Overclocking Amateur

SamR · 12 Jan 2009 at 15:05

Hello,

I apologise in advance for any daft/obvious questions, but i have a few to ask!

I recently changed my E8500 to 3.5 Ghz (ish) by changing the Bus Speed to 368, with the Multiplier being 9.5; just to give it a try.

(think it shows x6.0 for some energy saving thing

)

After reading through the 'Beginners Guide to Overclocking' at the top, it was mentioning the changing of voltages (vcore? etc). I never did this myself, I just left everything else in my BIOS on automatic, is this not a good idea? or does it make the overclock any less effective?

And would anyone be able to explain the RAM Divider to me? and what this effects?

Thanks in advance

Necro · 12 Jan 2009 at 15:47

Hi there,
I'm certainly no guru when it comes to overclocking but the first thing I'd ask is have your run any programs to test the stability of your overclock (e.g Orthos)?
From my understanding, some boards fair better with Auto voltage values than others. I personally have an E6600 @ 3.06Ghz on an ASUS P5W DH and I've got the voltages set to auto and it's rock solid during testing.
But test your overclock first, that'll give you an idea on whether to up the juice to your components.

95thrifles · 12 Jan 2009 at 15:48

If your OC is stable (test it with prime95) then theres no problem leaving voltages on auto, the only one you maybe want to change is the DRAM voltage, set that to whatever it should be (will be on label on side of RAM or available from vendors website) as quite a few mobo's tend to undervolt this. The RAM divider effects what speed your RAM runs at, as you increase your FSB to overclock your CPU you RAM speed increase too as it is also linked to your FSB, so you have to adjust the RAM divider to make sure your RAM doesnt cause an instability before your CPU, because your CPU is the component you will notice most effect from OC'ing. You may have a RAM divider in BIOS or you may just have DRAM freq, waht a lot of people recomend is set your freq to the lowest it will go whilst youre OC'ing your CPU then when you hit your CPU limit you can then bring your RAM back up. If you dont want to do this just keep an eye on it and make sure you dont run it higher than it is rated as this can cause problems

matt_fsr · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:41

Also, it might be a good idea to turn off the energy saving thing if you can - if you get any instability or strange crashes.

It tends to mess with your overclock - Have fun pushing it further when you feel the need

Admiral Huddy · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:43

This may help you understand the RAM and the RAM divider.

Gone2mars · 12 Jan 2009 at 17:16

Even tho you've changed your FSB to 368, your computer won't be running at 3.5ghz. It will be running at 2.2ghz because you have speedstep enabled which reduces your multiplier to 6 while the comp is idle. It'll only go UP to that speed under load and if you havn't stressed the CPU with Orthod or Prime then your overclock hasn't really been used...

You need to turn off C1e and speedstep in your bios.

For only a 3.5 overclock you shouldn't really need to change your voltages, most people prefer to because the auto settings tend to overvolt needlessly. but if your CPU isn't getting to hot and is stable (see the comments about orthos) then i wouldn't worry.

I've been told by others that the Mem frequency:FSB ratio doesn't really matter, but its a matter of oppinion.

SamR · 12 Jan 2009 at 17:30

Thanks for all the comments, and the link

This probably isn't an overclock based question now, but on that link I read

The basic concept of choosing DDR2 RAM remains the same as DDR in that the speed of the RAM must operate that of the CPU FSB which is otherwise known as synchronous operation. So you’ll have to know what speed your CPU operates at in MHz first.

Beware though; you may see some CPUs quoted in effective FSB speeds. Do not confuse the effective FSB of the CPU with the effective FSB of the system. They are not the same thing. For example, an Intel Core 2 Dual processor (C2D) may operate with an FSB of 266MHz, but since these CPUs are Quad pumped they have an effective FSB speed of 1066Mhz (266 x 4 rounded up). The effective speed of the CPU has nothing to do with the effective RAM or system speed. However, the speed of the CPU in GHz is still the product of the FSB x multiplier. So a 2.4GHz E6600 CPU is based on 267MHz x 9.

Anyway, when matching the correct DDR2 to your CPU, you need to choose RAM that operates with a bus speed that matches that of the CPU bus speed. In the example above, you will need RAM that operates at an actual bus speed of 266MHz. Therefore, to run a CPU that has an FSB of 266MHz (1066MHz effective), then DDR2-533 (PC2-4200) would be the minimum RAM requirement. This is because DDR2-533 operates at 266MHz. (see above table) remembering that DDR (or DDR2) carries out two operation per clock cycle, therefore the effective speed is doubled from 266MHz to 533MHz.

So my CPU is FSB 1333 which is 333Mhz from 1333 / 4 = 333 ?? (or was before i overclocked it)

The RAM I have is:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-114-OC

which is 266Mhz. would I not need RAM of 333Mhz? or is it because the RAM is Dual Channel that it's ok?

I may have totally go off track here