Been using this great util for a few days now, and thought I could celebrate the new version by sharing some tips on how to effectively get where you want. I'm sure most readers here already know most of this, but anyhow it could be of use for some.
Suppose you want to run two different sets of cpu settings, one for idling/browsing and one for cpu intensive tasks.
- Reboot into bios and set a low multiplier, say 5. This way you can find your max fsb setting without having to worry about what part of the system made you crash. Using the util you can set vdimm voltage which could help a bit, depending on how far you want to push things. When pushing memory speeds computers tend to hard lock but this has never caused me any damage. Just power down the computer fully (pull the cord or hit the psu switch) and restart. When you belive your fsb setting is stable, run prime95 with the ram usage option for an hour or more, then rethink and run it again
Write down the final result, its all to easy to forget. - Having max fsb figured out, continue with some educated guesswork. Now we got the max fsb, so take your expected/wanted maximum cpu speed and divide it by the fsb. It's best not to overshoot to much here, better to start a bit low and then bump up the multiplier a notch. Its important to point out that a system running at 10x200 will be a lot faster overall than one running at 20x100. Keep this in mind. Set this multiplier in bios, and while you're in there, set mem speed to 100% and fsb to 100mhz (yes no joke) using manual ('Expert') settings. Set all voltages to their lowest settings.
The reason for this is that you want to be able to fully use the utils potential. I've had problems with adjusting the fsb if my bios settings were higher than the fsb I tried to set using the util.
Always run prime95 in the background while doing the next steps, and keep an eye on it. During the process of lowering or increasing voltage its excellent as it will give you a warning in time, enabling you to take a step back before your computer crashes. - You should now boot at about a 1ghz depending on what multiplier you settled at. Back in Windows, fire up the util. Now comes the fun part. I started by finding my undervolted settings. At this speed you should be able to find your voltage floor, that is the absolutely lowest voltage your cpu will be able to run at. It should a setting somewhere around or below 1,2v. With prime95 in the background you should see errors when you are approaching the limits of the cpu. It could crash here too, but again, I've never had any damage due to this. Just do a cold boot and go easier next time.
Having found the voltage floor set it up just a notch to gain some stability. This won't do much difference in cpu temps but should prevent you from crashing. - You don't want to keep running at 100mhz fsb, so after writing down your voltage settings (always smart as they are easier to forget than you'd imagine) start increasing the fsb in _small_ steps while watcing prime95, which again will fail when you reach a limit. Step back a little and rerun prime95 until you are satisfied with the stability. Doesn't hurt doing other benchmarks at the same time to stress the system. Even if these are your low performance settings you'd want them to be stable.
- Next and final step, find your normal/overclocked settings. These are the settings you'd want to use to run intensive tasks, so testing them for stability is even more important than for the undervolted ones. Going from the undervolted settings you found above, set your vcore back to 1.5v and then fsb to stock speed. How much you want to push things on this end really depends on your cooling. If you are lucky you have the NF7-S and can use speedfan to increase or decrease fan-speed dynamically. If you have one of the Epox 8rda boards you will have to find a static fan setting that will work for both undervolt and normal. Again while watching prime95 alternately increase fsb and vcore, and keep and eye on those temps rising. Where you want your cpu temperature ceiling to be is really a matter of personal taste and believes in the end. Some say cpu lifespan starts to suffer when going over 50C measured at the socket, which is where Epox measures it, at least. In my opinion you'd be safe as long as you don't push much above 55C.
Time to make things practical. Save two .bat files like this in the same dir as you installed the util. Change the settings according to your own and also change the exe to nf7vcore if you need to.
Code: Select all
rem undervolt.bat
rem Lowering FSB setting
8rdavcore.exe -f 175
rem Lowering CPU voltage
8rdavcore.exe -s 1.175
Code: Select all
rem overclock.bat
rem Increasing CPU voltage
8rdavcore.exe -s 1.6
rem Increasing FSB setting
8rdavcore.exe -f 220
- -r [VDimm]
- -a [VAgp]
- -v [Vdd]
- -q [Tras]
- -w [Trcd]
- -e [Trp]
Here, add a keyboard shortcut and select that you want the .bat file to run minimized. I've used Ctrl+Alt+Up and Ctrl+Alt+Down which is easy to remember. After this you are able to switch on and off afterburner on your fighter jet just by using a simple keyboard shortcut
But that's not all. You might want to get fancy about it, and have everything adjust itself dynamically by using the Vcore presets and the AutoFSB feature. This would require you to have the util running all the time, but if you're okay with that then it's easy to set up. Read the readme to understand how to go about it. You could even use something like RunExeSvc to run the program as a background service in Windows. If you take away the checkmark on the Logon tab in the service properties, the icon won't show up in your systray.
Like when I talked about overclocking above, you will be even better off if you are able to also control fan speeds through software. Still for most adjusting voltage and fsb will be enough.
Good luck!
I edit the files as you done. Only the second line is different ;