Hi folks!

I would like to start this thread off by mentioning that this thread

is not intended to be step by step guide.But rather an overview of what
other members are doing with getting optimal performance from their rigs.

.Initially excerpts of this preview section were intended to be added

to an OC guide thread that was to be updated occasionally such as

links,drivers,cooling, and software developments.

So your comments and feedback will have a vital impact to enhance this thread.

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Initial Evaluations

Evaluate what you would like to gain with your overclock the pros and cons and decide.

Evaluate if your current system is in the prime condition that it needs to be to begin..

 Some recommended checks would be the overall quality of the case's airflow,
 proper cable management,psu quality,as well as aftermarket cooling options

Just because you may see a benchmark with hardware that's similar to yours , you may Not be able to achieve similar results ! & hopefully yours may be better

Case and Airflow

A great example of this with some great graphics  can viewed in a Tech Talk @ SilverStone's website

***********saw a temp chart elsewhere on this forum with an egg cooking![:)]

Overall PSU Quality and Calculator

[View:http://www.extreme.outervision.com/]

********some PSU links and stuff maybe useful here

Monitoring and Benchmark  Utilities

***********just a few to get us started

OCCT

Furmark

Tessmark http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/tessmark/

3D Mark

GPU-Z 0.5.1   **GPU-Z Included in Furmark 1.9.0 GPU-Z has been updated to version 0.5.2

MSI Afterburner

Evga Precision 

Riva Tuner

Core Temp

Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5 :

PCMark Vantage

ShaderToyMark 0.2.0

SAPPHIRE TriXX

*****we can easily add some more and keep it current

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IMPORTANT!  Please remember that there is always

a risk of damage to your hardware when overclocking. That is why it is

very important to monitor your system and its temperatures while overclocking. The

information in this thread is of a voluntary nature supplied by the members of

this forum.  The forum members and HOT HARDWARE will not be held

responsible for any damage caused by improper overclocking! 

[ thanks 4hams for allowing me to 'borrow' the Disclaimer ]

***********Note to members we can easily update & modify the above sections to suit this community .So your comments and feedback will benefit all of us.

Even though I do not have the best of systems, and  need ALL the help I get from you guys,. I thought I would simply kick start a new thread  and post with some screen-shots.

Hope that others may join and share their expertise, specs,clocks,temps, benchmarks.,and how they go about it .

Thanks

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03/13/11 Added Tessmark @realneil

03/27/11 Added new update info for GPU-Z 0.5.2

11/06/11 Added ShaderToyMark

11/06/11 Added SapphireTriXX Tweak utility

Here are the system specs that I'll be using in the next several posts  from the Bios settings for overclocking your rig. (A guide for the rest of us) thread  [View:http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/t/53962.aspx]

Intel i7 870
Gigabyte H55N-USB3 mini atx
Kingston HyperX 4GB 1600
SiverStone SST SG07 [ top intake 180mm 700/1200rpm ]
600W SilverStone 80+ PSU
Intel Stock Cooler  [crap]
CPU Ratio: 21
BCLK Frequency: 157
DRAM Frequency: 1570MHz
DRAM Voltage: 1.56
***Load Line Calibration: Disabled to follow Intel Spec rather than GB
CPU Voltage: 1.1.0625V
QPI/Vtt 1.1.000V [auto]
DRAM Voltage: 1.56
Intel Turbo Mode: disabled
Others set to Auto at this time

GPU: ATi HD5770 

Viewsonic A90f+

***Looking forward to a better cooler that will fit this case and mini mobo

and have a few candidates in mind nothing bigger than 92x117mm will work with this.

============================================================================================================================

FurMarkGPU Stress Test and OpenGL Benchmark

FurMark 1.9.0 Download

FurMark is a very intensive OpenGL benchmark that uses fur rendering algorithms

to measure the performance of the graphics card. Fur rendering is especially adapted to overheat the GPU and that's why FurMark is also a

perfect stability and stress test tool (also called GPU burner) for the graphics card.

The benchmark offers several options allowing the user to tweak the rendering: fullscreen / windowed mode, MSAA selection,

window size, duration.

