C2D Overclocking Guide For Beginners P5K Add-On

[kentk]

I can share with you guys that I finally managed to get my PC8500 memory stick to work in DDR2-1066...

I just put them into the BLACK slots instead of the yellow, just altered the DRAM frequency to DDR2-1066 and everthing else AUTO....

[Silverbullit]

Yep I'm on XP x86 (32bit)
And yep I got the last version of Sandra.

I will get on with my OC struggles when I come back tonight.
(Going to a competition today, where ill probably end up thinkin bout my rig instead of getting my head in the race =)

/Silverbullit

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Clunk

And often indicates memory problems as well. It could be a problem with the memory slots, or not enough voltage, damaged memory (yes 2x sets).

Can you just confirm that you are using the BLACK SLOTS!?

Can you try adding a notch of voltage to the Northbridge as well?

Originally Posted by kentk

I can share with you guys that I finally managed to get my PC8500 memory stick to work in DDR2-1066...

I just put them into the BLACK slots instead of the yellow, just altered the DRAM frequency to DDR2-1066 and everthing else AUTO....

Thats what I said in the first place Its also in the guide.

[Silverbullit]

Hi again mate =)

I made some progress with my modest OC,
I fibbled with my bios and tried the 1066 option an ran with 6-6-6-15 on my Mushkin XP2-8500,
started up Prime95 and run her a short while (like 15 mins)
but i felt the heatspreaders being a bit 2 warm for my liking so I abruptly ended the tests (was going to do some memtest 3.3 after that) backing up to my previous settings (ddr800) on wich they NOT feel that hot...

This still was at 2,2V by the way.

I will pull out my homemade ram cooling solution - I ordered the Corsair Dominator ram cooling solution.
(choose between the OCZ XTC, Thermaltake, Corsair etc, but they either felt to large or having bad filter that block most the airflow or so on, the Corsair seems to move most air for its size)

... I was saying, on hold, until I get a proper solution.

How hot should mem caps get anyway? Should they feel this hot to touch?

(They are spec to 8500 memory and guaranteed voltage to 2,2 - 3,5V...)

/Silverbullit

[Clunk]

You have to remember that DDR2 was designed to run at 1.8v, so 2.2v RAM will run hotter, that is why you need to put a fan, or some kind of cooling on it. This can help with performance, but it can also prevent/decrease the chance of failure.

Is your RAM supposed to run at 6-6-6-18?

I use a Yate Loon 92mm fan on mine and it works well. 120mm fans are too big because of their dead spot, and 80mm dont quite cover enough, so 92mm seems to be the sweet spot.

P.S. its memtest v1.70 that you want, and test 5 is probably your best bet for unearthing errors and checking for stability.

[Silverbullit]

Hi Clank,

Nope, the ram is not spec to 6-6-6-18,
but I run them, according to the guide, with loose timings at 6-6-6-15

These are the specs straight outta Mushkins home,

Frequency: 1066MHz
Latency: 5-5-4-12
Parity: Unbuffered
Voltage: 2.2-2.35V
Pins: 240
Density > > > Really fat (=Module: 128Mx64 Chip: 64x8)

About the cooling,
I dont have nouf room even for a 80mm fan, my chassi is to tight for even a toothpick between the thermalright ultra extreme and my drives, and between those are of course the ram slots...
When I get my digital camera back (borrowed it 2 my mate) I can post a pic for your approval =)

With this obstacle I had to choose between my own (ugly) home made solution,
an 120mm with a wind tunnel (glued together as a tubing).
But decided to go with a finished solution,
had to choose amongst other ram coolers between these



This looks pretty, but I cant help to feel it doesnt look particularly efficient...



This bugger is real shiny and pretty (me like chrome) BUT, is it just me or is those holes like 10 percent of the surface? Doesnt it look like it has a strangle hold on those fans suffocating that airflow?



Finally went with this, known brand and not looking to wide for fitting in my chassi, looking plenty free airflow...
Never found any good test for these thingies though, so I just choose what looked most efficient...

Never had me one of them Yate Loony fans, not very common brand here in sweden. Read boutem though, and recently found them in a danish webstore. Pherhaps ill try them out.

