C2D Overclocking Guide For Beginners P5K Add-On

Sorry there,

I"m a real newbie and quite a dummy.

I've been having problems with my P5k-E motherboard lately.

I updated my bios and since it has been reporting that my CPU is 1600MHz when it really is 2400, i'm using a Q6600 cpu and i use CPU Z as advised.

How do I actually completely reset a BIOS or install an older version of a BIOS?

Can anyone walk me through it?

I know I cant do that with Asus update as it only allows upgrading the BIOS.

I have an external hard drive, CD ROM and no floppy drive.

I could get my hands on a USB flash drive if necessary.

Sincere thanks for your help.

Also, I overclocked my Q6600 to 3.0 and its reporting 45 degrees idle and 63 degrees load, is that too hot? what is an ideal temperature? I'm using a thermalright ultra extreme and scythe xflex fan.

thanks so much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prismshian

Sorry there,

I"m a real newbie and quite a dummy.

I've been having problems with my P5k-E motherboard lately.

I updated my bios and since it has been reporting that my CPU is 1600MHz when it really is 2400, i'm using a Q6600 cpu and i use CPU Z as advised. It will have always done that. Go into the bios and disable speedstep/EIST. Or you can leave it as it is. Open CPU-Z and look at the CPU Mhz (1600 you say?), and now put the CPU under load with your stress testing program, and it will instantly jump to the normal speed.

How do I actually completely reset a BIOS or install an older version of a BIOS? Use the CMOS jumper to reset everything. Click on the troubleshooting guide in my sig, and also see the P5K manual for placement of the jumper.

To flash to an older bios, you might need to use the floppy disk method. It will depend if the bios allows backwards flashability (is that a word? :D), otherwise, you can just use EZflash by extracting the bios .ROM file to a USB stick and then go into the bios->tools->EZFlash, then locate your .ROM file and follow the on screen instructions from there.

Can anyone walk me through it?

I know I cant do that with Asus update as it only allows upgrading the BIOS. Never use the Asus windows flashing utility, it often corrupts the bios.

I have an external hard drive, CD ROM and no floppy drive. - You need a USB stick.

I could get my hands on a USB flash drive if necessary. See above.

Sincere thanks for your help.

Also, I overclocked my Q6600 to 3.0 and its reporting 45 degrees idle and 63 degrees load, is that too hot? what is an ideal temperature? I'm using a thermalright ultra extreme and scythe xflex fan. Temps look ok. What are you using to read them?

thanks so much.

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Hi Clunk,

I am wrestling desperately with my rig, tout I has found me a stable compromise (read OC)
But Prime95 spanked me, AN HOUR IN TO THE TEST!!!
*dang*

I still am at a total loss of what frikkin component it is that freaks out after that time period...

Hmm also Clunk about your divine sharing with us (me) humble noobs,
how exactly does the corruption of bios express itself?

Finally I am really curious as to Prismshiates Q about temps, how much would you consider is an O.K. top temp under stress?
(For a B3 spec to 62,2 celsius)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prismshian

Sorry there,

I"m a real newbie and quite a dummy.

I've been having problems with my P5k-E motherboard lately.

I updated my bios and since it has been reporting that my CPU is 1600MHz when it really is 2400, i'm using a Q6600 cpu and i use CPU Z as advised.

How do I actually completely reset a BIOS or install an older version of a BIOS?

Can anyone walk me through it?

I know I cant do that with Asus update as it only allows upgrading the BIOS.

I have an external hard drive, CD ROM and no floppy drive.

I could get my hands on a USB flash drive if necessary.

Sincere thanks for your help.

Also, I overclocked my Q6600 to 3.0 and its reporting 45 degrees idle and 63 degrees load, is that too hot? what is an ideal temperature? I'm using a thermalright ultra extreme and scythe xflex fan.

thanks so much.

---

Yep it is exactly like my master Clunk says,

It is the power saving feature that slows down your cpu when it is idle or at low usage,
when u need the speed, it automatically bumps up.
In order to disable this function you have to disable two choices in bios.
If youre not overclocking then theres really no need to do so...

