Help with MB- ASUS M3A78-EM

syvmn1

Baseband Member
Messages
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Ok, I got my system put together and now I'm trying to figure out how to overclock my CPU just a bit. I have the ASUS M3A78-EM motherboard and when I get into the BIOS (by hitting del on start up) I come to a screen with 6 menus:

Main
Advanced
Power
Boot
Tools
Exit

I was looking around for parameters to change and all I could find are some things under "Advanced - JumperFree Configuration". Someone suggested upping the FSB to 215mhz for starters but I couldn't find anything in there relating to "buss speed" or "Front side bus" or anything.

Can someone with this board give me a rundown on where I should be looking for some of this stuff.

Thanks again.

-big noob
 
You wont find anything in the BIOS about a FSB or Bus Speed on an AMD board.

You need to focus on the 'Advanced' when OC'ing and here you'll find the 'CPU Configuration' and 'Jumper Free Configuration'.

Under 'CPU Configuration' you'll be able to check CPU Type, CPU speed, Cache RAM, change the RAM settings in the 'DRAM configuration' tab, adjust HT frequency multiplier and set 'Cool n Quiet'.

In the 'Jumper Free Configuration' you get to tinker with the CPU frequency, voltages, CPU frequency multipliers, DDR Voltages and more.

The CPU frequency X the CPU Multiplier = CPU speed.

Assuming everything is at stock max the CPU multiplier and increase the CPU frequency until you get stability issues.

Back off 1 MHZ and then increase the CPU voltage little. Check stability. If your computer stabilises again increase your CPU frequency again until it's unstable. If you have a decent aftermarket CPU HS then continue this until you bottle out on your CPU volts. I personally would go to 1.4V - 1.5V max. But thats me and I don't expect everyone to go this high.

Keep going and eventually you'll hit a wall. This'll be the HT and RAM holding you back. This is where you need to start working on the HT speed/multiplier and the RAM divider and timings.

Also consider faster RAM to enable you to reach faster CPU frequencies. I.E. With 800Mhz RAM I doubt you'll be able to reach CPU frequencies of 250Mhz with a RAM divider set to 1:1 whereas if you had 1066Mhz RAM you could ramp the CPU frequency straight up to 250Mhz - 260Mhz to start OC'ing.

Check my sig. I'm using DDR500 to get a better OC although my motherboard specs DDR400.

:)
 
Ok, so I upped the core voltage +50mv and increased the bus speed to 215.

I am now seeing 2902mhz which is pretty good.

I started up the program "Core Temp" right when the computer loaded and the temp was 40C. After about 30 seconds it dropped to 30C. What does that mean? Should I be worried about the temp?

edit: I brought the coltage back down so now its at 1.392. I upped the bus speed to 220 so now I'm at 2970.2mhz. Should I run a program to stress the CPU? Whats a good program, I have XP by the way.

Thanks!

This is what I have so far. Is 61-62C too high?
cputemp.jpg
 
I am now seeing 2902MHz which is pretty good.

Not bad. Try for 3000Mhz. :)

I started up the program "Core Temp" right when the computer loaded and the temp was 40C. After about 30 seconds it dropped to 30C. What does that mean?

Make sure you disbale 'AMD Cool n Quiet' in the BIOS. This adjusts the CPU frequency for a quiet PC. But you don't want this interfearing with your OC. Keep Q-Fan enabled though.

This is what I have so far. Is 61-62C too high? Should I be worried about the temp?

Those temps are fine under load. Although they could be lower. Are you using a standard CPU heatsink? Also try this to monitor temps. It's good to have more than one monitor app.

Edit: I brought the voltage back down so now its at 1.392V. I upped the bus speed to 220MHz so now I'm at 2970.2MHz. Should I run a program to stress the CPU? Whats a good program, I have XP by the way.

I use OCCT or Orthos to stress my set up. OCCT will stress all cores available and give you a few other bits of useful info about the stress test.

Remember. When you reach the limit start to reduce the HT link. If the HT link is to far above 1000 or to far below 1000 your system will be unstable. When you OC you want the HT link as close to 1000 as possible.
 
I am using the supplied heatsink. When I raised the Bus up to 225 (3037mhz) temps got up to 64C under load and I got a bit worried so I lowered it back down. Plus I think the HT link was pretty high, although the system didn't crash after 5 min in ORTHOS.

If I were to get a new heatsink what would you guys recommend? This is a budget build ($350) so nothing over $30 would interest me. If something worthwhile costs more than that then I will just be happy with my 2.9ghz.

Hmm. I downloaded that program and now I'm getting 2 completely different #'s for the core temps. What should i believe?

cputemp2.jpg
 
Thats strange.

I ran both those temperature monitoring programs, together with PC Wizard, and ran Orthos and all three were the same.

I figure CPUID Hardware monitor pro stopped updating when you started Orthos.

When using these apps. take a look at them to make sure they're updating.

I'd take the higher reading as the accurate one.
 
I agree. 30C is something like 80-85F and that makes perfect sense. A bit warmer than room temp. 10C is ridiculous, there's no way that the CPU could be colder than room temp. I'm not sure whats up with the other program but it definitely wrong.

I'm going to run some 3dmark2006 tests on a few different setting and see where I get. I am also looking into getting this at some point:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125
 
I'm just using the stock one.

Heres another question for you guys:
I just ran 3dmarks2006 twice and this is what I came up with

Overclocked @ 2903mhz = 7633 marks
Stock Settings @ 2700mhz = 7652 marks

How does that work?
 
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