Overclocking E8400 to 3.8ghz and beyond!

[bzerko0o]

Hi guys, been reading some threads on here about overclocking my E8400.

Previously did a very basic overclock to 3.6ghz.

Here are my system specs:

Intel Core2Duo E8400
Noctua Cooler
2x 2gb GSkill DDR3 @ 800mhz
Nvidia GTS 250
500 Watt PSU
UT-P45 T3RS Motherboard

So my system was completely stable at 3.6ghz for the past 6-8 months or so, I've decided to push the limits a bit more today and go for an overclock to 3.8ghz... Only thing is im not sure how to read/adjust my vcore and ram settings.

Here are a couple of pics of CPU-Z with the current overclock of 3.8ghz - I've only changed the FSB in the BIOS to 422 at this point.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2489876

Is my system stable? Do I need to change the vcore/ram frequency values and if so, how do I know how much to change them by? Will my CPU melt into oblivion?

Thanks guys, looking forward to your answers!

 

[nna2]

VID Voltage Range
0.8500V-1.3625V

i think you're safe, but you are monitoring your temps right?

 

[bzerko0o]

Yes Ive been watching the temps - it seems to peak at about 52 degrees... thats an acceptable limit right?
I did have a random freeze the other day so I downclocked it to the more stable 3.6ghz - going to put it back up to 3.8 today and see what happens.

 

[nna2]

TCASE 72.4°C

52C is great, you should be alright to push it further

 

[bzerko0o]

Ok cool, also, somebody on the extreme overclocking boards said this to me:

Using the same motherboard and CPU a few years back I was at 4.8Ghz. 3.8Ghz shouldn't even remotely be an issue. You could probably achieve it at absolutely stock volts. You'll want to raise your FSB but change your memory divider so you aren't overclocking your memory too high. You'll run into memory instability before you run into CPU instability if you keep your current divider.

I think hes referring to the FSBRAM ratio? Its currently at 1:2 and he seems to think I should change it... what would I change it to, and how to go about this change?

 

[nna2]

try to always keep your ram below it's stock frequency

 

[bzerko0o]

Ok so if my rams stock frequency is 800mhz, and its running at about 850 at a 1:2 ratio, changing it to a 1:1 would fix this? Or am I going to have to go and set timings etc

 

[nna2]

you could always try a small voltage increase, or increasing a few timings

 

[bzerko0o]

Hi again! So I've increased my speed once again to 4ghz, tried changing the ram divider to set it closer to the 800mhz mark for ram stablility (is this right?), only thing im not sure about is my voltage settings... please help!

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2509189

 

[nforce4max]

Pretty good, that board can push that cpu even higher just be sure to keep the ram in spec. The best bragging rights back in the day were those who were able to push the chipset clocks up to and beyond 500mhz (fsb 2000).

You are doing very very good with the volts unlike most

 

[bzerko0o]

Thats great to know! Since im toying with the idea of replacing my motherboard and cpu, im trying to push this thing as much as it will go...

One thing though, I recently bought a new gfx card (replaced gts250 with gtx560ti) and im not really noticing much of a performance increase fps-wise.

Is this because my cpu is the bottleneck?
Also, is it better to run ram in single or dual channel mode? I should have another 4gb by tomorrow.

 

[nforce4max]

Dual channel, you want as much bandwidth as possible. I ended up going with a quad for my 775 rig. A q8200 but at least it was cheap and managed to get to 3.25ghz out of it.