[SOLVED] Question about this option in my BIOS regarding overclocking.

[tralph3]

Hi all. So I have an N68SB+ motherboard paired with an AMD Phenom II X4 850 CPU. I found an option in the BIOS detailing this:

This option seems to be able to overclock the CPU. However I'm puzzled in regards to the frequency. The CPU is currently running at 3.3Ghz, so I don't know why it's listed as 200Mhz there. Also it says max is 600? I don't understand what this setting is for, can anybody shed some light for me? Thanks.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I am thinking that might be the front side bus speed. Better off to use multiplier if you can. I don't understand 100%, but if you begin turning up front side bus, your ram will be overclocked, and it will make your ports like pci e slot not run at the proper speeds.


Basically the math is 200 x CPU multiplier=CPU clock speed.

In other words your running probably a 16.5 multiplier.

So

200mhz fsb x 16.5= 3300mhz

There you can see if you can turn up the front side bus you can get more out of your CPU. That said your system appears a bit older. Those phenoms were what 2009-2011? Might be time consider upgrading.

 

[tralph3]

I am thinking that might be the front side bus speed. Better off to use multiplier if you can. I don't understand 100%, but if you begin turning up front side bus, your ram will be overclocked, and it will make your ports like pci e slot not run at the proper speeds.


Basically the math is 200 x CPU multiplier=CPU clock speed.

In other words your running probably a 16.5 multiplier.

So

200mhz fsb x 16.5= 3300mhz

There you can see if you can turn up the front side bus you can get more out of your CPU. That said your system appears a bit older. Those phenoms were what 2009-2011? Might be time consider upgrading.

Oh believe me, upgrading has been a desire of mine for years. However, living in Argentina means eveyrthing is overpriced as hell... and to top that off our incomes become increasingly smaller each day. Not really a possibility I'm afraid.

 

[drea.drechsler]

To add a little bit to Ohio_Buckeye's response...

Multiplier overclocking may not be an option as your processor may be multiplier locked (I don't know the processor you have). For AMD, for instance, they sold Phenom II's in Black Edition, that could overclock with multiplier, and regular, that could not overclock by multiplier. FSB overclocking is an option if you don't have a BE Phenom II, but do pay attention to his caution. FSB overclocking hits memory and often PCIe at the same time, so your GPU could become unstable or, worse, your hard drive in addition to memory.

If you can't overclock using CPU multiplier and want to try FSB, look for memory and PCIe multipliers and reduce those in order to limit their clocks and keep them stable. It's a fine balance, and overclocking the data bus to your hard drive too far frequently results in data loss.