard

• Asus M3A78-T (790GX+750SB)

Power Supply

• Antec NeoPower 650W
• Antec True Power Trio 650W

Useful utilities.

• AMD OverDrive: overclocking utility;
• CPU-Z: system information utility;
• Prime95 : stability test;
• Memtest86 : memory test (boot CD).

Hardware monitoring: Hardware Monitor, Core Temp, Asus Probe II, other utilities included with the motherboard.

Performance Testing: W Prime, Super Pi Mod, Cinebench, 3DMark 2006 CPU test, 3DMark Vantage CPU test

• Manually adjust Memory Timings (memory delays);
• Windows Power Plan: High Performance.

Remember that you are exceeding the manufacturer's specifications. Overclocking is done at your own risk. Most hardware manufacturers, including AMD, do not offer a warranty for damage caused by overclocking, even if you use AMD's utility. THG.ru or the author is not responsible for damage that may occur during overclocking.

Introduction to AMD OverDrive

AMD OverDrive is a powerful all-in-one overclocking, monitoring and testing utility for AMD 700 series motherboards. Many overclockers don't like to use a software utility under the operating system, so they prefer to change the values ​​directly in the BIOS. I also usually avoid the utilities that come with motherboards. But after testing the latest versions of the AMD OverDrive utility on our systems, it became clear that the utility is quite valuable.

We'll start by taking a look at the AMD OverDrive utility menu, highlighting interesting features as well as unlocking the advanced features we'll need. After launching the OverDrive utility, you are greeted with a warning message that clearly states that you are using the utility at your own peril and risk.

When you agree, pressing the "OK" key will take you to the "Basic System Information" tab, which displays information about the CPU and memory.

The "Diagram" tab contains a diagram of the chipset. If you click on a component, more detailed information about it will be displayed.

The "Status Monitor" tab is very useful during overclocking as it allows you to monitor the processor clock speed, multiplier, voltage, temperature and load level.

If you click on the "Performance Control" tab in Novice mode, you will get a simple engine that allows you to change the PCI Express (PCIe) frequency.

To unlock the advanced frequency setting, go to the Preference / Settings tab and select " Advanced Mode".

After selecting the "Advanced" mode, the "Novice" tab was replaced by the "Clock/Voltage" tab for overclocking.

The "Memory" tab displays a lot of information about memory and allows you to adjust delays.

There's even a built-in benchmark to quickly evaluate performance and compare it to previous performance.

The utility also contains tests that load the system to check the stability of the system.

The last tab "Auto Clock" allows you to perform automatic overclocking. It takes a lot of time, and all the excitement is lost, so we did not experiment with this function.

Now that you are familiar with the AMD OverDrive utility and have switched it to Advanced mode, let's move on to overclocking.

Overclocking through the multiplier

With the 790GX motherboard and the Black Edition processors we used, overclocking with the AMD OverDrive utility is fairly easy. If your processor does not belong to the Black Edition line, then you will not be able to raise the multiplier.

Let's take a look at the normal operation of our Phenom II X4 940 processor. The base frequency of the motherboard varies from 200.5 to 200.6 MHz in our system, which gives a core frequency between 3007 and 3008 MHz.

It is useful to run some performance tests at the stock clock speed to compare the results of the overclocked system with them later (you can use the tests and utilities we suggested above). Benchmarks allow you to evaluate performance gains and losses after changing settings.

To overclock the Black Edition processor, check the "Select All Cores" checkbox on the "Clock/Voltage" tab, then start increasing the CPU multiplier in small steps. By the way, if you do not check the box, then you can overclock the processor cores separately. As you overclock, don't forget to look at temperatures and constantly run stability tests. In addition, we recommend that you make notes regarding each change, where you will describe the results.

Since we expected a solid boost from our Deneb processor, we skipped the 15.5x multiplier and went straight to the 16x multiplier, which gave the CPU core frequency at 3200 MHz. With a base frequency of 200 MHz, each increase in the multiplier by 1 gives an increase in the clock frequency of 200 MHz, and an increase in the multiplier by 0.5 - 100 MHz, respectively. We ran post-overclock stress tests with the AOD stability test and the Prime95 Small FFT test.

