Overclocking (Main Thread)

wanderingraven4 said:I prefer it too; it felt faster, but I might switch back just for certain games...
What percentage is your CPU fan running at when you're seeing average temperatures?

I haven't a clue 😁 nor do I really care, since I don't see the fan speed being much of an issue...
I've actually dialed it back down to 2.80GHz, because it started rebooting on me again while I was just watching TV...

Eric Myers73 said:So, say I'm playing Max Payne 2, then I close the game, and a few minutes later the whole thing just dies. It doesn't happen every single time, though.

Honestly, sounds like a total mess with your drivers. When you finally wrap up a session, the CPU and GPU suddenly chill out and don't need all that extra juice anymore.
If it's happening exactly like you described, I wouldn't jump to blaming your hardware just yet.

Douglas Cook9 said:It’s most likely just some driver nonsense. When you finally wrap up a gaming session, the CPU and GPU cool down instantly, and the power draw drops right along with them.
If everything is happening exactly as described, I wouldn't jump to hardware failure just yet.

Besides, it's hard to blame the hardware since everything is brand new. It ran perfectly fine under Windows Vista, so I'm leaning toward a driver issue or something similar... And I'm just reporting what happened...

It’s getting a little unsettling... I was just sitting there watching some shows on the TV when suddenly, from the other room, I heard the distinct startup sound of Windows😕😕. I have no idea what happened. I went to check on the PC, only to find it had rebooted itself😕, even though I had left it completely idle😕.

Since I'm the new guy here, I'm hoping you experts can walk me through the overclocking process,

Here's my current setup:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200
Gigabyte Ultra Durable motherboard—not entirely sure on the exact specs, though,
2x 2GB RAM sticks, Transcend 800MHz CL5
ATI Radeon HD 3870
Seagate Barracuda 500GB
570W Hyper power supply
My big question is: what voltages should I be looking at if I want to push this CPU to 3200MHz and get the RAM up to 1000MHz? The multiplier is set to 8.

Hey everyone!

I don't think anyone is going to give you a straight answer on that because, frankly, the question itself is a bit misguided.

Take a moment to really think things through before you start throwing questions out there, alright?
What is the point of overclocking for you in the first place? Is your processor actually struggling to keep up?
I honestly fail to see how a 2.66GHz clock speed and 6MB of cache wouldn't be more than enough for your needs.
And 1000MHz memory? Just tell me—where on earth would you even need that kind of speed?
Even these measly 800MHz sticks aren't quite hitting the mark for most people; you really should have just gone straight for DDR3 at 1800MHz from the start.

@ Eric Myers73

Hey, while you're working, try turning the lights on and watching them closely. See if they flicker right when the PC restarts... you might be dealing with some nasty voltage drops in your house wiring. That’ll do it. I know a decent power supply should handle it, but you can never be too sure...

You could also try stripping out your graphics drivers and doing a clean reinstall. It’s free, and if something got messed up during the initial setup—not that I'm blaming you 😉—that could definitely be the culprit...

@ cosmicjackal34

Look, overclocking is easy if you actually have a clue what you're doing... which clearly you don't, since you don't even know which motherboard you're running and you failed to mention one of the most critical things for overclocking: your cooling setup...

First, head over to a tech forum and actually study an overclocking guide properly!
Then, do a little Googling to see how people handle these types of processors and what speeds they hit.
After that, try finding the actual overclocking settings hidden in your BIOS—though I bet you won't even find those.
Next, get some software to actually monitor your system performance, along with temperature monitoring tools. Use a few different ones to figure out which provides the most accurate readings so you can compare your temps against other users and make sure you aren't making a mistake.
And just so we're clear, bumping up the voltage is the absolute last step after you've exhausted every other option.......

So honestly, don't touch anything until you've mastered the theory. Otherwise, you could easily end up needing a new CPU or motherboard, which isn't exactly cheap....

Once you've actually done your homework and figured out where to start, then you'll know which parameters you need to post here so we can actually help you...

Come back then and ask again; we'll be happy to help...

Oh, and one more thing: if you want to overclock because you need the performance or just want to see what it can do, fine.... but if you're just doing it to brag about your clock speeds so you can feel superior to someone else, then don't. Don't mess with a perfectly good machine for no reason...

Eric Myers73 said:Man, that was such a weird moment. I’m just sitting there, minding my own business watching TV, when suddenly I hear that classic Windows startup sound blasting from the other room. It totally caught me off guard!😕😕I have no clue what happened. I went to go check on it, and the computer just restarted itself on me. 😕I'd just let it sit idle. 😕.

It’s most likely just Windows pulling some updates and deciding to reboot on its own. That is, unless you aren't running the Home edition.

Running an Intel Core 2 Duo E8200, Kingmax 800MHz RAM, on a P35-DSR board.
I'm looking to bump this CPU from 2.2GHz up to somewhere around 2.6GHz. I heard that’s what it takes to actually let an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT breathe.
I'm not planning on messing with the heatsink, voltages, or memory timings. Just a simple tweak.

