C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners

[moogle]

Well what I'd do is set the FSB to 400 and put the VCore at 1.35 which is within the safe limits from Intels Spec page

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLAPL

Then run prime95 (with error checking on) and everest open (I check the main cpu temp not the core temps). Check the temperatures aren't going beyond 72, and run it for about 30 mins I'd say. If it hasn't thrown an error then go back to the bios and lower the VCore a notch or two, then stress for another 30 mins. Keep repeating this until you get to a Vcore that causes prime95 to give an error then move the voltage up 1. Then you can stress it for as long as you like till you consider it stable. Most people do it for hours on end. Remember set your ram voltage and timings manually in the bios and disable spectrum spreading.

Some people hit 3.6ghz with 1.3 - 1.35 so hopefully yours is a good chip and can do that within that range.

Remember to run CPU-Z too and watch the voltage as you stress the CPU. If you have a VDroop option enable that too. It'll keep the voltage more constant under load.

[Chunter]

cheers mate,i'll try to get on this tonight.watch this space.

[moogle]

cheers mate,i'll try to get on this tonight.watch this space.

Watching
Let us know if you need any more help

[Chunter]

bfore i do this how much hotter should it run ?

[moogle]

I don't really know but what I suggest you do is run prime95 with your current settings for about like 10-20 minutes. Check the CPU overall temperature with everest and the core temperatures and see what they are on load (ie when prime95 is running). On stock heatsink it would be 60 but I'm guessing with your CPU cooler it may be 50 - 40 on load. Might be less when you look at the CPU overall temp.

Report back on the temps if you can. Hopefully they aren't too high. If the temps are good right now then you're good to go to the next step if you wish.

[Chunter]

didn't touch vcore ,just put the fsb up to 400



gonna run prime now.

[moogle]

If prime fails up the vcore and repeat till you have it running stable. also check those temps and dont go past 1.3625 vcore

[Chunter]

and if it doesn't fail ? leave as is ?


oh and which test to run,atm its the small FFt's

[moogle]

and if it doesn't fail ? leave as is ?

of course, and then you know you've got a heavenly chip!
if you wanted to further optimize you could always lower the voltage to see if it's still stable!

[Chunter]

which test ? look up,i edited my post as you posted.

[moogle]

in place large fft's

from what i've been reading small fft's test if the cpu is stable but not the northbridge or southbridge so I'm going to test that out in the meantime. The large fft's should give maximum heat which you wont really reach quite a lot. click advanced in the toolbar and tick round off checking to make sure it notifies you when there is an error.

[Chunter]

first test passed,quick question.my dram says 480..does that mean my ram is overclocked ? really noobie i know but i'm just trying to get my head round all these numbers.
if i wanted to lower that 480 i could lower the multiplier down to 7 or 8 but my cpu speed would also drop ?

[moogle]

yeah your ram is overclocked. didn't you change the ratio in the bios so it's 1:1?
it would say your ram speed is 800 once you've done that. also how long did you run prime for? did you enable the round off checking too?

[Chunter]

thats where i got to,all i did was raise the fsb to 400 and my ram became 480,what should i lower down to get 400 dram frequency ?
how to get to 1:1 ?

[moogle]

thats where i got to,all i did was raise the fsb to 400 and my ram became 480,what should i lower down to get 400 dram frequency ?

wow I envy you with that CPU, didn't even have to change the voltage!!!
Anyways you should be able to change the ratio in the bios. I'm downloading your motherboard manual (assuming it's the Gigabyte DS3 in your My System bit) so I can tell you what to change.

One minute I'll post back, but on the whole it's looking good so far. What were your max temperatures for the CPU as a whole?

[Chunter]

yea its the ga ep35 ds3.
according to everest it was as per the screen shot,cpu got as high as 51,but each core was at 66,....don't understand that.