Help with OCing a E8400/GA-G31m-ES2l

[Pwhite_wrc]

Hello,

I've recently started to build an old PC mainly for a bit of fun and to start to learn how to Overclock.

I have an E8400 Cpu, GA-G31m-Es2l (Rev 2.0), arctic 7 pro cooler and 2 x 2gb G.Skill F26400 CL4 RAM all powered by a Corsair HX620w PSU.

I've been using lots of information from this site on other people using a pretty similar setup but when I change settings in BIOS my computer then shuts down and resets to a black screen. This usually means I need to remove the CMOS battery for 30 minuets and try again. I then upgraded the RAM to the two G.Skill sticks and at present I've got it overclocked to an almighty 50mhz and even that causes the pc not to boot first time round. I haven't changed any settings since installing the new memory as its all working with the grpahics card (see below for an issuie). My aim is to try and get a stable overclock to around 3.6mhz for now.

Could someone please give me some advice or even if you have the time PM me some tips on setting correct memory settings?

Current Settings:
C1E, EIST and TM2 are all disabled
and I just increased the clock speed in a small increment to 3050.

The other strange problem I have is when I installed a XFX Geforce 9800GTX I get no display and the card just spins, the computer doesn't recognize it at all. When I use CPU-Z under the graphics tab it displays the intel logo (on board graphics I guess) and no matter what driver I download it can't find any matching hardware. As soon as I overclock even to what it is on now, the graphics card is now recognized and the nVida logo is now displayed on the CPU-z graphics tab. I can also download and run the driver update and it finds the card straight away.

I have screen shots of CPU-Z that I could send to anyone that has the time to help?

Thanks
Paul

 

[Jumper118]

The g31 chipset is terrible for overclocking. It not surprising you can't get past stock.

Overclocking 775 is all about balancing all the speeds with each other, the north bridge, memory and cpu have to all work together to get a good overclock.

 

[pastymuncher]

Not only is the G31 chipset awful for overclocking, that board of yours is a bargain basement model with no vrm cooling at all and a lack of power phases. For overclocking the likes of a 45nm Wolfdale on 775 you want a good P45 board capable of fsb's in the 400-500mhz range. Like Jumper118 says, it's all about finding the right balance with 775. It's no good setting a target clock and expecting it to work, you will learn nothing about overclocking either. You need to get your hands dirty and use the bios for maximum overclocks. This can take several hours of tweaking to achieve what you think is stability only for it to fail and have to start all over again. I really miss the good old days of proper overclocking.

 

[Pwhite_wrc]

Thanks for the replies.

Ok looks like a new motherboard is the answer then. Any ideas on the graphics card issue?
Seems strange it only gets 'seen' once I've messed with the overclocked settings?

Thanks

 

[pastymuncher]

That's a weird one that I haven't come across before. I can't see why the gpu is only detected when the cpu is overclocked. Are you running the latest motherboard bios? That can fix some gpu issues. You have the monitor connected to the gpu and not the onboard along with any necessary power cables? Onboard disabled in the bios? PCI locked down to 100mhz or 101 mhz in the bios? Sorry I can't be of much help but I have not seen this happen before.

By the way, welcome to the forums.