E4300 doesnt like 400mhz FSB

[MadCow809]

hi all you clever cpu wizards out there, i have a slight problem here. After reading quite a few threads about the E4300's OC ability, i decided to buy one to play around with it. The mobo is DFI P965-s, ocz ddr2 800 ram 1gb x 2 and a xion 600w psu.

at first i got the cpu to run 266mhz without a problem, no voltage change, nothing... after that the pc starts getting unstable, so i upped the voltage for the cpu and ram and tried it again. CPU runs 300mhz reluctantly, but after more voltage for the cpu, ram and NB, the CPU finally settles at 333Mhz without too much hassle. My aim is 400mhz which will give me a speed of 3.6ghz (400 x 9) but i am having problem with pc booting up at 400mhz. Nothing responds, a black screen indicates that the cpu doesnt like that fsb setting.

HELP!!!! what am i doing wrong here??

CPU ~ 334mhz x 9.0 = 3ghz ~ 1.440v
RAM ~ 835Mhz ~ 2.1v

 

[MadCow809]

*bump* btw i checked my BIOS settings, all CPU features(C1E etc...) are diabled.

 

[evilr00t]

*bump* btw i checked my BIOS settings, all CPU features(C1E etc...) are diabled.

You'll probably be able to hit 3.6GHz on liquid helium cooling at 1.8Vcore at somewhere north of 240W of heat. Remember, +0.05V = +100MHz!

No, seriously. If your chip won't run at 3GHz at stock voltage, your chip isn't going to hit more than ~3.2 (360 FSB) without serious juice - we're talking 1.475V and higher.

Lower your overclock target.

 

[MadCow809]

i have, not fsb but ratio wise.. i lowered the ratio to 8X and still no luck, CPU battles to pull above 350.. you blokes rekon i should up the voltage more??? is it gonna fry my cpu?

 

[evilr00t]

i have, not fsb but ratio wise.. i lowered the ratio to 8X and still no luck, CPU battles to pull above 350.. you blokes rekon i should up the voltage more??? is it gonna fry my cpu?

FSB wall. You'll have to settle for 9x350=3150 unless you want to get a new chip; I suggest the E6420/6750.

 

[starcraftfanatic]

i never knew liquid helium existed!

 

[MadCow809]

*bump*

tried to push to 370 last nite and no luck with the FSB : (

this is gonna be my last attempt to OC

btw, here are some BIOS screenshots, please take a look and tell me if im doing anything stupid.

thanks in advance

 

[evilr00t]

*bump*

tried to push to 370 last nite and no luck with the FSB : (

this is gonna be my last attempt to OC

btw, here are some BIOS screenshots, please take a look and tell me if im doing anything stupid.

thanks in advance

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/MadCow809/PC/voltage.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/MadCow809/PC/cpuspeed.jpg

You've cranked many voltages. Are you sure all of the adjustments are necessary? (vMCH seems very unnecessary; vTT shouldn't really do very much.)

Your RAM is running with a 5:4 multiplier. That reduces performance. Run it in sync with the CPU [real DDR speed of 2x the FSB speed, so in your screenshot your RAM should be running at DDR2-667 not DDR2-835]. This might be limiting your overclock.

 

[MadCow809]

thanks for the advise.

what program can i use to test my ram performance & speed? i want to turn the ram speed down a bit so i can oc more.

thanks again

 

[MadCow809]

*bump*

tried sis sandra

here is the screenshot (running at DDR2 835)

and this is what happens when i lower the ram down (DDR2 667)

: ( the performance seems to dropped a lot, but im gonna try and raise the FSB instead.

- quick update : PC booted at 370Mhz FSB, but crashed at the windows splash screen, so i went back to my original setting. Looks like 400mhz is just a dream.... but what boggles me is that there are a lot of ppl that are running 400+ using standard aircool, some can even hit 500. So theoratically 400Mhz should be a piece of cake, what am i doing wrong ??? im so confused

- another update : CPU booted at 401Mhz, but crashed when trying to get into windows. In fact, ive tried all speed from 360 ~ 400. All of them are bootable, but can not get into windows, never mind running stress test.

 

[evilr00t]

You're right--in general, increasing RAM clock increases performance. However, Anand ran an article about P965 ram multipliers and it showed that while bandwidth increased, that performance didn't improve. In your situation, you should try to max the FSB with the RAM running in sync, then tighten the memory timings. This way you won't be limited by your RAM's maximum clock speed (which is DDR2-800, if I recall). Use memtest86+ to test memory stability.

 

[MadCow809]

And thats what i did, i dropped the RAM down to 667, running in sync with my CPU FSB, and i tried to push the FSB up. The only difference with the ram running at a lower speed is that i can get the PC to boot up with amazing FSB speed, but despite the boot up, some FSB speed (from 360Mhz to 401Mhz) cant past the POST screen, some cant make it past the windows splash screen.

I guess i will have to settle with this current setting, maybe its just my CPU.

Thanks again for your advise

 

[jae81]

its prob the cpu limit i can't pass 376x9 on mine, its orthos stable on this spd but anything above that it won't even post unless cranking vcore voltage 1.55V+(bios).

 

[MadCow809]

so are you saying that i should crank up the voltage more??

is it safe?

 

[jae81]

the only ocing i call safe, is ocing max on recommended voltage and staying under the thermal spec .... but imho intel don't bust that easily and if it reaches its max temp it will throttle but for air cooling you should really not go over 1.5V as your temps will get a bit high ... i try to keep my max clock between 1.4~1.5 vcore, after vdroop.



just from my experience wit the e4300 this is how i got a bit more fsb;

trying diff bios
upping voltage +.2V on both nb and mch, +.1V pcie
pcie was locked at 120mhz (i know it sounds stupid but increasing this got me more fsb)
running mem at 1:1 with fsb (any other ratio would not b stable)
and upping vcore voltage ofcourse i have it at 1.525V in bios, board vdroops around .04v, on load droops .02 more

before my sweet spot was at 3.22ghz now its at 3.38ghz with extra tweaking ...

you'll start knowing that your cpu has reached its limit when you start needing huge vcore voltage for an extra 50mhz

from what i see, your memory, motherboard shouldn't be holding back ur oc so its prob your cpu reaching its limits. you could crank up a bit more voltage in the cpu, c how much you vdroop in windows and try staying under 1.5 after vdroop and c how it goes ...

 

[MadCow809]

Thanks for the reply,

1) i have already flashed my bios, its now running the latest version according the the DFI site.

2) Im going to try and raise the voltage for my NB a bit more, but one thing that im not sure is why do i need to raise my PCI-E voltage?

3) Tried 1:1 but the problem is the same, thus i left my ram speed at DDR2 835 for a better memory performance. I will change it down to 1:1 for OC.

4) Yeah, ive noticed the same as well.. even though i changed the NB voltage to 1.4v, the board automatically dropped it down to like 1.37v.

finally.. like what you said, i think i got a crappy cpu, i have probably reached the limit, but thanks for the advise, i will try up the voltage more then. : )

 

[jae81]

pci-e voltage? to tell u the truth i don't know either ... it was in a forum or review on mb's somewhere that as u overclock the pcie past 100mhz and add a bit of voltage u can increase your fsb which doesn't make sense to me either as you're really dealing with your nb ... worked for me though ... maybe its an overall stability thing on the mb

 

[MadCow809]

well thanks for the tip, im gonna try up teh voltage a bit tonite and aim for 370

thanks