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Hi guys,
Just bought a new laptop that doesn't QUITE run SC2 on medium as smoothly as I'd like. It was playing fine today, until I busted out 4 carriers, and when all the interceptors launched the framerate went to hell. So, I figure I'll overclock it. I heard Sapphire TRIXX was the best program to use for overclocking for AMD cards (recommended over MSI afterburner), so I have it downloaded. However, I know nothing about the actual settings I should create under a new profile.
The laptop itself is an Acer Aspire 5552G-7641 with an
AMD Phenom II X4 N970 2.2GHZ
AMD Radeon HD 6650M
Sucker produces a lot of heat already, but I bought a nice cooling pad that keeps it friggin' COLD from Tigerdirect (it was the #1 rated cooling pad on newegg, just far more expensive than Tigerdirect, plus no sales tax  ).
The Core Clock is 600ghz, Memory Clock is 1600ghz, and the GPU voltage is currently set to 1,000. What would be a good profile to setup? Sapphire TRIXX allows me to "Max" the core clock to 900ghz, the Memory Clock to 2400ghz, and the voltage to 1050.
Any appreciation on what the side effects of overclocking are, besides increased heat/energy consumption (system instability?), I'd appreciate it. Should I also overclock the processor?
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Just increase the clock speed in small increments and leave the voltage the same. Stress-test with Furmark ( http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ ). Be sure to monitor the temperature of the graphics card as well through Furmark or your overclocking software.
If temperatures are reasonable and you don't see any artifacts after at least one-two hour(s) of Furmark than you have a stable overclock.
Overclocking the CPU is essentially the same thing. You increase the bus or multiplier in small increments and increase the voltage as well. Stress test with Prime95 ( http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205 ), monitor temperatures with Real Temp ( http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/ ).
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On May 02 2011 08:49 skyR wrote:Just increase the clock speed in small increments and leave the voltage the same. Stress-test with Furmark ( http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ ). Be sure to monitor the temperature of the graphics card as well through Furmark or your overclocking software. If temperatures are reasonable and you don't see any artifacts after at least one-two hour(s) of Furmark than you have a stable overclock. Overclocking the CPU is essentially the same thing. You increase the bus or multiplier in small increments and increase the voltage as well. Stress test with Prime95 ( http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205 ), monitor temperatures with Real Temp ( http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/ ).
When do I know when to stop the increments? And in how much? Like increasing 30 at a time for clock speed? And wait a few hours to see artifacts, then do it again?
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You stop when you are satisfied with it or can no longer increase it further without artifacting / crashing.
Start off with 650MHz or 700MHz. Stress test it and if it fails, you can either increase voltage and try again or lower the clock by 10-20 and try again. If it is stable for roughly an hour, you can either increase the clock some more or continue stress testing to ensure stability.
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Dont overlclock the graphics card, more than anything you have a cpu bottleneck, try setting physics to off and effects to off....
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On May 02 2011 09:43 TheBlueMeaner wrote:
Dont overlclock the graphics card, more than anything you have a cpu bottleneck, try setting physics to off and effects to off....
Will do, with the stress test I didn't notice any increase in performance whatsoever (in terms of FPS, at least), between 600ghz and 750ghz for the core clock. 
EDIT: What program can I use to overclock the processor, or how do I do it otherwise? I hardly know what "BIOS" even is, despite hearing it all the time, I'd have no idea what I'm doing.
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On May 02 2011 08:33 FabledIntegral wrote:Sucker produces a lot of heat already, but I bought a nice cooling pad that keeps it friggin' COLD from Tigerdirect (it was the #1 rated cooling pad on newegg, just far more expensive than Tigerdirect, plus no sales tax ).
What cooler?
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I have the same graphics card yet im playing SC2 at 60 frames on medium
Aspire 3820TG-6829
Intel Core i5 2.66ghz turbo boost to 3.0ghz
4GB DDR3 RAM
are you sure your drivers are up to date?
Or maybe its your CPU im not sure
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On May 02 2011 10:10 sinani206 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 02 2011 08:33 FabledIntegral wrote:Sucker produces a lot of heat already, but I bought a nice cooling pad that keeps it friggin' COLD from Tigerdirect (it was the #1 rated cooling pad on newegg, just far more expensive than Tigerdirect, plus no sales tax ). What cooler?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834998051&cm_re=notebook_cooler-_-34-998-051-_-Product
$35 at Tigerdirect, but only 2 reviews there.
On May 02 2011 10:21 Kaoriyu wrote:
I have the same graphics card yet im playing SC2 at 60 frames on medium
Aspire 3820TG-6829
Intel Core i5 2.66ghz turbo boost to 3.0ghz
4GB DDR3 RAM
are you sure your drivers are up to date?
Or maybe its your CPU im not sure
After researching online it seems that many people are saying the CPU is a massive bottleneck for this computer.
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BIOS is basic input output system, you press DEL (most common key, might be another key so refer to your manual) during bootup to get into it. Notebooks usually don't allow you to do this or have severely limited options in the BIOS.
Manufacturers include their own overclocking software with their motherboards. Since you have a notebook, I doubt that Acer included overclocking software since this isn't generally recommended for a notebook.
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In conclusion you are screwed in the overclocking front, it is not possible (in bios) nor safe to overclock a laptop cpu unless it is designed to do so (alienware, some asus models, etc).
The best you can do is tinker with settings, as I said before, there are certain settings that consume lots of cpu power such as reflections, physics and effects, turn all to low or off and you will see a decent frame rise, also turn off reduce mouse lag as it may affect frame rate, also turn sound effects and music to the lowest quality possible. After you do that I'm 100% sure you will be able to play with everything else on medium with nice frame rates...
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On May 02 2011 10:36 TheBlueMeaner wrote:
In conclusion you are screwed in the overclocking front, it is not possible (in bios) nor safe to overclock a laptop cpu unless it is designed to do so (alienware, some asus models, etc).
The best you can do is tinker with settings, as I said before, there are certain settings that consume lots of cpu power such as reflections, physics and effects, turn all to low or off and you will see a decent frame rise, also turn off reduce mouse lag as it may affect frame rate, also turn sound effects and music to the lowest quality possible. After you do that I'm 100% sure you will be able to play with everything else on medium with nice frame rates...
Ahhh ok. Thanks for the advice, sucks you can't OC the CPU =[. If it's my CPU that's bottlenecking, does that mean I can keep up the "non CPU" items like textures on medium/high? I wouldnt' notice ANY framerate changes by turning it to low if the CPU is what's bottlenecking, correct?
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That would be correct this is assuming that the CPU is the problem and your graphics card can support the differential.
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Just go do it, and post here how it goes later for reference
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I run a laptop that uses a 4650 and it can run them on high...you have a different issue besides your GPU.Your bottlenecking somewhere.
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I'd be reluctant to overclock a laptop, my advice would be just to put up with it but the users above have told you how.
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EPT
