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CitizenInsomniac
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- May 26, 2005
- Messages
- 134
I've heard an awful lot of "overclocking and cool'n'quiet don't work well together" on this board, but I've come to find that it's simply not true. I think what had mislead a lot of people is the fact that AMD's Cool'n'Quiet software sucks. It's poorly implemented and fails to expose settings for advanced users. C'n'Q the technology and C'n'Q the software/driver are two separate entities. It's possible to take advantage of C'n'Q on K8 processors without using AMD's software - while overclocking.
There are two utilities that I'm aware of that will allow you to do this: RMClock by Rightmark, and CrystalCPUID by Hiyohiyo. I'll focus on the former one because it's a bit more polished and user friendly.
The problem with AMD's software is that it only works with default CPU settings. So if you've overclocked your CPU by raising the FSB and lowering the multiplier, AMD's software won't work for you because when it tries to maximize the CPU speed it will set the multiplier to its higher default FID (and probably lower default VID), resulting in system instability. So if you're running a 11x200 1.4V chip at 10x260 @ 1.6V, you'll eventually end up with a CPU running at 11x260 @ 1.4V - and that won't go over too well.
The trick with RMClock is that it allows you to specify the minimum and maximum values for FID and VID in the section titled "P-State Transitions". Although many gurus will explain to you elaborately that FID and VID aren't exactly multiplier and voltage per se, I will for the sake of this discussion refer to FID as 'multiplier' and VID as 'voltage'. Here's what you need to do:
1. Install RMClock.
2. Open RMClock_Tweaks.reg in Notepad and change "AlternateDefaults" value to 1. This will make RMClock ignore the system default FID/VID values, particularly when exiting the program.
3. Execute RMClock_Tweaks.reg, thus importing the registry settings.
4. Run RMClock.
5. In the first tab, enable "Start minimized to tray", "Run automatically on startup" and "Restore CPU defaults on exit".
6. In "P-State Transitions" tab, set the max FID to your startup multiplier and your VID to your startup Vcore. Note that if you have any additional voltage set in the BIOS, such as +100mV or +10%, this will still get applied to your VID voltage. You can leave the min values as default for now.
7. Set both AC and Battery profiles to "Automatic Management".
8. Leave all other RMClock values as default.
9. Hit Apply and watch your CPU speed drop.
Things to watch for:
Make sure your CPU always has sufficient voltage to operate. If you know it needs 1.4875V to operate at max speed and only 1.475V and 1.5V are available in RMClock, set it to 1.5V - it's better to give it more juice than less. Same goes for minimum P-State though. Note: Looks like some CPUs will ignore very low VID requests. My Venice 3500+ refuses to set the VID to anything below 1.1V.
If you are using a memory divider (i.e. 6:5 aka 166), make sure your memory is never overclocked during P-State transitions. Remember that each CPU speed involves a different CPU:memory divider. Check out this A64 memory divider table. If you're running an overclocked FSB (and you probably are if you're reading this), this can be problematic. Because you're not running your memory 1:1, the actual memory speed is not the same for every FID step, as the table shows. Trouble is that some might cause your memory to run even faster than the established stable speed. Avoid those multiplier values.
Prime95's blend test seems to be the best stability test for RMClock because it doesn't always tax the CPU. However, in order to get Prime95 to work correctly, you must do this:
Open Prime95.ini in Notepad and add these values:
CpuOverride=1
CpuSpeed=2500
Naturally, you can change the latter value to whatever your CPU speed is. If Prime95 insists on running a small number of iterations for each test (i.e. 400) and tests execute way too quickly, try increasing the CpuSpeed value. This is necessary in order to prevent Prime95 from running the "slow computer" version of its tests.
If you want to test the stability of your computer at its lowest FID/VID setting, try setting RMClock's AC/battery management to "Minimal" and then running Prime95 small or large FFT for extended periods of time (16+ hrs). When you're done, return back to "Automatic Management".
