Got a Core2D and a 680i? I will make OC'ing simple!!

Ironkidz

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I see alot of people on here that are asking for help with their E6xxx processor and a 680i combo. Well overclocking with these 2 components will be a piece of cake once you read this. I know when I was new to OC'ing there was no clear answers, but many scattered across various forums. So here is a quick and easy guide that wont have you screwin things up with your ram or cpu.

P.s. This guide doesnt discriminate between SLI ready mem or not.

Now before we begin, dont make massive jumps to try and get instant performance, this whole process should only take 10-15 mins for good results but dont rush it!! Otherwise your comp will turn into a big, expensive paperweight. :!:

First step is to understand your CPU's multiplier and FSB which is the key component to OC'ing here is a simple chart -

e6300 1.86GHz 266MHz x7
e6400 2.13GHz 266MHz x8
e6600 2.4GHz 266MHz x9
e6700 2.66GHz 266MHz x10
e6800 2.93GHz 266MHz x11

So for example.. a E6600 has a 9X multiplier which take a FSB of 266(x)9 to equal its speed of 2.4ghz. Very simple math!

So here we go!! (For this review I will walk you through the steps while using a E6600.... the same process applies for other C2D chips but your final speeds will vary)

First enter your Bios screen during the boot process by hitting the "Del" button

From the main BIOS screen, head to "Advanced Chipset Features" and then into "CPU configuration". Change the following settings:

CPU Thermal control - disabled
C1E Enhanced holt state - disabled
Intel Speedstep - disabled

Save all settings and then reboot your PC. Enter the BIOS again.

Access the "Advanced Chipset Features" area, and this time enter the "System Clocks" area. Change the following settings:

CPU Spread Spectrum - disabled
HT Spread Spectrum - disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum SPP - disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum MCP - disabled
Sata Spread Spectrum - disabled

Save all settings and then reboot your PC. Enter the BIOS again.

Now its time to throw enough power into your rig to ensure that when you push it to the limit it has enough gas to run!

Enter the "Advanced Chipset Features" and then head to "System Voltages". The voltages here are safe voltages for your comp... if u have a 680i and a C2Duo... i promise. You can always turn them down later if needed but we wanna get you results!

CPU Core: 1.45V
CPU FSB: 1.5V
nForce SPP: 1.50V
Memory: If your not OC'ing your mem then dont worry about this, but if you are research your mem and see what a good OC voltage is for it.

At this point... reboot your comp again and take a look at its temps to verify that nothing is hotter than 60C (it shouldnt be but just to be safe)

Now when the board ships... your bios "links" your fsb to your mem. So before we do our final step, we wanna let your fsb and your mem be independent from each other so that your mem isnt holding back your CPU's potential. So access "Advanced Chipset Features" section of the BIOS - head there again, and this time go into the "FSB & Memory Config" section.

Wether you have SLI ready mem or not.... set SLI ready mem to "Disable" then change "FSB - Memory clock mode" to Unlinked. This allows you to manually set the memory speed to whatever you want. On our machine, which is using DDR2-800 memory, we set "MEM (DDR) MHz" to 800 to reflect this memory speed. If you're using slower DDR2- 667, change this setting to 667 instead. That is of course if you dont want to OC your mem... :!: BUT whether you want to OC your mem or not... go into the Memory Timing setting at the bottom of the screen and set your command rate which should be stock at "Auto2T" to just 2T trust me! :!:

Finally here we go!! The final steps!

Access "Advanced Chipset Features" and back into the "FSB & Memory Config" area. You'll see an area labeled FSB (QDR), MHz, and this represents your frontside bus. Remember that the frontside bus in this system is "quad pumped" That explains why the reading here is actually four times what our frontside bus is. The default value is 1066MHz, which is 4 x 266MHz. Start increasing this in 40MHz increments, so change it to 1104MHz (4 x 276MHz) or so. At the top of this screen your will see a "grayed" out reading that reads CPU Freq MHz, use this as a reference to what your CPU will be running at after a restart. So if you have a E6600 and this says 5000.... you know you have gone WAY to far... so take it slow, dont just punch in a rediculous number! After each increase, save your changes, and then allow the PC to boot all the way into Windows. If it can make it into Windows, reboot and increase the frontside bus speed from the BIOS by another 40MHz. Eventually you'll reach a point where the machine won't boot into Windows any more. When this occurs I recommend going down a few notches on the FSB and rebooting, once you get it to a good point where Windows starts, I would recommend running 3D Mark a few times to verify the stability of your rig. If it crashes you know you need to go back and turn it down.

Using this config i have pushed a E6600 on air cooling to 3.45 Ghz on Air Cooling alone!! Dont shoot this high off the bat. Each processor is different and not all will overclock the same. So be careful and take it slow. Once you get the hang and idea of this you can move on to oc'ing your mem and all that good stuff! Have fun!! :D

Compiled from own experience and a article that I edited with IGN writer Bennett Ring
 

bsgray34

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Nice guide, i have a p5b deluxe, 6400, and Scythe Ninja on the way to me, wish i could get a guide like this for that.

Nice job imo, makes it seem simple to someone who has never overclocked like myself.
 

forumtroll

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They won't sticky a double post. Certinly not one that has been all but plagerised from a diffrent sight. Even if you try to reword it you still need to mention you refrences.

