Overclocker's Tool Kit.

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Software that every overclocker should have!

This is an ongoing Project and will be updated regularly. If you would like to add something, please send a PM to me and I'll add it.

Important: Before you start, make sure your cooling is up to the job.

WARNING: Overclocking may void the original manufacturer's warranty and can cause damage to your card if you are not careful. I am not responsible for any actions you take and this guide is just that, a how to.

Last Updated - 10/06/2008

• Core Temp
• RealTemp
• EVEREST Ultimate Edition
• Setfsb
• Memset
• OCCT
• CPU-Z
• Prime95
• memtest86+ v2.00
• Memtest HCI
• Maxon Cinebench 4D
• Hard Drive Bench Tools
  
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Clunk's C2D Overclocking Guides and other handy links.

• C2D Overclocking Guide For Beginners.
• Parts 2 & 3.
• C2D Overclocking Guide For Beginners P5K Add-On.
• Part 2.
• Stability Problems? Overclocking Problems? - Check This Out First!
• Troubleshooting Guide & FAQs.

AMD Guide.

AMD overclocking guide - An older guide, but a lot still applies for the newer stuff.

For GPU overclocking;

• GPU-Z
• Rivatuner
• ATI Tray Tools 1.3.6.1067 Beta

GPU Overclocking Guide.

Old, but still a great guide to overclocking your video card.


Benchmarking.

There's not much point in overclocking if you can't see the boost it's just given you. To find out how much better it's got, have a look at the next set of tools to see how much faster your PC is!

• 3dmark home
• Super PI
• Hyperpi (Super Pi for Vista)
• Rthdribl v.1.2 (DirectX9) - One of the best ways to warm your card to make sure its stable
• Wprime - If you run this before and after, you will be able to see a difference in speed, even on modest overclocks.

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Coretemp

Update: Intel release TjMax
Core Temp is a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature.

Note: Check TjMax if using 45nm CPUs
If using Coretemp with 45nm processors then the temperatures given by Coretemp may be overstated by 10C
This is due to the tJmax being 105C rather than 95C. Latest Coretemp versions will allow editing of the settings.ini file like this :-

[Core Temp settings]
TjMaxOffset=-10

to correct the 105C TjMax to 95C

Update Version 0.99.3
Open the settings menu & adjust as shown in settings box below

"One of the main features of CoreTemp, is that it shows the temperature of each individual core in a each processor in your system! You can see in real time how the CPU temperature varies when you load your CPU. It's also completely motherboard independant.

Intel and AMD recently published detailed, public information about the "DTS" (Digital Thermal Sensor), which provides much higher accuracy and more relevant temperature reading than the standard thermal diode sensors do. (How it works).
This feature is supported on all Intel Core and Core 2 based processors as well as the whole AMD's Athlon64 line of CPUs. For a full list of supported CPUs see the CPU Support List.
Note: AMD Phenom is supported, but it does not report absolute temperature. More on this in How it works.
Core Temp also has a logging feature, allowing a user to easily record the temperature of his processor(s) over any period of time, then the data can be easily transfered into an excel datasheet for easy graphing.
Core Temp works on Windows 2000, XP and 2003 (both 32bit and 64bit versions).
Windows Vista 32bit is fully supported. Vista 64bit users - read this."

Update: Intel release TjMax

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SetFSB

Why would you use this?

Well, let's say that you have gone as far as you can by setting the overclock via the BIOS.

An example would be, you can boot to windows at say, 450FSB, but not 451FSB or higher.

Simply boot your PC at 450FSB or lower, and then use SetFSB to go that little bit higher when in windows.

Your mileage may vary

"Warning: If you are a beginner, do not use this software.
This software is for power users only.
Use "SetFSB.exe" at your own risk."

With setfsb you need to find the right version for the board you have, then you need to make sure you use the correct I.C. There are a number of easy ways to find out if you are using the correct I.C - Google is your friend. You can also experiment by trying different I.Cs from the dropdown box, but be warned, choosing an incorrect I.C. can make your PC unresponsive and even appear dead, in which case, a CMOS clear will probably be needed. Also, see the SetFSB website for a list of I.Cs.

As with everything overclocking related, it is trial and error.

Main Page.

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Memset

MemSet is a memory tweaker for;

• INTEL 815 845 855 865 875 915 925 945 946 955 965 975 P35 & X38.
• AMD K8 ddr&ddr2.
• AMD K10 ddr2&ddr3.
• NVIDIA NForce2, NForce 650i & 680i.
• VIA KT266/333/400/600.

Here is the 3.4 version (for 2000 /XP /Vista 32&64 bits):MemSet.exe

and 3.5 beta version: MemSet35beta.exe

• Add spd informations on Intel chipsets with DDR/DDR2/DDR3.
• Add support for Intel PM965/GM965 (Mobile) chipsets.
• Improve reading memory frequency with Intel extreme CPU.
• Improve reading Command Rate with intel P35/X38 on some boards.
• VIA don't provide any datasheet for their chipsets, so impossible to
• add support .

"For SPD info, only the best JEDEC profile is shown, or EPP / XMP when it's possible

Probably some bugs with this version, by the way report me..."

Thanks to FELIX of XS

A little guide by supershanks

main page

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OCCT

Ocbase.com is the home of OCCT, a free CPU & memory stability test.

OCCT comes from "OverClock Checking Tool" & here is a list of it's features;

• Up to 16-core support ( for instance, up to a Quad-Kentsfield or an Octo-Core when they arrive)
• Customizable tests ( Duration, Priority, CPU or RAM, ... )
• CPU and Motherboard detection
• Monitoring support through 3rd party application ( i.e. MBM5, Speedfan and Everest Ultimate Edition 3.50 or above )
• Can produce graphs showing temperature and voltages during the test : Unique feature!
• Multi-language support

and much more!