This benchmark requires an OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 5/6/7/8 (and higher),

AMD/ATI Radeon 9600 (and higher) or a S3 Graphics Chrome 400 series with the latest graphics drivers.

The startup interface allows you to tweak the benchmark features such as:

• Benchmark mode or stability test mode (for overclockers)

• GPU temperature monitoring and recording in a file

• Fullscreen or windowed for each type of run mode

• Window size selection (standard or custom)

• MSAA samples selection

• Benchmarking parameters: time based or frames based

GPU-Z 0.5.1  :

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

• Added support for NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti, 480M, 485M
• Added transistors and die size for 460M, 445M, 435M
• Added release date for 6800 GT, 6600 GT, 6600, 6200, 8800 GTX, 8800

  GTS, 8800 Ultra, 8600 GTS, 8500 GT, 8800 GS, 9600 GSO, 8800 GT, GTS 250,

  GT 440

• Added preliminary support for AMD Zacate and Ontario APUs
• Found a new way to disable NVIDIA's power limiter
• Added support for GTX 570 and GTX 560 to power limit disable function, the parameter is now called /GTX500OCP
• Fixed crash in sensors panel
• Acer PCI vendor now using a shorter text that fits the field width
• Added CHL8214 & CHL8226 support for AMD Barts and Cayman
• Improved the automatic update check to run completely in the

  background and only appear when an update is available (manual update

  check is unchanged)

here is a screen of mine at idle with default &  modest OC..

MSI Afterburner v2.1.0 (2011-02-15)

**Note one of the first thing you should is 
In the msi afterburner folder you will find MSIAfterburner.cfg,

open it with Notepad and change the value

EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 0    TO

EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1

Save it over the old file,  ** this way should you need to make other changes , other 'tweaking optionsare available

>>>MSI Afterburner Was used to OC the 5770   ..simply by increasing core in increments of 5 and memory in increments of 10 ..monitoring the temps and taking short tests with Furmark while  'tweaking''  the fan profile just a bit....

 let's fire up Furmark !

Here's a  sceenshot  of Furmark in Burn-in mode [Xtreme burn] & setings

Furmark 1.9.0 Bench  NO Anit-alias

Furmark 1.9.0 Bench  2X MSAA

>>>Notes: I noticed in the newer version of Furmark my temps initially seemed a bit high so I checked and reapplied TIM with Tuniq TX-2 & did not take pics at the time but noticed and overall lower temps of about 7C on average from factory  application.

*** Next  Heaven 2.5 Benchmark ...

Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5

Current version: 2.5 (2011-03-02)

Overview

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced

Unigine™ engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of

floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies.

Features

• Support of DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11 and OpenGL
• Comprehensive use of tessellation technology
• Advanced SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion)
• Volumetric [censored]ulonimbus clouds generated by a physically accurate algorithm
• Simulation of changing light conditions
• Dynamic sky with light scattering
• Interactive experience with fly/walk-through modes

Hardware Tessellation

The distinguishing feature of the benchmark is hardware tessellation,

a scalable technology aimed for automatic subdivision of polygons into

smaller and finer pieces, so that games gain drastically detailed and

more elaborated look almost free of charge in terms of performance.

There are three tessellation modes available in this version of the benchmark:

Moderate Mode
This mode is targeted to provide reasonable performance on a wide range of DX11 hardware.

Normal Mode
Default mode available in the benchmark shows optimal

quality-to-performance ratio. That's the way to achieve prominent visual

difference with hardware tessellation technology.

Extreme Mode

It is designed to meet the perspectives of the next

series of DX11-capable hardware pushing up the tessellation level to the

extreme in the next 1-2 years

System Requirements

Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 2xxx and higher or NVIDIA GeForce 7xxx and higher.

Tessellation feature REQUIRES both video card with DirectX 11 support and MS Windows Vista / 7!

