e5200 overclocking help please

I believe a tjmax of 95C is correct for a wolfdale. The maximum safe 24/7 voltage is 1.4V in the bios. If you keep the temperature below 70C maximum load, you should be fine. I like to shoot for 60C maximum. That gives a cushion that allows for variations in room temperature and dust build up.

Thanks.   Also, I've been using prime for my testing. Should I be using linpack? It generates a lot more heat than prime. Is prime a good enough test for a gaming system?

I use prime95 small ffts for testing. It stresses the cpu a lot and will generate more heat that normal use with games or programs running at 100% load. That's all that's needed.

Hmm yeah. I guess anything I'm running won't touch what prime's doing to my cpu. Well, so far my $80 e5200 is running 3.5ghz (333x10.5). I've raised the voltage in the bios up to 1.3V which shows 1.232V under load in CPU-Z. Temps are pretty solid at 60°C with a tjmax of 95°C running small ffts. Great chip so far; 1ghz overclock before I even get to use my new hsf. Beats the crap out of the 3800+ x2 running 2ghz that wouldn't overclock at all.

One more question though: everest has 2 different temps for the CPU. It has the core temps then it has a separate CPU temp. What is that other one that doesn't seem to be tied to a core? Previously, it was always lower than the two core temps. Now, it's at 65°C while my cores are at 60°C. Any ideas?

Mate you're lucky, you got a nice chip. I had to up mine at 1,4 and close to 1,45Vcore for 3,83Ghz OC. Anyways, I've seen people go as far as 1,505V at 4Ghz on air with this baby. What a great CPU this is. At 3,83Ghz at full load, I never reach 60C. How "cool" is that?? hehehe!!

Was that 3.83 ghz prime 95 stable?

Yeah, you do have a good chip. My e7200 maxes out at 3.7Ghz prime95 stable at 1.4V. Probably that second "cpu"reading in everest is actually your northbridge temperature. And 65C is getting a little hot. You may want to attach a 40mm fan to it to keep it cool.

Yeah, I ordered a 40x40x10mm fan when I ordered my big hsf a couple days ago. I had read that p35 NBs needed extra cooling. Before I even turned it on the first time, I pulled a fan off an amd hsf that was sitting around and kinda stuck it near the NB. It doesn't quite fit between my video card and the stock hsf for my e5200 though so it's not getting good airflow through the NB hs.

It has a 12.5 multiplier for $83 on newegg. WOW. nice deal.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLA...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I have a e7200 at 3.8Ghz, 400 x 9.5 @ 1.33v stable for six months and a few hours originally on prime95. My temps never get over 57c under load with prime95 or with games. It is on air, a golden orb 2.

Point is with air cooling you should be fine at your current 3.16Ghz. With good air cooling you should be able to go a bit higher.

look at the guides for voltages and temps.

temp guide:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/221745-29-core-quad-t...


OC guide:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overc...

I would go with 400 x 8 or so. That way you can use a 2:1 ration for your 800Mhz DDR2.

hehe, i just bought one, waiting for the S1283 backplate + another fan to arrive in the mail then i assemble it tonight   personally, because i don't throw out computers or leave them lying around (ie, give em to relatives/dad.) i will give mine a max vcore of 1.3625, which should give it years of life  

regarding tjmax, i am almost 100% sure it is 100C, because according to intel, 45nm chips (it gave examples as 7000 and 8000 series, i am therefore ASSUMING that the e5200 is the same) have a 100C tjmax. i have a document to prove it too  

for max stability, i would suggest a 10 or 11x multi.

anywho, thats just my two bob, i will post prolly in a few days with my ocing results (if that's ok with OP? not an eXtreme thread jack i guesss...)

V3NOM

@50bmg: I would run 400 x something but my fsb won't go over 385 no matter how much voltage I give the fsb or mch. I figure it's not that big a deal. I only paid $60 for this open-box GA-EP35-DS3L; I got the cpu with a 12.5x multi so it wouldn't matter...and 'cause it was cheap...and 'cause it's a great processor.  

