Need help with OCing E8500, Asust Striker Formula

[kink77]

Hey guys. Sorry, second time I have to write this from scratch! You would figure a site like this could remember my post when it gives me a "you are not logged in error" but nooo! =).

First of all, I have OC'd my CPU to 3.5ghz using the built in horrible "Step up my CPU" feature of my BIOS. With an overnight Prime95 test stressing my CPU I never go over 52C.

Here is the basics of my rig:

CPU: E8500
Mobo: Striker II Formula
RAM: Corsair DDR2-800, CL 5-5-5-18
GFX: Dual 9800GX2s (Quad SLi)

I seem to be getting horrible FPS in some games compared to a friends system. My GFX power is vastly better than his, but he has a quad core extreme chip, I have the core2 duo. To compare:
Team fortress 2, on his system with maxed setting he is running at 100FPS when the action starts and in large open areas. For me, I run at 40fps with my settings on low!

Some people have told me I need to OC my chip so it can better handle the 4 GPUs (I have also played using only 1 of the cards, and it made no noticeable difference to my FPS). Also I have 4GB of RAM, yet someone told me that each of the cards uses up 1GB? Each card also has 1GB of on board RAM, so I am not sure what this personw as talking about, it is however a bit concerning.

The problem is I dislike the idea of using the built in BIOS settings to OC my chip without me actually doing anything. So I was curious if anyone with a similar setup has had success in getting this chip to 3.8ghz or so, air cooled (not a stock fan, I forget the name, however it is a very large circular copper heat sink, with the fan in the middle, it is perpendicular to the cpu). Also I would really appreciate it that if you suggest something to try, you also explain why =). I really want to understand this process instead of blindly following someone elses settings =)

Thanks a lot and greatly appreciate the time you took to read this!

 

[V3NOM]

omg dude i have no idea! baffled me! sry to be no help 🙁

 

[inchiuvatu]

Wow thats bad,

im running almost the same setup,

E8500 @ 3.8ghz running a zalman 9700nt (stock voltage settings)
stirker II Formula
2gig 800mhz ram (4-4-4-12)
Ati 4870 (had got 7900gtx)

i dont run team fortress, but crysis/cod4 run great (and everyone other game i have on max settings)

7900gtx's crysis (med/high) 20fps
7900gtx's Cod4 (max no aa) 30fps

ATI Crysis (ultra (mod)) 40fps average
ATI COD (Max Full AA) 60 average

im not at my machine but i can take down my overclock settings and pass them along if you want?
hope this was informative anyway.

Just an after thought, have you looked at updating video drivers? is your sli working right? are there any known issues with team fortress and quad sli?

 

[kink77]

Hey thanks for the replies.

Your settings would be really useful for now. I will do my best to use them and try to work out why you did what =). Ultimately I want to know what to do so on my next system I can just Oc it =)

For TF2, my FPS in a small room is around 250. Open areas it drops drastically. I will check to see if there are known issues with quad SLi and TF2...

In CoD4 with default settings (Installed it fresh, turned the PC on) I was running at some very insane high FPS, I will in the next 2 days be home again and I will check the exact number, but CoD4 is exceptionally smooth on this machine.

Are your RAM timings set to 4-4-4-12 by you in your BIOS? or is that their stock settings? Seems damn fast =).

My video drivers are the latest (I know not necessarily the best though =/ ) I will start to google to see if there are known issues with quad SLi and TF2 though.

My goal was to get a somewhat future proof system - poor timing with the Nehalem around the corner, but I was so sick of poor FPS! I have to admit I am somewhat disappointed by my machines performance. All the parts are quite high quality:

Mobo, CPU, RAM, GFX are above.

HDD: SATA II VelociRaptor 300GB 16MB Cache
PSU: Enermax Galaxy EGA1000EWL

The fan on my processor is a Zalman CNPS9500
The RAM is in fact: 5-5-5-18.

MY 3DMark06 scores are ~17000. My friendS 1.5year old machine gets 20200.

Really confused, cant help but feel my system is underperforming.

 

[kink77]

According to this thread:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=291357&mpage=2&key=

The 9800GX2 is definately being throttled by the CPU. I really need to OC my CPU to see some benefits I think. i might also just disable the Quad SLI for now and run with a single card. Seems such a massive waste of cash though. Sigh.

 

[jitpublisher]

There are some games that SLI simply does not scale well in.
Crysis for example runs better on a single 9800GX2 than 2-9800GX2's in quad SLI, and even better yet with 2-9800GTX's.
Look here for test's comparing 9800GTX, GTX's in SLI and triple SLI, GX2 and quad with 2-GX2's.
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ5NiwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

 

[kink77]

Sorry, I appreciate the reply, but I really want to get on topic with the OC'ing of my chip =).

inchiuvatu, if you get the chance to post your BIOS settings, I would really appreciate it =))

 

[inchiuvatu]

Hey Sorry for the delay, was working now im home at my machine!

Ok the settings i have are,

Ai tuner set to Manual (that an obvious one)

the "system Clock settings" stay the same

"FSB & memory" settings are as follows

"Clock mode" unlinked

Manualy set your FSB to 1600 (1600 breaks down to 400x9.5 = 3.8)
and your memory is 800mhz, so set you memory to.... 800.

the only other thing you need to do is make sure your multiplier is set to 9.5 i think thats in systems settings from the same menu if you cant find it ill look for it and let you know.

IF your system doesn't boot you might need to increase the voltage going to your processor at stock mine is 1.3v so i assume yours is the same, or also if you want the machine to be stable running Orthos you will need more voltage probably about 1.4v+

if your system stops Posting and you cant get into the bios you will have to Clear the Cmos which can be done easily from the Button on the back of the machine (striker 2 feature which i LOVE)

(i bought kingston gaming ram, 800 4-4-4-12 stock settings, have it set in the bios also, so there wasn't any conflict of mix up in settings though)

let me know how you get on i think all if not Most of the E8500 should hit 3.8 easy without much playing around with voltages, but you might be unlucky and have to watch your temperatures as your play around, dont want to fry that love cpu!

