MSI P6N SLI PLATINUM & E4300

[conrad357]

I've read tons of posts on forums, but most just give FSB speeds, not actual numbers to use in setting the system clock, so how do we know what to use actually?

When do you use the 1:1 ratio? or any of the others if your motherboard BIOS doesn't let you manually set your memory multiplier?

I have the updated BIOS from MSI LiveUpdater and Web

I've Disabled the following in BIOS

Execute Bit Disable
Set Limit CPUID MaxVal to 3
HPET
CPU Smart FAN Target
D.O.T. Control
Intel EIST

All Spread Spectrum including:
CPU Spread Spectrum
PCIE Spread Spectrum
CPU/LDT Spread Spectrum
SATA Spread Spectrum
__________________________________________________ ________

Questions

System Clock-Auto
Linked
Manual

Which is best and when to use for what?

I went to 1333 for a steady 3.0ghz overclock. Temps were below 40C
at idle and were 65C under full load.

__________________________________________________ ________


Adjust CPU Ratio-To what?
Stock shows 9, but can go from 6-9 as well.

Last night I got to FSB1600
Mem 800
with 8x multiplier
very fast, but lost settings on re-boot. So basically unstable.
__________________________________________________ _________


CPU Voltage-Try to not increase this by first overclocking as much as I
can on stock voltage, but if it becomes unstable or won't boot, I just increase it how I see fit based on stability right? I just want a good bootable computer to use daily for about 3 hours and 48hrs on weekends.
Not too much into games yet, but will once I get speakers and a better monitor. Mostly business/student needs.

__________________________________________________ _________

Memory Voltage-Stock is: Timing 5-5-5-15
Voltage 1.8 - 2.0

I got this to 2.2 and everything was fine.
I can manually set it to 4-4-4-12 1T as well.

NB Voltage-I got this as high as I could and it worked great, I think it was 1.7.I heard on forums that the higher you go the better for overclocking. Plus it's got a fan on it stock and I don't care about noise fan at all.

SB Voltage-I got this to 1.6 and it was fine too. But it's not cooled so how much is too much?

FSB VTT Voltage-I read that if you go to 20% it stabilizes your rig when
you overclock, so I set it and it worked great.

My Setup

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz
ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
MSI P6N SLI Platinum 650i
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05 Case
Thermaltake TR2 ATX 430W
EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb

$700 exactly with shipping from NEWEGG
PURE BUDGET BUILD

 

[alpine_sc]

Lower your voltages you crazy son of a gun!
You want the lowest possible voltages while maintaining stability or else you'll kill your parts.
Post some screenshots of your bios to see what options you have because I don't know that Mobo.

BTW I have a similar setup. e4300, 8600GT, Centurion 5, DDR2-800 4-4-4-12

 

[conrad357]

thanks for the reply alpine.

ok, well I just started again from the beginning and i got the fsb to 1066 and didn't up the voltage at all and it's running steady.


I went up 1 bump on the NB and 1 on the SB for stability and my ram is at 2.0v with the "Linked" setting running at 400mhz a piece of the Dual Channel total 800mhz.

No other voltages were upped and it's running alot cooler! even under load!

what i don't get is how people got to overclock their ram? was it the ram of the fsb that has to be a certain number for the ram to work with it. cause i just stumbled across 1066 as i was trial and error on the numbers till i got one to work steady and the ram be 800 on that number.

well i don't have a digital camera, but i'll see if i can find some pics and everything i listed in my post are the exact options that i can tune.

 

[alpine_sc]

The FSB of 1066 MHz really means that it's at 1066/4 = 266 MHz. The FSB is "quad-pumped", so that's why they say it's 1066 MHz when it's really a quarter of that.

FSB*CPU multiplier=CPU speed
(e.g. 266 MHz * 9 = 2400 MHz= 2.4 GHz)

DDR2-800 is really 800/2 = 400 MHz because it's "double-pumped".

You should see something in your bios that says "System Memory Multiplier." It should have options like 2.00, 2.66, 3.33, 4.00, 2.50, 3.00. The memory runs at a ratio to the FSB. So, if the ratio were 1/1, then a 266 MHz FSB would mean the memory would run at 266 MHz. If the ratio were 3/2, then a 266 MHz FSB would mean the memory would run at 400 MHz. To find the ratio, divide the numbers (2.00, 2.66, 3.33, etc.) by 2. So if you set the System Memory Multiplier to 2.66, then the memory:FSB ratio would be 2.66/2=1.33=4/3.

Therefore, both the CPU speed and the Memory speed are determined by the FSB and their respective multipliers. Raising the FSB would raise both the CPU speed and the memory speed.

Two dual channel 400 MHz ram doesn't make 800 MHz. They are still both running at 400 MHz.

When overclocking, you want to set the memory:FSB ratio to 1:1 (i.e. 2.00 in the System Memory Multiplier option) to prevent the memory from bottlenecking your overclock.

Happy OCing =)

P.S. I got my e4300 to almost 3 GHz on stock volts.

 

[conrad357]

that explains it badass! thanks
i know for a fact that my BIOS doesn't have a "System Memory Multiplier"

when i have the fsb at 1066 and linked it shows my memory at 800mhz in the BIOS.

Then when i have the fsb at 1066 with manual it still shows the memory at 800mhz in the BIOS.


But for both when I check CPU-Z in the memory tab- it shows that for each channel it's 400mhz, so which is it? does each channel need to be reading 800mhz in CPU-Z?

so should i raise the FSB speed to 1333? to make my speed 3.0ghz and would i do that LINKED or MANUAL for the memory to go up?

but i should also try not to bump up the core to make that work unless i have to right?

Honestly I like having it at 1066 cause it's not heating up, but if i go higher i would hate for it to burn up. but i'll do it if it will be quicker and speed my ram to have it work at a true 800mhz.

 

[alpine_sc]

I looked up your bios. Now I see that your bios can raise the memory frequency. Keeped the setting at "Linked"--that should work better.

CPUz is right, your memory is running at 400 MHz. 800 MHz is way faster than that memory will ever get. Remember: take the memory speed in the bios and divide that by 2. Take the FSB speed in the bios and divide that by 4. Those will be your real numbers. DDR2-800 means it's 400MHz. DDR2-667 means it's 333 MHz.

Upping the voltage is much more dangerous to your parts than raising the frequency. However, it's ok to raise the volts provided that you have adequate cooling, but don't raise it too high.

To overclock, set the memory frequency to the lowest possible value. Then gradually raise the FSB until you find the highest stable speed. Then, you can raise the memory frequency until you hit the highest stable speed.

 

[alpine_sc]

1 more thing: monitor your CPU temps with Core Temp 0.95. It will read the correct temps with the e4300. Don't let "Core #0" or "Core #1" get above 70C.

 

[conrad357]

well i tried taking the multiplier down to 8 and raising the fsb to 400 which is actually 1600 and bumped what i needed to to get it stable, but it wasn't steady, just lagged and locked up eventually.

so i can keep it at 9x multiplier, then 1333 or 333 fsb and what would i set my memory to manually? or should i link up?

i just want my ram to run fast and not suffer. but already learned you can't do much with 6400 ram and this cpu.

 

[alpine_sc]

If you raised it to 400 FSB and "it wasn't steady, just lagged and locked up eventually" that means it was not stable. You have to start at a safe FSB and raise it up gradually, and test it for stability. Ram doesn't matter much for system performance. If you haven't got your CPU to a stable clock speed yet, don't overclock the memory; just leave it at 1:1.

 

[menetlaus]

don't overclock the memory; just leave it at 1:1.

/shakes head ... just think about it for a minute

If you link the ram 1:1 to the CPU, and overclock the CPU... it definately DOES overclock the ram as well.

Take a look at the "howto: overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - A Guide v1.1", it should be at the VERY TOP of the forum you just posted this in.

And the very first line reads: "Before you continue, I wrote this guide with the newbie in mind, so please don't reply criticizing it for being too simplistic -- it's this way by design."

It's very well written and the author of that post know's what he's talking about - you want to leave the memory on Auto settings until you know how fast your CPU goes. Otherwise your not going to be able to go any higher because your DDR2-800MHz memory won't run past 1066MHz effective (which by the way happens at 266MHz FSB with a 1:1 ratio, the 1066 is just a guess but depending on the voltage it will become unstable somewhere around there). But when you leave memory to Auto - it will keep your ram from limiting your overclock, and after you know how to run your CPU stable - then it's time to get as much as you can from your ram.

 

[raywood]

For some reason, on my system the Memory Voltage option in AMI's CMOS Setup Utility v. 2.61 is set to AUTO and greyed out. I have Crucial RAM rated at 4-4-4-12, 2.2V. I've gone into Advance DRAM Configuration to set tCL, tRCD, tRP, and tRAS accordingly. But I can't change the memory voltage. Any ideas?