Overclocking E6550 vs 6750

[Thanatos421]

Oh well. My parts are finally on the way for MY system. He is pretty happy with his running at 3.2. I'll see what I can squeeze out of mine. Starting with a 6750, so I'm really shooting for 3.5+.

Wish me luck!

 

[Thanatos421]

OK, got my stuff in. Installed Vista 64, got all driver and OS updates and away I went. Started OC at 3.2 which again, at all stock voltages looks rock stable. I tried 3.4 last night, but something weird was happening. This may just be Vista trying to prevent CPU damage or whatnot, but Vista would kill Prime95 (I'm guessing when it would spit a CPU error). I was trying 3.4 at stock voltage, which from my friends PC, I was pretty sure wouldn't work.

Anyone else ever run into Vista killing Prime95 instead of Prime just listing an error? Either way, it shows instability I know, but it was just weird. I stressed it all night at 3.2 and it's still chugging along happily 9 hours later. I'll let it run while I'm at work today just to make sure.

Core Temp doesn't seem to work at all on Vista, so I purchased Everest Ultimate. Honestly, I feel I can trust Everest a little more. The delta that I would notice from BIOS idle temp and CoreTemp idle temp is non-existant in Everest. They agree on every temp within 1-2 deg.

The good news is that it posted at 3.4 and booted to desktop, so now I know I just need to toss a little more juice at it. I'll probably try 1.35 first and go up or down from there.

This is my first time ever seeing Vista, so if anyone knows of any tricks or tips to any OS setting I need to take care of, let me know please. It looks relatively familiar to XP but there are definitely some things I need to explore.

 

[Scotteq]

<<<=== Vista 64 here, loving it, and is duly ostracised by many for that....


(1) Vista Indexes everything by default - so your HDD is going to do a lot of work for a while. Once this is complete, the excessive HDD usage will subside. This is a *good* thing to utilize because of:

(2) The Search Tool is actually VERY fast and useful. Type the name of the thing you want, and there it is. No need to navigate.

(3) The Sidebar is surprisingly greedy. If you don't need it (I didn't), then shut it off.

(4) Vista pre-caches commonly used programs for faster launching, and does learn what you actually use. So memory "usage" will be very significantly higher than what you are used to seeing in XP. But know that if any running program needs the RAM, it is surrendered just as if the memory was empty. So there's no need to freak out because XP showed 500MB usage and Vista shows 1.25GB.

(5) Yes, there *is* more overhead and background programs in Vista than in XP. So in the ultimate sense, you will lose a few Frames Per Second. Personally, I don't notice any difference in while playing games. But if you're the type to measure FPS it may bug you that the numbers aren't what you expect. You can minimize the loss by turning down the Aero interface to minimum, or selecting the XP interface in the options.

(6) Vista may choose a power saving mode, rather than full performance. Check and change it in your computer prefs, if necessary.

(7) There are some half decent troubleshooting and monitoring tools buried in the advanced menu. Not nearly to the standard of stuff you can buy on the open market, but they're free and do work.

 

[Thanatos421]

Since you are a Vista 64 user as well... When you were stressing with Prime95, and it happened to toss a CPU error due to undervoltage or whatever, did yours react the same as mine? Or for you, did Prime just list the error and stop the test?

 

[Scotteq]

I've had Prime error on a core and stop that particular process, but the others would keep chugging along. I've never had it just stop. Does it do this consistently? I haven't bothered to beat up on my comp lately, so I'm thinking it's possible an update to V64 changed something. I'm at work ATM, but can run P95 when I get home.

Everest also has a stress test. Not as rough on your system as Prime, but hugely better diagnostics. At this point I'd fire up Everest, let it rip, and see what it says.

 

[Thanatos421]

I reproduced it once just to check. It seemed to happen at the same time. During the Small FFT test, right before the first series of tests finished, that's when it seemed to happen. Only did it twice, but errored at same spot. Like I said tho, at 3.2, it went just fine, and is still running.

 

[nxcmp]

Just hit 12022 3D Mark 06 with a 8800GT @ 626 (Factory OC). Sound about right? Oh uh... 1280x1024, no AA.

You can gety that score a little higher heres mine close to urs http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245038-29-e6550-upgrade-suggestions#t1738922

 

[Thanatos421]

It's already been higher than that That wasn't my system anyway. At stock, my 6750 broke 12000...not sure why that is, when at 3.0, the 6550 barely broke 12k. At 3.2, I'm guessing mine will be near breaking 13k, and that's before I overclock my 8800 GT.

 

[Thanatos421]

Something strange happend while testing 3.4. The tempereture value in Everest "CPU" shot up to 95c. I didn't get a screenshot of it, but please quiet my nerves and tell me it was a visual bug. The cores were as high as they have been at 60c at the time, but for the first hour of the test, the "CPU" value was always the same as or 1-2+ the cores.

Where is that sensor measured, and is there anyway it actually hit 95c?

 

[Thanatos421]

This is the normal look of Everest while stressing. Notice the 3 CPU related temps are all roughly similar.

 

[cnumartyr]

Something about those temps just doesn't look right... Did you check it with any other programs?

