C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners

[timizere]

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

[GravitySmacked]

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]

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

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.

[Clunk]

Its possible that you are at the CPUs limit, and if that is the case, theres not much you can do about it.

On the P5B, there are unstable areas all the way up to 400FSB, so you could try a lower multi to avoid those areas.

You can also try more voltage if your cooling is up to it.

Just out of curiosity, what are you measuring those temps with?

For most people, 3.6-3.8ghz isnt doable for 24/7 use, regardless of the cooling.

[cletus_cassidy]

I was average the temperatures of CoreTemp and TAT (they're different by 2-3 degrees or so).

Is the 1.5v/3.5 ghz overclock doable for 24/7 use, or should I tone it down a bit?

[Supershanks]

i'm running e6600 on p5k & previously on commandoon water. On p5k i need 1.525v (but damoper is enabled probably 1.565v in real money which was about where i was on commando.

Load temps are around 52C. So i'd try upping vcore a bit & experimenting further if you want. On both boards i've been 24/7 stable at those vcores. As a rule of thumb 1.6v~1.65v is my cutoff point fior vcore, but everyone is different & you must make do as you feel comfortable.

luck

[Clunk]

^^exactly what he said, just go with what you feel ok with.

There is virtually no difference in performance in everyday stuff from 3.4Ghz to 3.6Ghz that you would notice, and the heat will probably be more noticable than the performance if you up it any more

[cletus_cassidy]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'm comfortable with 1.5v and the 3.5 ghz overclock. Are CoreTemp and TAT sufficiently accurate to quote Vcore temps, or should I be using/doing something else?

[Supershanks]

on my rig i've always found coretemp to be the most accurate(well it consistently gives the higher readings) so i go with that.

[cletus_cassidy]

Do you think a 3.5ghz OC on an E6600 at 1.4625v is sustainable? Since it's barely touching 50 at load I don't feel too worried about the temps, but is there a significant danger of that voltage degrading the board or CPU over time? Perhaps I should tone it down a bit?

[Clunk]

Sounds good to me.

There is always a danger of damage to the cpu with anything over the stock voltage, its just a risk of overclocking

[cletus_cassidy]

Thanks, Clunk. I guess I was worried about an unnecessarily large electro-migration risk using a ~ 1.5v setting 24/7.

[BULLZI]

hi all.i am a beginner to overclocking.the guide of Clunk's is an amazing one.really is helpful.
just a little query.is a cpu cooler essential for overclocking?
and is AI Booster safe to do decent overclock or should i prefer bios?

[Clunk]

just a little query.is a cpu cooler essential for overclocking?
and is AI Booster safe to do decent overclock or should i prefer bios?

Yes, you need a CPU cooler, even if you are not overclocking. For overclocking, you need something better than the stock intel cooler, plenty of info on the forums about those.

Stick to overclocking with the bios.