Over-clocking on Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 v1.0 - AMD Phenom 9850 & GTS 250 1GB

[Dreaddy]

Hey fellow Gigabyters!

I would like to put to all of you, a question about Over-clocking.

I have a Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 v1.0, with an AMD Phenom 9850 @ 2.3Ghz and a BFG GTS 250 OC 1gb. I would like to over-clock the CPU and GFX card.

Over the past few days i found out that both nVidia & AMD have their own software that can save you most of the trouble of going through the BIOS by giving you the options to change in windows. (AMD OverDrive & under Device Settings in Performance in the nVidia Control Panel)

I have been testing these applications and also read that it helps to have the latest BIOS in order for all the features to work. As both my CPU and GFX card wasn't over-clocking correctly, if i was to move the over-clock option in AMD OverDrive to "High Performance" (and yes, that's under the NOVICE tab!) the multiplier would go up to x13.5 and the Core Clock would go up in to the regions of 2700Mhz. After a reboot, i would then go and check OverDrive again only to notice that even though the "Novice" slider was still right next to "High Performance" the Clock Speed would have dropped to the 2600's and the multiplier would go down to x13. I would have to move the slider along one setting, then move it back, click apply and then it would go back up to the original overclock speeds (x13.5 and 2700 odd Mhz)

I checked with Everest, and it displayed that my BIOS was "F3". I had then gone to the Gigabyte website and downloaded the "F6" BIOS version. (due to F7 had dropped a few features that i didnt want to loose). There was an F8 in Beta, however i didnt want to try that as it was a Beta (i am currently at I40 in Newbury and have yet to go to sleep since yesterday morning so my brain is a bit frazzled). I didnt notice that under the list of availible BIOS's was a paragraph explaining about Beta BIOS's (because i was/am so fried and wasnt paying too much attention)

I continued with the installation of F6, using a FAT32 formatted USB stick. After QFlash had done its business and i had the -PASS! in green text (indicating that the update was successful) i rebooted. However, little did i know that what i had done was a very bad move. In my defence i didnt see anywere that if you are wanting to upgrade the BIOS, and have a manualy over clocked system, you need to set all over clocked components back to their factory/default settings!! Otherwise, kaputt!

I am however, extreemly greatfull that this problem happened while i was at I40. As there is a rather awesome guy from Gigabyte here who managed to save my bacon! I do really regret that i didnt catch his name!

Anyway, he told me to come on here and ask this wonderful community if anyone has any suggestions as to what is the best BIOS version to overclock on and if there are any better programs to overclock my CPU and GFX card? Unless the two i already have are the best, as they are the manufactures own programs?

I apologise that this is a bit of an essay. I hope this doesnt become too long to read!

Once again, Gigabyte man @ i40, you were awesome!

Thanks for your time, any input is appreciated!

-Dreaddy

Edit: i have just highlighted the most important part of this post. I didn't realise i had written so much unnecessary information! I apologise!

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I expect that the person you were talking to at i40 was called "runn3R" he is the Gigabyte moderator on the forum.
This is not particularly my area being an AMD platform and overclocking, both of which I am familiar with but not expert. The person to give you the best advice here is absic. I am sure he will come along shortly. As I am sure yoiu know overclocking is an art and these programs are ok as a starter but not the best way to overclock. You need to get your hands dirty in the BIOS really.

[absic]

Hi there and I hope you are not to Kn*****ed from I-40.

As Dark Mantis says, the best way of overclocking is from within BIOS but AMD Overdrive is a useful tool for overclocking the CPU, especially if you are not to sure where to start.
I can't comment on the Nvidia application as I use ATI Graphics but, I would think, it is also a good place to start.

With regard to the best BIOS, having just double-checked the download page for your board it would seem that you don't want to go above F6 as the later versions actually remove support for many of the O/C apps. ( http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2722&dl=1#dl )

If you have any specific questions with regards to your overclocking attempts, then just post them here and we will try to help.

[runn3R]

(...)I am however, extreemly greatfull that this problem happened while i was at I40. As there is a rather awesome guy from Gigabyte here who managed to save my bacon! (...)

It was my pleasure to help you.

[Dreaddy]

Thanks for the reply guys, and yeah, i have no idea what is keeping me up but im still going.

I read somewhere that the 9850 could be OCed to roughly 2.9/3.Ghz. I brought a Titan Fenrir here and at the moment its keeping my CPU at a cool 30~40°C. I know in order to get that much out of my CPU would probably be tough and will definitely need to go in to the BIOS. I think 2.9Ghz would probably be the highest i should aim for! The OverDrive can take the CPU up in to the 2.7Ghz range, but that is just from using the Novice Mode. I can imagine i could squeeze more out of it but that would mean venturing in to the BIOS and i dont have an awful lot of knowledge on that side.  

One of the major things i cant quite grasp yet is the maths about it all. I was talking to a friend about it the other day and he said that you need to multiply the core speed by the multiplier or something like that. Plus there is also the Voltage to consider. All the times i have gone in to BIOS to have a look at the OC options, i have always kept that at auto. Because as soon as you change something in the M.I.T options, a warning message in red flashes saying that the voltage isnt optimised or something like that.

The GFX card i wont OC too much as it has the bog standard casing, heat sink and fan. They seem to love to collect dust! Also, its not such a great/powerful card i think. So i dont want to melt it! lol.

i need some caffeine

Thanks everyone,
Dreaddy

Edit: This is indeed odd. I have been playing about with the OverDrive. And since runn3R managed to reset my BIOS, OverDrive wont take the multiplier past 12.5. Would F6 have changed this? Would that be something i can increase in the BIOS?

2nd Edit: I really dont know what i have done, or if the motherboard needs a new flash. But ever since i messed up my last BIOS update, my computer has been acting funny. It seems a bit slow at times and the OverDrive software wont overclock my CPU any more either, ive tried both Advanced Mode and Novice Mode. I have also tried to change the multiplier in the BIOS, that seemed to just make my pc crash or blue screen. is my little machine poorleh?

[Dark Mantis]

Some setting do indeed change with the different BIOS versions. It may be that is what has happened in your case. This is why some people flash back to the older BIOS because it has things that they needed.

[runn3R]

Hi Dreaddy

I've mentioned already when we spoke that the newest bios is not always the best one for OC.
Check other bios versions.

[absic]

Hi Dreaddy,

when you start getting these kind of issues it is always a good idea to go back to the beginning.

I would suggest you totally clear CMOS, if you're not sure how to do that check here: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2286.0.html Once you have cleared CMOS go into BIOS and load Optimized Defaults then try things again.

If you are running F6 BIOS you might gain by re-flashing to F5 or earlier but it really is a case of suck it and see I'm afraid.

[Dreaddy]

Yeah il go through it all later today once i get home from i40. I dont want to try and OC my GFX card any more. Not after coming across this forum post that has said that BFG Tech have gone in to liquidation. 

Thats sucks :/

[Dark Mantis]

It's just the way of the world at the moment, in fact if you go back just a few years there were companies going under every week. At least things seem to be a bit more stable now. Not that it helps if you happen to be the one who has a warranty problem.