Now I have two emb papst 120 fans (limited ed) on my drives (those IN the chassi) another of the same in the back helping pulling the air outta my Thermalright with double Scythe (28db type) push'n pull config.
Also placed it that way so my Seasonics 120mm fan helps pull air from the top.
I have another fan mounted on the "door", a 250mm pushing in fresh air from the side.
(Slightly modified it so I can close it despite the Thermalright.)

I hope my new ram cooling will pop up tomorrow.
Thank you for your advice Clank, I am downloading memtest 1,7 as I write.

I backed up my oc to 333 x 9,
what timings and divider would u run these mem caps with on my bios settings Clank?
(From the short test I mentioned earlier I got the notion that the spec timings would charge me on that higher end of the voltage bill, thats why I got obsessed with the ram cooling being trustworthy.)

/Silverbullit

[Silverbullit]

Ehrr.... run into some trouble,
now she is rebooting spontaneously...

I raised the core voltage to 1,300V
still reboots...

What should be my course of action to fix this mess?
Any tips here is greatly appreciated Clunk.

/Silverbullit

[Supershanks]

I use the corsair cooler which is quite effective. I originally got the OCZ, but found the only use of that was as case jewllry(it's shiny & has pretty lights, as a cooler it's rubbish) The corsair is also much easier to fit.

My memory temps are around 37~39C Load 29~31C Idle, using a sensor taped to side of memory module, so i would guess that the memory chips themselves are around 5C or so higher.

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Silverbullit

Hi Clank,

Nope, the ram is not spec to 6-6-6-18,
but I run them, according to the guide, with loose timings at 6-6-6-15 I dont remember writing that you should loosen the timings like that, can you quote the bit where it says that so I can edit it please?

These are the specs straight outta Mushkins home,

Frequency: 1066MHz
Latency: 5-5-4-12 Always use these timings unless you want to tighten them.
Parity: Unbuffered
Voltage: 2.2-2.35V Always use the voltage shown here, unless you are purposely undervolting, or overvolting the RAM.
Pins: 240
Density > > > Really fat (=Module: 128Mx64 Chip: 64x8)

About the cooling,
I dont have nouf room even for a 80mm fan, my chassi is to tight for even a toothpick between the thermalright ultra extreme and my drives, and between those are of course the ram slots...
When I get my digital camera back (borrowed it 2 my mate) I can post a pic for your approval =)

With this obstacle I had to choose between my own (ugly) home made solution,
an 120mm with a wind tunnel (glued together as a tubing).
But decided to go with a finished solution,
had to choose amongst other ram coolers between these



This looks pretty, but I cant help to feel it doesnt look particularly efficient...



This bugger is real shiny and pretty (me like chrome) BUT, is it just me or is those holes like 10 percent of the surface? Doesnt it look like it has a strangle hold on those fans suffocating that airflow?



Finally went with this, known brand and not looking to wide for fitting in my chassi, looking plenty free airflow...
Never found any good test for these thingies though, so I just choose what looked most efficient...

Never had me one of them Yate Loony fans, not very common brand here in sweden. Read boutem though, and recently found them in a danish webstore. Pherhaps ill try them out. silencio_777 on ebay will ship to you, I think he is in germany.

Now I have two emb papst 120 fans (limited ed) on my drives (those IN the chassi) another of the same in the back helping pulling the air outta my Thermalright with double Scythe (28db type) push'n pull config.
Also placed it that way so my Seasonics 120mm fan helps pull air from the top.
I have another fan mounted on the "door", a 250mm pushing in fresh air from the side.
(Slightly modified it so I can close it despite the Thermalright.)

I hope my new ram cooling will pop up tomorrow.
Thank you for your advice Clank clunk , I am downloading memtest 1,7 as I write.

I backed up my oc to 333 x 9,
what timings and divider would u run these mem caps with on my bios settings Clank? clunk
(From the short test I mentioned earlier I got the notion that the spec timings would charge me on that higher end of the voltage bill, thats why I got obsessed with the ram cooling being trustworthy.)

/Silverbullit

.

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Silverbullit

Ehrr.... run into some trouble,
now she is rebooting spontaneously...

