How do I know if my new computer has been overclocked?

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
I just received my shiny new computer.....
It is supposed to be overclocked to 4.3GHZ.
When I check the system it says i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30ghz.
I downloaded a utility to check the clock speed - (dont know why because I am none the wiser) and it shows
Core Speed 3292.5ghz
Mulitplier x 33.0
Bus Speed 99.8 Mhz.
Now to my totally technophobe eyes it dont seem to be overclocked.
Is it?
What other "things" must I check to see if it has been OC?
Allan.

[CorTed]

If you have purchased it with the claim that it is overclocked to 4.3GHZ,
right-click mycomputer select properties, and it should show you at what speed the processor is running. If it is not 4.3Ghz then it is not....

Ted

[No Longer Active]

A quick call to the company who sold it will tell you what to change on the BIOS, they can tell you how to do it over the phone, its usually that easy. Your system could of been configured for the full overclock and then changed to factory settings to install the OS. Now I think you just need to OC it again post OS install (and done over the phone with guy telling you what to change on BIOS)....

Alex

[notgotaclue]

If you have purchased it with the claim that it is overclocked to 4.3GHZ,
right-click mycomputer select properties, and it should show you at what speed the processor is running. If it is not 4.3Ghz then it is not....

Ted

Hi,
As I said, when I check the system it says i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30ghz.
Allan.

[notgotaclue]

A quick call to the company who sold it will tell you what to change on the BIOS, they can tell you how to do it over the phone, its usually that easy. Your system could of been configured for the full overclock and then changed to factory settings to install the OS. Now I think you just need to OC it again post OS install (and done over the phone with guy telling you what to change on BIOS)....

Alex

Alex,
I am a total spanner when it comes to the inner workings of a 'puter.
Just the mention of the word BIOS brings me out in a rash.
I will have to give them a ring, you never know it might already be overclocked and I will look like a pleb when I call.... only probs is they are not open until Monday and I want to install FSX and all my add ons over the weekend. Will messing with Mr BIOS mean I have to wait?
I hope I get someone with a lot of patience who can walk me through the process without me blubbing in the corner and soiling myself.
Allan

[CorTed]

Allan,
It sure sounds like the machine is running at stock speed (not overclocked). The way to overclock is to get into the BIOS and tweak the various numbers to get the machine to run at faster speeds. If you are not familiar with this I would not advise for you to do this, and wait to call the vendor for help.

You should however have no problem installing FSX at this time along with add-ons and then do an overclock at a later time.

Ted

[No Longer Active]

I agree....Install everything now and OC later!

By the way the BIOS is the 'Basic Input Output System'.

The Bios is that black screen as soon as you turn on the PC. It usually says 'Press tab' or 'Press F8' for setup (and says it really quickly, maybe 2-3 seconds and then goes to windows startup screen). You know what screen I mean? Right at the beginning! If you enter to the Bios you will get some ancient BBC Basic Style Blue Settings Screen come up where you have to use TABS and Cursors to change BIOS settings.

It is that screen where 'if your motherboard is overclockable' you can do the magic and 'mod' your CPU and get that hertz thingy higher! You can do loads of other stuff such as change disc boot order, view temps, fans and voltages and change many other settings.

The Bios is basically like 'right clicking for properties' but on your motherboard (and you dont need to get into Windows to do it).

I hope this gives you at least some idea of what it is now! Im no PC brainer either!

Alex

[notgotaclue]

Alex,
I am with you, I thought I had to pull out a screw driver and start moving cables about. If it is just a case of clicking a few options when someone tells me too, even I can do that.
Allan.

[jonesthesoftware]

Download freeware utility called "cpu-z" it's used by all overclockers and gives all the info you need to check your system
regards
geoff

[Neil Hewitt]

Couple of quick points - Windows will always report your Core iX CPU as running at stock speed in Computer Properties, even if you've overclocked it. That's because OC on these processors is done by adjusting the turbo multiplier primarily, rather than the actual bus speed. So ignore that. As jonesthesoftware mentioned, CPU-Z will do the trick if you want to see if you've been OCd.

The figure you're looking for is the core speed. The multiplier below it shows how you get from the bus speed to the actual processor speed - multiply one by the other. Also, bear in mind that if your computer has no load, the CPU will scale back to it's base clock, which in the case of your Core i5 is 3.3GHz, even if the turbo multiplier has been adjusted. So make sure you have a progam open in the background that eats CPU while you check CPU-Z (FSX in flight in a window would be ideal).

If you could find out which motherboard you have - model number and manufacturer - then I could probably be of more help. But if it's designed to be an OC rig then it's probably one of Asus, Asrock or Gigabyte. Now Asus in particular put an 'OC Profile' function in the BIOS which basically lets you keep several sets of clock settings and switch between them. If the system builder has configured it like that then it's quite possible that it was delivered with the stock profile active and all you'd need to do is go into the BIOS and switch over to the OC profile.

If not, then overclocking it yourself is not a massively demanding job - you can find instructions on the Web in many places - but you must be careful about voltages. If you over-volt the CPU or the RAM you may kill them. Modern BIOSes make this hard to do and many have so-called AI Tuners which will automatically overclock the board, but these tend to be very conservative. To get the i5 2500K to high levels of overclock calls for manual tweaking by someone who knows what they're doing. If your PC has been supplied without the overclock when you paid for it to be done, you're entitled to have them take it back and do it properly.

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
Thanks,
It is showing
Core Speed 3292.5ghz
Mulitplier x 33.0
Bus Speed 99.8 Mhz.
I will give them a ring on Monday and they can talk me through what to do.
The motherboard is Gigabyte Z68X-UD5
Allan.

[notgotaclue]

Just to update.
I rang them up and the guy talked me through the overclocking procedure. A bit of a false and embarrassing start as I could not even enter the BIOS as the delete key did not work, turns out it was because I was using a wireless keyboard, luckily I had a wired keyboard to attach and away I went.
No I have a 4.3ghz 'puter and OH MY GIDDY AUNT, what a difference to FSX. I have almost all the sliders to the right and getting frame rates in the 30's at complex add on airports with active sky, REX, UTX, FDC and prosim737 running. Smooth as silk. I even got (get this) 240FPS in the cruise :-) averaging out at 90 FPS.
Well worth the outlay.
Allan

[CorTed]

Allan that is great Success !!!!
Can you tell me how you get the FPS information? Is this something you can get displayed within FSX, if so can you tell me how to accomplish that.

Ted

[notgotaclue]

Allan that is great Success !!!!
Can you tell me how you get the FPS information? Is this something you can get displayed within FSX, if so can you tell me how to accomplish that.

Ted

Ted.
You just press SHIFT - Z for the fps.
Allan