HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - Guide v1.6.1 - Page 2

Yeah, that memory runs @ 2.2V so I'd keep it there.
If you can run 9x380 for 5-6 hours stable, I'd recommend you try to minimize that as described in the guide since 1.45 is technically out of spec (over volted) for your chip. See how low you can go yet still have it stable.

Your temps sounds great if you're telling me you're running 9x380 @ 1.45V!

Well, if you're running w/ a 370 MHz FSB and @ 1:1 then yes, you'll RAM will be @ 740 MHz. I'd make sure your CPU is stable @ the minimum vcore before you start messing w/ your RAM timings. I'd also keep the RAM voltage where it's stable as well until you know the CPU is stable.

If you're currently @ 9x380 @ 1.45v I would certainly look at lowering the vcore and stress testing it to find the minimum. Yes, overvolting can decrease the life of your processor primarily through electromigration but also through other processes. How much life are you taking off it? No one can answer that for sure.

..what are your hardware specs beyond your p5b-del and ultra-120 x?

@mandeep: Yeah, there is not 2.2 which is odd. I usually run @ 2.15 and haven't seen any problems.

I don't understand your vcore question. As far as I know, you can't type in a vcore, you have to select one from the list.

@mandeep: right, lower it and stress test it... I'd say you wanna start much lower since failing when the vcore is too low happens quickly. You don't wanna go down one step, run the stress test for 6-8 hours only to lower it by one notch and repeat... make sense?

This is my first time overclocking and I just wanted to know:

I upped my CPU FSB, and my DRAM frequency went up to 478MHz, but it's DDR2-800 memory so it's only rated until 400MHz right? I tried manually setting this, but I can't find any setting other than setting it to DDR2-667.
Is it alright to leave my memory at that frequency or is there some way to set the speed manually?

Hey graysky, this is me again, so i started to overclock and tried a few values. I started with 1.187v, the minimum intel recommends on the E6600, the computer did not even post at all between voltages, 1.187-1.3125. At 1.325 it starts to start but after a few seconds it restarts. It did this till 1.35. So i am already out of intel's safe zone, and techniically over volting it. SO from voltages 1.375-1.1425, the computer started to post but sometimes come to the blue screen that automatically restarts the computer. Then i cranked it up even more to 1.425. The computer started and loaded up windows and after a minutes restarted. Then i tried the next one up1.425v. The computer turned on and i started running orthos, along with coretemp. It ran for about 30mins and restarted and the blue screen came up and said it was restarted to prevent damage. Then i cranked it up to 1.4315, this is under 1.45v. THe computer ran for about and hour or so. THen restarted. So i'm back to 1.45 now. SO i'm going to test it again. So is there anyother thing i could do to have a speed of 3.4(380freq), and not overvolt it, or do i have to drop my speed(freq). Thanks in advance. Sorry i have been asking dumb questions.

Sorry I did not explain it that well, you take your frequency of your cpu, and multiply it by 2, whatever you get, that's what you want to keep you ram at. For instance, if your frequency for you clock is 360. THen multiply by 2, and get 720. Then you pick you ram speed as ddr2-720, from the options to get a 1-1 ratio

I'm not 100% sure what your saying, i quite don't understand your question. I'm pretty new to overclocking. But you should pick your ram speed last. Pick a frequency for your cpu, and figure out if it is stable. THen once you have that freuency, then muliply it by 2. What ever you get keep that as your ram speed. If your ram is DDR2-800, then try not to go over 800mhz. Meaning if your cpu frequency is 350. Then your ram speed will be 700(if at 1-1 ratio). SO technically you are lowering your ram speed. But if your cpu frequency is 450. Then if you try to keep the ram at a 1-1 ratio, then your ram speed will have to be 900. WHich is over what the ram is made for. Then if believe you can damage your ram. You could keep it at 900, for instance, but then you must up your timing on the ram. For exmaple, if it was 4-4-412 for your ram at speed 800. THen up your timings to maybe 5-5-5-12(just making some timings up) or 5-5-5-15. This will allow you to run your ram at a higherspeed then it's made for. But here your technically overclocking your ram. ANd when you lower the timings, or even up your ram speed, then it's stock speed. YOu should run a program like memTest(a test like orthos that stresses ram to make sure it is stable, to make sure it is stable.

