Overclocking (Main Thread)

Harold Lopez31 said:You really need to let this run for several hours if you want any meaningful data, because it takes about twenty minutes just for the temperatures to stabilize. You should be monitoring the core temp—or better yet, use something like RightMark CPU Clock Utility to get an actual reading.

I went ahead and checked the CPU clock... under a full 100% load, the processor temperature is sitting at approximately 52.5C.

I guess it might be okay if an E4400 hits just over 60°C under full load, though maybe that feels a little high to you...

Overclocking?

If the temps stay under 65 after running Orthos for several hours, or if it doesn't cross 65 during a TAT, I’d just leave it alone. It’s pretty unlikely you'll ever push the CPU as hard as those stress tests do during actual work or gaming sessions... but that's just my take. Besides, I think the TDP for the E4400 is around 72 or 75 C... check Intel's site to be sure.

darkowl72 said:Look, if you can manage to keep those temperatures sitting comfortably under 65 degrees after running Orthus for several hours, or if Prime95 isn't pushing past that 65 mark, I would honestly just leave things exactly as they are... it's highly improbable that you'll ever actually stress that processor quite as intensely during your everyday workload or while gaming as those specific stress tests do... but that’s just how I see it... besides, if my memory serves me right, the TDP for the E4500 sits somewhere around 65 or 70 Watts... you should probably double-check the official Intel website to be certain...

Does anyone know if there is a similar kind of program available for AMD chips?☕

@ Harold Lopez31

The Gigabyte P35-DS3 (which is the board I was actually talking about) handles SPD on its own when you leave it on Auto. I know because I’m running it right now... if you set it to something like 9x300, the BIOS will just tell you at POST that the memory is set to 2.4. So, that's my experience with this specific board; I can't speak for any others. Also, it's pretty hard to brick this thing unless you start messing wildly with voltages. If you push the settings too far, the machine just shuts down—just turn it back on and load the defaults. That's the "safe" feature with Gigabyte. And don't freak out when the PC shuts itself off during boot. Just sit tight, don't touch anything, and it'll kick back on by itself.

George Ross41 said:Does a similar program exist for AMD?☕

I couldn't find one...

darkowl72 said:I couldn't find it...

Alright, so I’ve got HW running, and when I hit 100% load, the CPU is sitting at core 0 at 56°C
and core 1 at 57°C. Is there any point in trying to push it further, or should I just leave it be since I'm running a basic stock cooler...

George Ross41 said:Alright, so I'm running an HP setup and at 100% load, my temps are sitting at about 56°C on core 0
and 57°C on core 1. Can I push this further, or should I just leave it alone since I'm still using a stock cooler?

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD...000CZBOX).html

Check the max operating temp listed at the bottom... go take a look.

darkowl72 said:http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD...000CZBOX).html

If you actually bother to look at the bottom of that page, you'll see the maximum operating temperature listed right there, so just look for yourself.

What I'm getting at is that if we're looking at 63°C, and we're sitting at 55°C right now, there is still plenty of headroom left before we hit any real issues, especially since this thing is performing on par with a 6400+ clocked at 3.2GHz.

darkowl72 said:@ Harold Lopez31

The Gigabyte P35-DS3 (that’s the board I was talking about) handles SPD itself when you leave it on "Auto." I know firsthand because I actually own one. If you set it to, say, 9x300, the BIOS will pop up during POST and tell you the memory is running at 2.4. So, that's my experience with this specific board—I can't speak for others. Also, it’s pretty hard to brick this thing unless you start playing reckless games with voltages. If you push the settings too far, the machine just shuts down. Just turn it back on and it'll boot with default settings. That’s the built-in safety net with Gigabyte. And don't freak out if the PC suddenly cuts power during boot; just sit tight, don't touch anything, and it’ll cycle itself back up.

300 x 2.40 equals 720MHz. That’s a joke if your RAM is rated for 800MHz straight out of the box. In my opinion, leaving everything on "Auto" is a waste of time; you’re never going to get decent results compared to when you actually dial things in manually.

Modern motherboards and CPUs have plenty of safeguards nowadays. They'll usually revert to defaults if you go too aggressive with the settings (though if you really overdo it, you might still need to clear the CMOS).

Of course, if you’re an expert at overclocking, you’ll want to tweak everything from the voltages to the latency settings yourself. But if this is your first time messing with it, you’re better off leaving it on auto. Since the board can handle its own adjustments anyway, you won't have to worry about accidentally bricking something... plus, if they push the FSB to 333—which, let's face it, they probably will with this specific board—you’ll just end up with that classic 800 😉
meme.

darkowl72 said:Plus, if he manages to push the FSB to 333—which is pretty likely with that board—well, you've got yourself a meme at 800MHz. 😉

With the MSI P35 and an AMD Athlon 64 X2, the processor is definitely the bottleneck here. And when you're aiming for 800MHz, there are way more ways to mix things up using a 266MHz FSB and a 2:3 ratio...

I’ve got a bit of a question for you all. So, I recently picked up a new rig, which means my old setup is basically just sitting there collecting dust, but I found myself feeling a little nostalgic this morning and decided to mess around with some overclocking just for the hell of it. Here is what the old beast is running at:

ASUS motherboard
Intel Pentium III processor—it tops out at 1.3 GHz, though right now I've got it sitting at 920 MHz

I also pushed the memory and the CPU by about 9 percent; the DDR SDRAM was at 133, but now it's hitting 203
By the way, I'm running a 4:3 aspect ratio

But what I really want to know is how much headroom I might have if I try overclocking the GeForce 2 card by bumping up the voltage, purely out of curiosity, of course. I’m actually thinking about applying those same kinds of tweaks to my new build:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2,66
Gigabyte P35-DS3
Kingmax 800 MHz
What kind of ratio would be the sweet spot here?

Thanks in advance

Heh... you can't even compare them. That old rig probably doesn't have much overclocking headroom anyway, and even if you did squeeze out some extra speed, it wouldn't mean a thing for a modern build. It just doesn't work like that.

If you want to overclock a new setup without making a mess of it, go do some actual homework. Look at what people have done on this forum or over at PC Gamer—there are plenty of guides out there. Get yourself some proper benchmarking software and temperature monitors. Once you've actually tested your components and know exactly what your idle and load temps look like—and once you've actually studied the BIOS to see which parameters you can tweak—then maybe come back and talk. 😉

That said, with a board like that, you should be able to hit 3GHz pretty easily, even with the stock cooler. But hey, nothing's guaranteed until you actually try it.

Kyle Sanchez4 said:overclocked?

It’s kind of a forgettable overclock at 2.2GHz, I guess...

What software did you use to stress the CPU and track the temps?

Kyle Sanchez4 said:I guess you probably used Prime95 or maybe Cinebench to check the CPU and track the temps

Probably just standard stuff like Prime95 or Cinebench...

Strange, but the TAT is killing the CPU

? what