How to overclock apu 3870 processor

[zidane]

I have assembled a computer for my personal use which has APU 3870 processor, 4 GB of RAM, ASRock A55 as the mother board and various other peripherals. I used this system for some days and now I am thinking of overclocking it for faster performance. I am have done overclocking for hardware in past and I have some idea about it. But as I am using ASRock motherboard for the first time, I am bit hesitant that something might go wrong. So can someone tell me how to overclock the following mentioned processor and motherboard properly?

[Anuja Darzi]

For overclocking a processor, you will need to enter its BIOS menu and edit few values to achieve a successful overclocking. I don’t know how the menu of the APU 3870 works or which options can be found at which place, but I can give you a fair idea of how a overclocking is generally done. It is recommended to start increasing the value of the multiplier in the BIOS menu first. By default it will be at x30 for your APU 3870. You can increase it up to x33 for the start. Not see if the system is stable at this multiplier value. The Bus Speed of the processor will be set to 100 MHz by default. So by combination of the increased multiplier and bus speed, the processor will now have speed of 3.3 GHz. You can increase the value of bus speed along with the multiplier. In similar fashion, you can raise the speed of the processor up to 3.8 GHz. You must keep a look on the temperature of the processor as high temperature can damage the processor. The temperature will remain comfortable up to 3.5 GHz. If existing cooling fans and other cooling devices are unable to control the heat, then I’d suggest you to stop the overclocking and use the speed achieved at that instance.

[Esmond Ivers]

Since you are doing overclocking on a motherboard manufactured by ASRock for the first time, let me tell you that you need to have a good control over the temperature that is raised due to overclocking. If the temperature rises above limit, it would fry the circuits and the minor parts of the processor and other peripherals around it. This can lead your peripherals to become useless. To avoid this, I recommend you to use extra cooling fans and heatsinks if needed. Also before overclocking, it is recommended to apply the thermal paste on the heatsinks and other cooling devices. A new layer of thermal paste is capable of absorbing more heat than the old ones. Also it is recommended to use small steps while overclocking a processor. Maybe you are experienced with overclocking, but when you are doing it on some peripheral which is new to you, it is recommended to do it in small steps. Do not rush to achieve the highest value as every processor has different capabilities. If you get values of multiplier and voltage that is needed for overclocking from some of your friend for same peripheral, use it as a reference point. Do not copy the same values as your system might have other peripherals of different manufacturer as compared to your friend’s computer. Enough voltage must be provided as overclocking process needs large power. Keep benchmarking the stable points during overclocking. They are useful for rollback if anything goes wrong.