Overclock E8400 ( Total Newb! )

[Rickz]

Hi all, I have just got a some new pc parts and would like to overclock.

This is what i have:

 

cpu=E8400

hdd= 150gb raptor

hdd= 300gb

hdd= 150 gb

motherboard =asus p5qc

ram= 2x 1gb corshair ( X2 ) 4g total

gfx card = bgf geforce 8800 gts

THERMALTAKE- kandalf LCS case with water cooling.

 

I have changed my FSB from 333 to 345 and it is fine but if i change to 355 and then test using prime 95, it gives error saying rounding @ 0.5 was expecting 0.4...

I then tried the FSB back at 345 and upped the voltage to 1.3(was at 1.2) and still gave error..

Does anyone have some tips for me, and what i can expect to get out of this chip? I am a hardcore gamer and want a kick . system

 

Thanks!

 

Rich

[guzzidom]

First things first, check your ram is running at the correct voltage, one of the odd little features of the P5Q chipset is that it tends to run the ram at it's lowest possible voltage (running my patriot 2.2v sticks at 1.6v!). Leave the CPU voltage stock, that's generally fine for up to 3.7 ish.

Back off the ram timings a couple of notches (I'm assuming you are using decent 800mhz sticks) to something like 6-6-6-16 (or lower if you've got low latency sticks). Then open the AI suite and bump the FSB up about 10fsb at a time until you get to about 375mhz, then run prime 95 for about 30 minutes watching the temps, if that all works ok bump the fsb 5 mhz at a time, running Prime95 for 5 minutes or so each time until you get to 400mhz, then run Prime95 for a couple of hours, followed be the Everest stress test for about an hour.

 

If you have a stock cooler I'd pat yourself on the back for having a 3.65ghz chip and call it a day

 

If you've got a good aftermarket air cooler, now might be the time to slip the CPU volts up to 1.3-1.32 and step the ram up by 0.1v and start coming up 5mhz at a time, giving it the Everest Stress test for at least an hour each time, if it starts to fail you might want to increase the Northbridge voltage a teensy bit and bring the CPU up to 1.36. Now's the time you want to be keeping an eye on the temps big style.

 

The sort of RAM, and the timings could possibly be the deciding factor long before the CPU reaches a limit (especially if you've w/cooled it) so give details

 

TBH these chips aren't fond of volts over 1.4-1.45 (and don't need them either to be fair)

[Rickz]

First things first, check your ram is running at the correct voltage, one of the odd little features of the P5Q chipset is that it tends to run the ram at it's lowest possible voltage (running my patriot 2.2v sticks at 1.6v!). Leave the CPU voltage stock, that's generally fine for up to 3.7 ish.

Back off the ram timings a couple of notches (I'm assuming you are using decent 800mhz sticks) to something like 6-6-6-16 (or lower if you've got low latency sticks). Then open the AI suite and bump the FSB up about 10fsb at a time until you get to about 375mhz, then run prime 95 for about 30 minutes watching the temps, if that all works ok bump the fsb 5 mhz at a time, running Prime95 for 5 minutes or so each time until you get to 400mhz, then run Prime95 for a couple of hours, followed be the Everest stress test for about an hour.

 

If you have a stock cooler I'd pat yourself on the back for having a 3.65ghz chip and call it a day

 

If you've got a good aftermarket air cooler, now might be the time to slip the CPU volts up to 1.3-1.32 and step the ram up by 0.1v and start coming up 5mhz at a time, giving it the Everest Stress test for at least an hour each time, if it starts to fail you might want to increase the Northbridge voltage a teensy bit and bring the CPU up to 1.36. Now's the time you want to be keeping an eye on the temps big style.

 

The sort of RAM, and the timings could possibly be the deciding factor long before the CPU reaches a limit (especially if you've w/cooled it) so give details

 

TBH these chips aren't fond of volts over 1.4-1.45 (and don't need them either to be fair)

 

hi, i have watercooling. im not sure what my RAm voltage is so here is what CPU- says : JEDEC#1 & JEDEC#2 voltage is 1.8V and EPP#1 is 2.100V ( this was what i got under the SPD sub-menu).

My RAM latency is 5,5,5,18

 

I also noticed that if i increase the FSB then it auto increases the frequency of my RAM... Is that normal?

 

What should i set my ram voltage to? and how do i set it? in bios?

 

I have VISTA x64

 

Thanks!

[The Smith]

hi, i have watercooling. im not sure what my RAm voltage is so here is what CPU- says : JEDEC#1 & JEDEC#2 voltage is 1.8V and EPP#1 is 2.100V ( this was what i got under the SPD sub-menu).

