Overclocking (Main Thread)

wiredmarlin5 said:steelsailor3, man, did you pull that 510MHz figure straight from the BIOS or was it through iTunes?

Straight from the BIOS—I didn't even bother installing that iTunes software that came bundled with the motherboard.

steelsailor3 said:I haven't even installed the iTunes software that came bundled with the motherboard, I was just messing around in the BIOS settings myself...

Well, you should be able to see the results through those settings! If you bump up the voltage on the board via the BIOS and then crank the FBI frequency using that utility, I’d bet my bottom dollar you could hit around 530MHz based on what I've seen before... 🙂

By the way, I honestly don't have a clue what the actual technical differences are... I assume the Pro version is just a bit more robust than the standard one, right? 😁

So here’s 520MHz FSB😁
I could probably push it even higher if I actually felt like messing around, but honestly, I'm feeling lazy today. I bumped the motherboard voltage up by 0.2V, got the CPU sitting at 1.4V,
and the RAM is running at 2.1V (clocked at 1040MHz with 5-5-5-18 timings for those KingMax sticks from $47 😁)

So, here is where I’ve managed to top out at the moment: http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=323956

It really seems like this processor just refuses to play ball once you push past 3.9GHz... no matter how much voltage I pump into it... 😢

But hey, we'll see how things settle down in a day or two once the thermal paste has had a chance to properly spread and seat itself... 🙂

wiredmarlin5 said:Right now, this is the ceiling: http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=323956

It appears this processor simply refuses to cooperate with any frequencies north of 3.9GHz, regardless of how much voltage I throw at it. 😢

Though, we’ll see what happens in a day or two once the thermal paste actually settles in and does its job properly. 🙂

Well, that's a decent clock speed. 😲 😲 👍

@wiredmarlin5/">@@wiredmarlin5

Mema is stuck in some random validation loop🤷

I honestly haven't the slightest clue, because I've got the ST 800 sitting right here inside the machine... yet for some reason, the system just refuses to recognize it...

Is this your Mema ...

Yeah...

wiredmarlin5 said:Right now, this is my limit: http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=323956

It seems like this processor just won't play nice with frequencies north of 3.9GHz... regardless of how much voltage I throw at it. 😢

However, we'll see how things settle in a day or two once the thermal paste has had some time to properly seat. 🙂

🙏

You want my KingMax sticks? I can get them up to 1040MHz (5-5-5-18) @ 2.1V 😬

Just kidding, but seriously, that’s an incredible score. Was the CPU running at stock settings, or did you swap out the Bigi on that EVGA board?

steelsailor3 said:You want my KingMax sticks? They’ll hit 1040MHz (5-5-5-18) @ 2.1V 😬

Just kidding! But seriously, that's an awesome score... I was wondering though, is the CPU running at stock settings, or did you pull the Bigi off that EVGA card?

I’ve run some KingMax modules myself back in the day, so I know they’re actually pretty decent memory...

It makes total sense that the Typhoon performs better, because honestly, with stock settings, mine wouldn't even touch 3.65GHz...

If you ask me, the score is a bit underwhelming... especially when I consider that at 3.85GHz, it should only need about 1.47V... so I don't really get why there's such a struggle here... I even pushed it to 1.7V, and it still won't stay stable above 3.9GHz... 😢

Hitting 4GHz is basically just for show, like getting zero points on a test... 😢

It’s actually not even a bad start, honestly. You should probably try overclocking it using a 7x multiplier instead.😠

wiredmarlin5, don't take this the wrong way—your score is decent, but there’s definitely room to squeeze out more performance. I know you've got what it takes.

It looks like you just hit a wall with the silicon lottery; Mema is fine, the motherboard is fine, you just didn't get lucky. Honestly, if you're pulling a stable 3.85GHz at a relatively low voltage (even with that vdrop), you might want to consider running it 24/7.😁

steelsailor3 said:It’s honestly not even a bad starting point, really... you might want to try pushing the limits a bit by overclocking with a 7x multiplier...😠

Well, yeah... that’s definitely not a great situation to be in... 😢

Man, I was just thinking about how the E6300 was such an absolute beast of a processor only a year ago... honestly, looking back now, I know I definitely overpaid for that old E6400 I picked up... $500...Haha, honestly though, yours was just a slightly more budget-friendly version of the same thing...

Harold Lopez31 said:wiredmarlin5, please don't take this personally, because honestly, your score is pretty decent, though there's definitely room to push it much higher... I have zero doubts about what you can actually do.

It really looks like the processor is just being stubborn on you; Mema is fine, the motherboard is holding up, you're just having a run of bad luck... But hey, if you've got a rock-solid 3.85GHz at a relatively low voltage (not even counting the Vdrop), you might want to consider setting that as your daily driver for 24/7 use...😁

Hehe, well, it looks like the CPU is giving me the runaround... I guess I'll just have to wait and see how things play out...

On another note, I did a little more digging online, looking up serial numbers and all that good stuff... and according to what I found on Google, some of these specific chips were actually hitting over 5 GHz!

The thing is, it clearly needs much better cooling, but there isn't much I can do about that right now... unless I end up trying to run it out on the balcony if the weather gets cool enough...😁

I have a feeling regarding $433 that it actually was.
So, I can't push past 3.6GHz (with that 520FSB), but honestly, I just keep it sitting steady at 2.8GHz (400FSB) anyway.

I just can't seem to get this E2160 to stabilize at a 400 FSB, no matter how much voltage I throw at it...

I don't really buy the idea that I've hit an FSB wall here; after all, hitting 3.6GHz isn't exactly out of reach if you look at the benchmarks online, right?

Looks like yours is out of reach. Honestly, why even sweat it? If it won't happen, it won't happen. Maybe give it a shot with clockgen or try setting the FSB manually

I had my E2200 running at 280x11 = 3.08GHz with temps sitting at 76°C TAT and 72°C during Orthos. I couldn't push it any further without messing with the voltage, and since that was plenty for me, I didn't feel like forcing it...

Anyway, I read somewhere about undervolting—not the usual way where you drop frequency just to cool things down or quiet the fans, but actually lowering the CPU clock voltage without killing performance. Since I had some free time today, I figured, why not give it a shot...

Using an 11 multiplier, I achieved absolutely nothing... except concluding that this CPU is pretty resistant to undervolting... 😉 At the default 1.45V, CPU-Z shows 1.45V with a Vdrop of 1.344V. At 1.43125V, it shows 1.392V with a Vdrop of 1.360V. Then at 1.425V, it’s exactly the same (!)... everything still runs at 280x11 and the temperatures don't budge... (?) It's a little weird, but whatever...

So then I thought, let's play around with the multiplier instead...

(Quick side note: I already found out that bumping the CPU voltage while keeping the 11 multiplier doesn't let me push the FSB even 1 MHz past 280!)

After a lot of tinkering and trial and error, I couldn't break anything 😉 and finally hit a winning combo:

410x8 = 3.28GHz, FSB = 1640
Voltages: BIOS is 1.44375V, CPU-Z shows 1.408V, Vdrop is 1.392 / 1.376V (mostly stays at the latter, 1.392 rarely pops up)
SPD = 2.0, KingMax 410 (1:1), timings 5-6-6-19 2T (auto)

Stable under Orthos, been running for over three hours now...

Temperatures

TAT 66/66 and didn't go a single degree higher
CoreTemp 68/68
HWMonitor - tmpin0 48, tmpin1 63, core#0 68, core#1 68, GPU core 59, HDD0 45, HDD1 36

The cooler is a TT Blue Orb II spinning happily at 1500 RPM (795 idle)
Motherboard is a P35-DS3, RAM is 2x 2GB KingMax 800, and the GPU is a Gainward Bliss 8800GTS 320

Now, I have no clue what dropped the load temperatures by 10 degrees (!) — whether it's the higher FSB combined with a lower multiplier, or just a slight undervolt on this specific setup... but the fact remains that the temps are much more reasonable now...

Also, worth noting the drive temperatures from startup to after about 8 hours of running with light load:

Seagate 320 HDT725032VLA360: started at 30, now 45
Samsung T166 400 HD403LJ: started at 24, now 36