OC Help

[parahypnosis]

hi.. im a lil new at overclocking and after reading a ton of stuff online i OC'd my rig abt a couple of weeks back.. my system specs are...

Processor: Intel dual core e7400 2.80 @ 3.41 ghz (325x10.5)
Mobo: Gigabyte g31m-es2l
Gpu: Nvidia 8400GS OC'd @ 700/500/1725
Ram: Kingston 4GB (2GBx2) 800Mhz @ 975 mhz
PSU: Iball 230VAC 50/60Hz

the rig is on stock cooling.. case is opened 24x7
Prime Blend test heats the processors to about 68C max normally its at abt 37C idle and under max gaming load hits 60-62C

iv changed the Vcore setting in my MIT to 1.30000 tho i had it running at 1.29 before without any stability issues...

my question is this... what exactly do the Vcore settings do? my Cpu-z & RealTemp readings rarely go over 1.284V and the voltage thing is set to auto in the bios.. ive only changed the Vcore voltage from the 1.285 to 1.3 i dont really see much of a change in performance and the temperatures are pretty much the same.. should i tinker with the vcore settings if my system runs stable?

Another question was that im planning on getting arctic ice 5 and a small fan to blow air into the case as it is perma open.. so are my cpu temp's okay? or should i go in for additional cooling?

If there is any additional information needed please let me know and i'll post it asap

 

[parahypnosis]

PS: here's another thing.. if i remove the fine OC (the 0.5 thing) and then up the FSB to 345 X 10 and change the ram multiplier to 2.5.. i get a ram speed of approx 865 mhz.. and for some reason when i run the realtemp xs benchmark i get a higher score (1140-1148) than when i was @ 3.41Ghz (325X10.5 = 1120-1138). The reason i have to change the memory multiplier from auto is that if i exceed 975Mhz on the ram my Prime tests fail it gives me a @0.5 expected less than 0.4 error (this was from a previous OC so i decided to keep the ram under 975Mhz which seems stable on my rig)

Also when i try to overclock my GPU after doing this and run ATI tool to check for artifacts it gets pwnd... theres artifacts all over the place... so iv reset to 3.41 Ghz which seems stable and iv dropped the vcore to 1.29 in MIT also when i check the system health tab in BIOS it shows the Vcore to be 1.36 - 1.380V can anyone tell me the reason for this? and if its at 1.380V what is the 1.29 that i set in the MIT for?

Thank you in advance

 

[jsc]

Vcore increases your CPU voltage. The higher you OC (up to a certain point), the more you need to increase the voltage.

Your P95 load temps are at the top of the acceptable range.

Next, overclocking RAM will not give you any real world performance increase. It will, however, contribute to instability. I run my RAM multiplier on my Gigabyte motherboards at 2.0.

If your system is stable, leave it alone.

I don't know why you have such a great difference in vcore between M.I.T. and System Health. If anything, System Health should be reporting a slightly lower voltage. Intel's recommended max voltage for your CPU is 1.45 volts, so either way you are within limits. And it looks like you will exceed temp limits before voltage limits.

Try these two guides for more information:
Core2 Overclocking Guide
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/259899-11-core-overclocking-guide

Shadow's Gigabyte motherboard OC guide:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-245679_11_0.html
It's for an EP35-DS3L but all the Gigabyte Core2 BIOS's are similar.

 

[parahypnosis]

thanks bro... yea im not gonna mess with it anymore.. as long as its stable im cool with the performance.. i wanted to know if my current settings would fry my chips and apparently i dont they should cos the max the wolfdales can handle according to intel is like 74C and i top out at 62-63c at 100% cpu load while gaming so im a good 10C under that limit.. hopefully with a better thermal paste and a blower i shld stay within 60C