E6400 OC Noob

[Frasierf1]

Okay, so I think I may go ahead and try to OC my CPU. here are some vitals:
CPU = Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 65W
MoBo = ASUS P5B (just plain P5B is what is imprinted on the board).
RAM = CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Now from what I gather I need to go into my Bios and just change my FSB? What should I change it to?
Sorry, but I'm good with some computer items...just never tried overclocking. Thanks

 

[flyin15sec]

As outlined by the guide: Turn off, C1E, Speedstep. Change all your voltages to the nominal values.
Lower your ram speed, either with ratio value or by unlinking(only on Nvidia Chipset board).

From here, increase your bus speed by 5mhz - 10mhz. Testing each time you increase with a program that can
stress your CPU and system. When you encounter failure, change 1 voltage or adjust 1 setting only. Take note
of what you did, on paper, spread sheet, etc. Control of what changes you did and its effect your CPU and
motherboard will help you understand overclocking more.

Incremental increase is the safest way to learn and less likely to damage your OS.

By default your bus speed is 266mhz (266mhz x 8 = 2.1ghz). I would try 275mhz and work from there.

 

[Frasierf1]

Thanks...I'll give it a try.

 

[RetiredChief]

Flyin15sec gave good advice. Some additional thinks.

I also have the E6400. It has been running great at 3.2 GHz for the past 2 1/2 yrs.
I laso stared out with the corsair DDR2-800 (4 x 1 Gig sticks.), one difference I have the Gigabyte P965-DQ6 MB.

I assume you are using the manuf. recommended Dimm voltage. With 4 sticks I had to raise my FSB voltage and (G)MCH voltage by =0.1 V - all other voltages are stock.

For my initial testing I (1) ran Intel's TAT to check core temps. You didn't state if you are using Intel's stock cooler. I'm using a 9500 cooler (Not the best, but it Keeps my full load temps under 60 C). (2) after raising raising my FSB I first booted to Bootable CD and ran memtest86+ for a half hour (they recommend longer), then if it passed I the booted to the operating system, rain TAT for 15 Mins to check temps, then rain Orthos for an hour. Orthos runs two instances of prime 95. For me Orthos identified mem problems within 10 min (Passed memtest two hour test).

I love corsair memory, but I replaced with Muskins 2 x 2 gig sticks. Lower Dimm voltage and I was able to reduce my FSB and (G)MCH voltage.

Hope this helps - good luck and enjoy.

Added: If you can hit FSB = 400, manually set Dimm to 1:1 Ratio (On my board multipler = 2) and set your timings to manuf spec, if they are not at the correct values.

 

[Frasierf1]

Well, after many attempts the best I could get was a FSB of 320 (2.56GHz). Anything higher and I got a message at post saying Overclocking failed. I suppose it's better than stock...don't really know what my limiting factor is.

 

[Frasierf1]

Could my problem be that I only changed my FSB speed? I didn't see anyway/where to change any voltages. I feel there is more there cause my temps at 320 are pretty low (34/35 at idle and around 45/48 at full load). Just wish I understood more about how to do this.

 

[RetiredChief]

Did you download the manual. If so try doing a text search on "voltage". I'm not familar with the Asus line (used a couple years ago). On my gigabyte board they kind of hid the settings, you have to hit Cntr F1 to access them.

Each board is different on how well they over clock. Also at the time that the E6x00 were introduced there were several post as to "holes" that would not work and you had to jump over them. When I did mine I took a chance and jumped straight to 333 FSB. When that worked I just jumped straight to 400. Got lucky.

Try using just two sticks of memory to see if memory is blocking your OC.

 

[Frasierf1]

Thanks...I'll give those ideas a try. I tried 333 and 400 (and just about everything in between...no luck).