C2D Overclocking Guide for Beginners

[[Grevane]]

Could you put your system specs in your "my system" bit in your profile, it just saves me going back through the pages to see what is what

If the windows memtest is locking up, then you almost certainly have ram problems. It may just be not enough voltage, or you could have a dead or dying stick.

Did you email OCZ and ask them? They often give a guarantee that their ram will be ok up to a certain voltage (evp i think they call it), which is usually above what they are rated at, but it depends on the chips used.

Checked his RAM already, I posted the EVP Specs in my post above. He can get 2.3v out of that RAM and stay in warranty.

[GravitySmacked]

Cheers for your replies. I've added my spec to my profile now.

And did you do these?

Yup done those.

Yeah the RAM is guaranteed up to 2.2v but I haven't got any active cooling on it; although I've got a lot of case cooling. I wasn't sure if it was wise to up the voltage too much without some sort of active RAM cooling? I've also read a couple of reviews on my sticks that mention they overclocked them to 800MHz without upping the voltage so that made me a bit wary as well.

I have the system stable at 2.8GHz now with quite tight RAM timings of 4-4-4-12 and it ran memtest for a few hours and orthos overnight no problems.

[Clunk]

All you need is an 80mm/92mm fan.

If you havent got anywhere to mount it, get some insulation tape and make a hook, and hook it onto the ram at the top

So, are you running 2.2v now to get it stable?

[[Grevane]]

This might be useful for your cooling your RAM...
http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.p...sk=view&id=140
And this might be useful if anything else needs cooling...
http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.p...ask=view&id=84

I've really gotta get myself one of the items on the 2nd link...

Oh and there's a review of it here...
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1068&pageID=3199

[GravitySmacked]

Cheers for the links Grevane, I will definitely look at some sort of active cooling!

I'm running the RAM at 1.95v and it's stable at 700MHz (CPU 2.8). I'll get some cooling then try upping the voltage and try overclocking it further

[Clunk]

I dont understand...why is it stable now?, you had the ram at 1.95 earlier, and it wasnt stable, whats changed?

[[Grevane]]

I dont understand...why is it stable now?, you had the ram at 1.95 earlier, and it wasnt stable, whats changed?

Mmmm yeah agreed, for interests sake and as a little update... maybe post your current BIOS settings again... my memory... isn't what it was 'when I were a wee lad'... ooh err... where did i put my teeth... mumble mumble... ouch, who left that pension book there...

[GravitySmacked]

It wasn't stable when I was trying to run it at 3.0Ghz at 2.8GHz it's fine

[Clunk]

I was experiencing some software errors when running it at 2.8GHz, the odd program would crash. What would I need to change to try and sort this, would it be RAM timings, upping voltages etc?

In the end I lowered it to 2.68GHz and ran Orthos successfully overnight.

So, that ^^^^^, was before you did this?.....>

Disable the Vanderpool technology.

You need to set the PCI clock synchronisation to 33.3 <----this is probably the cause of your problems.

[tinners]

Quick question.

Am running my memory on 1:1 with a 374 FSB so is running at 748Mhz but at 4-4-4-12.

As it is DDR2-800 will I get any noticeable performance increase setting it back to auto ? This will reset it to 5-5-5-15 SPD though but I guess it will then run at 800Mhz.

Which is better, lower timings or higher clock ?

[GravitySmacked]

So, that ^^^^^, was before you did this?.....>

Yes that was before so disabling those 2 settings helped to get it stable at 2.8GHz.

Here's the updated BIOS screens at 2.8GHz [stable]

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b1.JPG

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b2.JPG

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b3.JPG

I'm confusing myself now, but looking at the screenshot I'm running the RAM at 1.90v and it was stable overnight / CPU at 2.8GHz.

[Clunk]

Quick question.

Am running my memory on 1:1 with a 374 FSB so is running at 748Mhz but at 4-4-4-12.

As it is DDR2-800 will I get any noticeable performance increase setting it back to auto ? This will reset it to 5-5-5-15 SPD though but I guess it will then run at 800Mhz.

Which is better, lower timings or higher clock ?

On AUTO, it will probably set your RAM to 800Mhz to start with, when your CPU is at 266.

As you increase the FSB, the RAM will automatically rise as well, so you will soon be running it out of spec, and it probably wont work too well.

In this case, you can use a divider (see part 2 of the guide). Remember, not all dividers are stable, so you may not be able to get *exactly* 800mhz, but on the other hand, you might be able to get a bit higher, and still keep your overclock and ticht timings...depends on your particular ram. Read the part 2, it should help you

[tinners]

damn was looking for a dead easy answer lol
will get reading.....

On AUTO, it will probably set your RAM to 800Mhz to start with, when your CPU is at 266.
As you increase the FSB, the RAM will automatically rise as well, so you will soon be running it out of spec, and it probably wont work too well.
In this case, you can use a divider (see part 2 of the guide). Remember, not all dividers are stable, so you may not be able to get *exactly* 800mhz, but on the other hand, you might be able to get a bit higher, and still keep your overclock and ticht timings...depends on your particular ram. Read the part 2, it should help you

[Clunk]

Yes that was before so disabling those 2 settings helped to get it stable at 2.8GHz.

Here's the updated BIOS screens at 2.8GHz [stable]

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b1.JPG

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b2.JPG

http://www.guru4u.co.uk/images/b3.JPG

I'm confusing myself now, but looking at the screenshot I'm running the RAM at 1.90v and it was stable overnight / CPU at 2.8GHz.

OK,

Why have you got your PCI-E frequency at 110? There is absolutely no need for that, 100 is fine.

Put your CPU voltage to AUTO for now.

You have your ram running at 4-5-5-12. As you will be trying to run it out of spec, put it to 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-18.

All of this is outlined in the first part of the guide, by changing random settings, you are just making it difficult for yourself. (and me )

You need to have another read.

[GravitySmacked]

Cheers Clunk I'll change the settings as suggested and read through the guide again

[[Grevane]]

Thoroughly interesting thread to read. Can't wait to see the end outcome of all this...

If only the "Matrix" was real...

"I'm trying to free your mind, Neo...but I can only show you the door.
You're the one that has to walk through it....Tank, load the 'Clunk' program."