jsauve

Hello,

I'm doing my first overclock and need some help eeking out the last bit of performance.

Specs:
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CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8Ghz
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i LT SLI (122-CK-NF67)
RAM: 2GB Patriot PC2-8500 (Rated at 1066Mhz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3v)
Cooler: Vigor Gaming Monsoon II

Other notes: I lapped the CPU's heat spreader and the cooler's heatsink to get them perfectly flat, and used JetArt diamond-particle thermal paste.

CPU is currently at 2893Mhz with a 1.425 vCore. Temp is at 57-59C under full load using Orthos. RAM voltage is at 1.85v. The memory hasn't hit 1066Mhz yet. I backed it off a little to ensure stability.



I've started out by bumping up FSB until it gets unstable, then bumping core and doing FSB again. I can't get it stable much past 2.9Ghz.

Is there anything else that I can so to tweak it further. I'd really like to see 3Ghz, and I'm not afraid to go to almost 70C with this cooler.

Any suggestions? I have full control over vCore FSB voltage, PCI voltage, and memory voltage. I can also link or unlink the FSB and memory clocks. Of course, I could probably hit real high CPU speeds by limiting the memory clock to something modest, but what good is that?

Any ideas on finely tweaking this rig? Thanks.

- Joe

WBaS

First I'd like to say that is a nice OC for that CPU! Well done! Like you said, you could relax the timings on the memory a little. I would say you've reached close to the limit. Your CPU is also running pretty hot... I don't really understand your logic here: The cooler doesn't matter... 70C is 70C no matter what cooler you have... high temps will be damaging whether you have a thermalright 120 ultra or stock HSF. I suppose you might be able to drop the CPU multi lower and crank the FSB up more... but I doubt it, my guess is that you would need a FSB too high for the system. At any rate, hopefully somebody else will be more insightful. Good luck and nice OC!

__________________
Links:
Xfire WBaS

AMD CPU/RAM Overclocking "Mini-Guide"

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." -Lao Tzu

jsauve

I hear ya. I guess what I mean is that from what I've been reading, 70C is what you want to stay UNDER, which I would. So, basically, I've got about 7-8C of headroom to work with. I built this rig based on one I saw in the August 2007 issue Computer Power User magazine (which BTW, if you don't read, you definitely should; you'll thank me for it). They got theirs cranked to 2.96Ghz comfortably. And although each processor is different, I believe I can get my mine higher due to the lapping and the diamond thermal paste.

Thanks for the kudos!

Still looking for an OC expert to help me tweak this thing further...

Rick Arter

Good luck so far the only thing I could think to help is mabe running RAM slower and loosening timings. You could raise the FSB or NB voltage a notch. Just leep it under 60c if you can 70c is too high for that chip.

__________________

WBaS

This might be true at the current ambient temperatures... but what if your room temperature goes up 7 degrees or so? Now you're getting dangerously close. I wouldn't recommend going that high.

__________________
Links:
Xfire WBaS

AMD CPU/RAM Overclocking "Mini-Guide"

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." -Lao Tzu

jsauve

Good advice. Thanks guys!

jsauve

So about memory timings...

How do I figure out what good memory timings are? Which numbers need to be changed? I'm currently sitting at 5-5-5-15, 1.85v.

Also, I'm sure there are some great postings about general overclocking on this forum. Any pointers to some of these?

Thanks in advance.

WBaS

Memory timings should be as small as possible while still being stable. The timings will change depending on the RAM you have. Most places advertise a certain timing, which is typically the best timing that they can get with their recommended voltage. Take mine for example. Crucial Ballistix PC2-800 rated at 4-4-4-12 2.2v. I'm currently running my ram at these timings, but at a lower voltage to save energy which in tern creates less heat. I tried to make my timings 3-3-3-12 and raised the voltage a bit (to make it more stable), but it wouldn't even boot, just beeped. For ddr2, 4 seems to be the magic number. Not many get numbers lower.

Here the some guides that I usually recommend to people. I don't have a lot of Intel guides due to the fact that I learned to OC on AMD.

Intel OC guide
AMD based OC guide This is AMD but still has good OC information.
Another AMD OC guide This article is more in depth, 6 pages... need to find the link to the other pages on the bottom (lots of people have a hard time noticing it).

Overclocking is really the same process for either chipset. The main differences are how FSB is used. With intel the cpu clock changes (say 333mhz for a 1333mhz CPU) AND the multiplier changes ( x9 x8 etc) to get the cpu speed. For example 333 x 7 = 2664 or 2.7 ghz. The effective FSB or the 1333mhz you see is the cpu clock (333) x 4.

AMD does it differently. All new AMD chips use a cpu clock of 200mhz. The CPU multiplier is what changes to give the cpu speed (200mhz cpu clock x 15 = my 3.0ghz 6000+ CPU). AMD calls their "FSB" HTT. This is because they include it on the die as to where intel does not. AMD HTT is calculated by taking the cpu clock x another multiplier (200mhz cpu clock x 5 = 1000mhz HTT or "FSB"). Typically it is x5 and can be set lower. If HTT gets too high, sometimes it can be unstable.

The basic principles are the same... you increase the cpu clock or sometimes called "FSB" which then increases your cpu speed, FSB/HTT and memory clock and therefore memory speed.

Hope that gives you some useful info. Sorry if I explained things you already know... it's just easier to explain from the start. Good luck and let me know if you have more questions

__________________
Links:
Xfire WBaS

AMD CPU/RAM Overclocking "Mini-Guide"

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." -Lao Tzu

jsauve

Wow, thanks!

Don't worry about being lengthy. I'm of the same mindset that when explaining something, its best to assume that the audience knows nothing. Then you don't leave anyone in the dust. Appreciated.

Thanks for the info and the links!

WBaS

Np

__________________
Links:
Xfire WBaS

AMD CPU/RAM Overclocking "Mini-Guide"

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." -Lao Tzu