Plz notice carefully what Clunk say bout them temps, what program are you using to read them?
(Coretemp is good, shows all four hardcore XXXXpu:s)


/Silverbullit

Quote:

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It will have always done that. Go into the bios and disable speedstep/EIST. Or you can leave it as it is. Open CPU-Z and look at the CPU Mhz (1600 you say?), and now put the CPU under load with your stress testing program, and it will instantly jump to the normal speed.

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yeah i think i did that, but the stress began at 1600 and stayed there. strange...i could almost swear its the bios. because i went into bios at the start screen and placed all your recommended settings and there it was the FSB at instead of 266 it was much lower.

yeah i think i need to go get me a memory stick right now.

I'm using core temps downloaded from clunk's OC guide for dummies.

That seems to be very accurate but, its very strange. I get somethiing like 44 43 38 44. There will be this one single core that is just chilling out. Now, how nice would it be if I could get all of them to chill like the single one. Do you get that problem too? I tried to reset the heatsink with zalman thermal paste and (all those recommendations, and no i'm not ready to sandpaper my cpu and heatsink lol nuts)

And the temps tend to fluctuate quite abit according to room temperature. When my windows are open and the cool air fills up the room, it drops by about 3-4 degrees. and if the room's hot it increases by 3-4 degrees.

I was just wondering if temps at load at 65 is considered stable, because I can actually get up to 3.3 Mhz and it just touches 68-70, I read the manual on the Q6600 and it says 'maximum operating temperature 70 C. Any advise on this?

Also, I'm not sure if this is the case for everyone, I'd like to know really. Does an overclocked CPU eat more power than a normal speed CPU? I realise that when my CPU is at 3.0Ghz, I have to buy alot more electricity and more often lol. ouch. if that's the case, maybe I should underclock my CPU when surfing and chilling out and then put it back to 3.0 when i'm doing my work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prismshian

yeah i think i did that, but the stress began at 1600 and stayed there. strange...i could almost swear its the bios. because i went into bios at the start screen and placed all your recommended settings and there it was the FSB at instead of 266 it was much lower. Are you saying that you have disabled speedstep/eist/C1E and it is still doing it? Are you definitely saving the settings?

yeah i think i need to go get me a memory stick right now. Yes.

I'm using core temps downloaded from clunk's OC guide for dummies.

That seems to be very accurate but, its very strange. I get somethiing like 44 43 38 44. There will be this one single core that is just chilling out. Now, how nice would it be if I could get all of them to chill like the single one. Do you get that problem too? I tried to reset the heatsink with zalman thermal paste and (all those recommendations, and no i'm not ready to sandpaper my cpu and heatsink lol nuts) This is normal, although click on the quad core thread in my sig for info on how to tweak the temps.

And the temps tend to fluctuate quite abit according to room temperature. When my windows are open and the cool air fills up the room, it drops by about 3-4 degrees. and if the room's hot it increases by 3-4 degrees. That is normal.

I was just wondering if temps at load at 65 is considered stable, because I can actually get up to 3.3 Mhz and it just touches 68-70, I read the manual on the Q6600 and it says 'maximum operating temperature 70 C. Any advise on this?
Also, I'm not sure if this is the case for everyone, I'd like to know really. Does an overclocked CPU eat more power than a normal speed CPU? I realise that when my CPU is at 3.0Ghz, I have to buy alot more electricity and more often lol. ouch. if that's the case, maybe I should underclock my CPU when surfing and chilling out and then put it back to 3.0 when i'm doing my work. The CPU will use more power, the higher you overclock it. If you are worried about power consumption, dont overclock it. Simple as that.

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Quote:

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The CPU will use more power, the higher you overclock it. If you are worried about power consumption, dont overclock it. Simple as that.

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I realise that when i'm doing rendering, the power drains like crazy. Especially when i'm rendering. My guess is it consumes alot more power when the cores are stressed.

