E8400 Overclocking

[nazgarl]

Hey guys im new to this and just built my first computer
I'm looking to OC my E8400 to 3.6 on stock cooling
I've never done this befor and ive taken it upon myself to learn about it.. if you could correct me or give me any light in this subject that would be greatly appreciated
Mobo : P45-DS3

BIOS>
Enable CPU Host Clock Control
CPU Host Frequency > 400mhz
PCI Express Frequency > 100mhz
System Memory multiplier > 2.00B
When this is all selected the memory frequency seems to be @
800 726
is this right? Realtemp shows my cores idle at 29*C and im using antec 1200 so it should run cool enough OC'ed??
thanks

 

[nazgarl]

Bump
can someone just tell me if this is right so i can go ahead and do it plz?

 

[V3NOM]

err what are you asking? what the memory freq should be? what RAM have you got?

 

[nazgarl]

I've got 4 gig of OCZ DDR2 Ram at 800mhz
I just wanna know if the system memorly multiplier should be 2.00B (not A or any other letter)
And if the memory frequency is spose to stay at 800 for both, or is it fine as what its showing?

 

[RyanS2000]

If your FSB is set at 400 and mem multiplier of 2, your total memory speed should be 800mhz, not 726. You are probably going to want to keep the memory multiplier at 2 because if you go any higher then your memory speed will exceed its specification of 800mhz.

FSB x Mem Multiplier = memory speed

Your current setup = 400 x 2.0 = 800

29C is normal idle temp for that clock. My E8400 idles at 31C @ 4.0ghz so 29C at 3.6ghz sounds about right.

What is your BIOS CPU voltage (vcore) setting?

 

[nazgarl]

Arg, its actually 29*C idle at 3.0ghz.. no overclock :/
is that ****? lol

 

[RyanS2000]

Arg, its actually 29*C idle at 3.0ghz.. no overclock :/
is that ****? lol

No that's still normal. When I was trying to determine my idle temps for calibration of a temperature monitoring program I underclocked and undervolted my e8400 to minimum levels and it idled at around 29C.

 

[nazgarl]

Hmm ok i did it in the bios, saved it
it started booting up, crashed
started booting up, crashed
then booted up, now that i look at CPU-Z it says it says FSB still at 333, so OC failed i take it lol
So do I need to change any of the voltage or anything? i believe its on auto at the moment

 

[RyanS2000]

Yeah, try setting the voltage at 1.3 in BIOS and try to boot at 3.6ghz. You should have no problem. I was able to run a stable 3.6ghz at stock voltage. Run prime95 or OCCT for a few hours and keep bumping down the voltage until you crash again, then go back and set it 1 higher than your crash voltage. It is a time consuming process but its best to keep your cpu at the lowest possible stable voltage. My e8400 @ 4ghz runs stable at 1.3875 bios CPU voltage

On my mobo, the bios sets the Manual Clock setting option to false which puts my FSB back at the default 333. All of my other bios settings are left untouch. Your mobo probably does something similar.

 

[jay_l_a]

I don't recommend 3.6Ghz on stock cooling.

 

[nazgarl]

Maybe 3.4Ghz?
Anyways when i put the Vcore to 1.3 and changed it from Turbo to Standard in the bios it still crashed like twice then booted up, so i changed it back to its stable settings
Did i do something wrong?

 

[RyanS2000]

Maybe 3.4Ghz?
Anyways when i put the Vcore to 1.3 and changed it from Turbo to Standard in the bios it still crashed like twice then booted up, so i changed it back to its stable settings
Did i do something wrong?

Being your E8400 may be requiring higher voltage to run 3.6ghz, an aftermarket cooler may not be a bad idea. My E8400 was able to run 3.6ghz with a very minor voltage increase so my temps were at a safe low with my stock cooler (when I was @ 3.6ghz).

Did you do any changes to your memory settings? It's hard to tell you what to change\fix without knowing exactly what settings have been adjusted. A crash is not always linked directly to cpu clock\voltage settings. As I found out, even the slightest tweak to your memory that your system doesn't agree with can cause a crash.

 

[nazgarl]

Only thing i changed with my memory was the multiplier to X2
actually now that you mention it in the last 2 days ive had 2 blue screens of death, physical memory dumping so perhaps there is a problem with my RAM or another part?

 

[RyanS2000]

I would try starting from scratch. Do you see a "Load optimized Defaults" option in BIOS? Have you ran that yet? I would do that and start from scratch. Start with a minor OC only with no increase in voltage. If it fails to boot, go back and up the voltage a notch and try again. Leave the mem multiplier as is for now

 

[nazgarl]

So what should i put the Vcore as when im trying the minor OC's? i mean whats a good starting voltage point

 

[jay_l_a]

Not trying to sound like a jacka$$ here, but have you read the overclocking guide?
It may be that you DON'T need to increase your vcore.
Check this thread from earlier in the year, might shed some light on your situation.


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246147-29-e8400-overclock-6ghz-problems

 

[nazgarl]

I changed the FSB to 380, 3.4ghz. PIC-E to 100 and left the Vcore and memory multiplier on its optimized settings
it booted up which is good, i'd be happy to leave it at 3.4
How long should i run Prime95 for to test stability? also which option and how many loops

 

[jay_l_a]

Some say 8 hours. Some say 12, some 24.
If it runs for 10 minutes with no errors, I'd say you were on the right track o/c-wise.

READ the link I posted above to an older thread. It's all in there.

Do some reading around the subject, you'll find you have a far better understanding, and will get a better overclock.

 

[RyanS2000]

I always go by 24 hours to be sure, but thats just me. I have had prime95 errors at 12+ hours in the past so I like to do 24 hour runs.