e6400+P5B overclocking

MaX_PoWah · 26 Dec 2006 at 18:22

Hey

Just got this rig sorted in windows and started looking at overclocking it, the temps are currently hanging around about 40 idle, i have set the ram to ddr 5300 mode to get 1:1 divider and increased the fsb a little but havent touched the voltages yet.

The rest of the rig is

x1800xt
2gb crucial anniversary
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower

What should i be aiming for and has anyone got any tips as i am pretty new to overclocking intels.

MaX_PoWah · 26 Dec 2006 at 21:16

hmm i cant work out how to change the latency on my memory either, the crucial is using some tight timings and i cant find where i change them

//edit getting somewhere now, updated the bios, and set it to 375 x 8 for 3ghz, temps are quite high tho, almost 60 with orthos running, tried 7 x 400 and it hated that, set the memory to 5-5-5-15, my heatsink installation was a bit rubbish tho, and its showing because one core is running cooler most of the time than the other.

Would be happy with 3ghz stable to be honest at a more resonable temperature, anybody got any ideas ? apart from reseating it which i cant be bothered with tonight lol

well orthos ran for 20mins at the above settings untill it crapped out, so i then lowered it a bit to 370 x 8 and upped the voltage to 1.3v, which shows at 1.256v in cpuz and it runs miles cooler weirdly, but orthos crashes straight away.... is it me or does that make no sense ? the default for them is 1.213 right ?

/edit 2

any good?

harris1986 · 27 Dec 2006 at 08:12

i thought default was 1.35v :confused:

, my 6400 is currently doing fine 400x8 on stock volts! will need to replace this ninja as i'm getting really bad contact (48-50c idle) with it, soon to have a watercooling setup installed in a lian li v2000 anyways, and got a lapping kit on it's way to me so will lap the base of my thermal take typhoon and stick that back on there!

Rapier · 27 Dec 2006 at 11:29

Default is 1.325 and as for one core running cooler than the other that happens in almost all C2D's nothing to worry about unless theres more than a 4~ degree difference.

Also its best to leave orthos running for at least a few hours and you could also tighten the timings on that ram

kablooey · 27 Dec 2006 at 12:32

I have the same setup 6400, p5b deluxe and my Crucial anniversary should be here tomorrow so I'll be more help to you then...

MaX_PoWah said:
hmm i cant work out how to change the latency on my memory either, the crucial is using some tight timings and i cant find where i change them

Go into Bios > advanced > north bridge chipset configuration and disable "configure DRAM timing by SPD"

MaX_PoWah said:
7 x 400 and it hated that

Did you rise NB Vcore / FSB termination voltage? Also dropping the multi on this board pushes up the NBCC (NBCC = default Multiplier / set Multiplier x FSB) so at 7 x 400 you are effectively running the NBCC @ 457mhz you probably need to bump up the NB Vcore a little.

MaX_PoWah said:
well orthos ran for 20mins at the above settings untill it crapped out, so i then lowered it a bit to 370 x 8 and upped the voltage to 1.3v, which shows at 1.256v in cpuz and it runs miles cooler weirdly

This board droops, some of the voltages more than others...I get more from 1.375 than 1.4v! currently have it set to 1.3375 in bios (1.304 actual 1.280 load!)

OC_A64 · 27 Dec 2006 at 12:46

Set vDimm to 2.1v, and timings manually to Cas 4, TRC 4, TRCD 4 and TRAS 8. The ram should run 400 FSB happily at that.
CPU wise, there P5B's can droop a little - the bios vCore reading is pretty accurate there so double check that when you next reboot. Ignore the voltage shown by CPU-z it tends not to be correct with the C2D's.

Default voltage *should* be enough for 3ghz. Try setting 402 FSB with default vcore (~ 1.35 real) and see if you get into windows/bios with that. This'll give you 3.2 ghz but shouldnt be a problem.
vMCH (NB voltage) wise, set 1.45-1.5v or so in bios that should be enough for 500+ FSB. You can drop once you've found a stable overclock setting it a little high should help remove the NB maxing from the equation.

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 12:48

Rapier said:
Default is 1.325 and as for one core running cooler than the other that happens in almost all C2D's nothing to worry about unless theres more than a 4~ degree difference.

Also its best to leave orthos running for at least a few hours and you could also tighten the timings on that ram

So if cpu-z is to be believed i am undervolting it ? is that a bad thing ?

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 12:52

Rapier said:
Default is 1.325 and as for one core running cooler than the other that happens in almost all C2D's nothing to worry about unless theres more than a 4~ degree difference.

Also its best to leave orthos running for at least a few hours and you could also tighten the timings on that ram

Orthos ran for 2 hours last nite with exactly the same settings untill i stopped it and memtest ran till 2000% so i think thats resonably stable.

