Overclocking (Main Thread)

Spent some more time tinkering today...

e2200 + tt blue orb II, p35-ds3, 2x 2 gb kingmax/800
8800gts/320, t166/400gb, xilence redwing 420W

clock: 280x11=3.08, fsb=1120, mema 2:3 (840 mhz) 5-6-6-19 2T; temp tat i orthos do 65C

Didn't even touch the voltage or mess with any other settings...

I've been running it like this for over a month now, and honestly, the rig is on for at least 12 hours a day, with about 6 being heavy usage...
Just wanted to see if I could push it to 3.2 GHz, just out of curiosity...
After messing around for a few hours:

It won't hit 290x11, and even dropping the multiplier to 10 (300x10) or 9 (333x9) doesn't help... nothing works.
So, I guess I'd need to bump up the voltage to get more out of it. What I'm wondering is, would it be okay to run it 24/7 with increased voltage? Especially since this TT Blue Orb II cooler isn't exactly top-tier...

One more thing—why is it that the e2200 won't handle a 300 or 333 FSB, when I previously ran an e4300 at 300x9 24/7 without issues? Even at 333x9, the e4300 was stable, even if Orthos showed temps climbing over 75C because of a crappy heatsink. It's the exact same setup, just a different CPU...

I’d suggest leaving the multiplier right at 11X, mostly because that keeps the stress on your motherboard to an absolute minimum... In my humble opinion, you really just need to bump up that CPU voltage... maybe aim for something like 1.45V if you're planning on running this thing 24/7... though with NVIDIA, you’ll likely see it settle closer to 1.4V in reality... Increasing the voltage is perfectly fine, honestly, since my old Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 managed to run steady at 1.55V for about three or four months straight without any drama whatsoever...😁

thanks 😉 I'll give it a shot today...

Hey, wiredmarlin5, quick question for you... have you heard about the BSEL mod? I'm curious what actually happens to the CPU and the motherboard when you force a processor to run at 1333—I've seen people on the forums doing this instead of traditional overclocking, basically forcing it to 1333 and then just doing a tiny bit of extra overclocking from there. What does that do to the heat levels?

Also, hey you jerk, which is actually "healthier" for the chip and the board: standard overclocking or doing the BSEL mod? I'm not saying I'm actually going to do it, I'm just wondering if you know... or if anyone else here does?

I haven't heard anything about that personally, though I wasn't tuned into the radio at the time... honestly, I don't see much point in even trying it, especially since I know some folks have messed around on PCI Express and ended up with nothing to show for it. It’s not going to blow anything up, but I’m just not one to take those kinds of risks myself...

Your motherboard should be able to push past 400FSB using the default voltage, and since that processor doesn't hit a wall until at least 350FSB... well, just like I mentioned before, there isn't really any reason to mess with the motherboard voltages. Your main focus should be the CPU voltage, and you absolutely have to keep an eye on your dividers—specifically your memory clock speeds and latency settings. That 2GB Kingmax kit isn't exactly top-of-the-line, so if I were in your shoes, I'd suggest keeping it under 800MHz while you're busy hunting for that maximum CPU clock speed...

If you try running it at 1.65V, you won't have any room left to actually perform any meaningful testing.

And if you ask me, it’s definitely much healthier to just overclock things the standard way rather than messing around with nonsense like BSEL modes...

Alright, I think this is as far as it goes...

I hit a wall at 290x11=3190 using an FSB of 1160 and a 2:3 memory ratio, running at 870 MHz with 5-5-5-18 2T timings. To get there, I had to bump the vcore up to 1.45V.

Trying 300x11, or even 295x11, just wouldn't work even if I pushed to 1.50V. I didn't push any further because there's no way I'd run those voltages 24/7 anyway.

The auto timings were sitting at 5-6-6-20 2T, so I tightened them down to 5-5-5-18 2T, but that's the limit.

CPU-Z shows vcore at 1.42V, CPU-ID says 1.424V, even though the BIOS is set to 1.45V.

Temperatures under Orthos: iTAT was 68C, CoreTemp showed 74C, and CPU-ID clocked in at 72C.

Once I max out the iTAT, it pushes the temp right up to 70C and won't go any higher... and that’s all with a TT Blue Orb II, which tops out at 1620 RPM (idling around 900).

Honestly, I'm satisfied. For a CPU that cost about $100, I think this is pretty decent.

Next up in the coming days: the GPU. A Leadtek WinFast (Gwendolyn 😉) 8800 GTS/320MB... let's see how that one performs.

Leadtek Winfast—wait, didn't you end up picking up that Gwendolyn card from that kid?

I just wanted to share what my Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 was actually capable of before I completely trashed my motherboard: I managed 3.6GHz at 1.35V, and then even pushed it to 3.85GHz with 1.47V... honestly, such a beast of a processor...

Now I’ve been looking at these newer Wolfdale chips, and man, if only my board wasn't acting up, I’d have one of those inside my rig right now. With a default voltage of 1.15V, you can hit 4 GHz just by bumping it to 1.3V, and it stays rock solid 24/7 for most people... absolutely insane performance... though I'm talking about the E8200 there... once I finally get a new motherboard, I'm definitely going for the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400... I seriously can't wait. 🙂🙂

What an idiot, he clearly doesn't have a clue... 😉 plus both of them have two names... damn... look, you know way more about this stuff than I do, so whatever works for you... nice one...

Anyway, my rig just crashed on me—just kept rebooting. I'm guessing it's because of the meme, so I dialed it back to 5-6-6-20, and now we'll see how it goes... what's your take?

Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d probably dial it back by about 100MHz just to get it back to that sweet spot where everything stays stable without any of those annoying crashes... 🙂

When it comes to making overclocking a bit more painless, my personal little ritual is to always hunt down the top-tier motherboards and the absolute beastly processors first—you know, looking for those peak FSB limits and the highest frequency ceilings possible—because honestly, having that kind of headroom makes the whole process so much smoother... 🙂

So, which board are you actually aiming for?

darkowl72 said:So, which motherboard are you actually eyeing?

I was originally thinking about http://forum.pcekspert.com/showthread.php?t=93515, though looking closer now, I see there are several different versions available... and over at Hgspot, they have one specifically designed for $183...

It’s either going to be that, or I might just grab the DFI Infinity Blood Iron, though my main gripe with that one is the lack of an automatic BIOS reset if a boot fails... which would be a total headache...

Then again, the X38 and X48 models are definitely on my radar, but if I go down that path, I'll probably end up wanting to swap out my graphics card too...

I'm honestly leaning towards just picking up a basic AsRock board for my little kitchen PC build... 😁

The DFI Infinity Blood Iron has plenty of jumpers for clearing CMOS, so you aren't stuck if things go south (unless you’re dealing with one of those notorious "desk of death" PC setups 😠)

Here’s a quick look at my own rig (specifically this E4500😁):
Kingmax 2x1GB - 800Mhz, CL5, stock voltage
E4500 - 333x9, stock voltage
Idle voltage - 1.280V
Load voltage - 1.248V
15 min TAT - core1=core2=55C ( TAT ) core1=core2=56C ( coretemp )

wiredmarlin5, is this Vdrop too aggressive😲, and how am I getting temps this low?

The AsRock setup looks solid... and it actually has Wi-Fi too...

But my rig crashed again... (pretty sure it's the PC) I had it set at 285x11... looks like it just won't go past 280x11... what gives? Does that mean bumping up the voltage isn't doing anything? Or am I just constantly screwing with the memory by keeping it too close to 800... what should I even set it to?

@ Harold Lopez31

Man, my old E4300 used to hit over 75 easily at 333x9 without any issues... I kept it at 300x9 though, and it was pretty decent there...

darkowl72 said:The AsRock board looks pretty solid... plus it's got Wi-Fi...

But my rig just crashed on me again... (pretty sure it's the PC) and I had it set to 285x11... turns out it won't go past 280x11... what gives? Does that mean bumping up the voltage doesn't actually help? Or am I just constantly screwing over my RAM by keeping it too close to 800... what should I be aiming for?

@ Harold Lopez31

Man, damn, my old E4300 used to hit over 75 easily at 333x9 without breaking a sweat... I kept it at 300x9 and it was decent enough...

That AsRock board supports Crossfire too👍
Democratic Party, try setting it to 2.50. Are you running yours at 3.00?
Maybe my cooling is just overkill since my room stays pretty chilly, but it's even weirder that it isn't crashing.🤷

Harold Lopez31 - Look, the Voltage drop is definitely noticeable, but I guess that's just how the chips roll... personally, when I'm running my E6700 paired with an EVGOM 680 and a Strider ST75F, I see the voltage dip from about 1.35V at idle down to maybe 1.31 or 1.32V...😢

Regarding those DFI boards, I'm aware of the whole rear jumper situation... but honestly, having to constantly fiddle with jumpers like a technician isn't exactly anyone's idea of a good time...

darkowl72, it really looks like that processor has hit an FSB wall right at 285MHz, which is something I haven't really encountered or even heard much about before, though I suppose anything is possible in this hobby...😢

I guess I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for some decent beef stew, maybe somewhere that won't break the bank too much?

Yes,>
It is a solid thermal paste. It's non-conductive, and because you apply such a thin layer, you can reapply it quite frequently without any issues.

@ gilbert

I’ve been browsing some forums lately and seen all kinds of comments... people go way overboard with this stuff. There are a few unknowns I don't even want to bother with, so I'll just leave things as they are. It works for me...

First off, even though my PSU is decent (in my book), I can't be certain it won't crap out under overclocking (Corsair Commander Series). Then there seems to be an issue with those 2GB memory sticks; they're finicky, and everyone suggests sticking to 1GB when you're OC-ing. And then there's the tt blue orb II...

Plus, I was keeping my RAM too high while testing FSBs. People also say that Gigabyte boards demand higher NB voltage at higher FSBs, which isn't something I feel like messing with... and yeah, there are probably another 100 things like that...

The only solid takeaway is that you need to keep the multiplier at max. There's zero point in cranking up the FSB if you're dropping the multiplier; you gain nothing and just stress the motherboard for no reason...

All in all, like you said—don't go looking for trouble just to squeeze out an extra 100-200 MHz! On Def 2.2, I managed to hit 3.08 relatively quickly and without any headaches, so I'm stopping there. I'm happy. 😉

Look, for $33 difference, I jumped from an Intel Core i7 @ 2.7 that was running crazy hot to an Intel Core i7 @ 3.08 that never even breaks 65C... and it handles the 8800GTS perfectly fine. When I get the itch again, like I said, I might play around with it a little more...

wanderingraven4 said:Anyone got a recommendation for some solid thermal paste that won't break the bank?

What are you thinking, Edward Peterson70? Ceramic, NT-H1, or maybe Arctic MX-4?

Here's some info on those pasta recipes if anyone's actually interested - link.

I don't have any OCZ Freeze, Arctic MX-4, Noctua NH-D15, or a Cooler Master MasterCase