Questions regarding overclocking.

[Moondrinker]

Hi 😍

I want to overclock my E8400 to 4GHz but i have never tried to overclock before. I%u2019ve read everything there is to read but i%u2019m not confident enough to preform an actual overclock (i have some questions and i want you to comment my procedure).

I will follow the guide in the Forum and i am not concerned about the less imortant stuff such as setting my PCI Express Frequency to 100 MHz or disable Max CPUID value limit and so on. I want to focus on the actual overclock.

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Keep in mind that i will overclock my E8400 to 4 ghz.

At First i go into the BIOS and set my DRAM Frequency to the double of my overclock, that would be 890 mhz since i am going to raise my FSB to 445 (Question 1: would i then achieve a ratio of 1:1?).

Secondly i raise my FSB by steps of 5 untill my computer crash (sounds odd but that is what i can conclude). Then i would reset my BIOS and reboot my computer because i can conclude that my system is too unstable to run.

At this point i would raise my CPU voltage because i%u2019ve reached the loft at which my CPU can overclock at the current voltage.

Then i would reboot my computer to see if it%u2019s stable. If that is the case i%u2019ll repeat the first step and raise my FSB by a margin of 5 each time untill i%u2019ve reached my overclock.

I would then verify that my system is stable by using Ohrtos or programs alike (running for 2hours).

Finally i would go back to the BIOS and tweak my Vcore so that it fits perfectly. I end my overclock my running Ohrtos for 12 hours straight and hopefully i will not get any errors.

Questions:
1. If i set my DRAM Frequency to the double of my overclock, that would be 890 mhz since i am going to raise my FSB to 445. Would i then achieve a ratio of 1:1?
2. How much do i have to raise my Core Voltage when my computer begins to crash/gets unstable?
3. Should i use software to check the stability of my system each time i raise my FSB by 5? (alternative would be to wait untill my computer crashes, then reset BIOS and start over)
4. I am really worried about configurating my ram. I do not know if i have to run it at the native speed of 5-5-5-15 or at 4-4-4-12. I know that the ratio needs to be 1:1 but i don%u2019t know how to achieve this and i don%u2019t know if it%u2019s necessary. The full specifics for my ram is listed below.

Crucial Ballistix 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB )
DIMM 240-pin - DDR II
1066 MHz ( PC2-8500 )
CL5
2.2 V

5. Do i need to increase the voltage of any other component? (motherboard, ram). If this is the case would you care to adventure into this act?

6. This is the overclock i want to achieve: http://i28.tinypic.com/2mrijar.jpg . Now, i know that each chip is different but could i just take those numbers in the picture and plug it into the BIOS?
If not, would it be a good guideline to overclock my CPU? By looking at the picture i know the boundaries and where i approximately need to hit Vcore.

Best regards!
PS: Excuse my poor language i am a Dane.

 

[cnumartyr]

1. The ratio refers to the RAM in non DDR notation. I.E. DDR2-800 MHz = 400 MHz (800 Effective). So yes, 445 in 1:1 yields 445 MHz RAM (890 MHz effective).

2. You go one step at a time. You don't OC a crazy ton at once. Since you will be OCing fairly high my advice it to get the board and memory stable at 445 MHz FSB before attempting to get the CPU stable at 4 GHz.

3. Yes, you check the RAM/board with Prime95 Blend and the CPU with Small FFT. Make sure Round Off Checking is enabled. Run about 10 minutes of checking after each FSB increment, stop about every 50 MHz or so and run it for 2-3 hours. If you get an error it's time to fix it. Once you achieve your goal it's time to run a full test (12 Hours of Blend, 8 Hours of Small FFT).

4. I would run the RAM at 5-5-5-15 at 2.2v while overclocking so you know it is stable. Once the CPU/Board are stable at 4 GHz you can then attempt to lower the timings to 4-4-4-12. You want to make as few changes as possible at a time to narrow the margin for error.

5. You may have to raise the NB Core Voltage and possibly the CPU PLL or FSB Termnation. What Motherboard will you be using? This is why you underclock the CPU/Memory when raising the FSB so you can pin all problems on one component at a time.

6. Yes and no... It's hard to say, yours may do it on less voltage. My Q6600 will do 3.6 GHz at 1.400vCore, some others require 1.300vCore and some as much as 1.6vCore. It's the luck of the draw.

