Overclocking - Complete NOOB here

On question, "How?"

I downloaded Rivatuner, ATITool, GetFSB, CPUZ, ClockGEN, etc.... but nothing can do anything. Rivatuner doesn't have the "Customize" button, other programs, that are supposed to be for overclocking, don't have an "Overclocking" function....? Am I cursed, stupid, or both?

I just got an Asus G73JH, my first gaming machine, my first time PC gaming. I'm literally 1 week old, so I'm clueless....

Yes, the machine works great, and has handled everything...except for Crysis at 1920x1080. 720 works perfectly and while is still technically HD, it's not full HD and I do see a difference sitting 4 feet from a 50 inch plasma (I like to be immersed).

 

See PLL pinmod thread. Many PLLs are tme-locked. There's details on how to check ICS and Cypress PLL's TME_Readback flag to confirm if that's the case.

 

Well, what parts are you trying to overclock? You have downloaded both CPU overclocking tools, and GPU overclocking tools.

First off, I would not recommend overclocking the Core i7-720QM at all. Here is a thorough explanation as to why it is not recommended. You may be able to do a little bit with the i7-920XM Extreme Edition, but again, not by much, for the same reasons.

As for GPU overclocking, have you tried this? This is the only overclocking utility that worked on my 3650, Rivatuner did nothing, ATI Tool didn't even open, and AMD GPU Clock Tool was pretty much useless on my machine, causing it to lock up whenever I raised the clock speed.

When overclocking the GPU, I'd recommend finding your maximum temperature before doing anything, whether it be through running a game, or Furmark. Just run something that is going to stress the GPU for a while, and find the maximum temperature the GPU reaches.

What we are trying to do here is to determine whether it runs cool enough for overclocking in the first place. If it gets any hotter than 92C, 93C, I'd leave it as it is. Overclocking is just going to make it run hotter, getting to a dangerous temperature and causing it to downclock, making the gaming experience horrible.

Now for raising the clocks - when I overclocked my 3650, I raised the clockspeed on both the core and memory by about 20Mhz, then tested it, by using the built in stability tester in GPU Tool. Check the temperatures as well, as you will want to stop raising the clock speed if it gets too hot. So keep on going that way until you find a point where it gets too hot for your liking, or where it reaches the limit and either artifacts, BSOD's, or locks up. You'll immediately know when you have reached the cards limits, because it will do one of the above. So when you reach that limit, take it down from there about 20Mhz or so, just to keep it in the safe zone.

For reference, my 3650 is overclocked at 725Mhz on the core from the default 600Mhz, and 575Mhz on the memory from the default 500Mhz*

*Note: The memory on your 5870 will be clocked much higher, as it is GDDR5 memory. DDR2 memory, which my card uses, has a much slower clockrate.