After stress testing Prime 95 for 15 minutes without a single error, we decided to raise the multiplier further. Accordingly, the next multiplier of 16.5 gave a frequency of 3300 MHz. And at this core frequency, our Phenom II passed through the stability tests without any problems.

A multiplier of 17 gives a clock speed of 3400 MHz, and again stability tests were performed without a single error.

At 3.5 GHz (17.5*200) we successfully passed a one-hour stability test under AOD, but after about eight minutes in the "heavier" Prime95 application, we got a blue screen and the system rebooted. We were able to run all benchmark tests on these settings without crashing, but we still wanted our system to get through the 30-60 minute Prime95 test without crashing. Therefore, the maximum overclocking level of our processor at a nominal voltage of 1.35 V is between 3.4 and 3.5 GHz. If you do not want to raise the tension, then you can stop there. Or you can try to find the maximum stable CPU frequency at a given voltage by increasing the base frequency in one megahertz steps, which for a multiplier of 17 will give 17 MHz in each step.

If you are not averse to raising the voltage, then it is better to do this in small steps of 0.025-0.05 V, while you need to monitor the temperatures. We kept the CPU temperatures low and we started to raise the CPU voltage a little, with a small rise to 1.375 V, which resulted in the Prime95 benchmarks running at 3.5 GHz in a completely stable manner.

It took 1.400V to run stable at a multiplier of 18 at 3.6GHz. It took 1.4875V to be stable at 3.7GHz, which is more than the default AOD allows. Not every system will be able to provide sufficient cooling at this voltage. To increase the default AOD limit, edit the AOD .xml settings file in Notepad to increase the limit to 1.55V.

We had to bump the voltage up to 1,500V to get the system stable in the 3.8GHz 18 multiplier tests, but even bumping it up to 1.55V didn't make the Prime95 stress test stable. The core temperature during the Prime95 tests was somewhere in the 55 degrees Celsius region, which means we hardly needed better cooling.

We rolled back to a 3.7 GHz overclock, with the Prime95 test successfully running for an hour, which means the stability of the system was checked. Then we began to increase the base frequency in 1 MHz steps, while the maximum overclocking level was 3765 MHz (203 * 18.5).

It is important to remember that the frequencies that can be obtained through overclocking, as well as the voltage values ​​\u200b\u200bfor this, change from one processor sample to another, so in your case everything may be different. It is important to increase the frequencies and voltages in small increments while performing stability tests and monitoring the temperature throughout the process. With these CPU models, increasing the voltage does not always help, and processors can even become unstable if the voltage is increased too much. Sometimes for better overclocking it is enough just to strengthen the cooling system. For optimal results, we recommend keeping the CPU core temperature below 50 degrees Celsius under load.

Although we were unable to increase the processor frequency above 3765 MHz, there are still ways to further improve system performance. Raising the frequency of the northbridge, for example, can have a significant impact on application performance, as it increases the speed of the memory controller and L3 cache. The northbridge multiplier cannot be changed from the AOD utility, but it can be done in the BIOS.

The only way to increase the northbridge clock speed under AOD without rebooting is to experiment with a CPU clock speed with a low multiplier and a high base frequency. However, this will increase both HyperTransport speed and memory frequency. We'll take a closer look at this issue in our guide, but for now, let me show you the overclocking results of three other Black Edition processors.

The other two AM2+ processors overclock exactly like the Phenom II, except for one more step - enabling Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC). The ACC feature is only available on AMD SB750 southbridge motherboards, such as our ASUS 790GX model. ACC can be enabled in both AOD and BIOS, but both require a reboot.

For 45nm Phenom II processors, it's best to disable ACC, as AMD states that this feature is already present in the Phenom II die. But with 65nm K10 Phenom and Athlon processors, it is better to set ACC to Auto, +2% or +4%, which can increase the maximum achievable processor frequency.

regular frequencies.

Max multiplier

Maximum overclocking

The above screenshots show our Phenom X4 9950 overclocked at stock 2.6GHz with 13x multiplier and 1.25V CPU voltage. used for overclocking. The multiplier was increased to 15x, which gave a 400-MHz overclock at stock voltage. The voltage was increased to 1.45 V, then we tried the ACC setting in Auto, +2%, and +4%, but Prime95 could only work for 12-15 minutes. Interestingly, with ACC in Auto mode, a multiplier of 16.5x and a voltage of 1.425V, we were able to increase the base frequency to 208 MHz, which gave a higher stable overclock.