You speak English well for a Dane, Hvor dan har de dae? That's all that I know. My stepfather is from Copenhagen. I've been to Roskilde and several other places.. Favorites were Tivoli and Knunthenburg.

 

[Moondrinker]

Hi, thanks! and thank you for the quick reply!

5. = My motherboard is a P5K Pro.

My PSU is a HX520W and i use a 8800 GT as graphic card.
uh also, the cooler for the CPU is a Scythe Ninja PLUS SCNJ-1100P Rev. B and i use an Antec 182P cabinet which should be able to keep the CPU cool.


I do not understand your reply in question 2. Could you give an example? You say that i need to get my board and memory stable at 445Mhz but my impression was, untill now 😉, that i overclock my whole system, not the motherboard, RAM or CPU separetly.

Thanks! (Roskilde rocks! and you spell that sentence "Hvordan har de det" )
^^

 

[cnumartyr]

My personal theory (and what I have been doing with success) is this.

It is much easier to overclock one thing at a time. As an example, I got my entire computer together and ran Prime95 and made sure it was 100% stable at stock before changing anything.

I then underclocked my RAM and CPU and increased the FSB on the board until I was at 400 MHz. At 400 MHz I was using a 6x multiplier on the CPU (2.4 GHz) and knew it should be stable. The RAM had just gotten back to it's stock settings that I knew it was stable at (800 MHz). So I can safely conclude that ANY instabilities were the fault of the board. This allowed me to test 400 MHz FSB knowing full well that the CPU and RAM were not to blame if there were issues. There were, and I added more Northbridge Voltage and it fixed it. I then ran another 8 hours of Small FFT and 12 Hours of Blend.

Then I started moving the CPU up, from 6x to 7x to 8x to 9x. If there was any problems I now KNOW that the CPU is to blame and I can just pump more voltage into it. Once the CPU was stable I begam OCing the RAM.

When I moved to 3.9 GHz I did the same thing. I put the CPU back down to 8x, made sure the RAM was stable at DDR2-1066 MHz and began upping the FSB. Once I got to 433 FSB (my goal) the RAM was at 866 so should have been more than stable (since I used the same settings I had for 1066 MHz and the CPU was under 3.6 GHz). Then I moved the CPU up to 9x and began adding voltage. It just works better for me when I can eliminate 2 of the 3 components that I will be overclocking.

It takes longer, but I've always found it's about the easiest and most effective way if you have patience. The P5K Pro? Could you link that please? I have a P5K-E and will likely be able to help you along the way.

 

[Moondrinker]

Ah okay. I see. It is a bit more complicated then i thought it would be. (remember that i am new at this). So if we boil it down i want to eliminate as many factors as possible so that i can solely work with the CPU knowing which part to blame if something goes wrong. And in practice i do this by overclocking one part at a time. Correct?

You can look it up at Asus's webpage:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1921&l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0
Or i can give you a Danish link that say everything about it:
http://www.edbpriser.dk/Products/Listprices.asp?ID=409109#

 

[cnumartyr]

Ah okay. I see. It is a bit more complicated then i thought it would be. (remember that i am new at this). So if we boil it down i want to eliminate as many factors as possible so that i can solely work with the CPU knowing which part to blame if something goes wrong. And in practice i do this by overclocking one part at a time. Correct?

You can look it up at Asus's webpage:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1921&l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0
Or i can give you a Danish link that say everything about it:
http://www.edbpriser.dk/Products/Listprices.asp?ID=409109#

Basically yes. You start with overclocking the motherboard (Bus Speed) and get that stable. Then bring the CPU up to 9x. It's a long process, but it's the best way I've found.

That is a good board, I was worried because I wasn't sure if the Pro was the "cheap" version and it's not listed on Newegg. That board OCs extremely well.

 

[Moondrinker]

Basically yes. You start with overclocking the motherboard (Bus Speed) and get that stable. Then bring the CPU up to 9x. It's a long process, but it's the best way I've found.

That is a good board, I was worried because I wasn't sure if the Pro was the "cheap" version and it's not listed on Newegg. That board OCs extremely well.

Thanks!!
I'm glad you said that! But does it look like P5K-E? because then you know it's behavior i guess, and that could help me out when i overclock it.