@V3NOM: I never throw away computers either; someone always gets the ones I'm done with too. I'm prolly going to give it up to 1.4V later tonight when my hsf comes in then drop the overclock down a bit when I pass it off here in a few months when I get my core i7 system. Either way, definitely post your results with the e5200 also. This chip is awesome.

Do most of you guys use the BIOS to adjust the FSB, voltage and multiplier or do you use third party software?

Thanks

BIOS definitely.

dammit, i lapped my e5200 and it's REALLY concave in the middle   . i'm talking hundreds of laps, hours of work, on 340 grit sandpaper, and theres a frikin lump of aluminium/silver looking stuff surrounded by the copper  

Agreed. Definitely bios. Those programs just aren't trusted. Also, I can't imagine having to set the overclock back up every time I rebooted...so annoying. Some people use the programs for quick, temporary tests but for any sustained overclocks, definitely use the bios.

v3nom, ouch... It runs fairly cool with an aftermarket hsf. That wasn't necessary either... Well, I guess you got more hours of work. I don't know what to say. When it's done it'll have improvement?

At least your not like me and broke two fans believing you could easily switch motors between them. Oh well, wasn't going to use neither of the two anyways. LOL!

I also got an e5200 on a GA-EP35-DS3L overclocked to 3.9ghz with my ram @ 780MHZ 4-4-4-12.

My temps are cool. This is a GREAT chip. Very damn good bang for the buck. I have no regrets.

These are the settings I used..

Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Fast
CPU Clock Ratio ____________ [10]
Fine Clock Ratio ____________[0.0]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [390]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [100]
C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [2.00]
Memory Frequency_______________[780]
DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]

Performance Enhance = [Standard]

CAS Latency Time________________ 4
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________ 4
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______ 4
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________ 12

ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_________4
Rank Write to READ Delay________6
Write to Precharge Delay________6
Refresh to ACT Delay____________42
Read to Precharge Delay_________6
Static tRead Value______________10
Static tRead Phase Adjust_______Auto

System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.2v]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [Normal]
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.3V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.3V]
CPU Voltage Control_______ [1.425]

Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1459/39ghzfc1.png

And yes, this is stable.  

well i got my e5200 stable @ 3.75GHz (300x12.5 i believe), but am having motherboard stability issues at 333 so..

edit: msi P45 Neo3-FR mobo btw, better heatsink and cheaper than the gigabyte but i still think i should have got the gigabyte anyway...

I got mine up to 3.75Ghz also (375x10). I had it higher but wanted to stay at 1.4V in the bios so dropped it back down. The e5200 is definitely a great buy.  

As a side note, I also got my ram running 4-4-3-12, tRD 5 at 900mhz with no voltage increases (the ram/fsb/mch voltages seem to do nothing when I'm only at 375fsb). All of it is linpack and blend stable and I haven't seen any problems gaming.  

I cant get my e5200 past 400FSB and I think it's the RAM keeping it back.

Looking to buy some new ram..

I bought an e5200 recently with very high hopes of attaining that magic 4ghz but I am sad to say that I was sorely dissapointed, turned out my e5200 would not post 1 mhz above 312mhz FSB regardless of how much vcore I pumped into it. So very low FSB wall right off the bat. Then after a week or so and countless hours tweaking and fiddling with RAM ratios and trying everything my 650i Ultra bios had at it's disposal, I arrived at 3.7ghz on 1.45v maximum OC. 296 X 12.5 RAM @ 1:1... I'm thinking of slapping it in my brother's P5Q board to see if the Nvidia chipset could be the problem. I could also just have a crap sample. After a few days trawling the forums I have found that what I'm getting is pretty much the average out there. Suppose its all goog for what it cost's right?

I'd say 3.7ghz for $80 is pretty nice imo.   4ghz is common with these but by no means a guarantee. They often hit low fsb walls from what I've read. Realistically though, the difference between 3.7ghz and 4ghz is negligible for most intents and purposes.

Then again, I've heard bad things about that chipset. Since it shouldn't take but a few minutes to screw around on the p5q, I'd go ahead and try it. I don't think it's worth the extra $60+ to get a new board for a few hundred extra mhz even if you do find out it's the chipset but it's worth the few minutes just to know what the problem is. Kinda defeats the purpose of buying an $80 processor if you buy a new board though...