Should I push the cpu a bit more?

[rashod0]

Just attempted my first overclock. I currently have the following C2D clocked at 3,150ghz. I noticed my ram is frequency is 350mhz (I understand that it's running 1:1 ratio with the processor). I'm just wondering if I should maybe push the 350mhz clock to 400mhz to get my ram up to it's full potential? Things seem to be stable (going to run some tests and my cpu temp is 34 degress C which I know is excellent, guess we'll see what it goes to during some torture tests). Here is my setup:

ntel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775
ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel P965 Express
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro (cpu fan)
Kingston Hyperion PC2 6400 2x1gb (2gb) 800mhz timing: 4-4-4-12 cas: 12
COOLMAX CW-650T EPS12V 650W Aluminum ATX v2.01
Sapphire ATI x1900xt 512mb video card
Cooler Master Centurion 5 case

I changed my timing of the ram to 5-5-5-15 and the memory voltage is set to 2.1v at a frequency again of 350mhz. Safe to go to 400mhz?

Thanks.
my bios setting after overclocking (more detailed info):
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/bios-overclock-correct-ftopict223768.html
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Just ran Orthos to test the proc and here were my results at the above settings:

Small FFTs-stress CPU for 20mins
Temperature of CPU: 54-56 degrees C
Voltage: 1.344v (constant)
No Errors/No Warnings

Large FFTs-stress CPU for 20mins
Temperature of CPU: 51-55 degrees C
Voltage: 1.344v (constant)
No Errors/No Warnings

IDLE VOLTAGE: 1.368v

So the only way to get my ram to 800mhz/pc-6400 (400mhz x2) is to up the cpu core to 400mhz correct? Also is it safe now to re-enable the Speedstep feature in bios?

 

[3Ball]

With that CPU Cooler I wouldnt go much over 3.2ghz, What I would do if I were you is lower your multiplier to 8 and then run your FSB @ 400mhz, to give you 3.2ghz, 1600mhz FSB, 400mhz memory and you should be able to run your memory at there rated timings if you set manually to 4-4-4-12. That is what I would set it to.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

Hate asking this but where in the bios do I change the multiplier? Can you give me some rough clue? Would I need to adjust any voltage settings if I do change the multiplier? I can't tell you how much I appriciate the feedback!

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Ok I found the multiplier settings in the bios and took your advice! Things seem to be stable and i'm getting the most out of my ram now. I'm a little worried that maybe I didn't do something right voltage wise (that end of it kinda freaks me out) but I suppose after running some tests and it seems stable I maybe have nothing to worry about. Now running the multiplier at say 8 v.s. 9 one isn't better than the other it's just what you use to achive a specific clock correct? Again thanks.

 

[3Ball]

Well I dont have that specific motherboard, but it is generally in the same area and many times right under the FSB rating, where you have increased to 350mhz I believe. I is probably either set to 9x or Auto right now. Your voltages on your northbridge will probably need to be set at 1.4v or +.2v on some motherboards. This is to ensure a stable OC at that high of FSB. You should also disable Intel Speed Step from the CPU feature area of your motherboard, which on mine is under advanced chipset options. I would assume you can get to 3.2ghz un 1.4v, but what you should do is set you voltage to 1.4v, increase the FSB slowly, like 15mhz at a time or so. Then test for stability. When you get to 3.2ghz test for stability again and then start trying to incramentally drop the vcore on the CPU to whatever you can stablize it at, but I wouldnt recommend a CPU vcore of above 1.45v, even though many do go above that.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

This maybe too much info for you but here is what I ended up with:

CPU FREQ: 400 @ x8 multiplier
DRAM Freq: DDR2-800mhz
PCIe Freq: 100
PCI Clock Sync Mode 33.33mhz
Spread Spetrum: Disabled
Memory Voltage: 2.00v
CPU Vcore: 1.4000v
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.4000v
NB Vcore: Auto
SB Vcore (Sata, PCIe): Auto
ICH Chipset Voltage: Auto

