- Nov 4, 2007
- 5
- 0
- 18,510
I'm new to this, as this is my first system build.
I built myself (with help, mind you) this computer and found that I was really enjoying tweaking it. For some odd reason though, I didn't try looking up guides for OCing until after I started OCing (I know, smart, right?). Thankfully, though, nothing damaging happened during that period, as I was only trying small FSB increases.
After reading up on the topic, I tried raising the FSB up higher values. I use CoreTemp, Prime95, and Everest. I had my memory speed locked at 800 MHz (I discovered that trying to have a linked ratio caused my computer to not post at FSB speeds above 300 MHz) and the voltage settings on "auto" (big mistake, as I found out a short time ago). Eventually, through many Prime95 tests I found it ran stably at 375 MHz, but crashed at anything higher. However, it also failed to restart at times, forcing me to use the jumper switch on my MB to reset the BIOS, and I had to manually reset the OC settings. This seemed odd to me, so I tried checking the BIOS every time I restarted the computer; I discovered that, with the voltage settings on "auto" caused the VCore to continuously increase with each successive restart, topping out at 1.9 before failing to boot.
That's when I set everything to manual, and stepped up the Voltage by the smallest increments until I found it running stable (Prime95 test 8 hours) at 3.375 GHz at 1.425 v. I never touched any settings with the memory, so I believe they're still at the default settings (I hope; I'm honestly not sure how to check).
Onto my Temp Question:
With every Prime95 test, CoreTemp and Everest were showing my temps jumping from idle (~29*C at 375 FSB) to load (~43*C at 375 FSB) in less than a second. After several minutes the load temp flat lined about 2-3 degrees higher than the initial jump. Then, after the test shut off, the temps instantly jumped back to about 2-3 degrees above idle, and after a few seconds flat lined at my normal idle temp. Is this normal? I would think that the CPU would take longer than that to get from 29* to 45* and vice versa... Also, the CPU temp from the BIOS is anywhere from 10*-15* higher than what CoreTemp and Everest show... I would think the BIOS temp would be the most accurate of the three methods; Thoughts?
Onto my Voltage Question:
Assuming I haven't missed anything, I found my system to run stable at 375 FSB with 1.425 V. In a lot of stuff I've read/heard, people have been reaching 400 FSB with voltages from 1.40-1.45. I tried stepping mine up in the smallest increments all the way up to 1.50 (The max VID Volt Range, as prescribed by Intel - http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9ZL#), and Prime95 wouldn't run for longer than 5 minutes before finding an error. Also, even at 1.50 volts, CoreTemp and Everest were still showing my idle temps hovering around 30*C; I added almost a full tenth of a volt, and didn't really see any increase in temps. Is this normal?
I think my specs are in my sig, but just in case they're not, here they are:
MB ------- Gigabyte GA-N650SLI with a Thermaltake CL-C0034 cooling the NB chipset
CPU ------ Conroe E6600 (@3.375 GHz; 375*9, 1.425 v) with AS5, Zalman CNPS9500
RAM ----- 4 GB of G.Skill DDR2 800 (PC6400)
PSU ------ Kingwin 600W PSU
Graphics - EVGA 640mb 8800GTS
HD ------- Seagate Barracuda ES 500GB 7200 RPM
CASE ---- Sidewinder with a front 80mm intake, a rear Thermaltake A2368 120mm, and a Thermaltake A2375 80mm PCI Slot fan right under the 8800.
I've spent some time reading through some literature and couldn't really find any answers to these questions, so I'm hoping to get some good input from the Tom's Hardware Community. Thanks!
I built myself (with help, mind you) this computer and found that I was really enjoying tweaking it. For some odd reason though, I didn't try looking up guides for OCing until after I started OCing (I know, smart, right?). Thankfully, though, nothing damaging happened during that period, as I was only trying small FSB increases.
After reading up on the topic, I tried raising the FSB up higher values. I use CoreTemp, Prime95, and Everest. I had my memory speed locked at 800 MHz (I discovered that trying to have a linked ratio caused my computer to not post at FSB speeds above 300 MHz) and the voltage settings on "auto" (big mistake, as I found out a short time ago). Eventually, through many Prime95 tests I found it ran stably at 375 MHz, but crashed at anything higher. However, it also failed to restart at times, forcing me to use the jumper switch on my MB to reset the BIOS, and I had to manually reset the OC settings. This seemed odd to me, so I tried checking the BIOS every time I restarted the computer; I discovered that, with the voltage settings on "auto" caused the VCore to continuously increase with each successive restart, topping out at 1.9 before failing to boot.
That's when I set everything to manual, and stepped up the Voltage by the smallest increments until I found it running stable (Prime95 test 8 hours) at 3.375 GHz at 1.425 v. I never touched any settings with the memory, so I believe they're still at the default settings (I hope; I'm honestly not sure how to check).
Onto my Temp Question:
With every Prime95 test, CoreTemp and Everest were showing my temps jumping from idle (~29*C at 375 FSB) to load (~43*C at 375 FSB) in less than a second. After several minutes the load temp flat lined about 2-3 degrees higher than the initial jump. Then, after the test shut off, the temps instantly jumped back to about 2-3 degrees above idle, and after a few seconds flat lined at my normal idle temp. Is this normal? I would think that the CPU would take longer than that to get from 29* to 45* and vice versa... Also, the CPU temp from the BIOS is anywhere from 10*-15* higher than what CoreTemp and Everest show... I would think the BIOS temp would be the most accurate of the three methods; Thoughts?
Onto my Voltage Question:
Assuming I haven't missed anything, I found my system to run stable at 375 FSB with 1.425 V. In a lot of stuff I've read/heard, people have been reaching 400 FSB with voltages from 1.40-1.45. I tried stepping mine up in the smallest increments all the way up to 1.50 (The max VID Volt Range, as prescribed by Intel - http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9ZL#), and Prime95 wouldn't run for longer than 5 minutes before finding an error. Also, even at 1.50 volts, CoreTemp and Everest were still showing my idle temps hovering around 30*C; I added almost a full tenth of a volt, and didn't really see any increase in temps. Is this normal?
I think my specs are in my sig, but just in case they're not, here they are:
MB ------- Gigabyte GA-N650SLI with a Thermaltake CL-C0034 cooling the NB chipset
CPU ------ Conroe E6600 (@3.375 GHz; 375*9, 1.425 v) with AS5, Zalman CNPS9500
RAM ----- 4 GB of G.Skill DDR2 800 (PC6400)
PSU ------ Kingwin 600W PSU
Graphics - EVGA 640mb 8800GTS
HD ------- Seagate Barracuda ES 500GB 7200 RPM
CASE ---- Sidewinder with a front 80mm intake, a rear Thermaltake A2368 120mm, and a Thermaltake A2375 80mm PCI Slot fan right under the 8800.
I've spent some time reading through some literature and couldn't really find any answers to these questions, so I'm hoping to get some good input from the Tom's Hardware Community. Thanks!
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