First of all, my system specs are:
Antec True Power II 550W
Intel Bad Axe Rev 306 using the latest stock BIOS
OCZ Special Ops Edition DDR2 667 memory (rated at 4-4-4-12 and 1.9v but lifetime warranty up to 2.2v)
Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz stock)
Zalman 9500 Copper fan with Arctic Silver 5
eVGA GeForce 7950GT
Zalman VGA Copper fan
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/build1.jpg
To overclock my CPU to 3.1 GHz, I went into the Advanced Chipset menu of the BIOS and set the host burn-in to positive 30%. I left PCI and PCI Express burn-ins to default. Then I bumped up the MCH voltage to 1.525v and the FSB voltage to 1.271v. For 1:1 ratio, I set the memory to 553 MHz 5-5-5-15 at 2.2v. My BIOS does not have a strap setting (is that what the burn-in does?), no power slope (supposedly this automatically ramps up the CPU voltage when under load), or CPU voltage (is that what the FSB voltage override does?) settings. Of course, I disabled the Intel Speed Step feature, and I set all the fans to the max. It was Prime95 stable for a 3 hour test, and my CPU is now running at 3.1 GHz.
Then, I brought down the memory to 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v and Prime95 tested overnight. Stable, and the 3D Mark results are wonderfully tempting.
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/overclock.png
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/3dmark_results.png
Temperatures seem a little uncomfortably high (word around the street is the board sensors are 10C too high... can someone verify?). The idle was 40C and load at 50C at stock frequencies... now its 43C idle and 58C load.
So I took down the MCH voltage to stock, and ran Prime95 for three hours... still stable.
Then, I brought the memory back down to 1.9v. I'm running Prime95 right now... it's been almost an hour, and things seem stable. Now I just have the FSB voltage at 1.271v.
My question is... are these voltages reasonable for the 3.1 GHz overclock? I'm completely new to overclocking, so I have no idea beyond here. I can just keep listing all of my questions: Should I bring all of the lowered voltages back up as a safety net? Was I overvolting the system to begin with? Should I bring down the FSB voltage and run it at stock as well? Am I undervolting the system for my 3.1 GHz clock speed? Is one instance of Prime95 an adequate stability test? How long should I run it? What I don't want to do is kill my system (or any components)... is this overclocking a bad idea then? Should I go back to stock speeds? How much of a lifetime should I expect of my PC? Am I doing something extremely stupid that I haven't picked up on? How unstable is my PC going to be? Will I fry anything?
I would greatly appreciate it if an experienced OCer could fill me in on all of the details. I don't plan on maxing my system out... I just want a stable speed boost for day-to-day computing that won't introduce risk of frying things. How much risk is there at this point? What can I do to correct that risk?
Antec True Power II 550W
Intel Bad Axe Rev 306 using the latest stock BIOS
OCZ Special Ops Edition DDR2 667 memory (rated at 4-4-4-12 and 1.9v but lifetime warranty up to 2.2v)
Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz stock)
Zalman 9500 Copper fan with Arctic Silver 5
eVGA GeForce 7950GT
Zalman VGA Copper fan
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/build1.jpg
To overclock my CPU to 3.1 GHz, I went into the Advanced Chipset menu of the BIOS and set the host burn-in to positive 30%. I left PCI and PCI Express burn-ins to default. Then I bumped up the MCH voltage to 1.525v and the FSB voltage to 1.271v. For 1:1 ratio, I set the memory to 553 MHz 5-5-5-15 at 2.2v. My BIOS does not have a strap setting (is that what the burn-in does?), no power slope (supposedly this automatically ramps up the CPU voltage when under load), or CPU voltage (is that what the FSB voltage override does?) settings. Of course, I disabled the Intel Speed Step feature, and I set all the fans to the max. It was Prime95 stable for a 3 hour test, and my CPU is now running at 3.1 GHz.
Then, I brought down the memory to 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v and Prime95 tested overnight. Stable, and the 3D Mark results are wonderfully tempting.
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/overclock.png
http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/~chuck/3dmark_results.png
Temperatures seem a little uncomfortably high (word around the street is the board sensors are 10C too high... can someone verify?). The idle was 40C and load at 50C at stock frequencies... now its 43C idle and 58C load.
So I took down the MCH voltage to stock, and ran Prime95 for three hours... still stable.
Then, I brought the memory back down to 1.9v. I'm running Prime95 right now... it's been almost an hour, and things seem stable. Now I just have the FSB voltage at 1.271v.
My question is... are these voltages reasonable for the 3.1 GHz overclock? I'm completely new to overclocking, so I have no idea beyond here. I can just keep listing all of my questions: Should I bring all of the lowered voltages back up as a safety net? Was I overvolting the system to begin with? Should I bring down the FSB voltage and run it at stock as well? Am I undervolting the system for my 3.1 GHz clock speed? Is one instance of Prime95 an adequate stability test? How long should I run it? What I don't want to do is kill my system (or any components)... is this overclocking a bad idea then? Should I go back to stock speeds? How much of a lifetime should I expect of my PC? Am I doing something extremely stupid that I haven't picked up on? How unstable is my PC going to be? Will I fry anything?
I would greatly appreciate it if an experienced OCer could fill me in on all of the details. I don't plan on maxing my system out... I just want a stable speed boost for day-to-day computing that won't introduce risk of frying things. How much risk is there at this point? What can I do to correct that risk?