Regular frequencies

Maximum overclocking without voltage increase

Maximum overclocking without using ACC

Maximum overclocking

Our Athlon X2 7750 runs at stock 2700 MHz and 1.325 V. Without a voltage boost, we were able to increase the multiplier to 16x, resulting in a stable 3200 MHz. The system was also stable at 3300 MHz when we increased the voltage slightly to 1.35 V. With ACC disabled, we increased the CPU voltage to 1.45 V in 0.025 V steps, but the system was not able to work consistently with a 17x multiplier. She "flew" even before stress testing. Setting ACC for all cores to +2% allowed us to achieve an hour of stable operation of Prime95 at 1.425 V. The processor did not respond very well to voltage rises above 1.425 V, so we were able to get a maximum stable frequency of 3417 MHz.

The benefits of enabling ACC, as well as overclocking results in general, vary significantly from one processor to another. However, it's still nice to get such an option at your disposal, and you can spend time fine-tuning the overclocking of each core. We didn't get a huge boost in overclocking from enabling ACC on both processors, but we still recommend checking out the 790GX review, where we took a closer look at ACC, where this feature had a greater impact on the overclocking potential of the Phenom X4 9850.

BIOS Options

Our Asus M3A78-T motherboard has been flashed with the latest BIOS to support the new CPUs and also provide the best chance of overclocking success.

First you need to enter the BIOS of the motherboard (usually done by pressing the "Delete" key during the POST boot screen). Check your motherboard manual for how you can clear the CMOS (usually with a jumper) if the system fails the POST boot test. Remember that if this happens, then all previously made changes, such as time / date, turning off the graphics core, boot order, etc. will be lost. If you're new to BIOS setup, pay close attention to the changes you'll make and write down the initial settings if you can't remember them later.

Simply navigating through the BIOS menus is perfectly safe, so if you're new to overclocking, don't be afraid. But make sure that you exit the BIOS without saving the changes you have made if you think that you might accidentally mess something up. This is usually done with the "Esc" key or the corresponding menu option.

Let's dive into the Asus M3A78-T BIOS as an example. The BIOS menus differ from one motherboard to another (and from one manufacturer to another), so use the instructions to find the appropriate options in the BIOS for your model. Also, keep in mind that the options available vary greatly by motherboard and chipset model.

In the main menu (Main) you can set the time and date, connected drives are also displayed there. If the menu item has a blue triangle on the left, then you can go to the submenu. The "System Information" item, for example, allows you to see the BIOS version and date, processor brand, frequency and amount of installed RAM.

The "Advanced" menu consists of several nested submenus. The "CPU Configuration" item gives information about the processor and contains a number of options, some of which are best disabled for overclocking.

Most of the time you will probably spend in the menu item "Advanced" "JumperFree Configuration". Manual setting of important settings is provided by transferring the "AI Overclocking" item to the "Manual" mode. Other motherboards will probably have these options in a different menu.

Now we have access to the necessary multipliers that can be changed. Please note that in the BIOS the CPU multiplier is changed in increments of 0.5, and the northbridge multiplier in increments of 1. And the HT channel frequency is specified directly, and not through a multiplier. These options vary significantly between different motherboards, for some models they can be set through FID and DID, which we mentioned above.

In the "DRAM Timing Configuration" item, you can set the memory frequency, whether it is DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667, DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066, as shown in the photo. In this BIOS version, you do not need to set the memory multiplier/divider. In the "DRAM Timing Mode" item, you can set delays, both automatically and manually. Reducing latency can improve performance. However, if you do not have completely stable memory latency values ​​at hand at different frequencies, then during overclocking it is very reasonable to increase the latency of CL, tRDC, tRP, tRAS, tRC and CR. Also, you can get higher memory frequencies if you increase the tRFC delays to very high values ​​like 127.5 or 135.

Later, all "relaxed" delays can be returned back to squeeze out more performance. The process of reducing one latency per system startup is time-consuming, but well worth the effort to get maximum performance while maintaining stability. When your memory runs outside of specifications, run a stability test with utilities such as the Memtest86 boot CD, as memory instability can lead to data corruption, which is undesirable. With all that said, it's safe to let the motherboard adjust latencies on its own (usually set to quite "relaxed" latencies) and focus on overclocking the CPU.