Damn... this puts a kink in my plans to post a FTVGA chart (forumtroll's vga charts) in the video card section.
 

Ironkidz

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I helped write that article in the first place after test samples of the EVGA boards were released. So no dues needed. Just trying to help people as usual. Thanks though. :roll:
 

slim142

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Hey Ironkidz did you really do this? if so, what board did you use?

Also, what is the stock voltage of the E6600?

And lastly, if you increase your cpu voltage BEFORE increasing the fSb and all that, doesnt that burn your cpu?
 

forumtroll

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A more reasonable approach to "trying to help people" would be to link the original article. Cutting and pasting and rephrasing bits of an article on which you didn't receive author credit is inappropriate, imho. :)
 

Madnyss

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That article was written by Bennett Ring 100%, if you read other IGN articles they give credit to all who help with gathering info and such.
 

Assman

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Hey Ironkidz did you really do this? if so, what board did you use?

Also, what is the stock voltage of the E6600?

And lastly, if you increase your cpu voltage BEFORE increasing the fSb and all that, doesnt that burn your cpu?

lol, good one slim :wink:
 

Assman

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there're too many idiots around pretending to have and know stuff that they aren't even competent in. (deadfire - with his virtual super computer :roll: ), and now this "ocer"
 

Ironkidz

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as stated in the article i used an EVGA 680i.

Secondly, increasing my Voltage before my FSB didnt do any harm to the comp what so ever. If you try to increase the FSB before the voltage and reboot bios your comp will crash. And the voltage i used for the CPU core was 1.45-1.5

With the configuration that I finalized and ram running at 1066 the 3dMark CPU score got up to 3000
 

i_hate_flying

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So some of you doubt the author of this post. I don't really care who wrote it, it seems like some excellent information for the novice such as myself. Well, my question is "does anyone here see anything wrong with this method of overclocking the E6600 and nForce 680i???" I have the same mobo and processor and I plan on overclocking within the next few days but I don't want to fry anything!
 

Madnyss

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this is a quick way of overclocking, most experianced overclockers dont raise their Vcore and all that right away, they see how far they can get on stock core then raise the vcore alittle and push the fsb up a bit more.

This is certainly not the best way to overclock but it is good for beginners. On air ( aftermarket air not stock ) max Vcore should be 1.5 and temps should not go over 65c at 100% load.



As for who wrote it, it would be good to give the original author credit for the work he did instead of stealing it.
 

xyzunit

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The article is written in the order of raising voltages first, because the author guarantees that no harm will come of it, so why not skip the step of maxing out @ stock voltages and then raising them to compensate?
 

Ironkidz

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well that is an excellent point you make xyzunit...

I have been Ocing for some time and even did some work with OCing for custom system builders with getting their rigs up to their customers expectations of speed and stability and a set up on the provided example will do both. There are other ways to get good speeds, but those require ALOT of benchmarking and trial and error and possible fried components. believe me.... I have had my fair share of "overly overclocked systems" if your new to OCing but need results, i belive that not only will this guide help you but it will also help you grasp some understanding of the process without taking all of the fun out of it. :D
 
I have been building and upgrading computers for a long time - from 1978 when it required taking soldering iron in hand.

While home on vacation, I picked up an E6600, eVGA 680i, eVGA 8800gts, and 2 GB of Crucial RAM. I put all the parts in a case for testing, got up to 3 GHz, then repacked for shipment. I will do the real build in a week after I recover from jet lag. (Anyone who collects oxymorons, there's one for you.)

Some additional comments:

I decided not to use that small chipset fan while checking the system out at stock speeds. After a few minutes, the BIOS indicated the chipset hit 85 degrees C. Conclusion - chipset heatsink ALWAYS needs cooling.

At 3 GHz, the stock HSF is good enough.

Watch the airflow in the case. More fans may fight each other or just recirculate warm air inside the case.

I agree with crackerjacks about the voltage.

I will see how fast I can go with what I regard as reasonable temps, then drop it back to halfway between 3 GHz and whatever speed I reached.

The 680i board is the most complicated, in terms of settings, that I have ever worked with. With the forums here, I do not have to reinvent the wheel. Thanks, guys.
 

Madnyss

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Finding out what FSB you CPU runs at different Vcores help you set your overclock.

eg
Vcore 1.45V gets 386FSB @ 60C Load
Vcore 1.40V get 380FSB @ 55C Load

is the 6 more on the FSB worth 5C differance at Load, no its not.


"Now before we begin, dont make massive jumps to try and get instant performance, this whole process should only take 10-15 mins for good results but dont rush it!! Otherwise your comp will turn into a big,expensive paperweight."

The whole process should take atleast 4-5 Hours over about 4-5 Days, testing for stable and getting 0 errors. I always run multiple tests overnight to test stablity.

"I would recommend running 3D Mark a few times to verify the stability of your rig. If it crashes you know you need to go back and turn it down. "

Your testing method is also way out, you should use Orthos/Super PI, Memtest. 3D Mark dosent stress your CPU and memory for long enough to determine if it is 100% stable.



Using 3D mark to test for stablity is why I believe that you had nothing to do with writing this article, 3D mark is a benchmarking tool not a stability tool.