C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners

[Dorza]

Originally Posted by Clunk

Looking good that mate, glad you found it useful

Thanks, I'm actually more happy with my RAM than anything else; a bargain at £50 and it has OCed nicely.

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by abrasion

I thought memory dividers let you run the memory SLOWER when you have a high FSB to reduce overclocking the ram?!?!?!!? Nope.

"If you haven't used a divider before on a C2D board, there isn't much to it really, on Intel chipsets, they only go upwards, in other words, they will only let you run your RAM faster than the CPU."

WTF?
So a 500FSB for an extreme overclock, the dividers are useless? and if you used them you'd need EVEN FASTER ram?

ugh!

What system do you have?

500fsb is a lot to expect for a stable 24/7 overclock for most people, and not really what is intended for anyone reading this guide. Further down it says...

"(If you are reading this bit and thinking “3ghz? Is that all?”, this guide isn’t for you, try XS for something not aimed at first time over clockers )."

However, I will try and help you if you get stuck

[abrasion]

Originally Posted by Clunk

What system do you have?

500fsb is a lot to expect for a stable 24/7 overclock for most people, and not really what is intended for anyone reading this guide. Further down it says...

"(If you are reading this bit and thinking “3ghz? Is that all?”, this guide isn’t for you, try XS for something not aimed at first time over clockers )."

However, I will try and help you if you get stuck

I appreciate the help, this is more about me trying to understand the 'rules' in the backend, once I get that I'll be fine

Ok let me re-phrase my initial comment.
If I chose even 'only' 400mhz as my overclock, this will mean my 667mhz ram will run at 800mhz right?

[Clunk]

Yes, if your FSB is set to 400, your RAM will run at 800Mhz when set to 1:1 on an Intel based chipset board.

667Mhz RAM will let you get to 333FSB before you start to overclock it, and not all RAM will overclock well, so it isnt ideal.

For overclocking purposes, I would recommend a minimum of PC2-6400.

And dont forget that 400Mhz on an E6600 is 3.6Ghz. A lot of E6600 CPUs will need a lot of extra voltage to be stable at that speed, so its best to set your sights a bit lower to start off with.

[abrasion]

Originally Posted by Clunk

Yes, if your FSB is set to 400, your RAM will run at 800Mhz when set to 1:1 on an Intel based chipset board.

667Mhz RAM will let you get to 333FSB before you start to overclock it, and not all RAM will overclock well, so it isnt ideal.

For overclocking purposes, I would recommend a minimum of PC2-6400.

And dont forget that 400Mhz on an E6600 is 3.6Ghz. A lot of E6600 CPUs will need a lot of extra voltage to be stable at that speed, so its best to set your sights a bit lower to start off with.

I am at a total loss, wtf?!!?!?!?!?
I SWEAR I saw options for DIVIDERS on my Gigabyte board which clearly allowed me to SLOW DOWN my ram when I exeeded 333mhz? I'm sure of it!?!

So realistically the maximum FSB for me is 400mhz and only if I purchase 800mhz ram (I hate overclocking ram)

[Clunk]

You need to post your system specs.

[abrasion]

Originally Posted by Clunk

You need to post your system specs.

I don't have one!

I'm going to get a P5K, use my Kingston 667mhz ram (2x1gb) and hopefully a CPU with at least an 8X multiplier.

I want about 3.2ghz on air, either E2160, E4300, E4400, E6420 etc - not sure!
I do NOT want to overclock my ram or if I do, by very very little.

[timizere]

Ok, i understand everything here and i think all my settings are right (mem at 1:1 ratio etc).... but i cant seem to boot past 320fsb. i should technically be able to push fsb to at least 333 right? also i can barely raise my fsb at all without upping my pci bus freq. despite the fact that it is set in 'A-sync' mode.' i think this is possibly whats holding me back.
any ideas or am i just being a dumbass????

[Clunk]

I think its possibly the board that you are using. Asrock boards, arent really made for overclocking, and yours also has the 945 chipset which isnt ideal either.

Another thing that could be stopping you is your RAM. I'm not 100% sure how your board sets the RAM, but I'm guessing that at stock, it sets the RAM to 667mhz automatically?

When you start upping the FSB, the RAM speed will automatically rise, and your RAM is instantly running out of spec, and that could be another cause of your problems.

If that is the case, the only thing you can do really, is either not overclock it, or change the board and RAM for something that overclocks well

[timizere]

i had a feeling it might be that crappy mobo..oh well thatll teach me ay..and i spose you cant complain for under £40 the memory does default to 333, but i changed it to 266. i always found the pci bus thing a bit odd tho, i never heard of anyone else being forced to increase values at such a modest oc.

[Clunk]

Its a decent board, just not for overclocking

So, the pci bus doesnt lock properly? Strange.

[timizere]

yer its an odd one. never mind im gonna change my mobo n ram soon enough. thanks for the help bro!

[guru]

A little update from me. I've been busy slowly overclocking my system and testing it aplenty in between and I've finally got it stable at 3.0GHz

I've got some active cooling on the RAM now but I've only had to up the voltage to 1.95v. The CPU voltage is at 1.275 and the RAM timings are set at 4-5-5-15. Think I'll probably leave it as it is for a while now or at least until I get some faster RAM.

Cheers for all the help Clunk!

[aceshu]

Once again, great write Clunk. I'm overclocking as we speak. I'm running an E6600 on a P5B Deluxe Asus mb. My ram is OCZ PC26400. I've upped the fsb to 320 with the voltage running at 1.38. Ram timings are at 4-4-4-15 which is stock. Using the enormous Zalman cpu heatsink and fan. Temp hasn't gone over 60c running orthos. So far, so good. Thanks again for all the info. Great job!!

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by guru

A little update from me. I've been busy slowly overclocking my system and testing it aplenty in between and I've finally got it stable at 3.0GHz

I've got some active cooling on the RAM now but I've only had to up the voltage to 1.95v. The CPU voltage is at 1.275 and the RAM timings are set at 4-5-5-15. Think I'll probably leave it as it is for a while now or at least until I get some faster RAM.

Cheers for all the help Clunk!

Excellent, glad you sorted it

Originally Posted by aceshu

Once again, great write Clunk. I'm overclocking as we speak. I'm running an E6600 on a P5B Deluxe Asus mb. My ram is OCZ PC26400. I've upped the fsb to 320 with the voltage running at 1.38. Ram timings are at 4-4-4-15 which is stock. Using the enormous Zalman cpu heatsink and fan. Temp hasn't gone over 60c running orthos. So far, so good. Thanks again for all the info. Great job!!

Thanks, glad it was of use

[cletus_cassidy]

Clunk:

I've been playing with my OC over the weekend after adding water cooling, and I’ve hit a wall at 9x390. My temps are 30c (Idle) and 44c (Load). My stats and BIOS settings are as follows:

Machine:

Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi
e6600 (L704A947)
4 GB Patriot eXtreme Performance PC2-6400 RAM
eVGA 8800 GTS

BIOS Settings:

FSB = 390
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-780
PCI-e = 105
PCI Clock = 33.33mhz
Spread Spectrum = Disabled
vMem = 2.15v
vCore = 1.5v
FSB Termination = 1.4v
NB = 1.45v
SB = 1.5
ICH = Auto

Memory timings are 5-5-5-15-5-52-3-11-7-13

It was my goal to hit 3.6-3.8ghz on water. Any suggestions as to how to break past this wall?

Also, are these voltage settings safe for long-term use? As always, any advice is much appreciated.