New PC - Overclocking help please. E8500, ddr2 1066 4870 1gb

[Bruckey]

Hi everyone,

I have just purchased my new pc and am slowly starting to get acquainted with overclocking. A friend of mine will help me with it but i just need a bit of help, suggestion and prediction for the following set up.

Motherboard: Gigabye GA-EP45-DS3P P45 DDR2 PCI-E
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 E0 3.16 ghz 6m 1333FSB
Cpu Cooler/Heat sink: Noctua NH-U12x2 CPU Heat Sink (push-pull setup)
Ram: Corsair Twin2x2048-8500C5D 2x1 GB XMS@ Domminator 1066mhz ram
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870 1gb PCI-E GPU
Power Supply: Corsair 620w HX Modular Power Supply
HDD: WD 640GB Hdd
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred

I would love to know what potential oc stats i could achieve with this and some recommended settings for the crucial oc components. Do not worry, I will not jump in and change all my settings, I will works slowly towards it, I just need a bit of help getting safe temperatures/settings from people in the know how.

Thanks in advance,


Bruce

 

[greenbrucelee]

I use an Antec 1200 and they are great at keeping temps down. First of with overclocking all you want to do is up the FSB. Don't do it dramaticially just a little each time and monitor your temps. When you up the FSB you will see the frequency of your ram either go up or down you do not want it to go too low or over it's rated frequency.

Each time you up the FSB boot into windows and if everything is ok you can try another uppage when you get safe with a speed then you can start messing with voltages. Read the guide at the top of this forum it will help you.

 

[marcellis22]

Check out this OC guide from Major Geeks;

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=52812

Google up overclocking and you'll find more than you may EVER need to know! You can make a very easy jump from 3.16Ghz to 3.8Ghz with your current setup. To get into the advanced OC section of your BIOS, do a CTRL-F1 once in the BIOS. Set the PCIe frequency to a manual 100Mhz, set your Front Side Bus, (FSB), to 400Mhz from 333, and set the memory to one to one, it should show in the bios as being 1066 or less, which is fine. Very easy and simple. Reboot and you should be sitting at 3.8 Ghz. My temps went from 46C to 49C, and I'm just running the stock cooler, which works fine for this type of OC. Read up and good luck!

 

[Bruckey]

Thank you both, i will look in to it as soon as i get back from work! I am not looking at any dramatic overclock as this is only the beginning of my overclocking journey. I will, however, attempt to better my pc incrementally in the future. As far as the Gfx card goes, any tips or predictions on that?

Again thank you for the responses.

 

[greenbrucelee]

keep the pcie set at 100, I have a factory oveclocked gpu so there is no need to do it. But if you raise the pcie you have a very good chance of blowing the card.

 

[Bruckey]

What about processor speed and memory?

 

[greenbrucelee]

when you change the fsb this affects the the speed of the processor and the memory. Here is an example of what I did.

When I ran my e8400 @ 3.52 my memory was running at a frequency of 937MHz (should be 1066) when I upped the FSB to 443 I could select 1064MHz for my ram but couldn't get 1066. You need to keep any eye on the ram frequency to high and you'll knacker the ram too low and your system will be unstable.

what you should do first is raise the FSB in small incerements at fisrt, whilst keeping and eye on the ram frequecy (do not go below 800MHz on your ram or above 1066)

I am not sure on your mobo or cpu as mine are different as all cpus are but you should be able to get to 3.6 with no problems. after that you'll need to mess with voltages etc. USe the guide on this forum and you'll be ok.

 

[greenbrucelee]

if you boot into windows without getting a blue screen of death, then you need to stress test the cpu and monitor the temps.

Dowloand real temp to monitor temperature levels, set the TJMAX to 95, download Prime95, Orthos, OCCT and futuremark 3d06.

When you have real temp running, running one of those stress test programs and keep an eye out for errors and your temperature level. If your cpu is getting stressed at 100% and your temp levels go above 60 degress then you need to lwer the FSB or change any voltages that you have altered.

my e8400 @ 4GHz runs at 37 degrees at idle which is acceptable and gets to 56 degrees at full whack under prime95.

Some people say that you should run prime for 24 hours, some say 12. I ran it it for 7, OCCT for an hour and 3dmark06

I almost forgot also download memtest86 (it is an iso, so you need to burn it to cd) when you have it on cd boot from the cd and it will test your memory for any errors.

Again some people say run this overnight or for 7 cycles, I did it for one cycle and have been running at 4GHz for nearly 3 weeks with no issues.

 

[Bruckey]

Thank again for the prompt and detailed responses, greenbrucelee. I will definitely look in to overclocking my machine sensibly and without any haste that may bring about unwanted damage. I will run the stress tests once my pc is stable. I haven't actually got the machine yet, i pick it up in 1 day, which is hwy i am trying to find out as much as i can about it now. The question i asked about processor speed and memory was directed towards my gpu though. Specifically the 750mhz core clock and the 900 mhz memory clock. What can these values get oc'd to and are there any limiters that need to be bypassed like with the older generation sapphire hd4870s 512mb? (they had a 780 limit on core clock).

sorry for so many questions and thank you for al your answers!

Bruce

 

[greenbrucelee]

I have never overclocked a graphics card and would never do it, some people on here will have done it though. I was told always keep the pcie value at 100 but I have heard of people increasing this although I am not sure what it does.

This machine I overclocked is the first I have ever done manually and it's not difficult at all, it's just a bit of common sense. Don't go over your motherboards max rated FSB and you should be fine