Need help - highest FSB with E6600 & Abit AB9 Pro

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 13:45

Hi there,

I'm trying to get the highest FSB with my current setup. I'm testing how far the current stock cooling system can take my chip to. I'm currently at 345MHz with the FSB and the voltage is set to 1.19v. Anything after this FSB and the system is unstable.

I'm a novice overclocker so I need some tips, I know I need to increase the voltage but what to? voltages are tricky things.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

w3bbo · 22 May 2007 at 13:54

1.19 is a very low vcore. 1.325-1.35v is stock voltage for the cpu so to get 345fsb with 1.19 is an achievement in itself!

I wouldn't really know I how far you can go with vcore on stock cooling as every setup is different. Just keep an eye on temps and don't rely on bios temp readings. Use TAT or CoreTemp to get a more accurate temp reading.

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 13:57

Thanks mate, I'll give that stock voltage a go then. Strange cause I have never altered my voltage its always been default at 1.19v.

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 14:02

Is there a limit to how high I should go with voltage btw?

Darg · 22 May 2007 at 14:02

Is this the setup for your new case? I assume your main rig is the one with the Noctua?

w3bbo · 22 May 2007 at 14:12

Its probably showing 1.19 as speedstep or similar will be enabled. This is intels answer to AMD's Cool&Quiet where the voltage drops when the cpu isn't under any load. Turn off speedstep in the bios and turn vcore from AUTO to 1.35 then you should be able to go a little higher.

The safe amount is 1.35 - anymore and you are risking the cpu (according to intel). Many go as high as 1.5 with no ill effects, I have gone upto 1.65 for some short periods. It is more down to your cooling performance how much vcore you can apply as temps vary wildly from one setup to the next. Don't raise the vcore unless you need to and try to keep the cpu under 70c on 100% if possible (I personally dont like it above 60c). Take no notice of idle temps - its the load temp you want to keep an eye on. 100% load can be achieved by using a decent stress tester.

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 14:13

Darg said:
Is this the setup for your new case? I assume your main rig is the one with the Noctua?

I only have one rig, my setup has moved into the new modded case yeah with the Noctua

Thanks w3bbo, I shall stick to stock voltages then and see where it gets me.

melbourne720 · 22 May 2007 at 14:45

I need 1.2875 to get it to 3.015, so you're doing well. Definitely disable anything that is going to reduce the voltage, or the multi, of your CPU, before overclocking.

I once had to almost start again because all the results I had recorded had been at a variable voltage!

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 15:44

Ok guys I have just set the voltage to 1.35v (speedtrap was already disabled). Nudged the FSB from 333 to 345 and Orthos has halted after 30 seconds. "Execution halted" and big STOPPED letters. Temps were 50C under full load. Any ideas? :confused:

EDIT: Just tried 1.325v also and that stops dead on 32 seconds as does the other voltage when I run Orthos blend.

w3bbo · 22 May 2007 at 15:59

Could be a whole host of things m8.

Its best to start from stock speed and work up slowly. Have a read of the overclocking sticky which contains a lot of advice and tips which may help.

melbourne720 · 22 May 2007 at 16:39

w3bbo knows more about this than me, but I guess this is because the Vcore can no longer ramp up on it's own accord.

On the downside you may have to start overclocking from the beginning.

On the upside you should have much more control of the temps.

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 16:42

I'm trying to acertain the highest FSB for this NB Noctua review I'm doing. Perhaps I need to loosen my DDR2 timings or something?

melbourne720 · 22 May 2007 at 16:45

Surely your RAM is at 400MHz (i.e. stock)? I wouldn't have thought it would come into it, unless your FSB goes over 400.

Cob · 22 May 2007 at 17:00

Have you set your memory divider/multiplier to 1:1?

w3bbo · 22 May 2007 at 19:34

I think you're confusing FSB with CPU speed m8. The FSB (Front side bus) is more motherboard orientated than cpu. You can get high FSB with a relatively low cpu-speed i.e 500 FSB x6 multiplier = 3ghz. This is assuming your motherboard will do 500FSB in the first place of course which a lot will not.

To get a decent cpu overclock you really need to take the memory out of the equation by putting it on a divider and slackening the timings a little. You should then attempt to find your motherboards top FSB by putting the CPU on a low multi and seeing how far the FSB will go. Once you know you are not FSB limited you can put the cpu divider back to its default (9) and start clocking it.

Only ever clock one thing at a time while testing otherwise you are asking for trouble as when it fails a stress test you don't know for sure which component is causing errors. Once you know the max of each component then you need to start mixing and matching your settings to find which gives the best results for your particular needs.

mishima · 22 May 2007 at 22:36

Undetstood. My RAM is currently on 4:5 and 430MHz - slight overclock and the timings are 4-4-4-12. Shall I set them to set by SPD?

mishima · 23 May 2007 at 18:03

bumpage!

Cob · 23 May 2007 at 18:19

Drop it down to 1:1. That will atleast take the memory out of the equation for a while.

The Geil should stay with you upto ~450mhz. Loosen the timings to 5-5-5-15 to get a little more out of it.

mishima · 23 May 2007 at 19:25

Ok as you said I dropped the RAM to 1:1 and set by SPD for the timings. I set voltage to 1.35v and began testing various FSBs. I'm now at 3.5GHz and everything seems to be fine, temperatures are as follows:

Shall I keep on pushing?

Cob · 23 May 2007 at 19:28

I'd let Orthos tun for a while yet.

Are you trying to find the highest overclock or the highest FSB?

And 3.5ghz at 1.35v is pretty good going.