e2160 overclock, not really working.

[shrewduser]

hey guys,

just want a few second opinions on this overclock,

* P35C - DS3R motherboard
* intel e2160 cpu
* a decent asus cpu cooler
* 2 x 2G 800mhz RAM modules

first thing i did with this setup was give the FSB a go, (200 is default) but as soon as i get the cpu clock to a meager (just less than) 2.2ghz i hit a wall.

so i turned off C1E, EIST, TM2 and smart fan control (its not loud when its just going full blast) as well as some other bios settings but no dice...

perhaps its likely that i just didn't get a very overclockable e2160? i'm thinking thats probably the case. the pack date was 08/23/2007.

 

[fiask0]

Try changing your memory multiplier settings. In the main bios menu, hit cntr-f1 at the same time. Try changing the ratio to 2.5 or 2.4, something so the memory is under 800 mhz. also set your pci express to 100. Try bumping up the voltage and check the voltage on your memory.

 

[bildo123]

Your mobo is actually better than mine but I can at the least get 2.75Ghz @ stock voltage on my E2180.
Leave all your powersavers off for now, Set your FSB to 333Mhz set your PCI-E to 100Mhz not AUTO
Also set your SPD mem multi @ 2.4 (2.4 * 333 = 800Mhz). Make sure your DDR2Voltage is correct, mine requires 2.2V so I had to set it to +0.4 (1.8V is default +.4 =2.2V) The most critical one is Vcore. I would start with 1.4V If its stable and loads windows, try bumping it down, if not vice versa, but really dont go to far past 1.55V I thinks Tom settled at 1.525Vcore to get stable 3.2Ghz on the E2160. So @ 3Ghz you should be able to settle for a little less, but all chips are different.

 

[alizec]

I can't really give better advice than has been given here. Actually, it was Bildo who helped me get my setup working with similar suggestions. But for your reference...

I've got almost the same setup, but my motherboard is a step down from yours. I've got my e2160 running @2610ghz right now. I had initial problems getting it to overclock stable past 2400ghz, but it turned out I was under-volting my ram, and the bios on my mobo (maybe yours too) doesn't make the voltages very clear. Keep your ram conservatively clocked and feed your chip plenty of vcore at first so you can isolate any problems you might have.

Beyond that, it seems I too got a so-so chip for overclocking. It runs a bit hot and hits a wall around the 300fsb mark. Mine will boot at 3000ghz, but it won't load windows. It loads windows at 2800ghz, but orthos shoots holes in it pretty quickly. It slowly gets more stable from there (takes orthos longer to detect errors). It's rock stable at 2610ghz, but increasing the FSB by just a few points leads to errors.

At higher clocks (and higher vcore) it gets hot pretty fast, even with an Arctic Cooler 7 Pro on the job. At normal vcore @2600ghz I get temps in the mid 60s under load. Even if it loaded at 3000ghz I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with the temps. Luckily I was able to lower the vcore considerably @2610ghz for about an 8c temp decrease.

Not every chip is a gem it seems, but there are so many people posting about their e2160 running @3.2 on a stock cooler at 60c load that it kind of gets drowned out. Even on a bad chip, though, it's hard to complain given the price : performance. 2600ghz good enough to hold me off until quads become cheaper, then I can pop it out and throw the quad in its place. No other changes needed.

1800ghz -> 2610ghz o/c (290 X 9)
1.1675 vcore
38c idle 55c load
ram at advertised timings (4-4-4-12)

 

[omikun]

Noob question coming in, I'm about to get a similar set up (2180 + DS3L) and I am wondering if lowering PCIE to 100, even if it will go up to 200+ eventually, will slow down graphics?

 

[shrewduser]

thanks for the help guys, i will try some of your suggestions asap 😛

i have a 500w usicase PSU btw, does anyone think that might be inadequate ?

 

[shrewduser]

i've left some things (like vcore) to auto, and just noticed that its already boosting its vcore to 1.4v. Is that normal? do any of these stats seem out of place ? remembering thats its been clocked up from 1.8ghz to ~2.0ghz.

thanks guys

 

[oneman0664]

OK.....I have the same setup with a 2180.....

For the gigabyte P35 series you need to do 2 things you are not doing.

1. Up the FSB voltage by +0.2v

2. Up the MCH (NBridge) voltage tge same +0.2v

3.. Do not set anything to auto ! Only add voltage to the RAM if you are OCing by 10% or more.

4. See my post for full specs: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245013-11-e2180-stable-p35c-ds3r-4ghz

n/b you will need good cooling to stop the the CPU temp going much over 60 deg.

You should get 3.2Gh easily with spare headroom - which is the best way to go imo.

 

[cz3ch]

OK.....I have the same setup with a 2180.....

For the gigabyte P35 series you need to do 2 things you are not doing.

