E4300 Wont boot above 2.2Ghz (n00b needs help!)

Although I can't recall the specifics, I recall a problem I had with a PCI sound card... in simple terms (as best I understand) as I was overclocking my CPU I was also causing the PCI bus speed to increase proportionally... well, that's ok for maybe 1 or 2%, but that PCI card wasn't going to tolerate that. Somewhere in my BIOS (yours will be different) I had an option to force the PCI bus speed to remain a constant 33 instead of adjusting upward with my overclock. I'm by no means an expert with overclocking, but this is something you can look for in your BIOS... can't hurt can it?

Warny, pull out your PCI card and try it again. It should help to narrow down on the cause.
did you set PCI freq at 33 MHz?

what the hell has come over people, using terms such as n00b the last thing we need is people steriotype us a geeks or nerds,

please refrain from this termonlogy

/\
I think somebody was picked on in school.  

Also what is the effective speed for your memory listed at?

I believe your Bios should show an effective speed for memory.

Put your PCI-E to Auto and PCi to 33. Set your FSB RAM ratio 1:1
put your FSB 400 and multipliyer x8. you will be gettin 3.2ghz. set your vNB to 1.55 and fsb termination Voltage 1.45 and Vcore 1.45. and you dont need to mess up with your ram settings.

I think then issue seems to be your memory ratio, when you're running your FSB at 240 your memory is effectively at 960 Mhz. You should manually change the memory to be 1:1 with your FSB. That should solve the problem of going past 240 Mhz. There could be other factors as were mentioned above with the PCI clock being incompatible with your PCI cards, but from your original post it looks like you're running the memory 1:2 and there for just simply pushing the memory too far.

drey

Language police alert!

Sorry, double post.

I think then issue seems to be your memory ratio, when you're running your FSB at 240 your memory is effectively at 960 Mhz. You should manually change the memory to be 1:1 with your FSB. That should solve the problem of going past 240 Mhz. There could be other factors as were mentioned above with the PCI clock being incompatible with your PCI cards, but from your original post it looks like you're running the memory 1:2 and there for just simply pushing the memory too far.

drey

Hi,

I just changed the ratio 1:1 and now running at 250 stable. There is no option to set the PCI bus speed only the PCI-e bus speed. Whats my next step? Increase the bus speed until not-stable? Do I need to up any voltages before hand?

Thanks for everyones help and suggestions

Warny

Yes, just increase the bus speed until Unstable.
Make a Jump to a FSB of 333 which is still not very aggressive.

Then test slightly higher speeds from there.

Once you start getting beyond 333, you may need to start increasing voltages in various places, but best to start there as that is really sort of a watermark that serious OCing may start.

Ok, first of all you are a newb not a noob (subtle difference). Newb = literally new to something. Noob = offensive term to put down someone. You are the former  

Back to your OC. Yes, just keep stepping the FSB up in small increments. Don't increase voltages until you have to. You will crash, you will freeze and things will go wrong, but that is normal. Take it one step at a time. The hard part is figuring out which wall you run into when you become unstable. There are general guidelines but every single board and every single chip is different. This is where experience comes in, it lessens the effort required to diagnose which wall you are hitting.

Give it time. This is a slow and painful process.

Don't go straight to 333..... I had to start increasing vcore around 2.8-2.9GHz. Take it in 10Mhz increments and that should solve any major issues. If you only miss step by a few MHz, your computer will likely still post and you won't lose your settings, but if you jump 50-60Mhz you run the likelihood of not being able to post and having to reset the CMOS in order to boot again. With that comes a lose of all settings.

266FSB is a safe starting point, that puts it at 2.4GHz, on par with a E6600.

Have fun, and don't give up.... OC'ing is a test of patience and will lol.

Edit: Make sure to doe some sort of benching at each new OC level to ensure stability. IE run SuperPi 4 or 8M, or Prime for 5 Min, something to get a feel for how close you are to being unstable.

Hi,

Thanks for the good advice. I am now running @ about 2.6ghz stable 23c idle 50c full load simply by turning the memory multiplier to 1:1.

I have a couple of other questions before I keep going

1) When I'm done OC'ing do I turn back on the things I turned off from reading the guide (CIEST or whatever it was + other similar things). What about running laptop power mode in windows (speedstep) is this OK?

2) Whats the point in my tt120 being connected to the motherboard cpu fan controller when there is a manual fan controller on the back?

