Periodic stuttering after overclocking

[ddtemplar]

Hi,

I recently overclocked my E8400 from 3.0Ghz to 3Ghz by upping the FSB from 333MHz to 400Mhz. I did some temperature testing with Prime95 and found it would reach ~65C when under 100% load. I decided that this was a bit too hot for the amount of extra performance I would get, so reverted my FSB and CPU voltage to "auto".

Ever since I have done this I have experienced light freeze/stutter in games. Periodically the game will freeze for ~1s and the sound will buzz (replaying w/e was in the buffer).

What could I have borked? What can I do to try to remedy this situation?

Thank you for your help .

 

[Ubrales]

I had a similar issue with my i7-920 OC - went from 2.66GHz to 3.82GHz. Experienced some of the problems you just described. I raised the CPU voltage slightly (still well within the manufacturer's limits). All problems, including some blue screens went away completely. Now running at 3.82GHz - idle temps around 30 degs C.

Check the CPU voltage; increase if necessary without exceeding manufacturer's limits.

 

[ddtemplar]

That seemed to do the trick! Thanks .

I found a benchmarking webpage that said the E8400 was stable for their tests at 1.3V, so I set it to that. I am still a little confused while Auto quit working, as that is what I had it on before overclocking.

Oh well. ~1hr playing game and no sign of the issue. I'll post again here if it returns.

Again thanks .

 

[ddtemplar]

Best answer selected by ddtemplar.

 

[Ubrales]

For your reference, here are my settings on my i7-920:

2.66 GHz clock speed overclocked to 3.82 GHz (idle temps around 30 degs C)
VCORE - Set to 1.275 V - Actual 1.270 V - Manufacturer's (Intel) limit - 1.375 V
Memory - Set to 1.5 V - Actual 1.55 V - Manufacturer's (Corsair) limit - 1.65 V
Memory underclocked from 1600 MHz down to 1452 MHz

All settings done in BIOS, even though I have EVGA's ELEET installed.

System running very stable at 3.82 GHz using a CM V8 cooler with the base of the cooler polished flat (sometimes referred to as lapping).

 

[ddtemplar]

Was fine yesterday, but now its acting up again today .

I am not sure what could have gone wrong. I tried running OCCTPT for an hour without errors.

The computer will just halt for a second in a game, and the sound will buzz w/e was in the buffer.

Have my CPU voltage at 1.300V, and the rest at AUTO.

Could I have borked something?

 

[Ubrales]

In the BIOS, set the memory speed and voltage to manual, without exceeding the manufacturer's limits. There is no significant advantage in overclocking the memory; will only create problems. Like I mentioned earlier, I have underclocked my memory from 1600 to 1452 MHz

 

[ddtemplar]

I have two sticks of RAM, and tried running the system with each on its own. I found the freezes was occurring with one stick of RAM in, but seemed to stop for the second stick. I guess it is RAM going bad. Perhaps when I overclocked (turning the frequency of the RAM from 667MHz to its native 800MHz) it pushed the weak stick into a semi-malfunctioning state.

Nothing had turned up in Memtest previous (although I had only ran it for once pass). It is odd that bad RAM was causing the system to only lock up for 1s then recover. If a segment of RAM was bad, would you not expect a game to either produce artifacts or crash outright?

Hopefully the problem does not return again. I will have to go purchase new RAM.

In the BIOS, set the memory speed and voltage to manual, without exceeding the manufacturer's limits. There is no significant advantage in overclocking the memory; will only create problems. Like I mentioned earlier, I have underclocked my memory from 1600 to 1452 MHz

Before the overclock my ram was running at 667 MHz, and 800 MHz after. The freezing occurred at both frequencies.



Thanks again for all your help. Hopefully this issue will stay resolved now .




Update: I think it may be still happening. Just much less frequently and to a less effect. It could be that both sticks of RAM are damaged. But could it be a problem with the motherboard?

 

[Andy_10]

I had a similar issue with my i7-920 OC - went from 2.66GHz to 3.82GHz. Experienced some of the problems you just described. I raised the CPU voltage slightly (still well within the manufacturer's limits). All problems, including some blue screens went away completely. Now running at 3.82GHz - idle temps around 30 degs C.

Check the CPU voltage; increase if necessary without exceeding manufacturer's limits.

im having stuttering issues and am wondering if this will help my issue at hand?

im running the following specs:

CPU: amd fx-6100
GPU: msi r9 380
RAM: 16GB DDR3 @ 1866
MOBO: ga970a-d3
MONITOR: samsung 24D590

graphics detail set to auto * high * i get between 40 - 60 fps but encounter stuttering where the screen freezes for about 1 second than skips, every 10 seconds or so... know a fix?