Over clock tools?
Over clock tools?
No, I haven't overclocked yet. I haven't spent much time really diving into it since I've been working long hours. Plus, I've been playing the trial version of Battlefield 4... LOL!
And always a pessimist, I've been a bit hesitant about going too far with OC settings. I wanted to try the Q&C option first because some gamers disable it before playing and then re-enable it later to avoid wear on the CPU.
I match my movements closely throughout the day. At work, I enable C&Q, keep overclocking off and turbo disabled, which keeps the system running smoothly and quietly. It’s capable of handling any task my partner undertakes. Upon returning home, I recall my overclock settings in the BIOS, simply save a file with a new number and let the PC rest, including automatic fan adjustments so it stays quiet during the day and powers up fully when I start gaming or working on 3D projects.
Regarding overclocking, the advice to "better be safe than sorry" fits perfectly here. It’s wiser to stay within limits rather than risk damaging the hardware. It takes patience—just tweak the voltage slightly, run benchmarks, stress-test, adjust BIOS settings, remove variables, and test different parameters. Pushing components beyond their intended limits isn’t necessary.
Stress testing is especially important because it tests your parts under more strain than regular gaming. I usually dedicate 1 to 2 hours fine-tuning the voltage, running tests, and iterating until I find a stable setting. My most recent budget build (A8-7650K at 3.3GHz with Turbo at 3.8GHz) reached 1.4750v. I stayed within safe limits, even with extra fans, modded heatsinks, and the CPU rated at 1.55v max.
The best approach is to set the voltage with turbo enabled as your upper limit, since you can usually reduce it further while maintaining the desired turbo speed. This method has kept my system reliable and stable.
I also wonder if there are any BIOS screenshots showing the C&Q setting—disabling it might cause unexpected behavior.
I plan to capture some BIOS screenshots. I think you press F12 with this MB and it saves them to a thumb drive. I visited my local Walmart to buy a new one, but they only had them in some unusual locking mechanisms. It’s not surprising for Walmart—would there even be an employee to help me? Eventually, I ordered a few from Amazon, along with some new SD cards for my camera and a storage case. Free shipping was a nice bonus! For me, that’s enough. The Walmart experience was disappointing. I decided against going to Microcenter because it’s about 60 miles round trip.
In the meantime, I’ll try the C-n-Q again. Battlefield 4 works well (my free trial ended, now I’ll pay), but Diablo III still lags.
Thanks again!
It's better to order online rather than driving 60 miles.
I notice it's odd that Battlefield 4 runs well but Diablo III lags.
FX6350 with a GTX 950 should handle Diablo without problems, unless all settings are pushed to their limits.
I’m not sure if combining Diablo and an Nvidia card causes optimization issues (check the Blizzard forums...).
How much RAM do you have?
You can clearly observe C&Q in action using any simple CPU monitoring tool that shows voltage in real time; you’ll notice automatic reductions below normal clock speeds or voltages during idle.
The reason for disabling C&Q when overclocking is to prevent BSODs or system freezes—essentially keeping the system stable.
Hopefully, this will lead us to a smoother gaming experience overall.
(Diablo III is impressive; though I’m more into Starcraft I & II... Blizzard delivers great quality games!)
Hello! I managed to get my drives working and entered the bios for some photos. (It functions quite well!) Could you specify the exact screens you wish me to upload? I just ran a few examples to check compatibility.
In Advanced Mode (F7), capture a screenshot of the [Advanced (i)] tab.
I need to know which BIOS options are available in this tab—some may be hidden, others will let you enable/disable or auto-activate them.
This will display the BIOS features your motherboard supports.
Please send back your findings.
Note: The image on the right shows the System Performance option/triangle from Performance - Quiet - Energy Saving. With three images to the right, the far-right one is the Performance option (with Flames), but you should check which options change when you select it, save BIOS settings, reset and return to BIOS, then compare the Monitor & Advanced pages for differences in voltage, temperatures, and enabled/disabled settings.