Advanced overclocking

In this case, the adjective "advanced" is not very appropriate, because, unlike the methods discussed above, we will present here overclocking through the BIOS by increasing the base frequency. The success of such overclocking depends on how well your system components can overclock, and to find the capabilities of each of them, we will iterate over them one by one. In principle, no one forces you to follow all the steps given, but finding the maximum for each component can result in higher overclocking, since you will understand why you hit one or another limit.

As we said above, some overclockers prefer direct BIOS overclocking, while others use AOD to save time for testing, since they do not need to reboot every time. The settings can then be manually entered into the BIOS and try to improve them even more. In principle, you can choose any method, since each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Again, it would be nice to disable the Cool "n" Quiet and C1E power saving options, Spread Spectrum and automatic fan control systems in the BIOS, which reduce its rotation speed. We also disabled the "CPU Tweak" and "Virtualization" options for some of our tests, but did not find a noticeable effect on any of the processors. You can later enable these features if required, and you can check if they affect system performance or your overclocking stability.

Finding the maximum base clock

Now we'll move on to the technique that owners of non-Black Edition processors will have to follow to overclock them (they can't increase the multiplier). Our first step is to find the maximum base frequency (bus frequency) that the processor and motherboard can operate at. You will quickly notice all the confusion in naming the various frequencies and multipliers, which we already mentioned above. For example, the reference clock in AOD is called "Bus Speed" in CPU-Z and "FSB/FSB Frequency" in this BIOS.

If you plan to overclock only through the BIOS, then you should lower the CPU multiplier, northbridge multiplier, HyperTransport multiplier, and memory multiplier. In our BIOS, lowering the northbridge multiplier automatically reduces the available HyperTransport link frequencies to or below the resulting northbridge frequency. You can leave the CPU multiplier at default and then lower it in AOD, which makes it possible to further increase the CPU frequency without rebooting.

For our Phenom X4 9950 processor, we chose an 8x multiplier in the AOD utility, since even a 300 MHz base frequency at this multiplier will be lower than the stock CPU frequency. We then raised the base frequency from 200 MHz to 220 MHz, and then increased it in 10 MHz steps up to 260 MHz. We then moved to a 5 MHz step and increased the frequency to a maximum of 290 MHz. In principle, it is hardly worth increasing this frequency to the limit of stability, so we could easily stop at 275 MHz, since it is unlikely that the northbridge will be able to operate at such a high frequency. Since we were overclocking the base frequency in AOD, we ran AOD stability tests for a few minutes to make sure the system was stable. If we were doing the same in the BIOS, then simply being able to boot under Windows would probably be a good enough test, and then we would run final stability tests at a high base frequency to finally make sure.

Finding the maximum CPU frequency

Since we already lowered the multiplier in AOD, we know the maximum CPU multiplier and now we already know the maximum base frequency that we can use. With the Black Edition processor, we can experiment with any combination within these limits to find the maximum value for other frequencies such as Northbridge frequency, HyperTransport link frequency, and memory frequency. For now, we will continue our overclocking tests as if the CPU multiplier was locked at 13x. We will look for the maximum CPU frequency by increasing the bus frequency by 5 MHz at a time.

Whether overclocking via BIOS or via AOD, we can always go back to the 200MHz base clock and set the multiplier back to 13x, which will give us a stock clock speed of 2600MHz. By the way, in this case, the northbridge multiplier will still remain 4, which gives a frequency of 800 MHz, the HyperTransport channel will operate at 800 MHz, and the memory will operate at 200 MHz (DDR2-400). We will follow the same procedure for increasing the base frequency in small increments, performing stability tests each time. If necessary, we will increase the CPU voltage until we reach the maximum CPU frequency (by turning on the ACC in parallel).

Maximum performance boost

Having found the maximum CPU frequency of our AMD processors, we have taken a significant step towards increasing system performance. But the processor frequency is only part of the overclocking. To squeeze out the maximum performance, you can work on other frequencies. If you increase the voltage of the north bridge (NB VID in AMD OverDrive), then its frequency can be increased to 2400-2600 MHz and higher, while you increase the speed of the memory controller and L3 cache. Increasing the frequency and reducing the delays of RAM can also have a positive effect on performance. Even the high performance DDR2-800 memory we used can be overclocked to over 1066 MHz by increasing the voltage and possibly lowering the latency. The HyperTransport link frequency usually does not affect performance above 2000 MHz and can easily lead to instability, but it can also be overclocked. The PCIe frequency can also be slightly overclocked to somewhere around 110 MHz, which can also give a potential performance boost.