My RAM latency is 5,5,5,18

 

I also noticed that if i increase the FSB then it auto increases the frequency of my RAM... Is that normal?

 

What should i set my ram voltage to? and how do i set it? in bios?

Yup the automatic increase in frequency of the RAM is normal. The FSB frequency dictates both the CPU speed and the RAM speed. This one will be equal to the FSB*RAM divider, which you should find somewhere in the BIOS. So if you want an easy OC, lower the RAM speed by changing its divider. This way you can OC only the CPU, without the RAM. Your RAM won't suffer a big performance hit, as long as it's double the FSB.

 

As for your RAM, look on the sticks. There should be a sticker saying the settings they should be run at. Then, if you OC them, you can increase timings and voltage.

 

Good luck

[Rickz]

Yup the automatic increase in frequency of the RAM is normal. The FSB frequency dictates both the CPU speed and the RAM speed. This one will be equal to the FSB*RAM divider, which you should find somewhere in the BIOS. So if you want an easy OC, lower the RAM speed by changing its divider. This way you can OC only the CPU, without the RAM. Your RAM won't suffer a big performance hit, as long as it's double the FSB.

 

As for your RAM, look on the sticks. There should be a sticker saying the settings they should be run at. Then, if you OC them, you can increase timings and voltage.

 

Good luck

 

Thanks for the help guys! I am at 4.62ghz now and will be going as far as i can. I love watercooling cpu idle at 27C @3.62ghz

I discovered the problem was my RAM voltage was at 1.6 I set it to 2.0 and i also set my CPU voltage to 2.25.

SO FAR SO GOOD!

 

i will let you know what i manage to take it up to

 

Thanks again !

[guzzidom]

Thanks for the help guys! I am at 4.62ghz now and will be going as far as i can. I love watercooling cpu idle at 27C @3.62ghz

I discovered the problem was my RAM voltage was at 1.6 I set it to 2.0 and i also set my CPU voltage to 2.25.

SO FAR SO GOOD!

 

i will let you know what i manage to take it up to

 

Thanks again !

 

 

It tripped me up too until I worked out what was going on, it seems the P5Q boards have a tendency to be overly kind to the ram straight out of the box.

Careful of the load temps, the 45Nm's really take off over 4.4ghz after about an hour of Prime95, I'd personally think about stopping now and stress testing it for the rest of the evening to make sure it's all OK.

Not many people have got the E8400 totally "everday" stable above 4.7ghz (not that that is anything to be sniffed at in itself TBH)

P5Q/E8400....ace combo

[Rickz]

It tripped me up too until I worked out what was going on, it seems the P5Q boards have a tendency to be overly kind to the ram straight out of the box.

Careful of the load temps, the 45Nm's really take off over 4.4ghz after about an hour of Prime95, I'd personally think about stopping now and stress testing it for the rest of the evening to make sure it's all OK.

Not many people have got the E8400 totally "everday" stable above 4.7ghz (not that that is anything to be sniffed at in itself TBH)

P5Q/E8400....ace combo

 

 

Yeah, I will leave it at 3.62 for now. I will run stress test all night and fiddle some more 2morrow afternoon. I wish there was a program that automatically detected all ur setting and overclocked to the max potential! good thing im studying software engineering maybe there will be 1 in a couple of years!

 

BTW// I have an ASUS P5QC motherboard and they say only install DIMM into the BLACK slots. I have 1 DIMM in each of the black slots and 1 in each of the yellow slots ( because i have dual mem) and there are still 2 ORANGE slots for ddr3!

Does it seem that i have done this correctly ? everything is running fine, just ASUS say only install the DDR2 RAM on the BLACK slots... they use bold letters so we dont screw up lol... just they dont mention the yellow slots AT ALL

 

Regards

 

Rich

Edited December 6, 2008 by Rickz

[guzzidom]

No, they do a similar thing with my P5Q-VM, they say "for dual channel operation use yellow slots" (other way round to yours oddly) and don't mention the black slots at all, I assume this means if you are only using 2 sticks of ram use the yellow slots first (otherwise it will run in single channel mode), need a better translator / manual editor I think.

[Rickz]

damn them ASUSholes!

 

oh well its working so im not gonna mess with the mem anymore just that E8400... Im gonna oc the hell out of him!

 

Thanks!

[The Smith]

And i also set my CPU voltage to 2.25.

Core voltage to 2.25??? You'll kill it!!! Get that down!!!

[Rickz]

LOL u scared the crap out of me when i read ur post! I miss typed it is at 1.25 haha

[D@3HaM1nGuK]

how can u guys get ur cpu up soooo high?? mine one is at stock and most i did was 3.8ghz and i thought that was like high... now i wanna try 4ghz.....