Overclocking Instability w/ Asus P5N-E

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

My setup is in my sig, and I can't seem to overclock and have it run for more than 15 minutes without crapping out and restarting.

I set the CPU to run at 2.8 GHz, with a voltage of 1.38, set the RAM at 800MHz, 4-4-4-12 2T and voltage at 2.18. I can't change the NB voltage, which is a bummer, because I bet that would help if I bumped the voltage up a little. I am using stock cooling and it's at 50c.

Is this possibly a temperature problem, voltage problem, or configuration problem? Kindly help me out here. Thanks.

 

[Dave_McMahon]

What is your PSU? Check PSU with multimeter in a molex.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

Ok I managed to get it stable, but only at 2.6 GHz I was hoping to hit 3GHz, but I can't yet. It must be the CPU then, or at least a setting. According to my PSU's specs, it's a 600 Watt, dual rail, 22 amps on each rail, 2 PCI-E connectors. It's a Xion PowerReal XON600.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

1.425? Are you serious? Man, won't that cook the CPU?

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

Ok I set it at 1.425 and 401, it seems to be good for now. I'm about to play BF2142, let's see if it can handle it.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

Oh man, I wouldn't have thought that cranking up the vcore would actually help. It did. thanks a ton!!

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

WOW! Not only has it been stable, but it ran all night without restarting.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

450? Ok so that's like 3.1 GHz, right? Do I keep the voltage at 1.425 or do I bring it higher? Do I have to change anything with the RAM? Currently it's at 800 4-4-4-12 2T and vdimm is at 2.1

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

I had to take it to 1.5, or else Windows would crash during loading. Will stock cooling handle this?

 

[uri]

From what I remember reading to get this board to be stable you should add a 40mm fan to the NB HS and add an HS to the southbridge.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

There's an 80mm fan blowing on the NB and a 120mm blowing across the SB. Ya I had to take the voltage up to 1.52 because the Sandra Lite CPU benchmark would cause the computer to restart, so I raised the vcore and it passed. It's at 52c. Is that too high? What temp should I be at if running at 3.1 GHz?

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

For the SB?

 

[jeremyrailton]

I pulled a NB heatsink off an old broken board to put on my SB, attached it with a tie strap, replaced the NB heatsink with a thermalright HR-05. upped the NB voltage just a hair. my e6600 runs at 3.25 stock voltage. totally stable. it's a good board, you just gotta make it happy.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

What's the stock voltage for the NB on this board?

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

Ok the CPU seems to be at 64c when playing a game. Is this too high?

 

[jeremyrailton]

yeah that's a little hot, C2D's aren't really supposed to go much above 60 i think. Just a thought, you really don't need your processor to be overclocked that high, you might think about backing off the voltage to reduce temps. Either that, or buy a better cooler like the other guy said. Unless you're running an 8800gtx, your vid card will bottleneck your system before the processor does. It does feel good just to have it cranked high, though. Kind of a Tim the tool man thing.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

I won't be able to buy an after-market cooler for another month or so, but it should be fine where it is then according to what you guys are saying.

 

[sgtdisturbed47sgtd]

Oh Christ Almighty, I was looking at GPU temp, not CPU temp lol! My CPU is still running at 52c under load. It doesn't seem to change whether it's at idle or under load. I guess I don't need that after-market cooler after all.

 

[jeremyrailton]

haha, nice. BTW, i didn't mean that a C2D couldn't go over 60, it just probably shouldn't stay that high unless you're planning on changing hardware fairly frequently. Most people who post in here are, though, so shine on.

 

[theonejrs]

sgtdisturbed47sgtd,
I would be a bit concerned that the temp doesn't go down at idle. My E4300 temp drops like a brick from loaded to unloaded. maybe 2 or 3 seconds to go from mid-50s to 29-30C, and I've got it OC'd to 3.275GHz. I'm using an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (WPM) to cool it on a GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 v1.33 MB.

I also have the CPU Smart Fan enabled as it works better than just letting the CPU fan roar away at top speed. Much quieter and it also runs cooler.

I don't know what you are using to display your temps, but I use Everest Ultimate Edition 2007 and have it set up to display Fan speed and the temps for HD, GPU, Core 1, Core 2, CPU and MB. It also reports the CPU speed, as I have C1E (thermal management) turned on in the set-up, so it runs at 2.2GHz at idle and 3.275GHz when it needs more. Doesn't affect performance in any way. Same benchmarks and super Pi

Theonejrs