As all the mentioned frequencies slowly rise, stability and performance tests should be carried out. Setting different parameters is a lengthy process, perhaps beyond the scope of our guide. But overclocking is always interesting, especially since you will get a significant performance boost.

Conclusion

Let's hope that all our readers who want to overclock an AMD processor now have enough information on hand. Now you can start overclocking using the AMD OverDrive utility or other methods. Keep in mind that the results and the exact sequence of steps will vary from one system to another, so don't blindly copy our settings. Use this manual only as a guide to help you find the potential and limitations of your system on your own. Take your time, don't step up, monitor temperatures, run stability tests, and bump the voltage up a bit if needed. Always carefully feel the limit of safe overclocking, because a sudden increase in frequency and voltage blindly is not only the wrong approach for successful overclocking, but it can also damage your hardware.

Last tip: each motherboard model has its own characteristics, so it doesn’t hurt to get acquainted with the experience of other owners of the same motherboard before overclocking. Tips from experienced users and enthusiasts who have tried this motherboard model in work will help to avoid "pitfalls".

Addition

We have tested another instance of the AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor, provided by the Russian representative office of AMD. It ran successfully at 3.6 GHz when we increased the supply voltage to 1.488 V (CPUZ data). It seems that 3.6 GHz is the threshold for most processors when air-cooled. We successfully overclocked the memory controller to 2.2 GHz.

The best AMD overclocking software will make your computer run much faster and perform complex tasks more efficiently.

AMD is a type of microprocessor for personal computers and laptops manufactured and manufactured by AMD.

The technology of such microprocessors allows you to perform tasks with high performance for 32-bit systems.

The processor built into the system is not using all of its resources. Thus, its service life is extended. Acceleration must be carried out purposefully and irregularly.

Otherwise, you can cause serious damage to the hardware components of your PC or laptop.

Consider the most effective applications that can increase the frequency of the processor from AMD.

Utility Over Drive

Powerful application for AMD 64. The program is free.

Immediately after the first launch of the program, a dialog box pops up that warns the user that he is fully responsible for all actions taken in the program that can lead to processor failure.

After agreeing with the information provided, the main window of the program will appear.

Follow the instructions to overclock the system microprocessor:

• On the left, find the item called Clock Voltage;

• Examine the window that appears carefully. The first column of data is the clock speed of each available microprocessor core. The second tab is the ordinal multiplier of the kernel, this number needs to be changed;
• To set the multiplier, you must click on the Speed ​​Control button. It is highlighted in green in the figure below. Then adjust the sliders.

Overclocking with Advanced Clock Calibration

ACC is a feature for AMD athlon overclocking. The peculiarity of this application is that the adjustment and selection of the necessary frequencies are carried out very accurately.

You can work with the application both in the operating system itself and in BIOS.

To adjust the operation of the central microprocessor, go to the Performance Control tab in the motherboard menu.

The key is located at the top of the utility's main toolbar.

Helpful information:

To overclock the processor, you can use the program . This is a simple and clear utility for overclocking (processor overclocking). With its help, even a beginner can slightly overclock his CPU.

ClockGen program

The main purpose of the utility is to increase the clock frequency of the microprocessor through the program in real time.

Also, using the convenient program menu, you can overclock other hardware components: system buses, memory.

The program is equipped with a powerful frequency generator and several system monitoring tools that can be used to regulate the temperature of components and control the operation of the cooling system.

Brief instructions for use:

1. To overclock the processor, run the utility. On the left panel of the main window, find the item PLL Control and click on it;
2. Two sliders will appear on the right side of the window. Slowly change the position of the Selection slider. Remember! You need to do this little by little and very slowly.
   Sudden dragging can cause overclocking and instantaneous failure of the processor or other hardware components of the computer;
3. Press the button to apply changes.

In the same way, you can speed up the RAM and system buses. To do this, select the required component in the PLL Setup window.