5400+ overlocking.

The Athlon 5400+ X2 default clock speed is 2.8GHz, on an average motherboard you could probably attain around 3.2GHz, this is a small overclock because the X2's are not fantastic overclockers and the 5400+ X2 is already in the upperlimits of being max'd out.


Performance wise the difference will be small, you might attain a few extra frames per second in games, but I doubt encoding times will change much. If you want big performance leaps in encoding you'd be better off investing a small amount into a Phenom II range, or a new GPU if you want better frame rates.

What is your full system specification?

Edit:

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Start here!!
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=22547

The situation is pretty much the same as before, you'll attain an overclock between 2.9 GHz - 3.2 GHz without much effort. you may reach 3.4 GHz after a lot of stability testing.

Your current CPU bus is @ 200 MHz with a 14 multiplier. You'd need to raise the CPU bus in the bios to 214 MHz x 14 to achieve 3 GHz. If that is stable I'd advise that you incrementally test 215 MHz, 216MHz, 217 MHz and so on until you reach your limitation. You would need to test the CPU at each change for a a few hours, any lock ups or blue screens of death and it is not stable.

I recommend decreasing the ram's bus to PC5400 spec (667 MHz) before you attempt any CPU overclocking, because when the CPUs bus is increased the rams bus increases too. So you'll end up with ram operating above its recommended level. By decreasing it to say 667Mhz it will return to around 800 MHz area during the CPU overclocking process.

Also ensure that the PCI bus is locked at 100 MHz to prevent overclocking your hard disk drives and corrupting the operating system.


PS. I read somewhere that on the GA-M57SLI-S4 motherboard if you press CTRL+F1 in the bios you unlock more features.

newn said:

Yes, you unlock some other settings. Well, i'v read i need to change voltages when overlocking my CPU. But as far as i understand now i need to increase BUS speed only. Nothing else. And by the way, rams MHZ is in BIOS too, right? And about locking 100 Mhz of PCI bus speed, how to do that? As i said - i'm newbie in overlocking and things like that.
Thanks for fast replys and your help.

Click to expand...

You may need to increase the voltage to sustain a stable overclock and you should be able to decrease the ram's bus in the bios too. But these are things you have to experiment with as I've never used a GA-M57SLI-S4 for overclocking, you've got one in front of you so you should know best once you play around with it.

Setting the PCI bus to lock at 100 MHz should be in the bios if it is supported by the motherboard. From what I read on other forums people are complaining because the Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 appears not to have the PCI lock which means that your overclock is likely to get unstable quickly or conflict with other devices e.g. hard disk, graphics cards, sound cards etc.

Edit:

You have to ask yourself, what are you trying to achieve?

Because the overclock isn't going to massively improve performance, is there a particular task your PC isn't capable of performing, perhaps you'd be better off setting aside money for a CPU upgrade instead?

Edit 2:

newn said:

Well, i guess so. If it's can't be 'good' overclocked. Well, but i'm 17 years old, so i'm still studying. That's why i'm trying to get the most. I could work in internet somewhere like create something etc., i'm good at PCs.

Well, thanks for help anyways. Now i'll know that i can just buy a new cooler and don't mind about overclocking.

Click to expand...

Do not waste your money on a cooler, the Athlon X2s will not overclock past say 3.0-3.3 GHz regardless of what air cooler you buy. The temperature might drop around 5-10c but it will not improve overclocking enough to warrant the cooler money.

You'd be better off overclocking the CPU as much as possible with your current cooler and save for a Phenom II X3 720 or better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&Tpk=Phenom X3 720 £139.00

Edit 3:

newn said:

Ah, sorry, i meant about the GPU cooler. VGA card is at 70+ degrees. I got a nice CPU cooler. And it's silent. And sorry for double post, forgot to use edit function.

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I recommend the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev 2, they are passive so it is 100% silent. My old 9600 GT dropped by about 10c with it

Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev 2 $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

i dont think the Noctua is capable of spinning fast enough to keep the components cool.

One thing to remember

Anything over 35 dBA can be annoying as of fan noise, anything at 50dBA or greater is unacceptable.

Look for Fans with exceptional CFM but with low dBA even when running at max.

ya thats a good cooler, i was thinking of it for my 1950 Pro after i build the new machine, but just a warning check VRMs and Ram, because i think that cooler only contacts the GPU directly and you need VRM/Ramsinks.

at new egg the pack is included, but Id suggest looking at newegg, directron.com, xoxide.com, frozencpu.com for performancepcs.com for cooling parts.

you have to look at the bottom as there is the packs on both sites you posted but for VRM cooling look at the above websites for suggestions.