C1E: Disabled
Modify Ratio Support: Disabled
Max CPUID value limit: Disabled
CPU TM funtion: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
PECI: Disabled
Speedstep: Disabled

Northbridge chipset config (ram):
DRAM CAS # LAT: 4
DRAM RAS# TO CAS DELAY: 4
DRAM RAS# PRECHARGE: 4
DRAM RAS# ACTIVATE TO PRECHARGE: 12
left the rest alone

This time on the Orthos cpu/memory test I got the following results:

Small FFTs-stress CPU for 20mins
Temperature of CPU: 54-57 degrees C
Voltage: 1.344v (constant)
No Errors/No Warnings

Large FFTs-stress CPU for 20mins
Temperature of CPU: 52-56 degrees C
Voltage: 1.344v (constant)
No Errors/No Warnings

 

[3Ball]

That looks good to me, the only thing that i dont know about because my motherboard doesnt have it and I havent tested with any ASUS motherboard yet is the FSB termination voltage, the NB Vcore that you have to Auto is what I adjust on my ABIT, but it is possible that the ASUS has some different feature to stablise it. Just out of curiosity what was the original setting on that FSB, termination voltage? 1.20v?

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

Actually it was set to auto....and i'm not sure what the default voltage is?

 

[3Ball]

Also once you do get this stable, I would love to see some benchmarks like 3Dmark06 to compare out systems. Since we have the same video card that is. My score in the sig is with CCC 7.1, I would like to see the difference between your xtra 400mhz and xtra 2mb of cache over mine with our ram and fsb speeds being the same. Your system is lookin pretty good.

Best,

3Ball

 

[3Ball]

well, I would say that if your system is stable on those settings, if you can manage a lower vcore, great! But that vcore is perfectly acceptable with your temps. I am goin to see if I can find anything on that FSB setting on that motherboard.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

You got it! That was my next step. The stock fan on my video card sux right now and gets to over 90 degrees C at times, so i'll give it a shot. I'll run just the default setting and post the score here. Also i'm not overclocking my video card, not until I get my aftermarket fan here in a few days.

 

[3Ball]

Well I just took a look at wusy's guide, and he suggests to disable any overvoltage protection, which that may be what that Termination thing is. But it looks like even with you FSB on Auto that you are doing ok, so it seems like everything is ok to me, unless you run into problems, then that is probably what you will need to do, is just change the NB voltage to 1.40 and maybe either set the Termination to Auto, disable if available or possibly just leave it @ 1.4v, since that is what you will be using anyway. Its all a game of guess and check from here on.

Wusy's guide: http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Core2Duo-Overclocking-Guide-v1-ftopict197995.html

Best,

3Ball

 

[3Ball]

I have an Arctic Accelro X2 cooler on my GPU and with my minor OC on the GPU I still get pretty high, like high 80's on the temp, but the X1900XTX can handle those temps with no problem, atleast after 1 year of ownership and no problems I can say that confidently. I have a few settings change in the CCC 7.1. and I have the latest Feb. Direct X update.

Changed settings are:
Catalyst A.I. = Advanced
Mipmap Detail Level = Quality
Wait for vertical refresh = Off, unless application decides otherwise.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

Thats the cooler I ordered. The main thing about that stock fan was that it started getting insanely loud as of late and it started to worry me, the high 80's, low 90 degree C temps started bugging me.

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That was weird I just went to go do a restart. The computer got to the very end of the shut down and gave out a long beep followed by 2-3 short beeps and restarted with no problem. After testing everything out thats odd.

 

[rashod0]

Also once you do get this stable, I would love to see some benchmarks like 3Dmark06 to compare out systems.

Well with the just the default settings I only got a score of 4660. Which is odd because before I overclocked and at the time only had 1 stick of 1gb ram that worked I scored almost 6000. Strange.

 

[3Ball]

that is very strange, your OC may not be quite stable yet, you may need to test with prime95 for atleast 2hours

best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

Ok, i'll do that. Any idea how to open 2 instances of Prime 95? When ever I try it selects the already open one.