Some motherboards will require you to enable the C'n'Q option in the BIOS before RMClock works, others won't. On my Asus A8V-E Deluxe RMClock works without C'n'Q enabled in the BIOS. If you have AMD Cool'n'Quiet software/driver installed, make sure you set your Power Management profile to "Always On" in order to disable it.
Finally, the download link to RMClock:
http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml
There are two utilities that I'm aware of that will allow you to do this: RMClock by Rightmark, and CrystalCPUID by Hiyohiyo. I'll focus on the former one because it's a bit more polished and user friendly.
The problem with AMD's software is that it only works with default CPU settings. So if you've overclocked your CPU by raising the FSB and lowering the multiplier, AMD's software won't work for you because when it tries to maximize the CPU speed it will set the multiplier to its higher default FID (and probably lower default VID), resulting in system instability. So if you're running a 11x200 1.4V chip at 10x260 @ 1.6V, you'll eventually end up with a CPU running at 11x260 @ 1.4V - and that won't go over too well.
The trick with RMClock is that it allows you to specify the minimum and maximum values for FID and VID in the section titled "P-State Transitions". Although many gurus will explain to you elaborately that FID and VID aren't exactly multiplier and voltage per se, I will for the sake of this discussion refer to FID as 'multiplier' and VID as 'voltage'. Here's what you need to do:
1. Install RMClock.
2. Open RMClock_Tweaks.reg in Notepad and change "AlternateDefaults" value to 1. This will make RMClock ignore the system default FID/VID values, particularly when exiting the program.
3. Execute RMClock_Tweaks.reg, thus importing the registry settings.
4. Run RMClock.
5. In the first tab, enable "Start minimized to tray", "Run automatically on startup" and "Restore CPU defaults on exit".
6. In "P-State Transitions" tab, set the max FID to your startup multiplier and your VID to your startup Vcore. Note that if you have any additional voltage set in the BIOS, such as +100mV or +10%, this will still get applied to your VID voltage. You can leave the min values as default for now.
7. Set both AC and Battery profiles to "Automatic Management".
8. Leave all other RMClock values as default.
9. Hit Apply and watch your CPU speed drop.
Things to watch for:
Make sure your CPU always has sufficient voltage to operate. If you know it needs 1.4875V to operate at max speed and only 1.475V and 1.5V are available in RMClock, set it to 1.5V - it's better to give it more juice than less. Same goes for minimum P-State though. Note: Looks like some CPUs will ignore very low VID requests. My Venice 3500+ refuses to set the VID to anything below 1.1V.
If you are using a memory divider (i.e. 6:5 aka 166), make sure your memory is never overclocked during P-State transitions. Remember that each CPU speed involves a different CPU:memory divider. Check out this A64 memory divider table. If you're running an overclocked FSB (and you probably are if you're reading this), this can be problematic. Because you're not running your memory 1:1, the actual memory speed is not the same for every FID step, as the table shows. Trouble is that some might cause your memory to run even faster than the established stable speed. Avoid those multiplier values.
Prime95's blend test seems to be the best stability test for RMClock because it doesn't always tax the CPU. However, in order to get Prime95 to work correctly, you must do this:
Open Prime95.ini in Notepad and add these values:
CpuOverride=1
CpuSpeed=2500
Naturally, you can change the latter value to whatever your CPU speed is. If Prime95 insists on running a small number of iterations for each test (i.e. 400) and tests execute way too quickly, try increasing the CpuSpeed value. This is necessary in order to prevent Prime95 from running the "slow computer" version of its tests.
If you want to test the stability of your computer at its lowest FID/VID setting, try setting RMClock's AC/battery management to "Minimal" and then running Prime95 small or large FFT for extended periods of time (16+ hrs). When you're done, return back to "Automatic Management".
Some motherboards will require you to enable the C'n'Q option in the BIOS before RMClock works, others won't. On my Asus A8V-E Deluxe RMClock works without C'n'Q enabled in the BIOS. If you have AMD Cool'n'Quiet software/driver installed, make sure you set your Power Management profile to "Always On" in order to disable it.
Finally, the download link to RMClock:
http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml
