E4300: disappointing 10% overclock - any ideas?

LiquidEyes

LiquidEyes

LiquidEyes

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Joined
15 May 2007
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4
Hi there. I wonder if anybody can offer me some advice on overclocking my new system.

This is my PC spec:

Intel E4300 (Core2Duo 1.8GHz)
Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H motherboard
2x 1GB Kingston DDR2-666MHz RAM
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower PWM cooler
Arctic Silver 5 paste

I'm a bit disappointed as I can't get it past 2036 MHz (226.2*9) without it rapidly becoming unstable. At 228*9 (default vcore) it's *almost* stable but Orthos did fail after an hour on one occasion. At 230*9 Orthos almost always reports an error within 10 seconds. Increasing the vcore doesn't help - I've tried a whole range of values from the default (~1.35V) to over 1.5V (!) Still the errors.

I'm a bit surprised by the sudden drop-off when I tip the FSB past 226 MHz. I'd be disappointed if this really is the max my CPU/motherboard can do (but if I've been unlucky with my E4300 then so be it!) :)

I'm cautious about increasing the Northbridge voltage, but I have tried putting it up by one or two notches (+0.04-0.08V) with no benefit.

These are my settings:

* PCI-E fixed at 100 MHz
* DRAM ratio 3:4 (the lowest my motherboard can do)
* timings 5/5/5/15
* C1E & SpeedStep disabled

As you can see my RAM is actually underclocked (and seems to work even when overclocked at 3:5 / FSB 220 MHz). So it seems unlikely the RAM is the problem. (Memtest86+ works for a few MHz beyond the point where Orthos fails - I've taken it up to 233*9 without problems, and haven't tried beyond that.)

My temperatures are very tame -- under maximum load in Orthos, the CPU peaks at a mere 43 degrees C, and the system temperature peaks at about 37 degrees. Running two instances of SuperPi gives a CPU temperature of only 35 degrees. I've waded through one overclocking guide and another on the internet, and I've verified that everything looks right in CPU-Z.

Does it sound like my CPU is the 'weakest link'? Have I been unlucky or might I have overlooked something? Any other ideas what the problem might be?

All comments welcome!
 
Doubt its the cpu tbh, if it is then its the worst ever core 2 i've ever seen. Foxconn is not known for overclocking realistically. Try dropping the cpu multi to the lowest if you can and raising the fsb to rule out cpu.
 
I know it's not the "done thing" for some people, but have you tried the FoxOne software for windows-based overclocking? Also, you flashed to the latest BIOS?
 
Thanks for the replies.

Justintime: I agree it's a pretty dismal overclock as it stands. I know there is no guarantee, but I've never heard of anybody getting less than 2.3GHz. I did try lowering the multiplier to x8 and it fell over at exactly the same FSB speed as at x9. Haven't tried lower than x8 yet.

Re Foxconn: it seems to have all the settings I need and the Fox One Windows utility is useful. The only bad thing is the lowest DRAM ratio being 3:4 (you have a choice of three 'pre-overclocked' memory settings: 533, 667 or 800MHz, i.e. 3:4 / 3:5 / 1:2 respectively).

Flibby: yes I'm on the latest BIOS, and yes I've been using the latest version of Fox One (v1.0.9.6). Fox One seems a bit unreliable, has a horrid user interface and is sluggish as hell, but since my PC takes ages to boot up tinkering with overclock settings using the BIOS is a painstaking process. So I am grateful for Fox One!

Update: I noticed I was occasionally getting some strange info about the memory in CPU-Z; e.g. at one point it described one of the modules as 'generic' instead of Kingston, and at another time it misreported the timings as 3/5/5/15 when I hadn't changed them from 5/5/5/15.

I've just switched to some different memory and (touch wood) I'm getting much better results. I've installed a Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC6400 module and it seems stable at 240MHz*9. Seems odd though -- I was underclocking the Kingston RAM, and it was set to pessimistic timings, so I don't understand why it should have given me any problems.

I did have two identical Kingston modules installed, so for the time being I've just installed a single Ballistix module so there are fewer variables to think about.

I'll keep you posted...
 
Single channel may give you false stability though, if its memory related. Same issues with lower multi point to the board or memory flaking out.
 
"Single channel may give you false stability"
Ah, you mean it may still fall over when I pop my second Ballistix module in? So it could be a problem with the board/CPU communicating with dual modules under heavy load, rather than the modules themselves being duff?

I guess I'll find out anyhow...

"Same issues with lower multi point to the board or memory flaking out."
If I get any more problems, I'll try 6x (I think that's the lowest setting).

Thanks for the the help. :)
 
If its memory related, single channel goes much easier on the RAM than Dual channel mode, so its like relaxing the timings and the second you put the other stick in things get more aggressive. Yes it could just be the board not getting along with the RAM.
 
Thanks for the input.

I've installed 2x Ballistix 1GB modules now and things are looking pretty good. Everything's stable at the following settings:

CPU 278.4MHz x9 = 2505.6 MHz -- that's more like it :)
voltage ~1.4V, might be able to reduce a little
DRAM 3:4 --> running at 742.4 MHz, so plenty of headroom
4/4/4/12 timings, DRAM voltage ~2.15V

Temperatures are peaking at about 56 degrees (CPU) and 44 degrees (system) under max load in Orthos. Most apps don't get it that hot though, even at full load on both cores. My primary objective is to have a quiet, reliable system, so I'm happy with the modest 40% overclock.

I might be interested in trying to get a little more out of it, but don't really want to make it much hotter/noisier. If I up the FSB to ~288 the system suddenly freezes, every time. Upping the CPU voltage doesn't help. Any idea why it should always freeze beyond this point?
 
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