So, stock should be 11 * 200 = 2200, and for the memory, it should be 2 * 200 = 400—though why that's so low when the RAM is rated at 800 is beyond me.
CPU-Z shows that, but my BIOS is reporting a host frequency of 333, which would put the CPU at 3660.
Meanwhile, the memory says 800MHz with an auto multiplier.
Who am I supposed to trust here? You'd think the BIOS, but those frequencies don't make sense if everything is just stock.
Timings are sitting at 5-5-5-18.

My plan is to push the FSB to 233 (maybe 240 if it holds), and set the memory multiplier to 3.33 (240 * 333 = 800).

Do I need to touch the latencies, or anything else, for such a mild overclock?
And what's the deal with these conflicting numbers in the BIOS?

Eric Myers73 said:Oh, come on, it’s not all bad. There are actually some perks to it.
It’s more secure, plus it supports DX10 and all those other features...
And honestly, looks don't matter much. I mean, I've run both Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista Ultimate, and personally, I think Vista feels better now. It ran faster for me, pretty smoothly... aside from the fact that a few small programs wouldn't launch.

It’s more secure because it has ten different security layers, and it asks for permission every single time you try to change something. As for DX10, they could have easily brought that to XP, but Microsoft just wants to push Vista sales.http://www.cnn.com/tech

@ Paul Price42

I hope you've got some decent temp monitoring software that actually gives you readable numbers... definitely grab Intel's thermal analysis tool, plus Core Temp or HWMonitor. With a bus speed of 240-260 on that board, you shouldn't run into issues, especially with an 11 multiplier... and to be safe, maybe set the memory divider a bit lower than 800 so it doesn't screw you over.

Once everything looks good and you've confirmed the system is rock solid under a full load using TAT or whatever else, then you can start pushing for max memory performance.

Just watch those temperatures like a hawk...

Make sure you disable EIST and C1E in the BIOS. Also, check the POST screen to see if the CPU frequency is what you expected after it accepts the settings... oh, and don't forget to lock the PCIe bus at 100, absolutely essential.

Stock temps are sitting at 52°C, and I’ve got two 120mm fans in a decent case,
so I don't think hitting 2.6GHz should be an issue.

I couldn't care less about maxing out memory or testing stability,
just want to bump the CPU to 2.6 while keeping the RAM at 800.

The thing is, why does my BIOS show the CPU host frequency at 333? And am I going to have to mess with latencies?

On the initial splash screen, it shows E4500 (11*200=2200).

Also, regarding EIST and C1E—from what I can tell, they drop the multiplier to 6 (1200) when idle.
Why am I being told to disable them? What's the harm in leaving them on if it just drops back down to 6, where 233*6=1400,
instead of jumping back to 233*11 under load?

Look, if you don't disable EIST and C1E, those settings are just going to override all your manual tweaks. Your machine is going to boot up using the factory defaults regardless of what you think you've set—it'll happen exactly how the error message says. You can mess with the settings all you want, but it won't matter. Sure, your temps might look fine, but try pushing it to 240 or 250 x 11; if that isn't reflected in the post, then nothing is working. Leave the latency alone, just focus on the multiplier...

darkowl72 said:well, if you don't go ahead and disable EIST and C1E, then those settings are basically going to override every single one of your manual tweaks, which means your machine is just going to run on its factory defaults regardless of what you try to do... you can fiddle with the settings all day long, but it won't make a bit of difference if those are still active...

It really just depends on which motherboard you're rocking, because on my setup, everything works perfectly fine with all those little features enabled...👍

Alright, thanks!

I'll give it a shot with it enabled, just like wiredmarlin5 suggested, and see where the chips fall.
The only thing tripping me up is this 333MHz reading in the BIOS??

Look, if you’re seeing a host frequency of 333 but it’s booting at 200x11, you probably didn't even bother enabling the CPU host clock control. That host frequency value fluctuates—it goes up and down. The "x11" part you're looking at is just the processor frequency itself. I think that's where the confusion is coming from. As for the EIST stuff, wiredmarlin5 is right; it works the same way on my end too. It’s just that some motherboards are total headaches and refuse to play nice with it.

Yeah, 333 was technically with disabled features, but there were actually about 200 real ones.

I bumped the FSB up to 237, clocking the CPU at 2.6, then dropped the memory multiplier from 3.33 down to 789MHz.

Didn't touch EIST or C1E, and everything's still running fine (hitting 6*237 at idle).
The guides shouldn't just tell you to turn those off upfront,
because if it works, it’s a useful feature.

Temps are sitting at 56°C in Prime95, maybe a bit lower in Everest—is that alright?

CPU-Z shows DRAM frequency at 395MHz; is it normal for it to show half that value?

Also switched the performance enhancement from Turbo back to Standard since that's what they recommended,
and PCI-E is steady at 100MHz.

Feels like I pulled this off okay without cutting the lifespan short.👍

Everything's five stars, everything's fine... RAM is looking good too... 😉