I will get the ram timings tightened, i only set them so slack to take it out of the equation while i was overclocking the cpu

kablooey · 27 Dec 2006 at 12:56

OC_A64 said:
Ignore the voltage shown by CPU-z it tends not to be correct with the C2D's.

cpu-z has been spot on for me under 1.4V but for some reason after that it's flaky?

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 13:05

OC_A64 said:
Set vDimm to 2.1v, and timings manually to Cas 4, TRC 4, TRCD 4 and TRAS 8. The ram should run 400 FSB happily at that.
CPU wise, there P5B's can droop a little - the bios vCore reading is pretty accurate there so double check that when you next reboot. Ignore the voltage shown by CPU-z it tends not to be correct with the C2D's.

Default voltage *should* be enough for 3ghz. Try setting 402 FSB with default vcore (~ 1.35 real) and see if you get into windows/bios with that. This'll give you 3.2 ghz but shouldnt be a problem.
vMCH (NB voltage) wise, set 1.45-1.5v or so in bios that should be enough for 500+ FSB. You can drop once you've found a stable overclock setting it a little high should help remove the NB maxing from the equation.

Ok set my ram to them settings, as well as increased the voltage to 2.1v.

Also now running 400x8 which has increased the idle heat again, but its at 3200mhz, and i increased the northbridge voltage to 1.45v as well

I checked my vcore in the bios and its at like 1.5v worringly, should i be believing that ? its still set to auto so i just assume that means it runs at default? or could the board be setting whatever it likes.

Gonna try orthos now, but i cant see it loving it to be honest.

//edit i played around with the voltages in bios untill the hardware moniter shows the vcore to be 1.325 ish, i had to set 1.375 or something to get that, but i assume that means its running at stock volts now

kablooey · 27 Dec 2006 at 13:14

MaX_PoWah said:
I checked my vcore in the bios and its at like 1.5v worringly, should i be believing that ? its still set to auto so i just assume that means it runs at default? or could the board be setting whatever it likes.

Setting it to auto will automatically raise the Vcore, you don't want to be at 1.5V! try setting it to 1.375 or as OC_A64 said ~1.35 real.

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 13:20

kablooey said:
Setting it to auto will automatically raise the Vcore, you don't want to be at 1.5V! try setting it to 1.375 or as OC_A64 said ~1.35 real.

Lol i see that now, its set at 1.375 which in the hardware moniter is 1.328 and its running a lot cooler now lol, like 45 under load with orthos and memtest running.

Are there any other settings i need to be defining so the motherboard doesnt keep upping the voltages ?

gone back to 375x8 tho as orthos bombed straight away at 400x8.

OC_A64 · 27 Dec 2006 at 13:51

Ok temps are good so you can carry on increasing voltage. Give windows memtest a run to make sure the memory is stable too btw, u may find however that a really unstable CPU will cause it to fail. Check by notching up the vCore, if that helps then its a CPU issue rather than memory.
You want to keep below ~ 55 deg full load, though up to 60 will be ok during orthos runs.
vCore, vDimm and NB/vMCH are the only voltages you really need to worry about moving off the auto setting. Others should be ok left auto.

kablooey · 27 Dec 2006 at 14:13

Nice temps, better than me at those settings. I hit 58 during Orthos and 65 in TAT workload using a ninja rev.b! :/ My IHS looks a little concave though so i may try lapping it soon...

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 14:34

Well with the fans turned down low, memtest, tat workload at 100% and orthos running for an hour it hits like 55-58, dunno if to go higher or leave it at that, the memory can do more i know that much.

Bit pointless turning fans down when you have a raptor lol

This is just with orthos and memtest running

OC_A64 · 27 Dec 2006 at 14:54

What slots u got the ram in? You're currently only running single channel

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 15:00

i noticed that earlier, its in the two slots closest to the cpu, i just thought it was an intel thing lol, how do i sort that out then ?

Rapier · 27 Dec 2006 at 15:08

the slots are color coded - so put the modules in the same color slots.

MaX_PoWah · 27 Dec 2006 at 15:18

Rapier said:
the slots are color coded - so put the modules in the same color slots.

What settings did you use to get 3.2ghz then ?

Think i am going to need a little bit more to get that, i have some headroom temp wise i think so i mite increase it a little bit.

kablooey · 28 Dec 2006 at 13:43

Got my Crucial 10th anniversary this morning, lots of testing to be done but loving it so far!

Can super_pi 32m at 3.4ghz but Orthos fails instantly....Also over 400FSB PCI-Express link width changes to 1x which makes games unplayable, very annoying! Hopefully Asus will sort it out in the next bios but I wouldn't bet on it. :/

I think I'll stick with 3ghz for now though as temps are fine and my x1900xt isn't exactly bottlenecked at that speed.