overclocking my phenom II x3 720

[ultraman7k]

hey guys, i'm a complete noob when it comes to OCing, having never done it before.

From what I've read on the forums, i gather there's something about upping the voltage...but that's about it.

I understand that the 720 is supposed to be fairly easy to OC. I've googled, and searched the forum, but nothing really tells me HOW to do it. ie: detailed steps. I'm fairly certain it's at 2.8ghz atm, but I think i'd like to get more juice out of it if i can.

any input would be great...

here are my specs:

Asus M4A78T-E motherboard
AMD Phenom II X3 720 CPU
some kinda aftermarket heatsink (i can't recall what it is atm...at school...i think it's arctic cooling)
G.Skill F3-10666 1333 4gb DDR3
Coolermaster Extreme Power 550w ATX 12V PSU
zotac 8600 GT graphics card (XFX 4870 on the way)
Antec 900 case

So yeah if you guys could lemme know if I can/can't, what i should do...that'd be awesome.

[upcoast604]

You 've got a BE cpu with an unlocked multiplier. Stock is 14 (14 being the multi) x200mhz=2800mhz being the cpu speed. Now in bios change the 14 multi to 16, find cpu volts and increse it .025 or .05 of a volt and that should do it. Check temps play some games ,stress the comp out and see if it's stable. BSOD , lock ups and freezes basically tell u it's not stable.

[ultraman7k]

alright so i followed those steps...except it said overclock failed. ok, no big problem. reset the settings in the bios and now i don't get a screen.
all i get is the monitor flashing and then nothing...any tips? have i fried the graphics card? lol...

[upcoast604]

I looked up that mobo and it has onboard video, in bios did it get switched to onboard vid when you reset?

[ultraman7k]

no, i unplugged the video card and put in the cable to the mobo but still got nothing. in the end i removed the battery from the mobo, let it sit, removed a ram stick and it turned on and worked fine.

lol ocing for the first time was an experiment that failed.

[jay51]

bit more voltage, what are your current temps?

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by ultraman7k

no, i unplugged the video card and put in the cable to the mobo but still got nothing. in the end i removed the battery from the mobo, let it sit, removed a ram stick and it turned on and worked fine.

lol ocing for the first time was an experiment that failed.

Thats common to have to reset the CMOS after a failed overclock.

Is cool and quiet enabled in the bios?

[ultraman7k]

ok so i upped the multiplier to 16x and left the voltage alone. so far it seems to run ok at 3.2ghz but that could change? cpu temp is around ~20 on idle and i'm testing right now with occt...

can someone tell me am i headed in the right direction?

[Supergrover]

Idle temps mean nothing load temps are what you should be looking at.

Did it pass occt?

If not then it is time to add voltage in small increments.

[ultraman7k]

yup passed OCCT with no problems, did the 1hr test and it worked so...I think the process went well.