Can't figure out how to manage Vcore??

[rbates]

I'll start with fessing up that I'm a newbie who has just build his first computer. So forgive any stupid questions. I've done a ton of reading on OC and tried to keep things simple, but now I think I need some help. In advance, many thanks to any kind souls who share their expertise.

In short, I have an Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor running on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard with 4GB of RAM (2 sticks of 2 GB G.Skill DDR2 800 Dual Channel Kit) running with Windows7 Professional. I'll put my full system config at the end.

Simple overclocking got me to an FSB of 350MHz a 10.5 (maxed out) CPU Clock Ratio, and a SPD set at 2.00B (FSB/DRAM ratio is 1:1) yeilds a CPU frequency of 3.675GHz which is obviously screaming compared to out of the box, and RealTemp shows running very cool 38/37 degrees idle and 50/48 degrees running Prime95 in-place large FFT Torture Test for about 5 minutes. All power saving settings are enabled. While Prime95 is running, CPU-Z shows Core Voltage = 1.328V. When Idle, CPU-Z shows Core Voltage - raises - to 1.360V?? I get a 3dMark06 scores of 3DMark Score = 4941 and an associated CPU score = 3240.

Vcore is set to Auto in bios. I see all kinds of people talking about DES and the ability to manipulate it on or off. I can't find DES settings anywhere in the bios.

I tried raising FSB to 353 (3.7 GHz) and 362 (3.8 GHz), but 3DMark06 actually shows my scores dropping as compared to my 3.675 GHz results?

3.675 GHz yields 3DMark Score = 4941 and an associated CPU score = 3240.
3.7 GHz yields 3DMark Score = 4798 and an associated CPU score = 2460.
3.8 GHz yields 3DMark Score = 4818 and an associated CPU score = 2538.

At 3.7 GHz, my internal case speaker beeps somewhat intermittently like it's trying to tell my my CPU is too hot, but RealTemp shows nothing getting over 58/60 degrees. Yet if I try to go higher FSB wise, CPU-Z shows my Core Voltage start to go above 1.4V

I tried setting Vcore to 1.300V (taking it off Auto), but CPU-Z show Core Voltages higher than this (e.g., +1.4V).

What am I doing wrong???

I've heard many people say they can OC an Intel E6300 to 4.0 GHz without too much trouble. I know I didn't post any pictures of readouts etc. Let me know if I need to do that. Here's my system config (built to grow):

Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E6300

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

ECS N9500GT-512MUL-F GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Cooler Master Silent Pro M1000 Modular 1000-Watt ATX Power Supply

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

[r_manic]

I can only assume that, if your mobo supports VCore manipulation in the first place, you need to update the BIOS to unlock the setting.

 

[rbates]

Does that mean I need to "Flash" the bios when you say I need to update the bios? That sounds risky from what I've heard. Thanks. Wish me luck.

 

[jsc]

I tried setting Vcore to 1.300V (taking it off Auto), but CPU-Z show Core Voltages higher than this (e.g., +1.4V).

Are you sure? If so, that's strange. I have several Gigabyte motherboards and none of them do that. With vcore set to 1.30 volts in the BIOS and the PC under load, CPUZ should indicate around 1.30 volts also.

Whatever is going on, the Gigabyte P45 motherboards support changing the CPU voltages. No BIOS update is necessary. And you do not want to run vcore on AUTO.

 

[rbates]

Are you sure? If so, that's strange. I have several Gigabyte motherboards and none of them do that. With vcore set to 1.30 volts in the BIOS and the PC under load, CPUZ should indicate around 1.30 volts also.

Whatever is going on, the Gigabyte P45 motherboards support changing the CPU voltages. No BIOS update is necessary. And you do not want to run vcore on AUTO.

OK, many thanks. Is there some other setting I need to enable to manage Vcore? Here are the bios settings I'm working with. I've really only been manipulating CPU Host Frequency (MHz). Do I need to set/enable/disable anything specific?

Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio [10 X]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio [+0.5]
CPU Frequency 4.2GHz ( 400x10.5)

*****Clock Chip Control********
CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz) [ 400]
PCI Express Frequency(MHz) [100]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled]

*******DRAM Performance Control ********
Performance Enhance [Turbo]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier (SPC) [2.00B]
Memory Frequency(MHz) 800 800
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) [Auto]

******Mother Board Voltage Control ********
Load-Line Calibration [Disabled]
CPU Vcore 1.28750V [Auto]
CPU Termination 1.200V [Auto]
CPU PLL 1.500 [Auto]
CPU Reference 0.760V [Auto]

MCH Core 1.100V [1.200]
MCH Reference 0.760V [Auto]
MCH/DRAM Reference 0.900V [Auto]

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function [Disabled]

 

[rbates]

Are you sure? If so, that's strange. I have several Gigabyte motherboards and none of them do that. With vcore set to 1.30 volts in the BIOS and the PC under load, CPUZ should indicate around 1.30 volts also.

Whatever is going on, the Gigabyte P45 motherboards support changing the CPU voltages. No BIOS update is necessary. And you do not want to run vcore on AUTO.

OK, here's my current situation and bios settings.
I can get Windows7 to boot up.

CPU-Z shows Core Voltage at 1.328V and drops a little when I kick off Prime95 FFT Torture Test.
Prime95 almost immediately stops working and or crashes.

What do I change?
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks you so much for your help!!!

Bios settings:

Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio [10 X]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio [+0.0]
CPU Frequency 3.80GHz ( 380x10)

*****Clock Chip Control********
CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz) [ 380]
PCI Express Frequency(MHz) [100]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled]

*******DRAM Performance Control ********
Performance Enhance [Standard]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch [333MHz]
System Memory Multiplier (SPC) [2.00B]
Memory Frequency(MHz) 800 760
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) [Auto]

******Mother Board Voltage Control ********
Load-Line Calibration [Disabled]
CPU Vcore 1.28750V [1.36250V]
CPU Termination 1.200V [Auto]
CPU PLL 1.500 [Auto]
CPU Reference 0.760V [Auto]

MCH Core 1.100V [1.200]
MCH Reference 0.760V [Auto]
MCH/DRAM Reference 0.900V [Auto]

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function [Disabled]

 

[lynx50187]

well excuse me if i am wrong but i run an amd chip and am acheiving the same amount of oc but my cpu voltage i set at 1.46 to achieve stability. and from newbie to newbie dont make a big jump in oc settings or you will never know where you are at i learned that much. google your problem ie; "overclocking the e6300" or such and read others posts there are thousands out there im sure! good luck though! and my cpu volts drop also from 1.44-1.40 when running stress test... not sure why yet though but its stable!

 

[rbates]

I totally agree. I'm learing a little bit of every blog/post/site I find. I've actually got it stable at 3.85 GHz. Ran Prime95 for about an hour and a half. RealTemp maxed out at about 55C at load, and about 37/40C at Idle. I can get it to boot up Windows7 at 3.90 GHz, but Prime95 fails. So close to 4GHz it's killing me ; - D I'm experimenting with some of the fine tuning of other esoteric variables that I don't understand yet, but trying to read as much as I can find. I've got my CPU Vcore to not drop by enabling Load Line Calibration. Now it's rock solid at 1.360V for Vcore and doesn't drop. I'm a little nervious to raise my Vcore since I thought the top end of the spec was 1.3625V. I think part of my problem might be my RAM. I've read a bit more on it, and it doesn't look like the best RAM for overclocking. Again, something I've learned that can effect your ability to OC is the RAM capability. I'm pretty happy, but haven't given up. Just ran 3DMark06 and scored 4959 3DMarks and 3397 CPU score at 3.85GHz.