Changes in version 2.5

• Added the Professional edition (see details below)
• Improved support of various GPUs
• Added support of indirect occlusion (SSDO) to simulate real-time global illumination
• Improved the stability during multi-hour running
• Fixed Windows GUI launcher compatibility issues
• Improved the quality of ambient occlusion
• Fixed minor content glitches
• Added a user manual
• Improved an installer for Windows

Heaven DX11 Benchmark Pro is available for purchase in the official Unigine online store.

Basic edition of this product is distributed completely free of charge, please visit downloads section of the website.

Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark 2.5   Download 

*** I chose to start with Heaven Benchmark because it easy to use, works great with a variety of GPUS ,and is priced right !

Vsync ON 910/1350 60C / 50% fan  average

Vsync OFF 910/1350 60C / 50% fan  average

*** So far so good ! always room for improvement and a good start .........

Nvidia  - Furmark  EVGA Precision & OCCT

Since many have Nvidia Cards and use OCCT

For this section I removed the ATi HD 5770 and and installed a Zotac GTS 250  [DX10 card!}

**Note this is an ECO version of the G92 Nvidia chip  ZT-20109-10P  Dual 6-pin to 8-pin PCI Express Power Cable 675MHz 2000MHz

With the GTS 250 all previous ATi  Catalyst drivers were uninstalled and completely removed using Driver Sweeper.
Initially installed Nvidia  Driver 266.58...  the latest driver for the  GTS 250 & did not particularity care for it's performance with this card.
Better  results with  the latest Nvidia Beta Driver 267.24 along with EVGA Precision.2.0.2.

EVGA Precision 2.0.2 

EVGA, once again, sets itself apart from the rest with the EVGA

Exclusive Precision Overclocking Utility. This program allows you to

fine tune your EVGA graphics card for the maximum performance possible,

with Core/Shader/Memory clock tuning, real time monitoring support

including in-game, Logitech Keyboard LCD Display support, and

compatibility with almost all EVGA graphics cards.

    Features:

        * Independent or Synchronous control for fan and clock settings in a multi-GPU system
        * Allows up to 10 profiles, and ability to assign hotkeys to these profiles to allow in-game
        * Ability to view temperatures in the system tray
        * Fan profiling system
        * Core/Shader Clock Link/Unlink capability
        * Fan Speed manual or auto adjustment
        * Real-Time on-screen display support for ingame temp, framerate, and clock monitoring
        * Logitech Keyboard LCD Display support
        * In-app temp/clockspeed monitoring of GPU's
        * Information button shows device, driver, memory size, BIOS Revision and SLI mode
        * Ability to choose different skins, and make your own!
        * Now you can save screenshots from your favorite games!

Stock GTS 250

***Noticed that even at idle the temps seemed a bit high and I would have liked a more reasonable GPU fan profile; Furmark is really great for this by simply 'toggling' the Furry Doughnut ! So I checked and replaced TIM.and may  post it later in this thread..

****Which is why it always a Very Good Idea to Evaluate & Monitor Temps before launching something like OCCT !                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

OCCT Perestroïka 3.1.0

What is OCCT ?

Its features :

    * 3 different test types
          o CPU = no RAM tested, alot of heat generated on the CPU, errors are usually CPU-centered
          o RAM = Maximum error detection, tests the whole chain CPU-Chipset-Memory
          o Mix = CPU and RAM alternated
    * 3 tests modes
          o Auto = 1h long Mix test
          o Custom (Infinite) = Infinite loop of the test type of your choice
          o Custom (fixed) = A test of the type of your choice, and of a duration of your choice
    * Integrated monitoring and System information thanks to CPU-Z and HWmonitor engine
    * External Monitoring Program support through plugins (Everest, Speedfan, and many more)
    * Graph output showing temperatures and voltages of your computer

Disclaimer

This software is provided on an “as is” basis without warranty of any

kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied

warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The

person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and

performance of thesoftware. The author will not be liable for any

special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to

loss of data or any other reason, even if the author or an agent of the

author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event

shall the author’s liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid

for the license to use the software, regardless of the form of the

claim.

