Overclock not registering in OS

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bl1tz

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May 15, 2009
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Well, I've been trying to overclock my E8400 for some time now to 3.4Ghz on my MSI P7N SLI 750i mobo, but no matter what settings I put in BIOS, when I boot into Vista, it still displays 3.0 GHz in CPU-Z. Like I set the clock multiplier on default(9) and RAM at 800MHz, manually set FSB to 378 and when I save and restart computer and go into BIOS again, the BIOS displays 378x9=3402 MHz but when I boot into my OS, it still displays 3.0GHz no matter what. I also tried to use MSI's Dual Core Center but whenever I try to overclock the FSB past 350, it would automatically go back to 350 and stay there no matter what I do. Does anyone have any idea what's happening? Overclocking a E8400 to GHz is very simple, but somehow my computer isn't cooperating. My BIOS is also the latest version.
 
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heroofspirits

heroofspirits

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happens to me too, happened on my old e8500. had it at 5 ghz and it would only register, i think up to 3.8ghz. does it to on my i7 as well. dont worry about it, i think windows only reads up to a certain clock before stopping, as thats its suposed highest safe overclock.
also check cpuz and prime. if cpuz says that its at 3.4 then its fine. if not, bios is probably dead/ needs new battery/ not saving properly. u should flash your bios to latest version.
 
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jitpublisher

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Don't pay any attention to what Vista says, it may be merely reading the ID of the processor and displaying what it "should" be. Download and run CPUZ.
And yes, make sure your are saving your settings. You cannot raise the mulitplier on your processor, it is locked. Be sure you disable speed step as well.
Don't flash your BIOS unless you have a problem with a specific piece of hardware that a BIOS update will fix. Otherwise, it will do absolutely nothing, and could create more problems that it solves.

And to r_manic, yeah. There seems to be a whole lot of really uh.....well yeah, stupid questions on the forum anymore. We have went from an enthusiast forum to a "help the PC illiterate forum". I have concluded that a larger percentage of the newer posters here:
1. Cannot read or cannot understand their motherboard manual.
2. Cannot read or understand any literature that comes with any hardward they buy.
3. Do not understand how to use a simple search engine like Google, or the search feature in the forums, or how to use the stickies in a forum.

I can understand there are a lot of folks out there who want to do their own upgrading and building and may need a little help now and then, but I cannot understand the total lack how to find the information they need even for the simplest of simple things.
 
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bl1tz

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Yes, I always use the F10 button to save my settings every single time, and yes, I do use CPU-Z to check my clock speed, and yes, speedstep is always disabled. I've also read all my manuals, and I've been checking my problem out on search engines, but I can't see to find anyone with this problem, it may be something small, but I think I'm doing every correct. I boot up, go into BIOS, set my FSB, doublecheck FSB, 378x4x9=3402MHz. I press F10, I reboot into Vista, I check CPU-Z and I still see my CPU running at 3.0 GHz. How come you guys are asking questions about stuff that I already stated in my first post?
"manually set FSB to 378 and when I save and restart computer
and go into BIOS again, the BIOS displays 378x9=3402 MHz but when I boot into my OS, it still displays 3.0GHz no matter what." Yes, I flashed my BIOS and the CMOS battery is working because the time is always up to date and my changes in BIOS are saved.
 
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SpidersWeb

SpidersWeb

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Why disable speedstep?
If it doesn't cause instability, disabling it just consumes more power at idle, and the higher clock also increase CPU degradation. It's kind of like wasting resources for no good reason.

If your not using your CPU, let it have a rest.

If CPU-Z shows 3000Mhz next to clock speed then you have an issue.
If it's just in the CPU name then it means nothing.
e.g. mine says something like "Intel Core2Duo E8500 @ 3.16Ghz" - because that's the name of the product I purchased.

Just need to confirm you are reading the CPU speed, on the bottom left of CPU-Z there are 4 numbers, one is the CPU clock speed.
 
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SpidersWeb

SpidersWeb

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Apologies to OP for off-topic.
But can I ask if you got it stable at 5Ghz, and what did you do? Was this stable/daily or just a bench.
I can't start at 5Ghz, 4.75 @ 1.8V boots but wasn't stable and temps were borderline rediculous. 4.37 was the highest I could do on sane voltages for daily use.
 
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bl1tz

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Yes, I know that I'm reading the right number because I've seen the clock speed go up when I'm using Dual Core center, the problem is, I can't overclock it higher than 350 MHz. Is there like a clock speed limiter built in somewhere? Weird thing is that I've seen other people with the same mobo and same CPU overclock to 3.4GHz easily.
 
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SpidersWeb

SpidersWeb

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No limiters.
Try a 400 FSB and lower multiplier.
(or even the standard multi, 3.6Ghz overclock isn't hard on these, I assume you're not using the stock CPU cooler and you're watching your Core temperatures in a program like RealTemp?)
 
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bl1tz

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Ok, I can change the multiplier, I just went into BIOS and messed around a bit, I changed my FSB to 400x8(3.2GHz), 425x8(3.4GHz, displays overclocking has failed in startup screen), 566x6(3.4GHz, displays overclocking has failed in startup screen) and 378x9(3.4GHz). Despite everything I do, the two setups that lets me boot into Vista (400x8 and 378x9 and 333x9) when I check CPU-Z, all I see is a freaking 3000MHz and 333x9, except when I change the multiplier, the multiplier remains as what I changed it to, but the FSB automatically goes back to 333. It's starting to really annoy me, I'm posting a couple of pictures to prove my point, and SpidersWeb and everyone else thanks for the help so far.
Overclock.jpg


 
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SpidersWeb

SpidersWeb

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I did think of something else.
The overclocking software you installed that came with the motherboard might be loading it's settings when Windows starts. Try uninstalling it.

Just another idea.

I'm assuming that when it does the RAM test it's saying 3.4Ghz on startup?
 
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bl1tz

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I had the same problem before installing the overclocking software, that was why I looked towards software based overclocking solutions, however I can't get over 350MHz for some reason as it automatically gets set back to 350 if I set the FSB to anything higher than that, and yes, when detecting all the devices, it displays 9x378=3.4GHz and DDR2 Dual Channel 808 4 GB and something like that. This problem is so weird.... Would the PSU have anything to do with this, as I'm already suspecting it to be the cause of my monitor going to sleep in the middle of playing certain games, it goes to sleep when I'm playing Guild Wars, but not during Crysis, which is weird. But then, I would think that a 600W PSU is adequate enough to run a single 9600GT but I'm not sure about its stability.
 
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heroofspirits

heroofspirits

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all safe started up perfectly, i think i got lucky. did do benchmarks with it and got like 22000 on pc mark 06. that included my hd 4870x2. dont use now though as i use my i7 rig


temps were very low. like it would not go over 65. (low for that clock :) )
 
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