 

[lynx50187]

ive ran prime 95 for fourteen hours then blusescreens just means im one or to clicks from 100% stable everyone say if you go 24 hours your good to go! also when you pass prime 95 try occt also i guess it stresses different areas so you can fine tune your oc

 

[tuffluck]

rbates:

if you are crashing that quickly, you don't have enough power. please note that i do not know what the power requirements are for your processor so find this out before you start increasing the voltage, however if you are failing immediately on 1.3625 volts in p95, upping it to 1.38 is probably not going to help. when i OC'd, small increments only held the system stable for a little while longer than the last setting, but never long enough until i finally found the sweet spot. also, running small fft's for 6 hours or blend for 12 hours is fine with p95. i actually see blend cause temperatures to get hotter than small fft's.

that's another thing, with temps. download coretemp and hwmonitor and compare all three (also realtemp). 2 of them will probably say the same thing, and the 3rd will probably be wrong. go with the hottest ones. temperature programs depend on what tjmax rating they are using, so while realtemp may be the most recommended utility program, it doesn't mean anything for you if the tjmax isn't accurate for your processor. that's why i say download 3 of them and compare them together and use the highest one. once you use this, if you find you are exceeding or even getting within 5c of the recommended MAX heat requirement for your processor, you're going to have to back off of the OC, lower the FSB and vcore, or else you will do long-term damage to your processor most likely.

the other thing you can do is lower the FSB as well. the truth is, now matter how much you increase your voltage, you may have hit the wall on your cpu where it just won't let you go any further. it happens with all processors. if you are close to the maximum voltage for that cpu, i would start going down with it on the fsb, because if you keep upping the voltage, you are going to shorten the lifespan of the processor. it doesn't matter what you read is possible with your particular processor by other people, all processors are different and each will have different OC abilities.

 

[rbates]

rbates:

if you are crashing that quickly, you don't have enough power. please note that i do not know what the power requirements are for your processor so find this out before you start increasing the voltage, however if you are failing immediately on 1.3625 volts in p95, upping it to 1.38 is probably not going to help. when i OC'd, small increments only held the system stable for a little while longer than the last setting, but never long enough until i finally found the sweet spot. also, running small fft's for 6 hours or blend for 12 hours is fine with p95. i actually see blend cause temperatures to get hotter than small fft's.

that's another thing, with temps. download coretemp and hwmonitor and compare all three (also realtemp). 2 of them will probably say the same thing, and the 3rd will probably be wrong. go with the hottest ones. temperature programs depend on what tjmax rating they are using, so while realtemp may be the most recommended utility program, it doesn't mean anything for you if the tjmax isn't accurate for your processor. that's why i say download 3 of them and compare them together and use the highest one. once you use this, if you find you are exceeding or even getting within 5c of the recommended MAX heat requirement for your processor, you're going to have to back off of the OC, lower the FSB and vcore, or else you will do long-term damage to your processor most likely.

the other thing you can do is lower the FSB as well. the truth is, now matter how much you increase your voltage, you may have hit the wall on your cpu where it just won't let you go any further. it happens with all processors. if you are close to the maximum voltage for that cpu, i would start going down with it on the fsb, because if you keep upping the voltage, you are going to shorten the lifespan of the processor. it doesn't matter what you read is possible with your particular processor by other people, all processors are different and each will have different OC abilities.

Thanks "tuffluck". I think I've maxed things out at 3.85 GHz. I think I'm also learning that the memory you have can also impact your OC ability. I've also learned my memory isn't necessarily that great for OCing. 3.85 GHz is still about 1 full GHz higher than the stock speed anyway. What do you want for free right? I'm too chicken to raise my voltages more than what the chip spec states. Thanks for the other Temp programs. I also have one called SpeedFan, and will check out the others you recommended. I'm OCing my chip more just to see what I can do. I'm not a gamer. I use After Effects for doing motion graphics rendering, and I transcode video for burning to DVD every once and a while. So at some point, this all becomes overkill anyway. Many thanks for the assistance.

 

[rbates]

Best answer selected by rbates.