Thanks for your tips... I was hitting a wall with my E2160/P35-DS3L.. I'm going to try this today and report my results.. so far I'm OC'd at 2.4Ghz but I need to tweak to get it up there big time... I'm on air, so I need to be conservative as my apartment does not cool well... 🙁

 

[cz3ch]

1800ghz -> 2610ghz o/c (290 X 9)
1.1675 vcore
38c idle 55c load
ram at advertised timings (4-4-4-12)

Am I reading that right, your vcore is at 1.1675? I'm running mine at the same multiplier right now on 1.35 and my idle is at 40c/60c load...

 

[bildo123]

Noob question coming in, I'm about to get a similar set up (2180 + DS3L) and I am wondering if lowering PCIE to 100, even if it will go up to 200+ eventually, will slow down graphics?

Never ever set your PCI-E to anything other than 100Mhz. Anything more or less will do nothing but cause an unstable system or possibly damage the card. I have the DS3L and I have mine manually set to 100MHz.

Also I have my system gaming very nicely with my 2180 @ 3.2Ghz. I have Vcore kind of highish over 1.5Vish CPU-Z reads it as 1.504V. But idle it runs in the mid 20C. I ran it under orthos for awhile and it did hit mid~high 60's. I did that with a lower voltage like 1.45V but it gives errors pretty quick. When I upped the voltage it shut it up pretty good. I have a CoolerMaster TX-2 cooler. I have it in a CM centurion 5 case. There is the 120mm in the rear pulling the hot air out as well as my thermaltake 500W purepower 120mm fan pulling air above the cpu up and out.

I have the robust graphics booster on turbo, multi @ x10, host clock control @ 320, PCI-E @ 100Mhz, CIA2 disabled, performance enhance on turbo( I think this actually increased my stability, before I couldnt get my pc past post with everything else the same), SPD 2.5 (800Mhz), DLL settings option 1, DD2 +.4 (2.2V my ram requires), and CPU voltage Is slightly above 1.5V.

Also all power savings off.

Heres a picture of the whole rig.









Enjoy.

 

[oneman0664]

The most important thing I found wasn't the CPU voltage...as long as it was over 1.45....but the other voltages...FSB and MCA/Northbridge.

At less than an 0.2+ overvolt....it wouldn't even post.

Get those dialed in first then start with 1.45 volts and keep going up to a max of 1.525. until it runs.

Clearly if your temps are over 65 at load - you need a better cooler/case.

 

[oneman0664]

Never ever set your PCI-E to anything other than 100Mhz. Anything more or less will do nothing but cause an unstable system or possibly damage the card. I have the DS3L and I have mine manually set to 100MHz.

Also I have my system gaming very nicely with my 2180 @ 3.2Ghz. I have Vcore kind of highish over 1.5Vish CPU-Z reads it as 1.504V. But idle it runs in the mid 20C. I ran it under orthos for awhile and it did hit mid~high 60's. I did that with a lower voltage like 1.45V but it gives errors pretty quick. When I upped the voltage it shut it up pretty good. I have a CoolerMaster TX-2 cooler. I have it in a CM centurion 5 case. There is the 120mm in the rear pulling the hot air out as well as my thermaltake 500W purepower 120mm fan pulling air above the cpu up and out.

I have the robust graphics booster on turbo, multi @ x10, host clock control @ 320, PCI-E @ 100Mhz, CIA2 disabled, performance enhance on turbo( I think this actually increased my stability, before I couldnt get my pc past post with everything else the same), SPD 2.5 (800Mhz), DLL settings option 1, DD2 +.4 (2.2V my ram requires), and CPU voltage Is slightly above 1.5V.

Also all power savings off.

Heres a picture of the whole rig.

[url]http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5287/minehg2.th.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9346/mit1yq3.th.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8152/mit2ux6.th.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8167/advancedbiosju5.th.jpg[/URL]

Enjoy.

Couple of things about your setup.....if your RAM is quoted to run at 800 why are you frying it with +0.4 volts ? Sound crazy...I'm running mine (Corsair XMS 2) at 2.1v at 950 MHz !

Also, do you really need all 1.5 volts to get 3.2 ? I managed 3.4 at 1.475......but increased PCi, FSB and MCH to +0.2.

This will allow you to reduce the voltage from a killer 1.55 to a better 1.475 - your CPU will fry in a few months time !

Also, you should be pushing your RAM and slacking off the timing - they have less benefit on a core-duo setup.

Basically I followed the advice in CustomPC magazine.....my rigs purrs....and still has headroom built in meaning it's not being pushed to the limit in any one area.

 

[bildo123]

Couple of things about your setup.....if your RAM is quoted to run at 800 why are you frying it with +0.4 volts ? Sound crazy...I'm running mine (Corsair XMS 2) at 2.1v at 950 MHz !

Also, do you really need all 1.5 volts to get 3.2 ? I managed 3.4 at 1.475......but increased PCi, FSB and MCH to +0.2.

This will allow you to reduce the voltage from a killer 1.55 to a better 1.475 - your CPU will fry in a few months time !