 

[3Ball]

Yea, k when you have your prime95 sitting in front of you. Right click on the Prime95 icon and make 2 different short cuts.

Then make one named Prime95 - 0 and the other Prime95 - 1

After that right click on the properties of one shortcut and for instance on the Prime95 - 0 icon at the end of the filename extension put a space after the " mark and type -A0. Do the same thing for the Prime95 - 1 only put a space and -A1 then apply the properties and click ok.

After that you can now open up 2 different prime95 windows. Click just stress testing and then under I believe it is the options menu click on the affinity and set the affinity for the Prime95 - 0 to 0 and the Prime95 - 1 to 1. Click Ok to close the boxes.

Now when you click on the actual torture test you will want to run a custom test and the only thing that you need to change in both boxes is the amount of memory that is being used for testing, it is one of the middle options. change the value of that number in each prime95 instance to 950 then click ok to start the test.

if you press control+alt+del and go to the performance tab, leave that window open in order to monitor the CPU usage to make sure both cores do sync up. It isnt instant it may take a few seconds for the both cores to get going. If it doesnt start going repeat the above steps and make sure u monitor your temps during it. I use core temp to do that when I test.

P.S. Those are Zero's im using, Prime95 - "zero" and -A"Zero"

best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

This was really weird. I had my computer shut off for a while went to go turn it on and it just sat there and powered up and wouldn't post (no beep either). Now my video card fan has been giving me trouble and at start up sounds like a jet taking off so I kind of think that was the problem because i've had this trouble before with it (same thing happened a few days ago before I overclocked). After shutting down the computer and trying to turn it back on with that not working, I shut off the power supply, turned it back on and the computer started right up. After I got into windows and started up cpuz it showed my cpu at stock setting, everything was stock. I rebooted went into the bios and everything was setup just like I left it for overclock....which doesn't make any sense, unless cpuz just didn't display the correct info. After going back into windows cpuz showed the overclock settings again. At this time i'm going to run orthos for 2 hours and see what happens.

 

[3Ball]

My fan used to do that, but that definitely means that your OC is not stable. I think its because of the northbridge chipset. I would experiment and see if you can disable that other FSB voltage that you messed with, if not then leave it at 1.40v and then take the NB voltage up to 1.4v, I bet that helps to solve your problems, you may need to bump up your memory voltage to 2.1v to stablize those timings as well. Like I said its all about guess and check now!

Best,

3Ball

 

[3Ball]

Also, if my instructions are a bit unclear about the prime95, when it comes that time again for you to try it this may help as well. I have not read this, but there is always someone out there that knows more and for me this guy may be it.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html

Best,

3Ball

 

[3Ball]

Another thing, if you havent already done it. A BIOS update could also help with any stability issues that may be occuring from the motherboard itself. Just a thought! Dont want to overload everything you are tryin to do right now.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

Yup, I updated my bios already to the latest version a few days ago. Well I just ran orthos for an hour and a half. Had a constant voltage of 1.344v and my highest temp was 57 degrees C. So I think this is pretty stable, maybe tomorrow i'll run a memtest and check it on that end. Thanks 3 ball for all your help and good ideas!

 

[3Ball]

NP, man I hope all works out well for ya! Good luck.

Best,

3Ball

 

[rashod0]

I'm sure you have no idea but I rechecked those settings in the bios you brought up, here is what I have:

NB Vcore: Auto (other options: 1.25v,1.45v,1.55v,1.65v)
SB Vcore: Auto (other options: 1.50v,1.60v,1.70v,1.80v)
ICH Chipset Voltage (other options: 1.50v,1.60v,1.70v,1.80v)

I guess since it seems stable I really don't need to worry about it but don't know anything about those. Should I even bother messing with those other options?

 

[3Ball]

Well those are some odd voltages for me since mine goes from 1.20v to 1.45 and goes in increments of 5v, but if you arent able to get it prime stable I would just say to move the NB vCore to 1.45 and see how that works for ya.

Best,

3Ball