 

[Thanatos421]

Speedfan only picks up on one CPU sensor for some reason, but it was within 1-2 deg of Everest. What looks wrong?

Oh, and CoreTemp doesn't seem to want to work for me.

 

[cnumartyr]

Speedfan only picks up on one CPU sensor for some reason, but it was within 1-2 deg of Everest. What looks wrong?

Oh, and CoreTemp doesn't seem to want to work for me.

To me the CPU (which normally indicates Tcase) is actually hotter than the cores.

Normally the dT between Tjunction to Tcase is around 10C. I've seen it as low as 5-6 C on mine but I've never seen my Tcase over my Tjunction temps.

Not sure why.. just doesn't seem right.

 

[Thanatos421]

OK, even that being the case, did something actually reach 95c??

 

[cnumartyr]

OK, even that being the case, did something actually reach 95c??

I'm about 99.9% sure that you didn't shoot up 35 C in a half a second and then it dropped by the next second.

 

[Thanatos421]

Well, it didn't do that exactly. I was watching TV, looked over, all looked like 2nd screenshot. I watched a lil more TV, looked back, 95c!

Stayed there, then, even when I stopped the stress test, and the cores cooled to ~34-37 which seems to be my idle, the "CPU" temp stayed up around 80c! It just concerned me

 

[Thanatos421]

Update, 3.4 seems stable at 1.35 vcore. Ran Prime for 9hours so far, left it running again while I work.

If it is stable, then this setup will be perfect. The FSB is really only slightly overclocked from 333 to 425 which still allows me to run at DDR2-1066 with I think 10:8 ratio.

In the end... I think I could have saved some cash and got a 6550 also. I'm sure my friends can do 3.4 if he would stop playing CoD4 for a moment and let me work. However, I did notice that mine seems stable at 3.4@1.35v while his seemed to need maybe another bump to 1.37ish to stabilize.

Finished system specs:
Asus Maximus Formula SE X38
Intel 6750@3.4Ghz(Maybe)
4x1GB Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066
EVGA 8800 GT @ 675MHz Core
2x WD Raptor 36GB RAID 0
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610w
Antec 900
Thermalright Ultra-120 Xtreme
Windows Vista Ultimate 64
This thread can finally die I think. Thanks to eveyone for your patience and information!

 

[Thanatos421]

Just got 3.6 stable finally. I hadn't had much time to mess with it recently, had some family medical emergencies. Looks like 3.6 is fine though. 1.425 vcore, 450MHz FSB (1800 effective), and DDR2-1080 5:6 ratio. I think this is as high as my thermals will let me go.

I tried 3.6 at only 1.4v but that tossed an error at me after about 20 mins. I bumped it up to 1.45v and it seemed stable there, but my temps were getting a little scary. One core was flirting with 68c. So, I lowered vcore to 1.425 and now everything looks good. Hottest core seems to be pushing 67c rarely and CPU sensor shows 60c.

 

[Thanatos421]

Prime Ran all night no problemo! Looks like I've dialed it in.

 

[Thanatos421]

I need to learn how to resize screenshots without destroying the image

 

[smash it up]

Hello! Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead!

Thanatos, you have a very similar set of core components to me and I thought this would be the best place to seek assistance after searching for and reading many sites, tututorials and forums.


I recently set up a rig with the following:


Antec P182 case, gun metal finish
Antec 850W PSU, modular, 80+
========================
Asus Maximus Formula
Intel E6550
Nvidia 8800GT, 1GB version
2GB OCZ PC8500 (1066Mhz) RAM
Samsung 500GB HD, SATA, 32MB buffer
Sony DVD rewriter
========================
Artic Cooler 7 installed on the CPU
G9 mouse and Icemat
Windows Vista Home Premium
========================
Samsung 226CW monitor - 22"



I have been searching for sites which could help me, as I'm a total noob, when it comes to overclocking.

It must be noted here that the E6550 in my rig is a stop gap solution. I intend to get the Q9450 in mid summer when the price stabilises. Therefore, it (the CPU) can be abused somewhat!

So, my initial thoughts were that this processor would comfortably reach 3.2GHz. This seems to be confirmed by your experience.

If I set the multiplier to 7, and the FSB to 460, this would yield 3220MHz - correct?

However, before I follow your prescribed Vcore setting of 1.3 Volts, I am wondering about CPU to RAM ratios, Northbridge voltage, etc.

As I have memory which clocks at 1066MHz as standard, none of the above should be a problem - correct?
If I were to leave this group of settings on Auto - would there be a problem? Do I need to increase the voltage to the RAM?


I have CPU-Z etc. installed, im getting about 11,000 marks in 3DMark2006 with everything on stock setting (I will overlock the 8800GT with the Asus software - this seems fairly stable as I have already tried it).

My CPU sits at about 11 degrees Celcius (!!!!) when idling or surfing the net (the Artic Cooler seems to be awesome!). System temperature is about 35 degrees C.

Everything is set, just wondering if there is anything else I should consider? Are there any recommendations you can make before I proceed with fiddling with the Bios?

 

[smash it up]

One last appeal for suggestions before I go ahead and attempt to overlock!

Any comments?

 

[Evilonigiri]

Yes, 11C on AC7 is impossible. Unless ambient temps are under 11C.