Can't overclock!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

cusimar9

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2002
75
0
18,630
I've just bought a new system and it absolutely refuses to overclock.

I have the following:

Enermax 370W PSU
MSI Neo2 Motherboard
Intel E2160 CPU
Scythe Mine Cooler
4GB OCZ CAS4 Memory
ATI 2400 PRO PCI-E

Now according to countless overclocking reports this system should run quite happily at 3Ghz but when I raise the FSB even slightly the whole system hangs and refuses to boot, had to clear the CMOS last time I tried it.

There must be something obvious I'm missing as it won't seem to overclock AT ALL. Any suggestions?
 
Right I've got it running as follows:

27650mhz @ 306mhz FSB

Memory 382.8mhz @ 5 5 5 15

This seems quite poor to me but if I increase the memory or FSB speed any further it won't even boot to windows.

The memory is supposed to be CAS4 but it won't even run at its rated DDR800 at CAS4.

PSU? Really?
 

That's a good PSU, so we can assume it can do exactly 370W. Use this here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

If it's fine, I would suspect your ram that's holding you back. Increase the voltage.
 
Well the RAM is supposed to run at over 450Mhz at 4 4 4 15 according to these reviews

I wonder if they've sent me the wrong ones or there's a dodgy one in there...
 
But regardless of the RAM speed I can't get the CPU anywhere near 3Ghz, even if I keep the RAM at 750mhz...

BTW I ran that PSU calculator and it came out at 215W

I'm not that fussed really but I wanted to run the new CPU and memory well within its limits, at the moment its like I'm maxing it out!
 
c9: you've left out a lot of details.
1) RAM: what RAM/DIMM voltage do you have set in the BIOS? OCZ RAM often causes problems by needing more than the DDR2 standard 1.8V to work properly. Set the DIMM voltage to the spec voltage for your specific RAM model number. Make sure your RAM is running unlinked from the FSB speed.
2) What is the VID of your CPU? You can find this in the CoreTemp main page near the bottom.
3) What voltage did you set your CPU to in the BIOS? A good starting value is the VID value + 0.075V.
4) Have you run any basic tests such as memtest86+?
 

c9: the components/performance of RAM changes on almost a weekly basis, so reviews from 6 months or a year ago don't say anything about the performance of the current product (unless you have a time machine hanging around 😉 ).
 


1) Running at the specified 2.1v, maybe I should try running at a lower voltage? The mobo is quite good shows me exactly what speed the RAM will be running at, I have to keep it around 750mhz or it won't boot up at all.
2) Processor voltage is completely standard, think its 1.275v
3) As I said, standard
4) Not run any tests yet just trying to get the thing to boot up is a challenge enough!
 

No, keep it at 2.1V if that's what the RAM's spec says.

Make sure you are running the RAM speed "unlinked" from the FSB, so the RAM stays at the same speed even as you change the FSB. A good starting RAM speed is 667MHz, which is plenty for up to 333MHz FSB speed.

Perhaps you mean "auto", as there is no "standard" CPU voltage? Intel tests each CPU chip and then programs in the specific voltage for that CPU into the package. This is called the "VID voltage" for that CPU and varies slightly from chip to chip. You can find out the VID voltage of your chip by running CoreTemp and looking on the main display page near the bottom for "VID".

Assuming you mean "auto", this voltage will actually vary according to the overclock according to a formula programmed into the BIOS. This formula is not normally a great way to overclock, and may be the cause of your problem. Instead of auto, manually specify a CPU voltage of your VID voltage + 0.075V to start with.

 
Right OK I'll take a look at that then. The processor is one thing but it's already overclocked by 1Ghz, its the memory I'm annoying with. I've paid a premium for DDR800 CAS4 memory and its just not running at its quoted spec.
 
The RAM should be under lifetime warranty, and it's not unheard of to get (slightly) defective RAM that won't run up to spec, so you might consider contacting OCZ for RMA replacement.
 
Maybe I should just see what's the best I can run it at, if it'll run at 750mhz CAS4 then I might just leave it, computer's running very well as it is.

I'm just concerned I'm maxing out the components and it won't last as long as it should
 
Right just checked the RAM and its definitely the right batch

I've been fiddling further and have improved things a bit.

The VID on the CPU is 1.325v, I've managed to get it running at 2900mhz at 1.35v, with the memory at 402mhz @ 4 4 4 15.

No idea what was up with it before. Won't run any faster than this (though haven't played around much with the voltages) but I'm fairly happy with it now.

Its still a hell of an overclock for a CPU rated to run at 1.8Ghz!
 
Don't mess around go straight to 1.4V at the core, set your FSB to 333Mhz your multi should be x9 because its an E2160....So we should have FSB(333)x9 = 3Ghz. Also if you set your memory multi to 2.4 you will get 800Mhz rated speed for you RAM. The biggest reason I would say your not OC well is lack of Vcore. I've read threads of the E2160's doing 3Ghz near 1.4V while others needed to go up to the 1.5V range. My personal setup with my E2180 is exactly as I described in the above settings. My Vcore is 1.4125. Also don't forget to disable speedstep and lock your PCI-E at 100Mhz. If you pretty much plug in these numbers you should boot with 3Ghz, let me know how you make out.

Also to test your memory to see if its RMA time or a keeper try running everything on stock with the exception of your memory timings. And run memtest86+ for at least 12 hours. If even 1 error comes up your going to have problems. I found this out(and with my luck was just only 1 error) and lowered my timing to 5-5-5-15 and my voltage to 1.8V It then went 12+ hours fine. But I haven't tried my speced 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2V and memtest..I should do that tonight actually...
*edit* also 4-4-4-15 is kind of an oddball timing scheme, usually its around 4-4-4-12/5-5-5-15. If you mobo has an auto setting put it there if the OC provides unstable and see what CPU-Z has to say for the 'auto' timings.
 
I've had to knock up the VCore by 1 notch further as it was a little unstable (now at 1.365 or something) and its been rock solid for days now at 2.9Ghz. Don't think I need to mess with it any more to be honest its running lovely.

The memory has a lifetime guarantee at up to 2.2v (its running at 2.1v now) so I guess I could up the voltage and see what more I can get out of the memory. Don't think I really need to though to be honest, its super fast as it is.

Another good reason not to up the voltage too much is I have it running 24/7 so don't want to stress it more than necessary.

Why disable speedstep? It seems like a great technology to me
 


Well disable it initially, then when stable I would try to turn it back on, but it looks like you surpassed everything and are all set.
 

AFAIK, there's no real reason to disable speedstep -- novices often get confused by CPU-Z showing a lower multiplier and core speed than they thought they set, but that's easily remedied by putting a bit of load on the CPU.

 
Did throw me a bit initially...

Bloody clever idea that speedstep is though, I'd say about 95% of the time my computer's just idling so seems daft for it to be churning up so much power.

You could liken it to a VTEC system in a car. I wonder when we'll start to see completely variable clock rates? When the computer's idling why not knock it back to 500mhz or something and just increase the clock speed as much as necessary to satisfy demand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom