Overclocking an Intel E6400

ja3h

ja3h

ja3h

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I haven't overclocked for years now but I would like to get a bit more performance out of my pc without upgrading.

The problem i'm having is that I can't raise the FSB much without the computer refusing to boot.

My setup is:
Abit ab9 Mobo
e6400
4GB Corsair XMS2 (6400) - 4 x 1GB

Does intel speedstep automatically disable when you manually change the FSB?
I've upped the voltage to the RAM to 2.1V and changed the ram timings to 4-4-4-12.
Do I have to change the divider?
Even when I put the ram timings on automatic and increase the Vcore to 1.45V it won't boot and I have to reset the CMOS and start again.

Any tips, am I doing something wrong?
 
If the computer doesn't boot when you raise the FSB it's more likey to do with the memory divider not being set correctly. An overclocked CPU will nearly always boot the computer, POST and even load Windows before you get a blue screen or a reboot! :p

An Intel E6400 uses a native 266MHz-FSB(1066 System Bus) which means the BIOS is most likey setting your Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 to run using the [2:3] memory ratio

266 (FSB) x 3 / 2 = 400MHz (DDR2-800)

If you don't change the memory divider and raise the FSB even 10MHz you will be overclocking your RAM which it probably doesn't like

276 (FSB) x 3 / 2 = 414MHz (DDR2-828)

Your motherboard is fairly old but should still allow you to get a decent overclock from your chip, something like 3.2GHz (8x400) should be achievable. You would need to have a nose in the BIOS and see if you can work out how to lower the DDR2 frequency, your looking to get it running synchronous [1:1] which will in theory allow you to raise your FSB to 400MHz (1600Mhz System Bus) without overclocking your RAM

400 (FSB) x 1 / 1 = 400MHz (DDR2-800)
 
Thanks Wayne!

Makes sense! Okay I've seen the memory divider and wasn't really sure what to do with it. Will fiddle about after dinner!
 
Managed to get 3ghz out of it with 1.45 volts.

Its been on Orthos for 2 hours now and the peak temperature has been 55c

Shall I leave it at that? Or try to increase the volts? I did try 3.2ghz with 1.45 volts but it crashed in Windows.

woop
 
It may be the chip or it could be the 400MHz-FSB is causing a slight problem?

Try again but instead of using 8x400 try 7x400 and see what happens! :)
 
Whats your cooler? I have an e6300 here running happily at 3.33Ghz on 1.37v with exactly the same RAM, on a MSI Neo2-FR (P35). As Big Wayne suggests, drop the multi to 7 and see what you can get.
 
Yeah it's bios set vcore 1.45V.. Is the actual what cpuZ says?

Okay I'll see what I get! I'll leave the volts the same and drop the multi and up the fsb...
 
Last edited:
ja3h said:
Is the actual what cpuZ says?
Click to expand...
99% yeah!

The figure in CPU-z may be different depending if the chip is idle or load etc, no one needs to know what vCore you set in the BIOS but instead we only need to know vCore-Actual Idle/load . . . . Coretemps idle/load are also good to know! :)
 
Idle:
35-37c
1.3V

Load:
55c
1.45V

Ok i turned the multi down to x7 and the FSB to 400mhz in the BIOS

I'm now getting 3.2GHz... its probably gonna crash!

I'll leave it on Orthos for a few minutes.
 
Yeah ... I don't get it... I put x7 in the bios but when i run Orthos, cpuz says it goes up to x8...

Now orthos has stopped: hardware failure detected!
 
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