Overclocking i5 2500K with ASRock 9900FX Killer

[pcurtj1974]

Can anyone give me assistance getting the most out of this setup?  See the attached screen shots....

Also, what are the safe specs for OC'd HD5850 in crossfire?

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[DaveLembke]

With a Core i5, its probably plenty of processing power already as is for what you will be doing. However there are many methods to boost the systems performance. The biggest factor to be concerned about is heat. If you can keep everything cool, CPU and GPU which also many forget that this also includes keeping the Chipset and VRM's on the motherboard, and RAM sticks cool.

The safest of overclocks is to push it with stock voltages with changing FSB to something that is stable. If you want to push it to the max you will be looking at raising voltages which can lead to an expensive melt down if your not careful and know what you are doing.

Some stuff to think about is.... Are you going to be liquid cooling or strictly the common air cooling? Liquid cooling is best for OC systems as for the heat is drawn away much faster and the system stays cooler.

And in regards to your question about the HD5800 with crossfire for OC spec's, I'd run a temp application monitor like speedfan and watch GPU temps and push it little by little and then check with the manufacturers max GPU temp spec. As long as you are no greater than 10 degrees below the maximum temp you should be ok. I like to give a 10 degree gap between max and what i am running minimum as for room temp going up by 10 degrees on a summer day can quickly put you at the max GPU temp etc.

[pcurtj1974]

Thanks for the info. I cannot seem to increase the voltage on the GPUs to power the overclocking. Is that locked?

[pcurtj1974]

Oh... and it is watercooling..

[DaveLembke]

Overclocking video cards require software to do it. The last video card overclock I did was on an nVidia GeForce and I had a GPU core unlocker/overclock tool which was a "use at own risk type of tool". I did this long ago when I needed to increase my FPS and didnt want to spend money on a newer video card. I was able to increase my frame rate from 22 fps to 28 fps, as well as drive the temp up on the GeForce GPU up by 13 degrees C in the process from where it use to idle around 57C. So at 70C it was cooking to squeeze out the slightly better frame rate and get rid of the occasional studder of a fraction of a second freeze frame.

More info here:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-overclock-your-video-card-and-boost-your-gaming-30799346

Personally I no longer overclock video cards. If I need better processing power I will just replace the video card with a new one. I use to stretch the life of a video card, but there is more to video cards than just overclocking them for better frame rates.

Introducing a newer better GPU to your system has the advantages of supporting new shaders etc so you will have better quality if the game is able to tap into this GPU technology on top of the faster frame rate. If you are just on the hunt for a faster frame rate with existing video card then a overclock may be what you could do to push it harder and hotter.

Personally I wouldnt just overclock it to overclock it. I'd run whatever games you will be running and see if they play perfectly fine, and if say on Ultra settings you want to increase your frame rate and are willing to take the chance of cooking the GPU overclock it to squeeze out a better frame rate. But if they play fine, leave it running stock speeds.

One other snafu that I have seen some people run into is that they want to overclock a video card and have very little overclock room to push it harder because the video card manufacturer is already overclocking the GPU for the video card that was purchased. So the gain to be had could be very small before it destabilizes or runs dangerously too hot.