E8400 OC on P5Q-Pro

[wte]

I'm a newbie. The most overclocking ive ever done was on a Q6600. I overclocked that to 3.0 using BSEL mod(LOL)

But anyways, I got a new build, and was wondering how to crank up this thing to 3.6-4.0 ghz.

Here is my system:

Antec 900
Antec TruePower Trio 550W
ASUS P5Q-PRO
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0 Ghz
EVGA 9800 GX2
500GB WD SATA
2gb Corsair DDR2-800
Asus Xonar DX Sound Card


Can someone help me step by step please? I have read the tutorials, but this voltage stuff confuses me :/

 

[wte]

anyone?

 

[richardscott]

for 4ghz up the vcore to 1.4 mem to 2.1 or 1.8 whatever they are rated for, then change fsb to 445, the check for stabilty with prime 95 and tems with real temp, if they aproach 70 then restart and lower vcore, if its stable then you can procede to lower the voltage untill its lowest while being stable, if you need to you might have to increase the mch(northbridge) voltage a little.

 

[richardscott]

sorry you will also have to lower mem timeings, your mem will most likely hold you back, dont go above 2.2v for mem.

 

[wte]

so i have to change the ram settings also?

 

[wte]

my fan stays at 1900-2000 rpm. I know it can go faster than that. When I prime95 it, it stays at 2000 rpm and the temps go above 70C.

 

[MaDMagik]

Generally i think that fsb 400 would be good starting point, i would also set lower vcore to start with, like 1.30 - 1.35 I would also leave the timings alone for a while if youre not sure what youre doing, but you have to watch the ram ratio: if you set your fsb at 400mhz(360x9=3600mhz) you would want 1:1 ratio so your ram runs at this speed as well(ddr 800).When going for higher fsb ram will run faster too, so you have to have an eye on that - you can see the actual ram speed changes as you change fsb in the p5qpro bios. My corsair xms2 ddr800 2x1gb can handle up to 980mhz so i think your should have nice margin on that too. As for voltage, like richardscott said earlier you just have to work out the lowest possible thats stable in prime95. They say thet every chip/setup is different so you just have to try various vcore settings, do a lot of testing and be patient good luck and post your results

 

[wte]

Well i have the same ram as you do.

And I tried 4.0 ghz, i prime95'd it with the maximum heat consumption option, and it goes above 70 in like 2 minutes. It's stable, I tried playing crysis and css for a couple of hours, the temps are at 60c.

 

[richardscott]

you will now need to lover the vcore a notch at a time to see if you can get the load temps below 70c if not then you have to get a better cooler, or try to reseat the hs and apply as5.

 

[locky28]

Slight hi-jack here, I've got a similar setup and want to do a simple O/C up to 3.6Ghz just by changing the FSB up to 400MHZ (to keep RAM at 1:1) with the stock cooler and good case ventillation, can I expect to be able to do this without adjusting any voltages?

Waiting on one of my fans to be delivered to get extra airflow over ram, cpu and nb.

Also, if I'm only doing a simple FSB bump, would I be able to leave the power saving features C1E, C2E or whatever they are turned on? To my understanding these just lower the multiplier so it'd be good if I could have a 3.6Ghz O/C but still have it automatically clock down when I'm not using it fully to reduce power.

Thanks

 

[wte]

i kept everything the same, and 3.6 should work without any other modifications. Try that first, then prime95 it to see if its stable and the temperatures are ok <70c

 

[MaDMagik]

Whoa! Your post is very helpful, isnt it?

Locky, i would leave c1e/speedstep on as you dont really overclock that much. I also think your cpu should easily handle 3.6ghz at stock values

 

[wte]

i have a question. when i check speedfan, why does it say that the Vcore is 1.36? I set it to 1.4 in my bios

 

[richardscott]

thats whats called vdrop its the change from bios to cpu-z etc.

 

[wte]

so its normal?

 

[Homeboy2]

so its normal?

yep

 

[MaDMagik]

I wouldnt say a word if you wrote it like that to start with. Bear in mind guy says hes a newbie, so I believe your post might not have helped him much. Neither have this one so maybe lets just leave it.

 

[wte]

lol who cares. i thought madmagik was talking to locky for sub-hijacking this thread. but oh well.

temperatures go pretty high, about 43 idle, 70+ prime95. But when I play demanding games(crysis, far cry 2, fallout 3), temperatures go around 60-65.

 

[MaDMagik]

Are you on stock cooling? Guess if you want to run it OCd all the time than you should get a decent cooler. What vcore did you end up with?

 

[wte]

yeah im on stock cooling. i put in 1.4 as my vcore. I tried lowering it, but it gets hotter.

 

[wte]

actually im thinking about buying a cpu cooler. which one would be best for less than $50?

 

[richardscott]

ximatec not sure how much it costs tho or a true

 

[wte]

this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023

 

[richardscott]

yea thats the one.