OS X overclocking experiences

naquaada · #1 05-17-2008, 07:52 PM

Hi guys, here you can post your results of an overclocked OS X system, stability, CPU temperature and so on.

I'm not an overclocking freak, the idea started 'cause a friend has an Athlon 64 FX-57 which is used for overclocking, but the can't push it more than 5%, already with 8% he gets a kernel panic. Later we solved the problem, we have both the same boards, the Asus A8N-SLI Premium, but he has revision 1.02 and I have two with revision 1.04G. But I have a third board with rev. 1.02 and overclocking failed here too. Has anyone something similar to report?

Here are my results of my o'clocked Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4 GHz) and my Opteron 185 (2x2.6 GHz). Both are running stable at 10% overclocking (BIOS setting) and the 4000+ seems even to be cooler! Here are the results:

Athlon 64 4000+ 2.40 GHz: CPU 88.74, overall 125.14, avg. Temp 36°C/96°F
Athlon 64 4000+ 2.64 GHz: CPU 95.67, overall 135.20, avg. Temp 34°C/93°F, without use 32°C/89°F

Opteron 185 2x2.60 GHz: CPU 96.93, overall 155.69, avg. Temp 39°C/102°F
Opteron 185 2x2.86 GHz: CPU 105.16, overall 170.04, avg. Temp 39°C/102°F

All tests were made with Leo4all 10.5.2 with Xbench without drives test. The 4000+ has an standard AMD cooler, the Opteron an Scythe Mugen cooler. Detailed Xbench results are to download here.

It is possible to check the sensors of the AMD cpu temperature and board fans? To test I use a prog which needs a lot of CPU power, reboot quickly and look in BIOS hardware monitor. The highest value on my Opteron was 49°C/120°F after a kernel panic. In such a case the Cool'n'Quiet* function doesn't work I think.

* Cool'n'Quiet is called 'Optimized Power Management' (OPM) on the Opteron series.

bhast2 · #2 05-18-2008, 02:46 AM

how do you go about overclocking
i have a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+

WinLinMac01 · #3 05-18-2008, 04:28 AM

Personally, I will never o/c my cpu ever again. I had bad experiences with this especially when I "first" installed Zephyroth's 10.5.1 Rev.1 version. Wow, did I learn my mistakes. Heehee, =)

naquaada · #4 05-18-2008, 06:13 PM

WinLinMac, I also wasn't overclocking. Escpecially 'cause i have a 220 Euro CPU in my system. But I now tested some things, especially temperature and stability and it seems to work fine. And you'll find interesting things checking the BIOS.

So, here are my next overclocking results. This time I experimented with the CPU voltage settings. As I was using my Athlon XP I was using a very low voltage, and this was good. One day suddenly the fan wasn't working - i didn't noticed it - as parts on the Windows screen went black. I shutted down the thing, looked in the BIOS - the CPU was at 92°/197°F! You have cooked an egg on this thing. If I had used the normal voltage, the cpu would be burnt down, but it still works fine. But now to the actual cpus. Although my CPU temperatures were very good, I reduced the voltage. On the Athlon 64 4000+ it looks like this:

Athlon 64 4000+ 2.64 GHz: avg. Temp 34°C/93°F, with CPU core voltage 1.35V temp is 27°/80° in normal use.

On my Opteron I experiemted a bit more. I experimented with CPU mutlitplier and bus frequency and got it to 3.03 GHz stable, with 3.06 GHz it crashes during boot. Actually I use it at 3 GHz with a core voltage of 1.30V.

Opteron 185 2x3.00 GHz: CPU 111.70, overall 179.22, CPU voltage 1.30V, avg. temp in use 32°C/89°F

Great results: faster cpu, lower temperature. Detailed results are here.

pαuℓzurrr. · #5 05-18-2008, 06:45 PM

Anyone overclocked his gfx card?
And how does osx react to it?

WinLinMac01 · #6 05-18-2008, 07:57 PM

p-J, interesting question there. =) I have my video card's overclocked to 100 MHz greater than its normal clock speeds, and everything appears to be running fine. Mac OS X loves my card, and thats all that counts. I didn't even have to touch my voltage settings. Particular system specs are posted under my user profile.

naquaada · #7 05-18-2008, 08:12 PM

zephyroth 10.5.1 RC2 doesn't like overclocking so much - I had to rduce back to 2.86 GHz. At least Xbench crashed with a kernel panic. Leo4all V3 works fine with 3 GHz.

WinLinMac01 · #8 05-18-2008, 08:30 PM

10.5.2 Rev.1 & 2 appears to work fine on my system. I tried it O/C from 2.26 GHz to 2.46 GHz just for the sake of it when the release first came out, lol.

pαuℓzurrr. · #9 05-19-2008, 07:10 PM

Quote:

[cite] WinLinMac01:[/cite]p-J, interesting question there. =) I have my video card's overclocked to 100 MHz greater than its normal clock speeds, and everything appears to be running fine. Mac OS X loves my card, and thats all that counts. I didn't even have to touch my voltage settings. Particular system specs are posted under my user profile.

Does you're video card's temp get any higher?
I'm interested in overclocking my 8600GT (dell system)
Using the stock cooler, and right now the temp's are around 50-60 celsius, which is pretty high i think.
So i don't know if it's possible and safe to oc my card...

WinLinMac01 · #10 05-19-2008, 09:42 PM

My video card temps are consistent. I never had to install a separate stock cooler.