Newbie advice required, E6700 questions!

nav_kundra

nav_kundra

nav_kundra

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Joined
23 Jul 2009
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18
Hi everyone,

I'm not too sure whether this post is in the right place or not so if it isn't then I do apologise!

I currently have an E6700 running on an Asus P5PL-LE motherboard from a stock HP a6090.uk machine and want some more grunt out of the processor (have heard and seen the E6700 is good for overclocking) and possibly the RAM too.

The BIOS on the P5PL-LE board is locked so I know I have to replace that and have looked at the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3 and 8gb worth of Kingston HYPERX 2gb 1066Mhz units for the RAM. The Gigabyte board is about £75 so I don't know whether there is a better board I can get for this kind of money and whether the HyperX RAM is the best at about £40 for 4gb?
Not bought any of this stuff yet so improvements for about the same money would be great!

I'm very new to overclocking but can't afford a new processor so though this was the best way to make upgrades and get the most from my system.
Also, what are the best settings to start off the OC at? I know to make small increments and test for stability but some starting guidance will be good!

Thanks :)
 
Yeah that boards goood and will do you fine, why you sticking 8gig of RAM in? you onyl really need it if youre running virtual machines, otherwise the extra strain of the 4 DIMMs will hold back your OC and youre best sticking with 4gig. you can prob up the fsb to 300 and work from there
 
With a bit of luck and a decent board your E6700 should hit 3.6Ghz. A decent cooler will be needed as well if you have'nt already got one. Like 95thrifles say's, 4Gb of ram is more than enough and 2x 2Gb modules will clock better than 4 modules. Anyway, unless you have a 64 bit version of Vista or XP you will only get to use around 3.25Gb of it.
 
The easiest OC on a Q6700 is simply moveing the FSB from 266 to 333 (Straight to 3.33GHz). With good cooling it will go further though.

I notice you want 8G of RAM, 2 points to make about this..

1) More sticks of RAM will place more strain on the memory controller especially when overclocked you may have trouble running 4 sticks at 1066.
2) I hope you are using a 64bit OS, otherwise you'll only see ~3.5G.
 
Thanks for the quick posts guys!
I was planning to go 64bit when my copy of Windows 7 arrives but its not a necessity and if it'll put more strain on then I'll stick with 2 sticks of 2gb for a total of 4gb.

HazardO - All I have to do is up the FSB? No adjusting the voltages?
I currently have an ASUS fan but I don't mind buying a value one which will do the job and let me push it to 3.66GHz. Any recommendations?
 
nav_kundra said:
Thanks for the quick posts guys!
I was planning to go 64bit when my copy of Windows 7 arrives but its not a necessity and if it'll put more strain on then I'll stick with 2 sticks of 2gb for a total of 4gb.

HazardO - All I have to do is up the FSB? No adjusting the voltages?
I currently have an ASUS fan but I don't mind buying a value one which will do the job and let me push it to 3.66GHz. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
You should also set your memory to a slower speed because when you increase the FSB, you'll also increase the memory speeds. Try forcing your memory to 800MHz before upping the FSB, if you then increase the FSB from 266 -> 333 (25% increase) the memory will simultaneously move from 800 -> 1000 MHz.
If it fails, you may need to increase the CPU voltage, or even the northbridge voltage, but try without first. The lower the voltages you can get away with, the less heat, and the less likely you are to damage the CPU. If you do need to increase the voltage, do it in small steps, and keep an eye on those temps.
 
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Minor snag, the ATX might be a bit big for the stock case. Can anyone suggest a mATX board (244 x 244mm) which is as good as the GA-EP43-DS3?? Needs to support 1066MHz memory.
 
300W is a pretty week PSU, throw in even a half decent GPU, and it will choke. Also it may struggle with the overclock.

You should look at a new PSU, get a high quality 500W-600W IMO
 
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