Can I overclock an AMD Athlon II X2 250?
Can I overclock an AMD Athlon II X2 250?
Specs:
CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 250
CPU Cooler - Silverstone liquid cooler TD02- lite
MB - Asus M4N68T-M V2 Micro ATX AM3 Motherboard
Ram - 4gb
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SSC GAMING ACX 2.0+
PSU - EVGA 600W 80 plus certified
Also if possible, how do I optimize it? Thanks xD
It's a 60W processor, and even at its maximum clock speed it won't reach 95W. MB is rated for that. I ran my Athl. II x2 270 at 4.4 GHz nonstop, so I think it should be able to boost to 4 GHz with proper cooling.
Adjusting the OC is a bit of a process—you need to lower RAM settings and gradually increase FSB until you hit stable maximum performance. As usual when doing an OC, manual BIOS settings are essential.
A dual-core Athlon, even at higher OC, can't match the GTX 290, but every little adjustment still makes a difference.
Not a lot and it's not straightforward. The CPU uses a locked clock multiplier, so you're left with just the base clock for speed gains—maybe a few hundred MHz at most. Raising the base clock affects everything else that depends on it. It becomes repetitive. The board also isn't well built for significant overclocking. It has 4+1 phase power, but no heat sinks on the VRMs. If you go this route, don't increase core voltages too much.
Not much and not very simple. The CPU uses a locked clock multiplier, so you only get the base clock speed boost, which might be just a few hundred MHz at most. Raising the base clock affects all components that depend on it, making things more complicated. The board isn’t well built for significant overclocking either. It has 4+1 phase power and lacks heat sinks on the VRMs. If you go ahead with the changes, don’t increase core voltages too much.
It's a 60W processor, and even at its maximum clock speed it won't reach 95W. MB is rated for that. I ran my Athl. II x2 270 at 4.4 GHz nonstop, so I think it should be able to boost to 4 GHz with proper cooling.
Adjusting the OC is a bit of a process—you need to lower RAM settings and gradually increase FSB until you hit stable maximum performance. As usual when doing an OC, manual BIOS settings are essential.
A dual-core Athlon, even at higher OC, can't match the GTX 290, but every little adjustment still makes a difference.