Should I overclock?

[Dangle64]

Currently in my PC is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, a 7900gs, and 2gb of memory. I have never had a problem with performance in games, until I bought Fallout 3. I wasn't able to run it as well as I could, so I bought (and have not received yet) a 9800gt, and 4gb of ram.

I don't want to buy a new CPU, so I was wondering if it would be beneficial to Overclock my CPU. I have a decent understanding of computers, but have never ventured into overclocking. How difficult would it be to overclock, how would I go about overclocking, and would I notice an improvement in my games?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Dangle

 

[Granite3]

Give us your motherboard specs ( brand, model, etc), and the same for your ram and psu, and we can help you out.

But in general terms, yes to the OC, as every mgz counts, but your 7900 was not bottlenecked by the stock cpu, but the 9800 should benefit.

 

[accu]

i have e6420 and i oc'ed to 2.8. depend on what games you play, but regardless you will definitely see improvement. e6420 @stock is 2.13 and its kinda low for gaming.

 

[megamanx00]

It would be beneficial for you to overclock. For your first time overclocking you should just increase the frontside bus and don't increase the voltage by more than .5v especially if you have the stock cooler on there. Look up some over clocking guides to get yourself started. Increase the speed a little at a time and torture test each setting, I suggest by running it through prime 95, to make sure its stable.

 

[olddman]

One other thought..What OS you using because if it's XP it will only rocgonize 4gig total and that's plus the ram on your video card. So if you put 4gig in, windows will not see it all.

Just so you know if you didn't already..

 

[Dangle64]

Motherboard: MSI P965 Neo
RAM: G.skill DDR2 800 (6400) 4g RAM
PSU: Antec Neo 500w

 

[Dangle64]

Do I overclock in BIOS, or use a program to? And must I also overclock RAM and Video Card, or would that be separate?

Thanks,
Dangle

 

[accu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

you can oc your cpu alone. up to you if you want to oc your video card, but imo its not worth it.

 

[Dangle64]

What does RAM timing mean? I hear people saying they went 5-5-5-5-15 or something when overclocking there CPU, what exactly does that mean, and should I be worried about my RAM timings?

Dangle

 

[accu]

on your 1st try, you should use 5-5-5-15. if your computer is stable then your can change it to 4-4-4-12. you shouldn't be worried about ram timing, since i cant tell the difference between 4-4-4 12 vs 5-5-5 15.

 

[V3NOM]

that 9800GT will be bottlenecked by that cpu unless it is oc'd..

 

[unclefester]

The most important part of OCing is temperature. That being said bump up your fsb 2-5 MHz at time stress testing while watching CPU temps.

 

[Dangle64]

I would like to overclock before I put the new video card and ram in, so I looked in BIOS and wrote down this information.

Dynamic overclocking [Disabled]
Adjusted CPU Clock 2.13 GHz (266x8.0)
Adjusted DDR Memory Frequency 800 MHz
Auto Disable PCI clk [Enabled]
Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
Memory Voltage [2.20V]
PCI Express Voltage [1.5V]
Adjust CPU FSB Frequency [266 MHz]

_____________________________


DRAM Timing [Auto]
4
4
4
12
Memory Hole - Disabled
Peg Force x1 - Disabled

_____________

What should I enable/disable, and what should I set the numbers at?

 

[Dangle64]

I set the FSB to 300, and the Ram is at 5-5-5-15. Seems stable, anything else I should do?

BIOS said max FSB was 333?

 

[V3NOM]

yeah thats probly fair for an old mobo...

 

[Dangle64]

Ok, so max is 333? Not bad, thats 2.66GHz, much better than 2.13. I bumped up to 2.66 then got a blue screen when playing fallout 3. Went down to 2.6 and has not crashed since. Put the RAM back to 4-4-4-12. Should my Voltages be at what they are? I have not changed them, and I have not changed any of the other settings besides the FSB.

Thanks,
Dangle

 

[Dangle64]

Also, I ran CPU-Z and noticed that under the CPU section the multiplier keeps switching from 6 to 8 every few seconds, which causes my core speed to go from 1.9 o 2.6. Is this supposed to happen?

Dangle

 

[Dangle64]

CPU temp is normally around 35C, Ran Prime95, CPU temp was about 50C, while also browsing the web. Then got this:

 

[thebigring]

Also, I ran CPU-Z and noticed that under the CPU section the multiplier keeps switching from 6 to 8 every few seconds, which causes my core speed to go from 1.9 o 2.6. Is this supposed to happen?

Dangle

Look for "C1E" in your BIOS, disable it for now.
It lowers the CPU multiplier to 6 when there is no load to save power.


I would leave your ram @ stock settings for now, if that is 4-4-4-12 then leave it - check on the manufacturers website for specs/voltage.

If you fail a prime95 test , esp. that fast, you need to re-work your overclock.

 

[Dangle64]

CPU-Z info, I disabled C1E, and Lowered FSB slightly and Prime95 didn't find an error for 20 minutes, will test longer tonight.