Hi there. I made my first build about a month and a half ago, and as I've now been playing Mass Effect, I notice I occasionally get stutters in the game. I alt-tabbed out to check some things, and noticed the game was maxing out my e8400 to 100%, even while OC'd to 3.6GHz. According ot CPUID, running idle at 1.2vcore gets me about 52C and maxing it out under full load gets me about 66C. I have done a very good job with the thermal grease, and have an an Arctic Cooler 7 Pro. I'm wondering why then, is this running so hot. My bios says the cpu is running at a much lower temperature, and while i realize its not under the same load, the bios reports like 34C as my temp. I'm wondering why there is such a large discrepancy. I've now changed to a 9x420 = 3.78GHz, with my memory on a 2.0D multiplier so its running 1:1 with my CPU. I put the voltages on auto, because leaving the vcore at 1.2 caused bsods. My mobo cranks the voltage up to 1.49vcore and now my idle temps are like 58. Any explanations on what to do with respect to the Mass Effect stutters, the heat, or the insane required voltage (when I know some people get the cpu up to like 4.2 and beyond) would be greatly appreciated.

Ive read that 1.49vcore for you cpu is a death sentence. along with the high voltage, that might be why its so high. try 1.33-1.35 for vcore

Heh.. that is too high. The OP should do more research on OC it properly. Pushing it above its vcore spec's will be a repeat in the northwood history, of the death syndrome.

I remember seeing a OC E8400 3.7ghz with the vcore at 1.168v, and another at 1.368v. But as the spec shows:

E8400

Dat's quite a hurtin your doing to that E8400.

What program are you using to monitor temps? Also, don't set the voltage to auto because most motherboards over-voltage it a lot. I have an e8500 OC'd to 3.7ghz, also with an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. I have it set at 1.3v and it's running at about 40c idle. Try lowering the voltage to something in that area (the lowest that is stable).

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br3nd064

At stock voltage of 1.22 and just 3.0GHz, i still run idle at like 52-53c. I knew that 1.49 was bad, and changed it immediately, under full load at 1.33vcore at 3.9GHz, it gets up to like 73 or 74c. i figured that was bad, so i just dropped back to 3.6GHz / 1.22vcore, now under full load it gets to like 66