Overclocking a Wolfdale E8400

[hubbs_67]

Hello,

I've been reading a bit on Toms and other sites about overclocking, and I'm trying to learn how. Current set up:

Wolfdale E-8400 @ 3.0 Ghz (333.3 Mhz FSB with a multiplier of 9)
Asus P5-QLE motherboard
4 Gigs of DDR2 800 RAM

From what I have read, as long as I don't take the FSB over 400 Mhz then I don't have to play around with the RAM settings although please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

My BIOS is set to automatically handle the voltage for the CPU, with a max setting of 2 volts. I do notice on CPU-Z that the voltage increases when the multiplier goes to 9x and decreases when it drops to 6x.

Like I said, at this point I'm just trying to learn. I took the FSB setting of AUTO in my BIOS settings and tried changing it to 350, just to see if I'm on the right track. Using CPU-Z, the result was that my multiplier started alternating between 6x and 9x, so my actual CPU speed goes from 3.15 Ghz down to 2.1 Ghz. After watching it for about five minutes, it seems to spend more time stuck at 6x than 9x. Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong?

Also, if anyone has a link to something like "The idiots guide to overclocking" I'd love to see it! Thanks!

 

[jonpaul37]

This is a VERY good guide, read it twice, just in case you miss something.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259899-29-core-overclocking-guide

With the setup you have, all you "should" have to do is change the FSB to 400 and let it rip without increasing the voltage.

As for the 6x vs. 9x, that is speedstep which throttles the CPU down when it is not under load so that is normal, you can disable it if you like, it's all in the guide.

 

[hubbs_67]

Best answer selected by hubbs_67.