Just glad i could help. Just make sure you run some program like (memtest) to make sure your ram can handle the new settings.

E6600-2.4----3.4
Antec 900, with 8fans on max speed
Asus P5B Dlx
8800GTS 640mb Superclocked
Crucuial Ballistix 2gb(1gb*2) pc6400-800 4-4-4-12
OCZ PSU 700W
2*SG 320gb harddrives.

These are my specs. I have the memory 5-5-5-15, at 2.15v. And no i have not jacked-up other voltages on my board. ALso another dumb question. Does it matter if i have only one four-pin cpu powerconnector off of the power supply to the motherboard. My powersupply has 2( 4 pins). If is plug in both will that help in anyway. THanks again for replying. I followed all of your setting changes like the CIE(disable), Vanderpool(diable), CPU TM function(enable), and etc. I know my cpu is over volting. WHat would you recommend doing, for instance, dropping cpu speed, or something else.

@mandeep: depending on your PS and your board, you may not need all the connectors.

About your overvolting... try lowering the o/c until you're operating within specs if that concerns you. I'm not expert, but unless your board is limiting you (which I doubt as the 965 chipset is known for its high FSB abilities), I'd guess you just got a "poor" o/c'ing chip. Some do it at lower vcores than others...

...wait a sec. What do you have the 4 other voltages set to on your board? If one or more of them are too low, you may not get a stable system. I left mine on auto initially, once I had a stable 9x333, I started lowering them one-by-one until eventually all of them were at the lowest settings and my system was stable. Actually, that's not true, I started w/ all of them @ the lowest setting and found that the system was stable and just called it good.

thankyou very much for the great guide, has really helped me to OC for the first time, no other guides i have read have given me details of example Vcores and stuff, so i was actually starting far too high, and was failing tests for a past time... just got 2 hours on prime with my new OC:

e6700 @ 3.33 ghz with voltage at like 1.375 i believe... mite take it down to 1.500 as i missed that notch out...

the reason i only got 2 hours is cuz i got bored and wanted to come on here and ask ppl questions haha!

so here goes.. provided my OC is stable, i am gonna trim the ram timings etc, i had it on 533 mhz 3-3-3-10 just to see what kinda performance i get, and wanted to stick to 1:1 ratio for now,

however, would i benefit from maybe putting it to 667mhz, and maybe put the timings up a bit? im not sure...

my ram is rated for 800mhz and its the OCZ reaper enhanced bandwidth edition, which can go up to 2.1 volts without voiding warranty...

Just suggestion timings / speeds would be cool =]

cheers chris

A very good informative guide, i was able to clock my qx using this guide and im begining to undertand what im doing exactly.
I do have a question if anyone can answer, 'which is the best operating system to use for oc'? I suppose it comes down to preference, but im running vista ultimate 64 and cant get a decent monitoring tool to work with it aside from 'speedfan' but i read here the temps are like 15 degrees out in sf, any thoughts or advice please?

btw, with this guide i clocked my qx6700 to 2997mhz, ran prime95 for 16hours with no errors, i know it can go quite a bit higher but im new to this so dont want to push too hard. i set everything in bios as you suggested in the guide, 4-4-4-4-12 ram timings, turned off speedstep to get the multiplier 'static' and increased the cpu speed and voltage. switched case fans to full speed, all temps are good. and still quiet!

im running an asus p5b deluxe wifi, with 4gb of ram 2x gskill & 2x corsair 'matched 667's' &zalman cnps9500 cooler. so far so good.

thanks.

Don't you have the Asus P5B-Deluxe? That's what I have. I enabled the modify ratio support. It was [9] by default and I changed it to [8]. Above, on the same screen, it says my CPU is unlocked - max 9 min 6.

What will happen or what will I notice when I change my ratio properly to 8? Can you post the BIOS screen with your settings? Again, I have the P5B-Deluxe. Thanks.