3) Does anyone know what I should set the GFX booster option in the BIOS (the ONLY options are Auto, Fast and Turbo)

Thanks again,

Warny

No. When OC'ing never run it in power mode. It manipulates the multi and vcore and this isn't a good idea.



Either let the MB do the fan tuning, or do it manually, those are your options. I'd do it manually.



That I don't know, Honestly.

No. When OC'ing never run it in power mode. It manipulates the multi and vcore and this isn't a good idea.



Either let the MB do the fan tuning, or do it manually, those are your options. I'd do it manually.



That I don't know, Honestly.

So do I leave the fan connected to both the manual control board and the motherboard?

Thanks, W

*I think* it needs to be connected to the MB for power, unless it is connected to a normal 12v rail molex connector. Which exact fan do you have? Just so i can be sure I am not steering you wrong? A link (if possible) would be great. But that's my guess.

Its a Tuniq Tower 120. There are two cables coming out of the fan - one which connects to the mb fan controller and one connects to the manual fan controller. I have both connected.

Cheers

W

Set ram voltage to +.3 mebe even +.4
I have same ram and mobo.
my cpu is at near stock voltage and mch and other are too if not stock.
I did up the ram.
The geil is rated up to 2.4 or 2.5
You can pop it up some.
I'm guessing you have the same version of ram just the 2x512 not 2x1gb.
Good ram but helps when ocing to up it a little.
my cpu is different/binned higher so you might not reach 3.2 on as much stock but it's worth the shot.

I hope this made sense.

Its a Tuniq Tower 120. There are two cables coming out of the fan - one which connects to the mb fan controller and one connects to the manual fan controller. I have both connected.

Cheers

W

Does the one that connects to the MB have a red and black wire? If yes, then that is where it is drawing its power. You can have the MB control the fan if there is a yellow wire along with the black and red wire, without that yellow wire the MB doesn't know the RPM of the fan and can't manipulate the voltage to the fan.

It comes down to choice.... I have the same option as you with my OCZ Tempest, I choose to manually control the temp, but its personal preference.

Manual control = Both needed

Auto control = only the MB fan header is needed.

OK thats my fan issue sorted thanks.

Now, can someone tell me why i should up my ram voltage if im running stable without doing so?

Surely I should ONLY up voltages once I cannot maintain stability?

Thanks

W

Agreed.

Never increase voltage if you aren't stable. You always tweak timings, latency, IO strengths before increasing voltage.

If you are stable..... don't change anything, you are stable. I don't know why anyone would jack up the voltage if they are already stable. If anything, lower it to see if your computer can maintain stability and use less power.

Yup sounds right to me.

OK i've now hit a block at 290mhz bus speed - it occasionally reboots twice in succesion and then the bios disables the manual bus speed control. I upped my memory v bt 0.1v but i dont really know if this was the right thing to do?

Which voltage should i change first? and by how much?

Thanks, W

At this point it may be your vcore that is a bit low, at least that is what I am thinking.

Just increase it by the smallest increment possible.

Hi,

OK well I just read somewhere that the default DDR voltage on the DS3 board is 1.8 and my RAM is rated 1.9-2.3v so my +.1v sounds sensible.

I also noticed that I've still got intel thermal monitor (TM2) still running on the board. Is this linked to speedstep should I turn it off?

Currently at stock voltages except +0.1v on RAM @ 2.79Ghz Stable

Idle Temps 30c(CoreTemp) Load Temps 55c (Dual TAT). TT120 on Medium (ish)

Dont think I'm going to push it much past this. I want the thing to last. Do people think I can get away with more and still get the cpu to last a year or two? I might try to undervolt it?

Thanks

W

The single biggest killer of CPU's is voltage, plain and simple. If you are at stock, the CPU will last 5 yrs (give or take), if you stay with in the +/- 10% rule it should last ~2.5-3 years. Heat is the second biggest killer, stay under ~65c should be safe.

Your RAM may be a bit undervolted based on the specs.... but again, if you are within rated spec your warranty isn't void and you can be sure it should last several years.

Speedstep should be disabled. TM2 should be linked to Speedstep, but if it is disabled in the BIOS/Windows it shouldn't matter.

My guess is at around 1.425vcore you could hit 3GHz, but the decision is up to you. If you are happy with 2.8 on stock voltage, then keep it.