Limited overclock?

2008-04-12 09:20:23

#1

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Ok, so I've got a E6600 at 3.42 stable, at auto voltage (yes, shame on me) and my temps are 30°C idle and 40°C under load (40°C idle and 50°C under load if case fans are on low).

I should be able to overclock more than that, right? But even at 3.6 GHz, with my Vcore cranked to 1.44 (1.35 default) I simply cannot get it to stabilize.

Thing is, IIRC I couldn't even get it to stabilize on 3.42 unless I put auto voltage on, do I need to raise voltages of anything else than vcore? There are some things that you can raise up to +0.3 over normal, and of course you can raise the voltage on the RAM.

I believe I should be able to squash 3.7 with good temps with my current heatsink (Asus Silent Square), so what am I doing wrong? I believe it's something with the voltages or the memory SPD.

2008-04-12 09:27:49

#2

DUnlimited: got any popo lolo intersting?; +1,160|6735|cuntshitlake

Might just be about the individual E6600. There are some of those that can't hit 3GHz.

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2008-04-12 09:32:07

#3

Brasso: member; +1,549|6902

Try upping FSB and NB voltage.

"people in ny have a general idea of how to drive. one of the pedals goes forward the other one prevents you from dying"

2008-04-12 09:34:28

#4

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6920

It's perfectly possible you've hit it's limit.

2008-04-12 09:46:52

#5

Freezer7Pro: I don't come here a lot anymore.; +1,447|6468|Winland

Raise northbridge and FSB voltage, check RAM speeds, raise RAM voltage.

It could be the roof, too.

The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP

2008-04-12 09:48:12

#6

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6853|SE London

I sceptical of those load temps. They seem very low for such a large OC. Are you sure you're testing them reliably?

2008-04-12 10:59:15

#7

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Bertster7 wrote:
I sceptical of those load temps. They seem very low for such a large OC. Are you sure you're testing them reliably?

Core Temp and Everest both show 50-55°C running Orthos.

I'll try to fuck around with voltages and see if I can get it to FSB 400 (3.6GHz)

That way I should set memory multipler to 2.0 (800MHz RAM), then it will be a 1:1 ratio, right?

edit: Sometimes I get BSOD after an overclock, is that when the system isn't getting sufficient voltage? Or faulty RAM maybe? Or even a heat problem (at 40°C, I doubt it)

Last edited by PBAsydney (2008-04-12 11:06:27)

2008-04-12 11:11:11

#8

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6853|SE London

PBAsydney wrote:
Bertster7 wrote:
I sceptical of those load temps. They seem very low for such a large OC. Are you sure you're testing them reliably?
Core Temp and Everest both show 50-55°C running Orthos.

I'll try to fuck around with voltages and see if I can get it to FSB 400 (3.6GHz)

That way I should set memory multipler to 2.0 (800MHz RAM), then it will be a 1:1 ratio, right?

edit: Sometimes I get BSOD after an overclock, is that when the system isn't getting sufficient voltage? Or faulty RAM maybe? Or even a heat problem (at 40°C, I doubt it)

Ah.

50-55C, that's more like it. I thought you said 40C under load, which is low.

These BSODs are often caused by invalid stuff being returned by the CPU due to binary ambiguity. Increasing the voltage will typically help this.

2008-04-12 11:39:25

#9

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Oh well, I'll stay with 3.4GHz then, seems like Orthos is rendering that OC unstable as well, I was getting a very rare BSOD by normal use, and Orthos gives me one in just a few minutes.

Upping the vcore a bit to stabilize.

2008-04-12 12:47:14

#10

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6725|The Twilight Zone

Google your batch number.

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2008-04-12 13:00:29

#11

aimless: Member; +166|6396|Texas

Also check your ram voltage. You ram may be running to fast.

2008-04-12 13:04:31

#12

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6725|The Twilight Zone

aimless wrote:
Also check your ram voltage. You ram may be running to fast.

He would need to check speed then right?

2008-04-15 14:04:11

#13

houseofnub: Member; +3|6386|SoCal

What motherboard?

My E6600 needed between 1.5v and 1.55v to get anywhere above 3.4Ghz. I didn't need to increase my chipset voltage to hit 3.6Ghz, but at that point my temps were too high. I ran it stable at 3.5Ghz (389x9) at 1.5ish volts with the full-load temps under 55c.

I was using an Asus P5N23E-SLI and a Tuniq Tower.

2008-04-15 19:29:45

#14

aimless: Member; +166|6396|Texas

.Sup wrote:
aimless wrote:
Also check your ram voltage. You ram may be running to fast.
He would need to check speed then right?

Well yes. But the ram could be trying to boot without enough voltage and not boot at all.

2008-04-16 07:56:00

#15

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Also, a question about the Memory Multiplier (SPD), what should I set it to? There is one fixed number, 800 MHz (My RAM's speed) and then the FSB multiplied by a given number (2.4, 2.5, 3, etc).

Should I have it as low as possible, as close to 800? A wee bit over, a wee bit under?

I believe making it higher or lower will relax the memory timings making my overclock more stable, correct?

Oh, and my full specs:

Mobo: Gigabyte P35-DS3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz currently OCed to 3.42 GHz (auto voltage, I would like to get it stable on manual, since I don't trust auto)
CPU cooler: Asus Silent Square
RAM: OCZ XTC Titanium Edition DDR2 800MHz RAM (4-4-4-15 1T) More details

Temperature is NOT a problem, I'm currently at 3.42 with auto voltage and it's 30°C idle, 40°C load with my case fans at maximum.

