OverClocking a E6600 **Rookie***

[Graalman]

First and foremost, i know very basic information about overclocking. I'm lower than a rookie at it. I just recently baught a Core 2 Duo E6600 with the following specs:

Asus P5B Motherboard
(SKT.775 INTL 965P ATX 3PCI/3PCI-E/1PCI-E 16X, 4 DDR2 1066/800FSB,SATA,RAID0, GB LAN)
OCZ 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (667MHz)
320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA2 Hard Drive
All-In-One Memory Card Reader
eVGA GeForce 7950GT KO
18" P4-ATX Case w/ USB-Front

I'm aiming to get my C2D at 3.0GHz. From what i know, i would need to change my fsb speed from the default speed of 266 to 333. As far as changing my volts for my memory or cpu/cpu core i am totaly lost as to how much i need to increase it. Would it possible to not tamper with anything but the fbs, and still remain stable?? Oh and as for my cooling, i'm using just the stock intel cooler.

 

[RJ]

First and foremost, i know very basic information about overclocking. I'm lower than a rookie at it. I just recently baught a Core 2 Duo E6600 with the following specs:

Asus P5B Motherboard
(SKT.775 INTL 965P ATX 3PCI/3PCI-E/1PCI-E 16X, 4 DDR2 1066/800FSB,SATA,RAID0, GB LAN)
OCZ 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (667MHz)
320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA2 Hard Drive
All-In-One Memory Card Reader
eVGA GeForce 7950GT KO
18" P4-ATX Case w/ USB-Front

I'm aiming to get my C2D at 3.0GHz. From what i know, i would need to change my fsb speed from the default speed of 266 to 333. As far as changing my volts for my memory or cpu/cpu core i am totaly lost as to how much i need to increase it. Would it possible to not tamper with anything but the fbs, and still remain stable?? Oh and as for my cooling, i'm using just the stock intel cooler.

First....set your memory divider to 1:1 ratio(533). that will have your memory running at stock speed when you approach 333 fsb. It won't cause major havoc to bump your CPU voltage up a notch or 2. I'd also bump the northbridge voltage up .05v to start with. It may be referred to as MCH. Go for 333 mhz. After making sure everything runs okay, you can start notching back your voltages until you get instability with stress tests, like Prime95. Download it in .zip and open it in 2 separate folders. This way you can fire up both instances to load both cores. Find Memtest86 and run it outside Windows. That will tell you if your memory needs to be tweaked either through voltage changes or by loosening the timings at your current overclock.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Graalman]

Thanks. I think i might have made a typo for the specification of my ram. It is actually 800 mhz.

So is possible to get stable at 3.0Ghz by just changing fsb to 333 and and have a 1:1 ratio by changing my ram to 667. But leaving everything at auto set, such as the volts?

 

[kasparov]

Hi Graalman

Yes it is possible to reach 3.0 Ghz by bumping up your FSB and making RAM 1:1, i have done this without touching voltage and it works fine. I have 800mhz ram and Gigabyte DQ6 board.

 

[kasparov]

If I were you i would go up in slow increments of 100MHZ to see if it's stable at every stage.

 

[kasparov]

RJ I read the article you have a link for under your PC description. So you running at 4.05 GHZ? Is it stable? How does 450 *8 equate to 4/05ghz?

 

[Graalman]

Hey man thanks for replying. So to get fsb:ram to 1:1 would i change it to 533 or 667. I'm confused. Can u shed some light on me about it. Say if I have a OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). Thanks bud!

Edit* Or would i need to change it to 400 (800/2). But if i change my fsb to 333 becaause i'm aiming for a 3.0Ghz speed, wouldnt that under clock?
Help..lol i'm such noob at all this Ocing.

 

[asa_riey0000]

if you set fsb to 333 and divider 1:1, your memory will downclock to 667MHz.. to get your cpu run at 3.0GHz with memory speed 400(800MHz) would need a motherboard that can run 5:6 FSB-memory divider...so you will get (400/6)x5=333 cpu fsb..
or you could low your cpu multiplier to 8,set fsb to 400, and divider at 1:1.. so you'll get 3.2Ghz speed.. dont forget to raise your ram voltage(vDDR) to 2.1~2.2(auto would be fine), and if you get instability in windows, raise fsb and NB volts by +0.1~+0.2...

i use gigabyte DS4 e6400 ocz6400 with this setting with all default volts except ram +0.3 @4-4-4-10 timing..let see if this may help..

 

[Graalman]

asa_riey0000 thanks for your input. Taking into consideration of my MB, what would be the best way for me to achieve 3.0Ghz. Note that i'm only using intel's stock cooling fan, so i dont wanna push it beyond than what i am aiming for. And what ratio would i than need to imply. Thanks.

 

[asa_riey0000]

you should run fine at 333 fsb with 1:1 for 3.0GHz and 667MHz ram downclocked..with stock cooler and default volts for your MB..
save some money and get better cpu cooler later and go with higher clock to utilize your ram 400mhz full speed and above..

 

[Rall]

http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24001

I have a evga motherboard and followed this link to overclock my e6600 to a 3.2 I give all credit to ironkidz for posting this information.


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!!

 

[asa_riey0000]

i spent only couple of minutes in bios for OC on my e6400 and 965p board,single boot. jump straight to 3.2GHz all default volts..and another 2 minutes for memory timings and volts..thats why i like gigabyte mobos,really truly durable and reliable even you washed them in laundry :lol: ..

your post was about OCing with 680i, not intel 965..bios setting almost different afterall, but useful for nvidians for spectrum settings

 

[Graalman]

Wow! Awesome stuff. Well my MB is a P5B INTL 965P. Think it would handle if i jumped it all the way to 333 right of the getco? Oh and about downcloking my ram to 667mhz, would it still be beneficial and provide increase performance, as i am not using the full potential of 400mhz?? (800mhz in total). And would i need to tamper with its volt. Its defalut volt on the OCZ webiste have it at 2.0V with 5-5-5-12 timing. Thanks in advance.

 

[kasparov]

Graalman..you could jump to 333 from the getgo, but if that doesn't work than you won't know what the barrier in terms od FSb is. So go in slow increments, i think it's safer that way.

 

[RJ]

RJ I read the article you have a link for under your PC description. So you running at 4.05 GHZ? Is it stable? How does 450 *8 equate to 4/05ghz?

Default multi divided by the current multi:
9/8=1.125
1.125 x fsb setting(450) = 506.25(Northbridge FSB)
506.25 x 8(current multi) = 4050 mhz

Many test progs show it at 4.05 ghz, so it's no fluke. CPU-Z apparently addresses your settings, not the actual speed of the northbridge clock.
It's nice and stable and my memory bandwidth is @ 7500 mb/s.

 

[enewmen]

http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24001

I have a evga motherboard and followed this link to overclock my e6600 to a 3.2 I give all credit to ironkidz for posting this information.


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!!

Great guide!

 

[Chapel]

RJ, may I inquire as to the stepping of your e6600? I'm looking to buy one for overclocking. 4.05 ghz stable is quite a feat.