Also i forgot to add my temps did not go over 48, while running orthos. The avg temp was 46-47. just thought i should add that in. I kept it at that clock because i could not see a difference between 3.4 and 3.15. Thanks again.

I went ahead and ran my ram at 700mhz, at 4-4-4-4. I ran memtest, and i got around 102 passes, with 0errors. I think the avg recommend is around 40 passes. So i called it good and stopped it. Thanks again for all your help

krazynutz: As I read, he doesn't have a quad, it is the E ... which is dual, that would explain it

Sorry Krazynutz, i have not been on this site for a few days, i've been busy. Also i have an E6600, Core 2 Duo 2.4 @ 3150 @ 1.3125. Also i have the Thermalright Ultra 120-Extreme. That is the heatsink i'm using. A couple of my friends recommended it, so i went ahead and got it. Downside is that i have an ANTec 900, and it does not allow me to use a side fan on the panel. But it does not matter, i have 8 other fans in the case. THey do just fine. Sorry about not replying.

Thanks for this great guide. There are some info that I am unsure of what to set as other than Auto

DRAM Write Recovery Time
DRAM TRFC
DRAM TRRD
Rank Write to Ready Delay
Read to Precharge Delay
Write to Precharge Delay

FSB Termination Voltage
NB VCore
SB VCore
ICH Chipset Voltage

My setup is
E6420 and the only info I know is 8x multiplier, 1.325v, FSB 266
P5B Delux
CORSAIR XMS2 DDR2 800 which has a timing of 4-4-4-12, 2.1V

Also in theory, since my ram is 800mhz, if I am able to set the fsb to 400 which gets me 3.2ghz, I would max out what I am able to get out from my ram?

Thanks krazynutz!
I'm unable to go pass 360 at this point without having window going bsod or restarting while loading. I have the ZALMAN 9700 cooler and at 360 the cpu temp is at 35c. During stress test, temp never went over 46. The prime 95 could not pass even 1 test at 360.

cpu volt is set to 1.325
mem volt at 2.1
fsb term volt 1.3
and the other volts are set to the lowest

Any idea what I could have done wrong?

sorry Zig, I have email notify on but I didn't get any emails. Hmmm...

dt reminded me of something - did you lock your pci-e at 100 and your pci at 33.33? It's pretty crucial.

Also, I apologize greatly. My voltage for my CPU on my old setup was 1.3375v, not 1.325v. I also talked to my buddy who has your CPU on a Gigabyte DS3 and he had to go to 1.4v to get it to 400. If you've already locked your pci-e and pci, try upping the voltage on the CPU one notch at a time. You have great temps. Are you using Prime95 ver 25.4? If not, download it and use that. Stresses the cores evenly. In your BIOS you should have:

PCI Express Frequency [100]
PCI Clock Sync Mode [33.33Mhz]
Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
Memory Voltage [2.10v]
CPU Core Voltage [1.3375v]
FSB Termination Voltage [1.3v]
NB VCore [1.25v]
SB VCore [1.5v]
ICH Chipset Voltage [Auto]

Make sure your settings match what I have above and see where that takes you. If you run into trouble, try upping the voltage of your CPU up to 1.4v but I wouldn't go any higher.


Lemme know what's up.

wow, and you have all the same settings as I have listed above? Did you set your RAM manually to 533Mhz (before OC) and 4-4-4-12? On that mobo with that RAM, you should definitely be able to get to 400. That's wierd.

Wait.

Disable memory spread spectrum if it's not disabled. Double-check the settings in the beginning of this guide as well as checking out Wusy's original C2D guide. With your temps (you're using CoreTemp95, right?) you should be hitting 400 with your eyes closed.

you have PC6400 Cas4, right? 2.1v?

nah, at your settings, you're not gonna fry your core. Asus mobo's just either need a CMOS reset or just turn the PSU off for a couple minutes, turn it back on, and then power up the computer. You'll get a Overclocking Failure warning. Just go into your BIOS and continue like normal. That's so weird why you're having such a hard time.

yes it is. Well, 375FSB ain't too shabby but I still think there's something you're missing in your settings keeping you from hitting 400. Your temps are good. Make sure you're at least 16-24hr stable at your max settings.