First ever overclock - How's it looking!? (Pics Inside)

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 17:12

First ever overclock - How're my settings? (Pics Inside)

Well this is my first ever overclock, and so far it's going okay I think, stable in windows, not tested in orthos yet as I want to make sure I'm actually doing the right thing first. As this is my first attempt, im sure to have made mistakes somewhere, which is why I am posting this

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E4500
1Gb of Giel Ultra Low DDR2 PC6400 RAM (1 Stick is dead and in process of replacement)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Mobo
Coolermaster Hyper TX 2 CPU Cooler

Here it is;

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 17:39

Just ran 3DMark06, score came out at 10518 3DMarks.

I'm thinking I should push this up a bit when I get the other Gb of RAM back?

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:13

Going well.

Timings of the RAM are a bit slack, but they can be tightened up after you're done clocking. RAM is running 5Mhz overclocked as well.

Keeping upping the bus speed then.

May need to change the divider soon for the RAM, but I'm not sure how well they can be pushed. Temps seem nice and low.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:17

Thanks for the input

The RAM is at as close as I could get it to stock, 10Mhz shoudln't be pushing it, should it?
I'll tighten the timings to 5-5-5-15?

Sukh · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:22

On the Gigabyte have you upped the DRAM volts to plus 0.2 or whatever it is to get the modules to run at the rated 2.1? I seen to remember this being a problem specific to the geil + ds3

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:22

DAnDan said:
Thanks for the input

The RAM is at as close as I could get it to stock, 10Mhz shoudln't be pushing it, should it?
I'll tighten the timings to 5-5-5-15?

I wouldn't think 10Mhz would be a problem. What I'd do then, is perhaps leave the timings as they are and keep upping the FSB. Everytime you increase it, I'd boot from a floppy straight into MemTest and do 1 or 2 loops of Test 7. If that works, boot into Windows and see if the overclock appears ok. (i.e. Windows doesn't freeze or crash).

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:23

Sukh said:
On the Gigabyte have you upped the DRAM volts to plus 0.2 or whatever it is to get the modules to run at the rated 2.1? I seen to remember this being a problem specific to the geil + ds3

Yep, upped the volts, stick is 100% dead. The computer won't boot with the stick on it's own.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:25

Firegod said:
I wouldn't think 10Mhz would be a problem. What I'd do then, is perhaps leave the timings as they are and keep upping the FSB. Everytime you increase it, I'd boot from a floppy straight into MemTest and do 1 or 2 loops of Test 7. If that works, boot into Windows and see if the overclock appears ok. (i.e. Windows doesn't freeze or crash).

No floppy drive I'm afraid.

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but why would I be needing to run the MemTest? I'm aiming to keep the RAM as close to 800Mhz as I can, so it should be fine?

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:27

DAnDan said:
No floppy drive I'm afraid.

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but why would I be needing to run the MemTest? I'm aiming to keep the RAM as close to 800Mhz as I can, so it should be fine?

If you keep the RAM near 800Mhz then you probably don't need to run it... but obviously it doesn't hurt to run it just to double check. It'll probably play more of a role when you start to tighten up timings and perhaps drop voltages.

Sukh · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:29

Basically to ensure a OC is failing due the CPU and not RAM overclock. Its just a sure way of diagnosing which part of the system is causing the failure when it happens, its why many people loosen the timings on the memory when starting out.
On its own 10Mhz isn't going to make much differance, would start to look at dividers later.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:29

Firegod said:
If you keep the RAM near 800Mhz then you probably don't need to run it... but obviously it doesn't hurt to run it just to double check. It'll probably play more of a role when you start to tighten up timings and perhaps drop voltages.

Okay thanks for the advice, it's all still on the learning curve, so I'm just trying to take it all in.

Is there a version of memtest that I could run from inside windows?

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:31

Sukh said:
Basically to ensure a OC is failing due the CPU and not RAM overclock. Its just a sure way of diagnosing which part of the system is causing the failure when it happens, its why many people loosen the timings on the memory when starting out.
On its own 10Mhz isn't going to make much differance, would start to look at dividers later.

That makes sence, I'm just keeping the memory at stock, for now anyway, and just focus on raising the FSB.

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:40

DAnDan said:
That makes sence, I'm just keeping the memory at stock, for now anyway, and just focus on raising the FSB.

If you do start to notice problems though, say, for example you were up to 300fsb.

300x11 = 3.3Ghz

and you stick with the current 2:3 divider, that would mean,

300 / (2/3) = 450Mhz (900Mhz DDR) on the memory.

Say you up the voltage on the CPU to try and fix it, but have no joy, then you may have to change to perhaps a 4:5 divider,

300 / (4/5) = 375Mhz (750Mhz DDR) <--- i.e. 50Mhz underclock on the RAM.

That's all just hypothetical, but that's how I'd look at it.

Sukh · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:46

Yes there is a version of memtest you can run in windows, google is your friend

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 18:57

Firegod said:
If you do start to notice problems though, say, for example you were up to 300fsb.

300x11 = 3.3Ghz

and you stick with the current 2:3 divider, that would mean,

300 / (2/3) = 450Mhz (900Mhz DDR) on the memory.

Say you up the voltage on the CPU to try and fix it, but have no joy, then you may have to change to perhaps a 4:5 divider,

300 / (4/5) = 375Mhz (750Mhz DDR) <--- i.e. 50Mhz underclock on the RAM.

That's all just hypothetical, but that's how I'd look at it.

I've been adjusting the divider with each FSB change to keep the RAM as close to stock as possible.

Sukh said:
Yes there is a version of memtest you can run in windows, google is your friend

Thanks, I'll go get it.

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:01

DAnDan said:
I've been adjusting the divider with each FSB change to keep the RAM as close to stock as possible.

Good man.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 19:59

Can't get any Orthos stability

Upped the Vcore to around 1.34 (can't recall the exact figure), and it crashes within about 30seconds of starting Orthos. I don't really want to go above 1.35, as that's what is stated as the max on the Intel box.

Any help?

Firegod · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:10

Have you upped the other voltages perhaps for FSB or Northbridge to try and aid stability mate? Just bump them by perhaps +0.1v to see if that helps.

When it's set to ~1.35v what does the BIOS and CPU-Z report? It may be undervolting so you may have to set, say, 1.40v in reality.

Keep at it!

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 20:24

Okay, I've upped the FSB by +0.1, and set the Vcore to 1.35v in BIOS.

CPU-Z says;

Edit: With that setup it still fails in Orthos very quickly.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2008 at 21:02

I've upped the voltage in the BIOS to 2 steps above 1.35 now, and in CPU-Z it is showing

"Core Voltage 1.328V"

Am I to take the CPU-Z to be the correct value? As I REALLY can't be damaging this processor!