Limit?

NotAGolf · 20 May 2008 at 13:21

Over the last few days I've been trying to overclock my e6420. I managed to get it up to 3.1GHz (387.5 x 8) @ 1.393vcore (1.35 VID/stock). However I cannot get it any further. The temp are fine, 47c max after a few hours in Orthos.

I tried 10MHz increments up to 3.15...nothing, tried upping the vcore all the way up to 1.443 on each increment but nothing. These allowed me to get past the BIOS screen but would freeze somewhere between there and loading windows fully. Also tried it at at [email protected] to see if there was a FSB hole but that wouldnt even get past the BIOS screen and I had to unplug it for a few mins to be able to reset the settings in the BIOS.

Is there anything else I can do? The only thing I can think of is upping the vcore further but I think 1.45v is the max safe for my chip. I read somewhere about uping the NB voltage but I'm not sure how this works. It's currently set at 1.393v which I'm pretty sure is stock. The next setting is 1.563v which seems quite high so I'm a bit scared about upping that, especially as I don't have any fans on the NB, just the stock heatsink, although the mobo temps (as reported in Everest and ASUS probe) are only 29c under full load (I presumt this is the NB temp).

Any advice short of buying more fans etc?
Thanks for any help.

DAnDan · 20 May 2008 at 13:25

I'd say to up the NB voltage, although I don't know it 1.563 is safe, the boards I've seen have just have +0.1, +0.2 etc.

Someone will be able to say if it's safe though.

DAnDan · 20 May 2008 at 13:26

Also you could try a lower FSB with a higher multi, just to rule out the FSB, if the 6420 has one higher than 8, that is.

randal · 20 May 2008 at 13:32

Do it the other way round first, lowest multi poss, lower RAM divider. Crank up the FSB until you hit the wall, then you know what your board can do. Then but the RAM divider to 1:1, slacken off the timings and raise the FSB again until you find your RAM's limits.

I had a similar board to yours, and it would only get my e6600 to 3.2. Changed it for an IP35Pro, and it went to 3.6. They're not the greatest clocking boards, and they do need a fair bump on the NB volts when you start raising the FSB higher.

weescott · 20 May 2008 at 13:40

Upping the NB to 1.563v is fine. You will more than likely need a fan on it though.

NotAGolf · 20 May 2008 at 15:11

I would like to try upping the NB to see what that does but I'm not sure I have a correct temperature reading. With ASUS probe and Everest I get a temp of 29c for the motherboard but i'm not sure if this is the NB or just an ambient temp or something else.

There's a screenshot of Everest and hwMonitor below, I'm not sure if one of the readings are right as I don't understand the labelling used. Some of the reading seem a itlle off with hwmonitor as well...my cpu is definately not at 1.49v!

vinny7 · 20 May 2008 at 16:21

DAnDan said:
I'd say to up the NB voltage, although I don't know it 1.563 is safe, the boards I've seen have just have +0.1, +0.2 etc.

Someone will be able to say if it's safe though.

Slight hijack here (sorry to OP)
but can anyone confirm summat i read on a forum I can no longer find, if the NB temp gets to 40 deg on a P35 board, will it automatically restart/freeze/bluescreen?
I've tried to monitor temps there thru software and it does always seem fine until it gets to 39 or so-when Oclocking I mean.