Cheers
Inch

 

[kink77]

Hey inch, thanks for the reply.

Ive actually tried to just change my FSB to 1600 before and left everything else on Auto and it did not boot. I had my RAM Linked because it is 800mhz RAM so I guess with a FSB of 400 that should = 800 for the RAM right?

So did you leave your voltages on "auto" for the most part then? I see you mention your stock voltage for the processor, but if I set the AI Tuner to Manual, then all the voltage settings are on "auto" which from what I have read everywhere will set them too high.

If not, where do I find the data I need for these voltages for the E8500? Oh and did you change the voltage for your RAM at all? Or just leave it at auto as well? (Seeing as we are not OCing the RAM in any way, I do not see a problem with this!)

I think I need to research the stock voltages for my RAM and CPU to save me some heat.

tonight I will not be at home, tomorrow night I will play around a bit and post my results. Appreciate the help, cheers!

 

[inchiuvatu]

all my cpu and bridge voltages are set to auto, i have my ram manually set to 2.1 v cause thats the stated voltage for that ram on the packaging when i got it.

because your nor OCin the ram auto will be fine...

if your system wont Boot at 400fsb you might need to up the voltage... you could get away with going to 1.4 - 1.45 without too much worry, but your temperature will increase your cooler should handle it but i would run a temperature monitor while you use stress testing software...

i dont think the Auto settings for voltage take into account the Manual changes for CPU clocking, so auto is just a standard based on th processor you have, when i want to run 4.ghz stable i need to push it to 1.45v+ Just to get it to boot... if you google "e8500 recommended Voltage" or "e8500 voltage 3.8Ghz" you should get some good info from different forum sites around (including tomshardware)

when you start pushing teh cpu harder that IT wants to go it become a game f balance, voltage over temp over speed, and if you get the right balance you will be fine.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well your already at 3.5, so 3.8 aint gonna give you a very impressive increase in anything.

Sli is a waste of money considering the mediocre increase of fps on a few games. Quad sli is a even bigger waste.

17000 3dmark score is weak for a quad sli machine. A sli 8800gt system can score that with a e7200 3.6.

You got sucked in to marketing hype. It happens to everyone atleast once.

What is your friends systems specs? Does your friend use the same OS as you.

Quad sli may not be the ticket for that game or the game might favor his quad core.


You never mentioned your PSU, so be sure you have enough power to run those puppies.

 

[kink77]

thank you =) I will check this all out tomorrow when I am home and once I have a stable 3.8 Ghz Ill post it to let you know what I did =)

 

[pcgamer12]

Note: Quad SLI technology with GeForce 9800 GX2, 3-way SLI technology, and Hybrid SLI technology are only supported on Windows Vista.

 

[kink77]

Hey Pcgamer.
I have Windows Vista Home Premium. Still, I am not impressed. I believe they still have a fair few driver issues with Quad SLI, plus from what I have read most games have to be coded form the ground up to really take advantage of 4 GPUs. Most seem to deal with 2 GPUs no problem, but 3 and 4 is often a waste =/. Still, I wanted a future proofed system so I guess eventually I will be thankful =).

Tonight I will be home so at around 8pm CET I will post my results =).

And roadrunner 197069, I have a Galaxy 1000W PSU, really should be no problems there =).

As for the marketing, I did some research, but not enough. One of the games I enjoy is CoD4. CoD4 seems to benefit pretty well from Quad SLI =) and in fact I run it at very high FPS. Still, I agree it is not worth the money, but as I said above, I have 2 choices! I Can hope the future brings better drivers and games with multi GPU technology in mind, and I can use the second card to run a second monitor so I can surf as I play =).


Dont forget that the machine is OC'd to 3.5 but most voltages are set to Auto. I want to be able to get it to 3.8 using the lowest voltages I can while keeping the system stable. Besides, 300mhz is 300mhz =)

 

[kink77]

Could someone answer a newbie question for me though? =).
I ultimately want to run this at 4 or 4.2 Ghz. I know others have OCd this chip to this degree with air cooling. The reason why I want to go to 3.8 first is because it should be far simpler and I can use it to learn the process.

What confuses me though is that if my RAM is DDR2-800, then theoretically I should not go over a 400 FSB so I can maintain my 1:1 ratio, right? However the multiplier for my CPU is 9.5 max. So, 400 x 9.5 = 3800.

So to get a 4Ghz speed, or 4.2 GHz I need a FSB of 421 or 442 respectively. But doas that mean I *should* Overclock my RAM? Or should I simply change the Ram:FSB ratio to something that works out at 400:421 for FSB:RAM ? Also, by changing this ratio, does it in any way poorly affect my RAM or CPU?

i.e. is it better to use a different ratio? Or is it better to keep it linked and OC the RAM from 800 to 840-880? Ugh, I need to go learn how to OC my RAM now =)

 

[kink77]

Success!



Ran Prime95 blend test for an hour, temps rose up to around 57. I am going to go back and change the voltages a bit and see if I can lower those high temp scores.

Also my RAM is now running at 420 instead of 400. Timings changed to 4-5-5-19.

I really would appreciate it if someone could tell me how I can find out which voltages I can set for everything. Most of it is on Auto, I have only set my CPU voltage and RAM. Everything else is auto and I assume that means it is too high.

I went from 17000 3dMArks to 19400 though. So I really want to keep these temps down =). Peaked at 60C during 3dMArk which is a tad concerning.