I raised the core voltage to 1,300V
still reboots...

What should be my course of action to fix this mess?
Any tips here is greatly appreciated Clunk.

/Silverbullit

Need more details.

What did you change to make it reboot? When does it reboot?

Please post all your current settings if possible.

[Silverbullit]

I thought I was safe in my OC when I backed down to 333 x 9,
I also have the memory set down to 667ddr at the same 2,2V I had all along.
The Core Voltage is back now at 1,2875 after different tries to make it not spontaneously reboot.

I tried to rip a film with dvd shrink,
it seems it clears prime95 without a dent in the armour - but not dvd shrink 8 ()

I then tried to rip the dvd with dvdfab,
it again rebooted half finished.

This sux, because I ripped five dvds two days ago - with I believe - the same bios settings as now...

I will try to fetch my digicam and post pics of my entire bios settings Clunk, a.s.a.p.!
Heck, maybe my old fuzzycam is laying around, one sec...

Here we go, I post it all 4 you master,








I cant wait for your input Clunk, this is odd...
Man if I need your help!
Thanks for being such a sport Clunk!

/Silverbullit

PS. Heres a pic of my rig, I humbly apologize for the poor pics and I blame them on my fuzzycam. Also I have another PC standing behind this where I took the shots, so the cables up there "in the hole on top/psu side" dont belong to this rig. Also I am waiting for my "backordered" graphics so I have not fixed the white cable for the firewire/usb2 to the cardslot, waiting until I see what I can do when the card arrives. DS.
Heres the whole shabang with my modest cable fix,

Hope this gets your approval master Clunk. =)

Well I can see it is hard to tell from my pics, I add a couple maybe they are clearer,



Dang it is hard to get a good pic in that tight space...

/Silverbullit

[Silverbullit]

Im going nuts here, my rig has spontaneously rebooted fifteeeen times now!

Now I sat down with my fuzzycam - staring at the screen for 75 mins trying to catch any eventual bluescreenmess when she decides to reboot.
Had nuthing for this, I tried to provoke the reboot by running dvdfab/shrink but THIS TIME SHE RIPPED THE WHOLE DVD.
I relaxed and pushed out the tray, fetched the dvd, and pressed the button to close the tray.
The same moment the tray closed she... REBOOTED.

No mess no nuthin, just black, a slowmo (very slow) reboot.
Tried rebooting again, and this time it is business as usual. (ordinary reboot speed through the menus)

Some additional nfo I shouldve added straight up,
I run a Raid 0 on 2 x Seagate 300GB Sata300.

I really am at a total loss what the heck is causing my rig to reboot spontanously like this,
my oc is pretty timid compared to most others posted.

I'm counting on your superocskills Clunk, I am really goin nuts here.

/Silverbullit

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Silverbullit

I thought I was safe in my OC when I backed down to 333 x 9,
I also have the memory set down to 667ddr at the same 2,2V I had all along.
The Core Voltage is back now at 1,2875 after different tries to make it not spontaneously reboot.

I tried to rip a film with dvd shrink,
it seems it clears prime95 without a dent in the armour - but not dvd shrink 8 ()

I then tried to rip the dvd with dvdfab,
it again rebooted half finished.

This sux, because I ripped five dvds two days ago - with I believe - the same bios settings as now...

I will try to fetch my digicam and post pics of my entire bios settings Clunk, a.s.a.p.!
Heck, maybe my old fuzzycam is laying around, one sec...

Here we go, I post it all 4 you master,



I cant wait for your input Clunk, this is odd...
Man if I need your help!
Thanks for being such a sport Clunk!

/Silverbullit

PS. Heres a pic of my rig, I humbly apologize for the poor pics and I blame them on my fuzzycam. Also I have another PC standing behind this where I took the shots, so the cables up there "in the hole on top/psu side" dont belong to this rig. Also I am waiting for my "backordered" graphics so I have not fixed the white cable for the firewire/usb2 to the cardslot, waiting until I see what I can do when the card arrives. DS.
Heres the whole shabang with my modest cable fix,

Hope this gets your approval master Clunk. =)

Well I can see it is hard to tell from my pics, I add a couple maybe they are clearer,

Dang it is hard to get a good pic in that tight space...

