When you get a new CPU and want to overclock, typically you need to verify and stabilise your tested settings. First off let us remind you that we always recommend increments of 100MHz on cpu frequency (from the default base clock frequency upwards). In the first stage you overclock your CPU, in the second the RAM memory. Once you get a lockup or inability to boot, back down to the previous setting and typically that is your stable result in it’s highest threshold.
Be sure to run as much threads as your CPU supports, taking hyperthreading under consideration, meaning double the threads number. For example:
- Core i3 has two cores without/with hyperthreading = 2 threads / 4 threads
- Core i5 has four cores without/with hyperthreading = 4 threads / 8 threads
- Core i7 has 4 or 6 cores with hyperthreading = 8 / 12 threads
Threads = Number of native threads + Number of virtual threadsnative threads = number of CPU coresvirtual threads = 2 x native threading (only with HyperThreading support)
The program we are going to use is called MPrime and its practically the linux version of Prime95 – the most famous stability tester in Windows platform, used by many overclockers worldwide. First off, you have to download MPrime, go to http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/ and search for the latest linux package. Currently, the latest version is mprime276-linux64.tar.gz (02-May-2012 01:05 4.6M) for 64bit and mprime276.tar.gz for 32bit. After this, extract the files into a directory.
Run the mprime to test your system’s stability. This is a burn-in stressing tool, so make sure you have a descent cooling.
Utappia 