Overclocking software tools

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These software programs are great tools for novice or expert overclockers. Some of the programs are designed to allow tweaking and changing the PC settings to facilitate the actual overclocking process. Once the overclock is set, use the stability testing programs to ensure your new overclock is completely stable.

Contents

Memory Stability testing

Memtest86

The standard in memory testing. It is advisable to use the cdrom .iso version of this utility. Simply set the system to boot off the CD-ROM and Memtest will start an in-depth test of your memory immediately upon booting. An 8-12 hour test is recommended to completely check for hardware instability and temperature related issues. This "boot disk" method of testing memory is essential to proper memory testing because any Windows memory testing application must share some portions of the RAM with Windows. Since Windows is using a portion of the system memory a Windows application can not guarantee that the RAM has been completely tested for stability. Therefore, a boot disk testing program will have the ability to fully test the RAM. Home page

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Similar to Memtest86 in that it needs to be installed to a bootable CD. Download Link

Memory Tweaking

A64Tweaker

This Windows-based program allows users of Athlon 64 based systems to tweak the timings of RAM without having to restart their computer and change it from within the BIOS. Version 0.60 beta download (Most current version as of 2/27/06).

CPU clock speed adjustment

Most enthusiast motherboards include Windows software overclocking utilities that are designed and tested to work with the motherboard. However, these utilities can sometimes suffer from a lack of features or crippling bugs. Therefore, it may be necessary to download a 3rd party software overclocking utility.

Clockgen

Software tool to adjust clock speeds, FSB speeds, RAM speeds and voltages for all of the above. Offers a nice overclocking interface that can be used from within Windows on supported motherboards allowing very basic overclocking. Clockgen is a very "light" application that does not need to be installed. Application download and use instructions


CPU Stability testing:

OCCT

New stress testing tool that works well on multicore systems. Available in multilingual versions and written by Tetedeiench.

  • Up to 16-core support (8 Dual-core CPUs or 4 Quad-core CPUs). It has been tested successfully on 2 Quad-core Xeons (Clovertown) and 4 Conroes (Dual-Core)
  • Customizable tests (Duration (fixed or Infinite), Priority, Test type (CPU, RAM, or CPU and RAM), etc.)
  • Very efficient error detection algorithm - currently believed to be the fastest on Multi-Core CPUs
  • CPU and Motherboard detection
  • Monitoring support through 3rd party application (i.e. MBM5, SpeedFan and Everest Ultimate Edition 3.50 or above)
  • Produce graphs showing Temperatures and Voltages behaviour during the test. Multi-Core CPU sensors are now supported, as well as Custom sensors (name it the way you like)
  • Vista-compatible
  • Multi-language support

Orthos

This is a Windows program that is using the very same algorithm as Prime95 (see below). It is loading your CPU to 100% and checks if your CPU is generating any errors. It supports a maximum of 2 cores at the same time ( so either a Dual-Core processor or 2 processors ). Testing duration depends on length of full system load. For instance, if the system is used for internet and light office duties, an hour or two of stress testing should suffice. If the overclocked system is used for gaming, CAD, compling source code or encoding - consider stress testing for a longer duration. Orthos development is currently stopped. Home Page

Prime95

Prime95 runs intensive mathematical calculations on the CPU in order to discover new Prime numbers. This program is consider to be one of the original hardware stabiliy test applications for Overclockers. Prime95's default configuration attempts to load balance across multiple CPU cores. In a multi-core system, one must launch one instance of Prime95 for each core. After multiple instances have opened, lock Prime95 to one specific core by setting the Processor affinity under the Advanced Menu. Home Page

Video Card stability testing

ATITool

ATiTool is a Windows-based application for overclocking, tweaking, and stress testing of both NVIDIA and ATI video cards. This program features automatic overclocking, which continually tests for video card errors as it gradually increases the GPU and video RAM speeds. It can detect the launch of 3d applications and automatically launch overclocking profile, or load overclocked settings at Windows startup. Download page

3d Mark 06

Baseline 3d performance tool by Futuremark. The system score this program provides can be used to judge the success of an overclock. The program can also be used to continually loop tests to test the stability of an overclock. Futuremark product page

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