2008-04-16 08:40:49

#16

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6846|London

What you want to do is underclock your ram, to remove it as a possible limiting factor. Use a 1:1 ratio (2.0 multiplier) and 5-5-5-15 and this should keep your ram speed as low as possible. Then you can concentrate on OCing the CPU, like what people have said try +0.1 on the FSB and (G)MCH voltages. Auto voltage sucks for overclocking, it often overestimates and ends up giving you more voltage than you need. Definitely set a manual voltage yourself when overclocking. Also note that our motherboard is bent as shit in supplying the voltage you set in the bios, mine is set at 1.4V but I get 1.36 in reality, which then drops to 1.34 under load (this is due to something called vdroop and is probs why your system fails stability tests). Therefore set it +0.05v over the voltage you want.

Once you have the CPU at the speed you want and its stable you can OC the ram. Make sure you first give the ram the voltage it needs, our motherboard defaults at 1.8V which is a severe undervolt for gaming ram so set that to +0.3V for your OCZ's. Then manually tighten the timings as much as you can, 4-4-4-15 is preferable with a static tRead value between 6 and 8 (fyi 8 is more stable than 6, but is slower).

The fixed number is your rated speed, you can go over it safely but you'll need to relax the timings to remain stable. TBH tight timing 'feels' better than high clock in windows as it makes things load faster. Consider changing the multiplier so that your ram stays under 950mhz, because I doubt your ram will handle high clock speed and tight timings- staying as close to 800mhz as possible for stability but don't go under it because that's unnecessarily overcautious. There's no longer an appreciable difference between what ratio you use so just pick the one that gives you the highest stable clock speed.

Last edited by Aries_37 (2008-04-16 08:59:22)

2008-04-16 15:05:14

#17

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Aries_37 wrote:
What you want to do is underclock your ram, to remove it as a possible limiting factor. Use a 1:1 ratio (2.0 multiplier) and 5-5-5-15 and this should keep your ram speed as low as possible. Then you can concentrate on OCing the CPU, like what people have said try +0.1 on the FSB and (G)MCH voltages. Auto voltage sucks for overclocking, it often overestimates and ends up giving you more voltage than you need. Definitely set a manual voltage yourself when overclocking. Also note that our motherboard is bent as shit in supplying the voltage you set in the bios, mine is set at 1.4V but I get 1.36 in reality, which then drops to 1.34 under load (this is due to something called vdroop and is probs why your system fails stability tests). Therefore set it +0.05v over the voltage you want.

Once you have the CPU at the speed you want and its stable you can OC the ram. Make sure you first give the ram the voltage it needs, our motherboard defaults at 1.8V which is a severe undervolt for gaming ram so set that to +0.3V for your OCZ's. Then manually tighten the timings as much as you can, 4-4-4-15 is preferable with a static tRead value between 6 and 8 (fyi 8 is more stable than 6, but is slower).

The fixed number is your rated speed, you can go over it safely but you'll need to relax the timings to remain stable. TBH tight timing 'feels' better than high clock in windows as it makes things load faster. Consider changing the multiplier so that your ram stays under 950mhz, because I doubt your ram will handle high clock speed and tight timings- staying as close to 800mhz as possible for stability but don't go under it because that's unnecessarily overcautious. There's no longer an appreciable difference between what ratio you use so just pick the one that gives you the highest stable clock speed.

You are my hero! +1, I'll try that out!

Edit: How do I edit RAM timings? Can't find it in the BIOS.

Last edited by PBAsydney (2008-04-16 15:11:21)

2008-04-16 15:17:13

#18

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6846|London

PBAsydney wrote:
You are my hero! +1, I'll try that out!

Edit: How do I edit RAM timings? Can't find it in the BIOS.

Ctrl + f1 in the main menu brings up the advanced options. You need to set the timing control to 'manual' first then have fun tweaking.

2008-04-16 15:37:25

#19

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Ok thanks.

Hmm, I'm constantly getting BSOD when trying to hit the 3.6 mark, oh well, I'll stick with 3.42 and try to optimize the core voltage and get some tighter RAM timings for best performance.

What about memory timings? Are they set to 4-4-4-15 automatically if voltage is high enough? Because I set the timimgs and memory overvoltage in BIOS but no software seems to be able to properly read the differences.

Last edited by PBAsydney (2008-04-16 16:05:58)

2008-04-17 08:31:04

#20

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

According to the OCZ site, my RAM will only handle 4-4-4-15 1T on a nforce mobo with EPP support, but will it be possible on my mobo with the overvoltage?

2008-04-17 10:03:47

#21

Aries_37: arrivederci frog; +368|6846|London

Everest, CPU-Z, and Sandra will all tell you your current timings. The memory timings are always a lot slower on default settings, and changing voltage doesn't change this. You will need to manually change the timings. 4-4-4-15 is easily done by our motherboard, I had my crucial ram at 3-3-3-8 for a while, however the 1T and 2T doesn't seem configurable, so you'll have to take what you're given there. You'll most likely achieve 4-4-4-15 2T ~800mhz @ 1.21V. Really shouldn't be a reason why that wouldn't be stable.

If you're really stumped go to http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245 … erclocking.

Last edited by Aries_37 (2008-04-17 10:04:50)

2008-04-17 10:24:04

#22

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Ah, I found it, I was looking at the standard memory timings and profiles and such, I've found what I was looking for

Currently at 5-5-5-15 2T, but I can't see what my current voltge is, I'll just assume it's 2.1 since I have a +0.3 voltage on my RAM in BIOS.

EDIT: Yep, Sandra now reports 4-4-4-15 my whole overclock reset itself with TRD 6, so I put it on 8.

Last edited by PBAsydney (2008-04-17 10:33:02)

BF2S Forums Limited overclock?

Bertster7 wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

Bertster7 wrote:

aimless wrote:

.Sup wrote:

aimless wrote:

Aries_37 wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

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