Noob to overclocking

[karma charger]

Hey guys, I've been trying to play the unoptimized and outdated montrosity that is ArmA 3 with my Phenom II 955 BE, and let me tell you, it is not fun at all. 20 fps is hard to cope with. Eventually I will upgrade to a high end i5 for sure, but until then I would like to push my Phenom to it's limit. Basically rush it's death. Gotta give it a running start when it jumps off the edge.

So overclocking. Never done it before, have no experience in it, and dread doing it. First off, I hear from everyone that AMD Overdrive is to be avoided 100%. Is it really that bad? I'm not really looking to max out my processor as it is almost 3 years old now. I just want to get it to a stable 3.8 if possible.

Other than that, how do I even go about overclocking in the bios? I understand how to do it, but does it really take all that time? going up one multiplier at a time?? Test for 4 hours??? Repeat???? Sounds like more work than what it's worth. I don't mind bumping up the voltage a little bit, but I feel like I want it to stay at or below 1.425. If possible, it may be nice to not even raise the voltage.

I've tried looking up guides, but most of them are really vague and from 2009 so I don't trust them. Any help would be appreciated

here are my specs:
Phenom II x4 955 BE
MSI 870-G54
8gb 1333mhz
600w PSU
r9 280 3GB

Let me know if you need more info. And please don't h8 on me for being a newb

 

[beers]

The amount of work is up to you, but you'll generally spend a similar amount of time seeing where the edge of stability is when your system crashes trying to use it without testing at a certain clock speed or voltage.

What cooler do you have? I wouldn't really push any extra voltage on the stock one.

Edit: Also, watch out as that motherboard has a high VRM failure rate when trying to push moderate overclocks.

 

[Darren]

I'd bump up the multiplier in the BIOS 100 MHz at a time and test stability using Prime95 for 5-10 minutes. Generally if an overclock is unstable it will crash pretty quickly into Prime. Keep an eye on your temps as well. Don't want to really go any higher than 70 but when I had my 955 I wouldn't push it anything past 65 personally. I was able to achieve an overclock of 4.0GHz on my 955 with a similar level motherboard. It ran cool and I don't think I even messed with the voltage that much. Maybe one bump or two. Your mileage may vary but 3.8GHz should be pretty easy to accomplish.

Once you reach the speed you like run Prime95 for a good hour or two. Really doing it for 24 hours straight isn't all that necessary. If you can handle Prime95 for an hour you're fine. For rock solid stability the longer the better but for someone just after a performance boost in gaming, you'll be fine with a shorter test. If it crashes and you still have room with your temperatures bump the voltage up a bit as more voltage increases stability but also increases temperature. Finding a balance of speed, temp, and voltage, is the ultimate goal.

Like beers said, what cooler do you have in there?

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask since I've overclocked that exact chip in a very similar motherboard. Mines the MSI 970A G45.

 

[karma charger]

Completly forgot to mention that I have a hyper 212+. Temps can get pretty high at times, sometimes up to 55C but that's pretty much only when I'm playing bf4 or GTA 5.

Also, is there any way to downclock while in windows? The only reason I'm overclocking is for ArmA 3 as everything else runs like a charm, so I don't want to push it harder if it's doing fine at stock.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Darren]

55 is fine. I have the same cooler and even at 4.0ghz I was sitting in the mid to low 50s.

 

[C4C]

I hit 73°C with my overclock at 4.2GHz... Unstable if I go higher but I think it's voltage related because 4.5GHz should be achievable

I have the stock cooler too. Getting a 212 Evo soon.

BTW I use AMD Catalyst Overdrive and it's not horrible because my Mobo won't push past 4.0GHz..

 

[Darren]

If you want to control your overclocks within the OS you'll need to use AMD overdrive or something similar. I haven't used it for CPU overclocking and prefer to use the BIOS since the modifications your making are a bit "lower level" in terms of communicating with the hardware. Ultimately it probably doesn't matter, especially for just a casual overclock. I really wish I had a higher end motherboard because I could push my 8320 to 4.5GHz or so I bet. I'm just sitting at 4.1GHz because any higher and my motherboard craps itself, despite my temperatures being fine.

 

[C4C]

I'm just sitting at 4.1GHz because any higher and my motherboard craps itself, despite my temperatures being fine.

This might be my issue if my CPU does just fine. Then again I get a windows blue screen when I try 4.3GHz.

Point is, Overdrive works for casual overclocking
But you want a nice motherboard for extreme overclocks.

 

[Agent Smith]

Just keep in mind if you overclock to save your original profile and new overclock profiles in BIOS. What has happened to me with a bad OC is that the computer will restart and lose the settings. Sometimes you have to reset CMOS by removing all power and removing the CMOS battery for a few minutes.

I'm kinda doubting you will have a significant FPS increase. Maybe 5 FPS if that. You want Intel for sims as they are faster clock for clock compared to AMD. I'm a FS2004 simmer and CPU is the main engine behind it and they all say go Intel for FS. Likewise, ArmA is a sim and would be the same thing.