Overclocking 1156 Xeons

[smeders]

Hi all,

Im currently upgrades my old PC to a Xeon processor and am looking to OC it by 0.3-0.5MHz. Got a aftermarket cooler and some decent paste so should keep the CPU cool. Do anyone have any experience OCing them?

Thanks!

[dfour]

Thought they where all factory locked??

What motherboard and which xeon do you have??

[Domestic_Ginger]

I think he means by fsb. They are locked. No free 4 bins.

For those kind of gains there will be no noticeable heat increase. No no noticeable gains. Just loads of bsods.

[Biscuit]

I think he means by fsb. They are locked. No free 4 bins.

For those kind of gains there will be no noticeable heat increase. No no noticeable gains. Just loads of bsods.

This. BCLK (base clock) over-clocking is pretty frivolous IMO. Remember that changing it will also increase the bus speed for the PCI-E , which will be a root cause for many of the BSODs that DG is talking about.

If you want to overclock any CPU post the LGA1366 era, then buy a 'K'.

Intel suck...

[shaithis]

This. BCLK (base clock) over-clocking is pretty frivolous IMO. Remember that changing it will also increase the bus speed for the PCI-E , which will be a root cause for many of the BSODs that DG is talking about.

Even worse than that is that when that goes wrong you can end up corrupting hard drives hanging off the on-board controllers.

[Biscuit]

Even worse than that is that when that goes wrong you can end up corrupting hard drives hanging off the on-board controllers.

Wow, I didnt realise the problems went that far!

[Lee H]

Wow, I didnt realise the problems went that far!

I remember on my system if I raised it past say 105 MHz the additional marvel HDD controller controlling 4 additional ports on the motherboard drops constantly.

[kalniel]

Have intel dropped the separate PCI-clock speed generator then? You used to be able to run the BLCK at whatever you liked and keep PCI pegged at 100.

[scaryjim]

Have intel dropped the separate PCI-clock speed generator then? You used to be able to run the BLCK at whatever you liked and keep PCI pegged at 100.

I think they dropped that as they increased integration. It's possible that some mobo manufacturers might have been able to bring it back in, and I know for some later chipsets they introduced fixed dividers so you could run the bclk at 125/133/150MHz without disrupting the PCIe frequencies, but once they integrated the northbridge into the CPU silicon they basically killed bclk overclocking overnight. AMD seemed to manage a much more stable approach, although istr Llano being quite sensitive to bclk adjustments (although again some mobo manufacturers seemed to have fixed dividers which improved stability in certain bclk ranges).

O/T, I guess that could be one reason AMD have been so reluctant to move on from AM3+ with their enthusiast parts: if they did an enthusiast CPU on FM2+ is would have the integrated northbridge and potentially be much harder to overclock by bclk adjustment...

[smeders]

Hi guys,

Board is a Asrock P55M Pro and looking at either a X3440 or X3430. Looking through Google, some people over on an overclocking community have got the 3440 up to 3.4-3.6 stable. Surely there has got to be a way of OCing these chips without any issues.

I'm looking at the 3430 as it's only a 130MHz drop from the 3440 for half the price! So if I break one I can always buy a second for the same price as the 3440.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I've made a bit of a blunder. I confused skt 1155 with 1156. The 1155 have no OCing via fsb or blk or whatever its called. The 1156 pentiums were really good for OCing and the reviews should show a way to get your Xeon oc'd.

If you can find a cheap chip then go for it. Otherwise if it compares poorly to a 1155 and a CPU then go that route.

[smeders]

I've made a bit of a blunder. I confused skt 1155 with 1156. The 1155 have no OCing via fsb or blk or whatever its called. The 1156 pentiums were really good for OCing and the reviews should show a way to get your Xeon oc'd.

If you can find a cheap chip then go for it. Otherwise if it compares poorly to a 1155 and a CPU then go that route.

Was abit confused as I know other 1156 processors could be OCed! I'm sure there are some guides purely for the Xeons so should be able to OC it easy.

I can get them dirt cheap for a Quad core with HT! Lowest I've seen is £24 but average is around £30 so even if I really mess one up a replacement won't be too expensive!

[smeders]

Just brought a X3430 for £25! Bargain of the year so far. I'll post an update for you when it arrives.

[smeders]

Arrived yesterday. I've managed to get it stable at: 185 x 19 (peak turbo) so 3.5Ghz at 1.168V! Not bad at all for a £25 CPU. Only disappoint is that I messed up and didn't see it only had 4 threads not 8 like the X3440 and above, but to get the 3440 will cost me double what I paid for the 3430 so I'm happy with it! Just need a decent CPU cooler as the one i had for my i3 is abit rubbish under load.

[dfour]

This is a great cooler for the money and it fits most cases being 152mm tall

Zalman CNPS10X-Optima Shark's Fin Blade CPU Cooler £20:28