Copyright (c) ocbase.com

Screenshot

*** Notes :One of the first things to do is to  check your settings in the Options for safe CPU Temps and Monitoring !

>>Strongly Recommend that users Evaluate their OC -  CPU & GPU running several short 'custom ' stress tests before stressing their systems with OCCT for an hour !!

============================================================================================================================

Looks like there is enough general information here to bring confidence to users optimizing their GPU safely ..

Updated notes and suggestions can easily be added to the above posts.

and encourage others to share with what works for them and how they go about it  so that all of us can benefit.[:)]

Thanks

Nice work rrplay! 

nice work guys

Nice work rrplay!

thanks 4hams !

[quote user="Der Meister"]

nice work guys

Thank you Der Meister !

thanks guys that means a lot and most appreciated

any feed back you can give is certainly going to help with that additional content in the above posts  that need additional work

 Ex

Overall PSU Quality and Calculator

********some PSU links and stuff maybe useful here

Monitoring and Benchmark  Utilities

***********just a few to get us started

you guys probably have some others to add ..some monitoring apps burn in apps ? screen shots of your own with likely better hardware ?

Even though i posted the OCCT info for CPU in the bios thread for convenience

the full power suppl;y OCCT stress tests should probably be posted here because the full CPU GPU PSU are stressed

*** should getting a new  CPU cooler installed 3/16/11 and I 'll be sure to update in this thread and the Bios thread with  the new OC ! ashould be interesing to see about getting a comforatable 3.7 ot 3.8 out the i7 870 on air ,a bit more room on the hyper x, cause the Silevratone 600 W 80+ looks like it would have no problem we ill see.   heck that's what the graphs in OCCT are for !

Already have a Debain Linux install with Ati drivers and plan on posting some additional info to OC the HD 5770 in Linux

same  for swapping the Nvidia vid card  

.... dunno probably best to have a separate thread  for the ATi / Nvidia / Phoronix  Linux stuff

Thanks

So how do you read this?

hey neil thanks for posting

thats looks great ! and its simple to read

you have the cpu OC to 4.297 ran the furmark burn in a 1680x1050 W with 4X Anti Alias great 60 C temps !! the only things we do not see in your post of the Furmark screeni is the GPU-Z specs and GPU-Z sensors info like the little example screeni in above posts showing those screens

if you play around with Furmarks furry doughnut & toggling' it in and out with the GPU-z sensors screen open you'lll notice the load and fan info change to reflect the loads  ...something like that  and pretty handy if you want to curve or step a fan profile that ' s may be why i chose to use the EVGA precision with that Zotac GTS 250 card to step a profile with that particular card.

Note that I posted with a lowered 'windowed resolution' to quickly  evaluate and lighten the load a bit before a full screen test n bench.

what utility did you use with your 560 Ti ?

thanks

Maybe this will give more info,....

And more,....

Maybe this will give more info,....

hey neil thanks for posting and helping out with Tessmark [:)]

It gives quite a bit more info especially with more current cards such as yours . & I can run it with the Ati HD 5770 not the GTS 250

****Edited the 1st post in this thread to include Tessmark along with your reference to it

and will likely make a similar post as the Furmark above showing the Tessmark GPU tool; when I swap out the cards.[unless you want to post it ? ]

Was also planning before swapping to the Ati HD 5770 to do a another sceenshot post with OCCT / Nvidia GTS 250 and the monitoring apps

>  showing the GPU Z sensors tab in real time may be useful &  include some shots showing the 'toggling' furry doughnut'  graphs with Furmark and GPU-Z sensors tab.

here is a screenshot with Furmark 'Furry doughnut' ftoggled with loads ,temps & fans info

Pretty simple to check out senors tab in GPU Z along the way to monitor averages peaks etc, before full screen runs , some may find this useful

Screen shot of OCCT Power Supply test windowd to show Core Temps etc

From the look oft the graphs that OCCT save after a run loks like I have

quite a bit more headromm on the SilverStone 600W 8+ PSU especially

using the ATi HD 5770 for spu OC and higher OC on GPU

============================================================================================================================

** will have to update new CPU OC in bios thread after 3/15/11 post install of new cpu cooler