Does this mean that a Q6600 running at 3.0Mhz will consume more power than standard QX6800 running at 3.0? or just that the higher the MHz the more power it consumes.

One of those thiings I was curious to know about is that do overclocked CPUs perform equally as good as the same spec'd version. Like an OC'd Q6600 at 3.0 vs a QX6800 3.0. Because, i mean price wise, it really is quite a gap there. Almost 500 pounds.

And i'll be trying the loosen/tighten screw method to see if i can get my temps balanced, nice one.
:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prismshian

I realise that when i'm doing rendering, the power drains like crazy. Especially when i'm rendering. My guess is it consumes alot more power when the cores are stressed. Yes.

Does this mean that a Q6600 running at 3.0Mhz will consume more power than standard QX6800 running at 3.0? or just that the higher the MHz the more power it consumes. You meant Ghz there :D Yes, the higher the Mhz the more power it will use, and also, keep in mind that more often than not, it will require more voltage to get to where you want to be, so add that in as well.

One of those thiings I was curious to know about is that do overclocked CPUs perform equally as good as the same spec'd version. Like an OC'd Q6600 at 3.0 vs a QX6800 3.0. Because, i mean price wise, it really is quite a gap there. Almost 500 pounds. Pretty much identical, but not everyone wants to, or knows how to overclock, and a lot of machines will be for business/office/standard home use, and wont need to be overclocked.

And i'll be trying the loosen/tighten screw method to see if i can get my temps balanced, nice one.
:)

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The normally accepted formula for calculating power usage is shown here How to Calculate Overclocked Power Consumption
As power used is 12v the corresponding ampage can easily be calculated by dividing wattage by 12.
Using ther example shown 101watts/12= 8.4A.

Jesus Christ! ! !

Yesterday I spent assuring myself that my OC was stable 4 real in Prime95, Memtest 1.7 and so forth.
- - - Steady as a rock - - -
Late evening/night I spent kicking some ass in "Lost Planet"
- - - Steady as a rock - - -

This morning I start her up and...
get the "Intel Powering down" usb issue.
Finally manages to enter bios and reboot her

Works fine,
checking out some .avi clips, on the third clip I get a blink of a BSOD Error Mess and the bitch reboots spontaneously...

Jesus Christ, Im goin nuts here...

Got her down on her knees on "Auto" settings, cept for Cpu x9 and all six settings underneath disabled,
Jumpersettingsmeny, 9 x 333, VCore 1,325 and kept the low timings she claimed yesterday was stable (4-4-4-10) and rest Auto
I told her
- Suck Auto settings you evil being!
and kickstarted the bitch in hope you might shed some light on us Clunk...

What in the world?

Any input here would be GOLD Clunk, I'm stuck and cannot figure her out at all...


Pretty plz master, help a poor noob out.


/Silverbullit

Have you done a memtest v1.70 test 5 at these settings?

If not, try that first with all the sticks, and if there are errors, you'll have to do them individually.

Old thread, I know, but thanks alot Clunk. Very informative and easy to read :D

Just wanted to say thank you to Clunk.

I followed your instructions step by step and I'm very pleased with my current OC.

I have my E6850 running at 9x425 (3.82 Ghz) stable at about 29 C under load.

Was able to bring my ram timings down to 4-4-4-8 on 2.2V.

The whole thing gave boosted my system up almost 700 points in 3dmark06.

You rock Clunk! :bowdown:

Glad it was of use :)

Clunk - which BIOS is ok now? I'm still on 311 atm and i've got XFI crackling issues in Vista so i might update to see if it helps any. Cheers dude :)

Not sure about the x-fi mate, dont they crackle when not even connected to a PC :D

All the official BIOS releases are here.

Clunk, What's the latest release out of that lot ? 0501.zip or t3167_P5K_Deluxe.zip ? Why the jump in size, any ideas ?

I find the Asus site truly, truly a master class in how to present product information in a sprawling, disjointed, illiterate BS manner.