Need some Overclocking help

[ToG]

I'll keep this brief. For years i have been using computers with hand me down parts, Old (but decent) graphics cards etc but always AMD processors. As such i overclocked them to hell and gave no consideration to the wellbeing of the computer.

Now i just bought my own pc and i still think it can do better. Now this time i bought an intel processor but was less informed about which one to buy.

Specs:

Xfx Nforce 680i Sli Motherboard
Xfx 8800GT 256mb XXX Alpha Dog Edition
Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4Ghz Stock
2gb Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400
Corsair 620watt Real power Psu (modular)
Pioneer DVD rewriter
400gb Sata Western Digital hard drive
--
Stock cooling on the CPU.
Optional fan fitted to the heatsink on the mobo
Good air flow with 2 80mm intake fans and one 120mm out. All the cables are neat or non existant (modular psus)

Now, As i said i didn't do much reading up on the Core 2 duo. I WAS going to get the e4300 on someones recommendation but they seem to have stopped selling it. Also, i'd normally never trust a western digital with my stuff BUT having had about 3 major hard drive fails in the past year (all old drives and the last being a laptop drive) i haven't got much left to lose.

Now i know theres a sticky about core2 overclocking (which i'm taking under advisement) but what i'm asking for is advice on overclocking the CPU, Ram and hopefully the GPU. I have a Fan controller which reports back to me about temperatures. My ram is always about 30-35 and ambient case is about 25-30. I want to get the best for this pc without breaking it.


Here is a bit more about the spec of my pc.




What i'm really asking, is there much more this computer can give me? I'd like to be able to run UT3 a little better, and hopefully a few Dx10 games a little better. Thanks for any help anyone cam provide.

[Hunain]

Well to start with, I dont know much about the OC ability of e46, but considering the performance of its predecessors, it should overclock very well, I have seen people OC the e43 from 1.8Ghz to 3.6Ghz! Anyways, I would say with Stock cooling on the CPU you wont go far, maybe from 2.4 to 2.7, you wouldnt want your temps to be above 60 for long. If you get yourself some decent air cooling, you could go to around 3.2 maybe, im just telling you approx values, if you get water cooling, ive read people hitting 3.5ish Ghz!.

You know the basics of OC'ing right? As for the potential, your multiplier would seem to be 9x? your Ram is 800, Means you can easily hit 400FSB on your mobo, that would give you 3.6Ghz, albiet dont simply go there directly, its just a theoretical value, your mileage may vary, every CPU OCs differently. But with the right cooling you can go pretty high with these core2duos.

Bythe way even with the stock 2.4Ghz and 8800GT you should not have any problems running UT3 etc. And its not feasible to Overclock the GPU, still if you want to try, download RivaTuner. Hope this helps, ask more if you need

[ToG]

What sort of heatsink fan should i get. In all likely hood i'll be getting other stuff from scan soon, so perferably one they stock.

[Hunain]

Ive heard good things about Thermalright ultra 120, you can give it a look, it is in stock as well. Its the best, so I hear! I think you will need to get an additional 120mm fan, its not in the package, its the heatsink only.

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[Webby]

The absolute best you can get would be the Thermalight Ultra 120 Extreme but it is a monster (size wise) so if space is an issue then the Thermalright Ultima 90 with a 120mm fan would be your best bet, slightly lower performance significantly smaller in size and a lot cheaper from £23.50 + fan while the 120 will cost you £35 + fan.

Scan - Thermalright Ultima 90

[ToG]

How exactly would that work, Standard case fans are 3 pin and the motherboard CPU one is 4 pin.

To be honest i dont fancy my fan controller taking over my cpu fan.

[Webby]

A 3pin fan should still work on your CPU header but will not be controlled by PWM but by voltage control.

If you want to be sure then buy a fan which has PWM Scythe Kama fans have this I believe.

Alternatively just connect it straight to a 12v Molex and have it running full speed all the time, if you have picked a quiet fan then it wont be an issue (providing your motherboard will boot without a CPU fan header connection).

[ToG]

i wanted something that COULD be quiet.

I have a Scythe Kama fan controller at anyrate.

[Blitzen]

UT3 isnt that hungry.
Your rig at stock should run it on MAX settings surely.

[iranu]

I'd look at how far you can overclock it with the stock cooling first. You might be pleasantly surprised. Clunks C2D overclocking guide™ is here http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...beginners.html

[306maxi]

Ive heard good things about Thermalright ultra 120, you can give it a look, it is in stock as well. Its the best, so I hear! I think you will need to get an additional 120mm fan, its not in the package, its the heatsink only.

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

I have an ULtra-120 Extreme and it's great.

You mention that you've had a few HDD failures of late. I do wonder if your hard drives are overheating. I used to have this in my last Antec case where I couldn't put a fan in front of my hard drives. I had hard drive failures regardless of what brand I was using.

[ToG]

anything above "2" on the settings causes my FPS to drop considerably.

My hard drive failures were due to age. They were all 8-10 years old.


edit: i tried a bit of overclocking.

Note: i can now run ut3 at full spec when the processors about 2700mhz

before:



and after:




Now it seems to me that when the processor wasn't at load, it cooled very quickly. I assume that means my heatsink just isn't getting the heat away fast enough?

[Hunain]

The temps seem to be fine at 50C, your CPU fan is showing 992 rpm, isnt there a way you can increase that? my C2D runs at 3.0Ghz and I keep my fans working in max 2200RPM, a bit noisy for some people but not me .

As for the heatsink, the stock intel HSF is huge, but isnt that efficient, smaller 3rd party HSFz are much better. Why dont you get something for cooling?

[Hunain]

I have an ULtra-120 Extreme and it's great.

You mention that you've had a few HDD failures of late. I do wonder if your hard drives are overheating. I used to have this in my last Antec case where I couldn't put a fan in front of my hard drives. I had hard drive failures regardless of what brand I was using.

Thanks for the concern maxi, but it was not because of heat issues, as I have added alot of case fans, 4 in total, and one CPU fan offcourse , but the issue was because of the fans lol, I had connected the male,female connectors of the case fans with my HDD power cable, now I dont know what happened but this caused my HDD to fail. Anyways, now I have switched powercables, with the fans sharing the cable with the DVD-RW, and 2 HDD's sharing the same, its working out normal now

[ToG]

The temps seem to be fine at 50C, your CPU fan is showing 992 rpm, isnt there a way you can increase that? my C2D runs at 3.0Ghz and I keep my fans working in max 2200RPM, a bit noisy for some people but not me .

As for the heatsink, the stock intel HSF is huge, but isnt that efficient, smaller 3rd party HSFz are much better. Why dont you get something for cooling?

My major concern is that it's at 70 at full load. Now on my old Sempron i didnt care, but isn]'t that a tad dangerous?

Edit: if i put the FSB up to 1000, the motherboard warns me and puts it in safemode, is there a way to get past that?

[Hunain]

FSB? no no, im talking about the CPU fan RPM, its running on 992, Is it the intel stock HSF? My intel stock C2D fan ran on max 2200 RPM, why dont you make the CPU fan run full speed?