Also, you should be pushing your RAM and slacking off the timing - they have less benefit on a core-duo setup.

Basically I followed the advice in CustomPC magazine.....my rigs purrs....and still has headroom built in meaning it's not being pushed to the limit in any one area.

Specs call for 2.2V on the RAM Patriot Extreme Performance PDC22G6400LLK is the model number.

But Ill try overvolting the bridges like you said. But if you can please post your 3.4Ghz setup with Temps during a while of stable Orthos.

Also for a not I was able to load vista and even do some low end processing with only 1.475 set in BIOS. I think CPU-Z saw it as 1.44V. Put Orthos would instant error as soon as it started. I'll give it a try.

 

[bildo123]

Just came back from leaving speed at 3.2Ghz. I set everything like was said, except the RAM I left that at 800Mhz, I even lowered the timings to 5-5-5-16 for good measure. I upped the PCI-E,FSB,and MCH +.2 Volts as well as the CPUVcore @ 1.475. Now given this is slower than 3.4Ghz this should be 'good'. Not really, I can takes screens of it @ 1.44V according to CPU-Z (confirmed) all day but literally 23 seconds into orthos, sha-bam, error. I'd really like to see a SS of you running orthos with coretemp and cpu-Z in the window.

Also with everything as stated here 3DMark06 crashed, this voltage would be great for solitaire or even mindsweeper. But It isn't really cutting it for me, I'm perfectly able to do many low-end desktop things, just not the gaming part. And by me saying mid high 60's thats over an hour of orthos, plus it never went over 67C. Not only that no real world app puts it @ orthos level stress. I checked temps when playing over an hour of hellgate london, never passes 60. This is with settings full blast, except AA which is set to medium (4xAA). Please peoples, post some nice long othros screens with coretemp. I hear people hitting 3.7Ghz with it. But they never ever say anything more than that, leaving stability a question.

**Edit*** as far as you go oneman Im gonna mirror your specs and see what happens I tried playing around with a lower multi earlier but not to much.

Another edit, I just started over. Right now I found a sweet spot with 333x9 bringing me to 3Ghz. My Ram is 2.4 multi. So 800Mhz on the Ram, 4-4-4-12. My bridges are both @ normal/stock. And my Vcore is at 1.4V even. I ran prime for a little over 20 minutes with no errors, maxing out @ 53C. Not to shabby, but I will see how low I can make make cpu voltage before unstableness occurs. Maybe 3Ghz will be enough anyways, realisticly another 200MHz wont make that much of a difference.

 

[raplh]

I can't really give better advice than has been given here. Actually, it was Bildo who helped me get my setup working with similar suggestions. But for your reference...

I've got almost the same setup, but my motherboard is a step down from yours. I've got my e2160 running @2610ghz right now. I had initial problems getting it to overclock stable past 2400ghz, but it turned out I was under-volting my ram, and the bios on my mobo (maybe yours too) doesn't make the voltages very clear. Keep your ram conservatively clocked and feed your chip plenty of vcore at first so you can isolate any problems you might have.

Beyond that, it seems I too got a so-so chip for overclocking. It runs a bit hot and hits a wall around the 300fsb mark. Mine will boot at 3000ghz, but it won't load windows. It loads windows at 2800ghz, but orthos shoots holes in it pretty quickly. It slowly gets more stable from there (takes orthos longer to detect errors). It's rock stable at 2610ghz, but increasing the FSB by just a few points leads to errors.

At higher clocks (and higher vcore) it gets hot pretty fast, even with an Arctic Cooler 7 Pro on the job. At normal vcore @2600ghz I get temps in the mid 60s under load. Even if it loaded at 3000ghz I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with the temps. Luckily I was able to lower the vcore considerably @2610ghz for about an 8c temp decrease.

Not every chip is a gem it seems, but there are so many people posting about their e2160 running @3.2 on a stock cooler at 60c load that it kind of gets drowned out. Even on a bad chip, though, it's hard to complain given the price : performance. 2600ghz good enough to hold me off until quads become cheaper, then I can pop it out and throw the quad in its place. No other changes needed.

1800ghz -> 2610ghz o/c (290 X 9)
1.1675 vcore
38c idle 55c load
ram at advertised timings (4-4-4-12)

I've got a E2160 overclocked to 3.33 GHZ and it's completely stable...just make sure to give it enough Vcore and Northbridge if you're upping the fsb...

one setting that worked for me was 400fsb X multiplier of 8 for 3200 mhz with 1.37 v core in bios and 1.41 Northbridge and I thing 1.56 southbridge.. a good overclocking motherboard helps with that fsb wall everyone seems to encounter..

E2160 Pentium Dual Core @ 3.2 GHZ
2 GB Corsair Dominator 1066
DFI LanParty X48 T2RSB Plus Motherboard
Radeon 3650 512 GDDR 2

all on stock cooler - max load is 45 degrees Celcius and 26 idle