/Silverbullit

Sorry for the delay.

Right, theres a few things you can try.

Keep all other settings as they are, and put the vcore to auto, the FSB to 266 and the RAM frequency to 266, and does it still do it?

If not, looks like a ropey comonent somewhere.

If it does still do it, there are some other things you can try....

Disablke the jmicron controller if you arent using any IDE devices, or any SATA devices on the jmicron controller, or any e-SATA devices.

Try disabling legacy USB - This can cause no end of unusual errors, so if in doubt disable it and see.

Grab the latest chipset drivers from the Intel website.

Have you got the latest bios?

Do you have another optical drive to try?

Is it a SATA optical drive? If so, try a different cable. There have been many issues with the supplied SATA cables from Asus recently.

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Silverbullit

Im going nuts here, my rig has spontaneously rebooted fifteeeen times now!

Now I sat down with my fuzzycam - staring at the screen for 75 mins trying to catch any eventual bluescreenmess when she decides to reboot.
Had nuthing for this, I tried to provoke the reboot by running dvdfab/shrink but THIS TIME SHE RIPPED THE WHOLE DVD.
I relaxed and pushed out the tray, fetched the dvd, and pressed the button to close the tray.
The same moment the tray closed she... REBOOTED.

No mess no nuthin, just black, a slowmo (very slow) reboot.
Tried rebooting again, and this time it is business as usual. (ordinary reboot speed through the menus)

Some additional nfo I shouldve added straight up,
I run a Raid 0 on 2 x Seagate 300GB Sata300.

I really am at a total loss what the heck is causing my rig to reboot spontanously like this,
my oc is pretty timid compared to most others posted.

I'm counting on your superocskills Clunk, I am really goin nuts here.

/Silverbullit

If none of what I suggested works, are you able to do a disk check for errors? It could be that one of the disks is bad/going bad and causing your raid to throw a fit.

Unplug the optical drive completely and see if it speeds up the booting time.

[Skeet]

I remember someone on here has some problems...a few pages back, caused by an optical drive.

They are the standard ASUS SATA cables on the drive.

I also thought that the VCore was a touch low, compared to mine, but then mine is a dual core so I dont know how it compares.

[Silverbullit]

Originally Posted by Phonoflux

Well, i'll give you nice chaps an update on my dismay. Clunk, i'll let you decide if this is needed in the Troubleshooting guide.

I've spent the last week trying to figure out what the **** was making my PC crash at only overclocked settings every 5 mins or so, and it was the SATA DVD Writer.

When plugged into the black sata ports on the motherboard and under load (gaming) it would make an odd little sound like it had just taken a CD in and was repositioning the laser. Turns out I was right, it was somehow power cycling. I pushed the button to let the tray sit out and within 30 seconds it would pop back in as if the computer had restarted. Pop it back out, and back in it goes pretty quick by itself. The computer would then crash.

Moved to the red sata ports i've had no issues. So **** me. In all my overclocking experience.. a bloody CD drive was the death of me. Madness. Stable again *touches wood*

Clunk my saviour!

I have run Tune Up Utilities 2007 Disc Doctor,
my Raid drives passed quick analysis and they are on the long thorough test as I write. (Just 2 make sure)

Can "Execute Disble Bit" (connected to some antivirus protection against core maxload?) somehow "kill" the pc if it gets confused and decides something is taking up to much system resources?
I disabled,
"Execute Disble Bit"
and while I was at it I also disabled
"CPU TM function:" (In case it messed with the Core Voltage or something under load.)
and
"PECI" (Since in your opinion, wich I trust wholehearted by now, it neither gives or takes anything.)

I also stomped on "JMicron Fluxinstability Capacitor"
Will report back as soon as I have more nfo...

Well Skeet I indeed have a Sata DVD,
it is a Plextor 810SA.

But it does not do the "tray thing" (swallow the tray after a couple of mins),
and I already have it in one of the red sata slots. (The one below left, you can follow the red cable on my pics above)
Thanx for the input Skeet, but my dvd drive is calm and quiet opposed to phonoflux possessed drive.

I am still at loss here...

/Silverbullit