C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners

[Clunk]

Thanks,

Should be a couple of hours or so

[Clunk]

I have added Part 2 and 3 to the guide.

Click here, or click my sig to go straight to them. Its more about memory timings and voltages.

I will post the P5K guide as a separate thread.

If I've missed anything, or you want to see anything included, please let me know.

[Agrippa]

You da man Clunk! Thanks for that, just in time too.

[Clunk]

Its a bit rough still, I'll tidy it up over the next few days as I add more pics and stuff.

[Clunk]

Oops, change the URL, I posted it in the wrong place

[K3T]

omg lol clunk ur the best ! thx for the part 2 and 3 ! i really learnt alot and enjoyed !

big thanks again

[Clunk]

Glad it was of use to you

[monkeytreacle]

Ok, well, thanks to this guide I have the following apparently stable overclock on a E6600 2.4, but Orthos is still running.

FSB 333
Multi x9
3.00Ghz
RAM 4,4,4,12
667MHz
RAM voltage 1.9V (as per the PDF on Corsair's website - no voltage on the sticker)

And I have the Vcore voltage fixed at 1.275 (I tried it at 1.25 but Orthos failed after 10 minutes)

I found that when voltage was on Auto, ASUS Probe was registering in the region of 1.30v which I thought was a bit high - with the new setting it is showing a fairly steady 1.18v.

Using TAT the temps are about 40 at idle and currently 56 with Orthos running. (Before I changed the voltage it was 50 idle and 66 with Orthos).

At stock it was 27 idle.

I might try for 3.2GHz but this seems ok to me at the moment.

Only prob is that it didnt affect the framerate on Rome Total War, but that's cos "you can't polish a turd" - being my ageing cheap ATI 9200 SE


One question, why does the RAM - FSB ratio have to be 1:1? What would happen if I put my RAM up to the 800Mhz it is intended to run at, but kept the FSB at 333? I had a read through but can't seem to get my head around that one.

[Clunk]

Ok, well, thanks to this guide I have the following apparently stable overclock on a E6600 2.4, but Orthos is still running. Good, good

FSB 333
Multi x9
3.00Ghz
RAM 4,4,4,12
667MHz
RAM voltage 1.9V (as per the PDF on Corsair's website - no voltage on the sticker) Good thinking.

And I have the Vcore voltage fixed at 1.275 (I tried it at 1.25 but Orthos failed after 10 minutes) Bugger!

I found that when voltage was on Auto, ASUS Probe was registering in the region of 1.30v which I thought was a bit high - with the new setting it is showing a fairly steady 1.18v. 1.3v isnt high, dont worry about that at all.

Using TAT the temps are about 40 at idle and currently 56 with Orthos running. (Before I changed the voltage it was 50 idle and 66 with Orthos). Is your room warm? 40 seems a touch high for idle unless your room is very warm.

At stock it was 27 idle. More like it.

I might try for 3.2GHz but this seems ok to me at the moment. no rush

Only prob is that it didnt affect the framerate on Rome Total War, but that's cos "you can't polish a turd" - being my ageing cheap ATI 9200 SE Might be time for a new card


One question, why does the RAM - FSB ratio have to be 1:1? What would happen if I put my RAM up to the 800Mhz it is intended to run at, but kept the FSB at 333? I had a read through but can't seem to get my head around that one. The ram speed rises as the FSB rises, so if you start off with 800mhz, you will be running your ram out of spec right away, and that will lead to instability. (It doesnt have to be 1:1, but to keep things simple, thats the way I did it for the first part of the guide). Have a look at the other parts of the guide for info on how to use memory dividers and change timings etc, but I recommend you to completely get used to how the rest of it works before you tinker with that

Answers in bold

[Clunk]

Part 2 and 3 tidied up and more pics added.

[GravitySmacked]

I would just like to say thanks for the fantastic guide. I'm relatively new to overclocking (CPU and RAM anyway) and am experiencing lock ups in Orthos after a couple of hours.

I have overclocked my C2D 6400 to 3.00GHz by upping the FSB to 375 -kept the multiplier at 8. I have the RAM running at 750MHz with a 1:1ratio.

My relevant specs are:

Asus P5B Deluxe Wifi [latest BIOS] - this is handy considering your guide
C2D 6400 @ 3.0GHz - voltage upped slightly @ 1.4
2GB OCZ Special Ops PC5400 (667MHz) @ 750MHz- voltage upped @ 2.0 - I've lowered the CAS to 5 from the recommended 4 to see if it helps (i got an extra hour running Orthos before lock up)
XFX 8800GTS [also O/C]
530w Tagan PSU

I have run Memtest and it's showing no errors and I'm not sure what to change next. Could it be the northbridge/southbridge overheating? The CPU temps when running Orthos are between 55 - 60 degrees so I'm comfortable with them. My case has loads of fans and kept tidy so there's plenty of airflow. I would have blamed the RAM but Memtest shows no errors.

I've disabled all unnecessary items in the BIOS such as speedstep etc

Any advice on what to check/change next would be appreciated.

[Clunk]

My first thought would be the RAM.

Its just not made for overclocking, and yes, some people manage to overclock it, but it is value ram when all said and done, so no guarantees that it will be ok at 750mhz.

Which memtest did you do, and did you do it when the ram was overclocked?

As you have overvolted the ram, have you put a fan on it?

The NB would well be overheating. Take the board out and remove the cooler, and check for good contact. if the contact is bad, you will need to bend the heatpipe slightly, until it sits flat on the NB...clean off the old paste, and reapply some AS% or ceramique.

[xinad]

Hello 2 all. First of all I wanted to apologyse for poor english grammar but hope you guys won't be mad

I'm having problem with the e4300 OC. The FSB won't go more than 271 ( BTW 271x9=2439, but ir runs @ 2340, thought it was strange )

I think the main prob. could be that in my MB gigabyte 965G-DS3 in her's BIOS there isn't any RAM timing settings, only the multiplier which is set to 2 cuz i use ddr2 800 hmz. Bios version is f8a.

The vcore is @ 1.625V but cpu-z shows 1.322V, ddr overvoltage is +0.2V.

Any1 have any ideas that might help to overclock my pc a bit more. Hope you'll understand this post Xinad

[Clunk]

From the main bios page, hit ctrl + F1 and that will show your the memory timings

Try the timings first, and there is no need for all that vcore.

Set the cpu to 200 and the ram to 400 (or 266/533), and start from there.

[xinad]

Still the same. Just won't go over 271 FSB.

[Clunk]

Its been a long time since I used a DS3, but, are you sure that you are running the ram at 1:1?

What PSU are you using?

Is that bios the latest one?