How to overclock / Xeon e5645

[fl.matschke]

Hi all!

I recently got the old computer of my brother which has the following specs:

GeForce 1060 6 GB
Xeon e5645 6 x 2,4 (turbo: 2,67) Ghz
12 GB RAM
Mainboard: Gigabyte ga-x58a-ud3r
CPU cooler: Revoltec lga-t1 (95 mm)

Since the stock clock of the CPU is awfully low, I would like to OC it. However, since I am absolutely inexperienced in this regard (and I did not find youtube tutorials regarding this specific CPU), I would be very happy if someone could explain to me what I have to do in order to reach maybe around 3,2 ghz? Thank you!

 

[william p]

There are CPUs for that with faster clocks that will drop right in. Some are unlocked multiplier CPUs.
Here are some examples of that system. The first example is overclocked to 4.4GHz
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Gigabyte-GA-X58A-UD3R/3127
Unfortunately that's not a simple platform to overclock. You should study it first.
http://www.overclock.net/forum/8-intel-general/1489955-official-x58-xeon-club.html
There are 2 methods available. The BCLK method which doesn't require an unlocked CPU. But raises the speed of the memory and QPI link which requires very complex tweaking to accomplish. Voltage control is very indirect on these also. Higher speed RAM is required.
Or the unlocked CPU method. i7-980X,i7-990X,Xeon W3680,W3690 are all unlocked CPUs. 3.33 to 3.47 base clocks. The Xeons support DDR3-1333 Ram, the i7 are DDR3-1066 speed. The W3680 is the best value. memory and QPI speed are unaffected. Just raise the multiplier, and Current limits and you're done. For a beginner I would suggest this. But it costs nothing to try the first method if you like.
RAM on those is 3 channel. You should familiarize your self with that also. It's a big advantage of those systems.
I will say this. Overclocking one of those is not a waste of time. It has great potential.

 

[faalin]

The bad thing is the 980x, 990x are redonkulous in price on ebay for that old of a system. I know because i have a 980x on a Asus rampage iii extreme running at a modest 4.0Ghz.

You will have to leave the multiplier at 19 and start raising the BLCK up little by little till it fails. Then bump up the cpu voltage a little, rinse and repeat till you ether hit a temp limit, voltage limit, or where your happy with the OC. Its also easier to OC on these CPUs with only 3 sticks of ram, having all 6 slots filled puts more stress on the memory controller and then you have to contend with that as well to get a table OC.

 

[william p]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-W3680-3-33GHz-3-6-Turbo-6-Core-12-thread-12MB-LGA1366-SLBV2-CPU-/132591314507?rmvSB=true
The memory controller is on the CPU. Low end CPUs will have lower RAM speeds also. DDR3-800 for most of them. 1066 for high end i7, and 1333 only on high end Xeons.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-W3680-3-33GHz-Six-Core-SLBV2-AT80613003543AF-Processor-w-Grease-/272552585130?rmvSB=true
They used to be $50. But I guess the word is out.
I suppose if your starting with DDR3 800 speed then common DDR3-1333 will be fast enough for your overclock.
If you only want 3.2GHz then that should be pretty easy to do. But it has 4.3GHz and up potential.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-W5580-AT80602000756AD-SLBF2-CPU-6-4-GT-s-3-2-GHz-LGA-1366-100-OK/131402306091