Main page



The Orange button.



Here, you can configure what program you will use to monitor temps and volts.

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CPUZ

CPU-Z is a freeware utility that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

CPU

• Name and number.
• Core stepping and process.
• Package.
• Core voltage.
• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
• Supported instructions sets.
• Cache information.

Mainboard

• Vendor, model and revision.
• BIOS model and date.
• Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
• Graphic interface.

Memory

• Frequency and timings.
• Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

• Windows and DirectX version.

Main page.



CPU Cache.



Mainboard Details.



Memory size and type.



SPD Section - This shows your RAM's default timings at the various JEDEC specs that it can support.



The validation page - Very handy for saving your overclocking results to keep a record in the CPUID database.


Note - CPU-Z doesn't always read Vcore correctly, so it is best not to rely on it solely. Recently though, it has been much more accurate.

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Prime95 25.6

This is an old favourite that has been updated over the years and will now happily run multi core CPUs from one .exe file.

For overclocking/stability testing, we want to be using the "Torture test", which has quite a few different settings for testing aspects of your overclock, such as a blend test for overall stability of the CPU and memory, or more specialised tests for less CPU stressing and more memory stressing and vice versa.


How to Use Prime and interpret prime failures

Ready to go.



Test in progress.

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memtest86+ v2.00

Memtest86+ v Memtest HCI

Memtest86+ is a tool aimed at memory failures detection.

"The first version of Memtest86+ was released on early 2004, based on memtest86 v3.0 that was not updated since mid-2002. Our main challenge was to provide an up-to-date version of this useful tool, as reliable than the original. Our work started when we got the first AMD64 system. Unfortunatly, the original memtest v3.0 didn't run at all. After looking at the source code, we fixed the bug.After some days, I saw lot of other things like chipsets or CPU that were not correctly detected or not detected at all. I have access to lot of recent hardware and I can test and debug on quite all available motherboards on the market. After adding detection for all current CPUs, I've added detection for all current chipsets (SiS, VIA, nVidia, Intel) and ECC Polling for AMD64, i875P and E7205. Then, I decided to display some useful settings for the most popular chipsets. For exemple, on i865PE/i875P series, memtest86+ will now display FSB & Memory frequency, PAT status, memory timings, ECC status and the number of memory channels. Next version will perhaps contain several enhancements and bug-fixes."

New Features

• Major Architectures changes
• Modulo test now use random pattern for better accuracy
• Added Advanced DMI Errors Reporting Mode
• Added support for bus ratio changes on Intel Core CPU
• Added support for non-integer bus ratio on latest Intel CPU
• Added SPD Data Display for all Intel Chipsets (more to come)
• Added serial support as a linux boot parameter (Thanks to Michal S.)
• Added preliminary support for VIA CN Isaiah CPU
• Added preliminary support for Intel Nehalem
• Added support for VIA C7/C7-D/C7-M/Eden on Esther Core
• Added support for AMD K10 (Phenom) CPU w/ timings detection
• Added support for Intel Pentium E w/ 1 MB L2 Cache
• Added support for Intel Core 2 45nm (Penryn)
• Added support for FSB1333/FSB1600 Intel CPU
• Added support for Intel 5400A/5400B w/ timings detection
• Added support for Intel Q35/P35/G33/Q33 w/ timings detection
• Added support for Intel X38/X48 w/ timings detection
• Added preliminary support for Intel 5000P/V/Z
• Removed on-fly memory timings change (unstable)

Bug Fixes

• Numerous (really) bug fixes

from

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GPUZ

Main Features;

• Support NVIDIA and ATI cards
• Displays adapter, GPU and display information
• Displays overclock, default clocks and 3D clocks (if available)
• Validation of results
• No installation required
• Support for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)

"BETA SOFTWARE - please test and post feedback in the forums
.. and yes, the author of CPU-Z has granted us permission to use a name similar to his product. Thanks."


Main page.



Sensors page.



Validation page - upload your results and keep a record in the online database.

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RivaTuner v2.06

"Rivatuner is one the leading tweak Utilities available for NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon based videocards.

What's a graphics card tweaker without the proper tools to do so? Exactly! Rivatuner has been updated towards version 2.06 In this release we have included a huge number of stuff to keep you busy, obviously GeForce 8800
GT & ForceWare 169.04 support is here as well.
RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters. The widest driver-level Direct3D / OpenGL and system tuning options, flexible profiling system allowing to make custom settings on per-application basis, both driver-level and low-level hardware access modes, unique diagnostic and real-time hardware monitoring features and exclusive power user oriented tools like built-in registry editor and patch script engine make RivaTuner's feature set absolutely unmatched. RivaTuner supports all NVIDIA display adapters starting from Riva TNT family up to the latest GeForce 8800 series and widest range of NVIDIA drivers starting from the oldest Detonator 2.08 up to the newest ForceWare drivers family.
In addition to complete NVIDIA hardware support, RivaTuner also provides limited support for display adapters based upon ATI RADEON 8500 and newer ATI graphics processors. All RivaTuner's features besides driver-level tuning options are also available on supported ATI hardware.
Guru3D.com is Rivatuner's official homepage, click here to find version / build
/ changes and FAQ information.
For novice users, we have a guide to help you through Rivatuner and setup fan speeds and overclocks on your graphics card. This guide will hopefully help you understand how to use the features that Rivatuner provides.
Read this "Fan Speed & Overclock guide" article."



Thanks to guru3d & Unwinder.