Help with E7500, Asus P5Q, and 4Gb Corsair XMS PC6400 1066Mhz

[bobbyboy]

I have a Asus board with an Intel Duo Core E7500 cpu and 2 sticks of PC6400 1066Mhz ram on a Asus P5Q pro board with a Titan Fenrir cooler.
At stock speeds the temperature of the cpu is about 24C.
I have used the AI tweaker in the BIOS to set the FSB to 333MHz and the DRAM frequency to 1066MHz. This pushes the cpu frequency upto 3.65MHz with a temperature of 27C.
Every other setting is at Auto.
I have read on other forums that the E7500 can go upto 4Ghz with other changes in the BIOS, but as a newbie at this, I don't know what to change to be safe.
I am running CPU-Z, and it shows a core speed of 2008MHz with a multiplier of 6, but does change up to 3673MHz with a multiplier of 11, and a core voltage of 1.320v, where the max safe voltage is 1.3625v.

I did try the FSB at 400MHz, without any other changes, but my system became unstable after a short while.

The ram settings are FSBRAM 5:8, with timings of 5-5-5-15-52-2T, and I have not changed any of them.

Are ther any other changes I can make in the BIOS AI tweaker to push the cpu speed up a bit more, and maybe the ram speed, but still be on the safe side.

 

[outlw6669]

Welcome to the forums!

The first thing you should do is to read through the Core 2 Overclocking Sticky.
It will give you a great overview on how to obtain your maximum overclock.
If, after reading the sticky twice, you are still having troubles, please post back your specific questions.

As a quick head start, try setting your RAM speed, timings and voltage manually, FSB to 400Mhz, CPU Multiplier to 10x and CPU voltage to 1.3625v.

 

[bobbyboy]

Thanks for the welcome, and I hope to gain a bit of knowledge here about overclocking my system.
I have read the core 2 overclocking thread a couple of times and have since done a few things here.
I changed the FSB to 400MHz, the cpu Ratio to 10 and then changed the CPU voltage to 1.3625v, as well as keeping the DRAM frequency to 1066MHz. Oh, my ram is PC2 8500, not PC6400 as I stated in my initial thread.

I then rebooted and the BIOS showed my cpu to be running at 4.0GHz, then windows xp loaded to a blank desktop, shutdown/rebooted on its own to a loaded desktop. But when I clicked on the Start button, I got a quick BSOD before it sutdown on me. I tried again to load up windows and it did exactly the same thing.
So I went into the BIOS AI Tweaker again, and reduced the CPU Ratio to 9.5, while keeping all other settings the same. Windows loaded up ok at this setting and then I ran Core Temp, which shows TJ max at 100C, and both cores at 37C Low, 52C High.
I also ran the torture test in Prime95 overnight last night and thsi morning it showed 1 error on worker 2. Something about 0.5 and expected 1.0, I'm not too sure exactly now as I rebooted my system since then.

A strange thing tho, both Core Temp and CPU-Z show the cpu speed as 3.8GHz, as does the BIOS, but windows\system shows it at 4.40GHz!
Now there's a question if you like

I have not ran Memtest yet, will do if needed. I do have a cooler for the ram, not fitted, but will if needed.

Thanks

 

[MaDMagik]

Windows calculates the cpu speed using actual FSB but default CPU multiplier even if you change it, thats why it shows 4.40GHz(400x11)

If prime stopped than your cpu is not fully stable, you should increase core voltage or decrease the speed. I assume you set 1.3625v in bios, what does cpu-z show when prime is running?

 

[bobbyboy]

When I ran P95 last night it ran for 8 hours before it stopped.
I am running P95 again now and CPU-Z shows:
Core speed 3800MHz
Multiplier 9.5
Bus Speed 400MHz
Rated FSB 1600MHZ

The CPU voltage was and is set at 1.3625v

 

[MaDMagik]

I know you set it at 1.3625 in bios, what I meant was(now i see it might have been unclear) what Core Voltage does CPU-Z report(normally it would be lower than what you set in bios)?

As for prime testing, some test for few hours, some for 12, others for 24hrs WITHOUT errors to call the OC stable.

 

[bobbyboy]

Yes, I did misunderstand you.
CPU-Z shows a Core Volatge of mostly 1.344v, but does jump up occasionaly to 1.352v.
The last test I did with P95 stopped after 38mins with 1 error on worker 2, so I guess my CPU is instable at the settings I have it now. It looks like I'm going to have to reduce the multiplier to 9 and try that.

 

[Guest]

Not all E7xxx will run at 4ghz without going over 1.3625v, have had my E7200 at 4.4ghz at 1.55v booting to windows but not stable on air, max stable at 1.3625 is 3.8 ghz (9.5x400=3800mhz fsb=1600mhz mem on 1066mhz, so all at recommended spec except rpocessor)

There is not much difference in benckmarking at 4ghz and 3.8 ghz so it seems sweet spot for stable overclock on air.

A lot of peeps go to 3.2ghz on stock voltage and sweet temps no problem, or minor voltage tweek and 3.6ghz.

And yes, at 3.8ghz, my p95 normally fails on 24hr test ( 2 out of 3 24 hr tests so far on 1 thread) but this does not manifest its self in any way through normal use including intensive gaming sessions, so it depends on your version of stability

 

[MaDMagik]

+1^

Basically have fun with it, thats what OC means in my book - looking for that sweet spot while learning how things work. Try different combinations of settings as long as you know what they do, just dont do any drastic changes, bit by bit is the way to go.

 

[bobbyboy]

When I tried to run my cpu at 4.0Ghz the desktop wouldn't load first time but second time around then BSOD on me when I clicked the Start button. Voltage was 1.3625v and multiplier at 10 of 400MHz FSB.
My version of stable as derived from MaDMagics post above, but as you say my system is not used for anything intensive like gaming, but only used for general surfing and decoding the odd media file. Unless it fails or goes BSOD or something, I'll just leave it as it is.

If its possible, one thing I'd like to do is get the RAM speed up a shade more, but otherwise I'll settle for what I have now.

 

[MaDMagik]

Its up to your really but if all you do is web surfing etc than I wouldnt even push it past 3.6ghz which is way more than enough. I also wouldnt stress over pushing ram faster - for comparison on my gaming machine e5200 @3.6ghz 2gb ram i run my memory at DDR 600 in Single channel and it isnt any slower than ddr 800 in dual channel, at least it isnt where the games and everyday apps are concerned.

I believe stability is important. Myself(on the gaming machine) I wouldnt have a problem with odd error in prime after few hours, but I also wouldnt allow the system freezing or bsoding AT ALL. As for my work machine I want it 100% stable(24hrs in prime).

 

[MaDMagik]

Lol, I forgot your ram is 1066. You will probably need to set the speed, voltage and timings manually to manufacturer specified(printed on modules).