[currucucu]

I have E6600 running at 3.4GHzon a ZALMAN 9700 HSF running around 38C idle, 56C under CPU torture by Orthos. Core #0 is 31C and Core #1 is 30C on idle.

Ram is running at 1058MHz at 5-5-5-15 2T timings and CPU is at 1512MHz FSB. Questions:

1) Can this CPU with these setting run faster? Even if it can handle more juice would it be recommmended given the fact that the CPU's life would be shorthened as much as it gets overclokced?

2) Do these temperatures sound ok?

Thank you all for the inputs. Greatly appreciated.

 

[kevsta112003]

those temps are perfect. you could push it a bit more I guess, but it is not recommended to pass 60c load temps.

CPU's life is shortened by an OC, but I mean common, 10 years from now you most likely wont be using it anyway. The faster the better, just don't get too excited because really high volts will kill it (but i'm talkin' really high volts running 24/7)

if you push the OC to 3.6 Ghz you probably won't see it's life shortened more seeing as how you will *more than likely* have a new chip before it dies, and as long as it does not require like .3v extra to get the extra .2Ghz, it won't make a big difference.

 

[Intervention]

Couple ?'s

1. What voltages are you running?
2. What FSB w/ ram divider
3. What program are you using to report temps?
4. Are these settings stable or not? 24 hours stable?

56c is fine, I would try your best to keep it under 60c. However remember......it is very hard to reproduce a true 100% load in a game. Realistically, any damage you do to your CPU, wont matter, you will most likely have a new one by then, talking something like 15 years.

 

[PiggysPizza]

Also if you wanted to go further I would recommend a better cooler such as a Tuniq Tower. You would also probably need to start bumping up your Voltage as well

 

[currucucu]

thanks for the inputs... Here are some more info:

I am running the CPU on 1.36V yet I have a drop on the MOBO. I set it to 1.36 it actually sees it as 1.32V-1.33V. Not sure why. Ram is running at 2.1V stock voltage. I am using speedfan and Everest to monitor the temps. (there is about 1C difference between these. Everest is lower)

I did not test the CPU for 24 hrs. I just did a test with Orthos for about 10 minutes. Actually you are touching upon an excellent point that I have no idea about:

1) I am overclocking the CPU yet I am not sure if it is stable or not. How should I know if this is really a healty 3.4GHz?

2) What program do you use and for how long you test it? If I chose a test on Orthos and let it run, would this tell me if the CPU was stable or not? Is it feasible to let Orthos to torture 24hrs?

Also, I noticed that weveral times the PC started to freeze after some time when I was doing some simple things like surfing on the web etc. I had to restart from the Reset switch. I am thinking this might be a sign of being unstable as I do not get this type of an issue running at 3GHz or at stock speeds. Would this be a valid assumption? If so, how can this be fixed?

Thanks so much!!!

 

[t4ct1c47]

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu I have E6600 running at 3.4GHzon a ZALMAN 9700 HSF running around 38C idle, 56C under CPU torture by Orthos. Core #0 is 31C and Core #1 is 30C on idle. Ram is running at 1058MHz at 5-5-5-15 2T timings and CPU is at 1512MHz FSB. Questions: 1) Can this CPU with these setting run faster? Even if it can handle more juice would it be recommmended given the fact that the CPU's life would be shorthened as much as it gets overclokced?

You'll definately need to raise CPU vCore in order to hit 3.6Ghz on the E6600. Higher vCore shouldn't significantly cut your CPU's lifespan provided your cooling is able to maintain reasonable temperatures.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu 2) Do these temperatures sound ok?

Your current temperatures sound fine though when it comes to raiseing vCore I can pretty much guarantee that you'll notice an increase in temperatures. You should do your best to improve air flow within your chassis if you intend to clock any higher.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu I am running the CPU on 1.36V yet I have a drop on the MOBO. I set it to 1.36 it actually sees it as 1.32V-1.33V. Not sure why. Ram is running at 2.1V stock voltage. I am using speedfan and Everest to monitor the temps. (there is about 1C difference between these. Everest is lower)

I've never seen vDroop as an issue as its very easy to compensate for by simply setting a higher level in the BIOS. Provided your vCore remains stable and doesn't jump up or down after making a setting change you should be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu I did not test the CPU for 24 hrs. I just did a test with Orthos for about 10 minutes. Actually you are touching upon an excellent point that I have no idea about: 1) I am overclocking the CPU yet I am not sure if it is stable or not. How should I know if this is really a healty 3.4GHz?

You should run Orthos for at least a couple of hours or so to test stability at constant 100% load. Some people recon that simply passing something like 3DMark06 is sufficient but from my point of view a quick 10 minute benchmark is hardly sufficient to guarantee stability.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu 2) What program do you use and for how long you test it? If I chose a test on Orthos and let it run, would this tell me if the CPU was stable or not? Is it feasible to let Orthos to torture 24hrs?

24 hours is a little overkill as I tend to let mine run for about 6 hours or so to overnight. Though to be fair, the longer you let Orthos run the more certain you can be of stability.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu Also, I noticed that weveral times the PC started to freeze after some time when I was doing some simple things like surfing on the web etc. I had to restart from the Reset switch. I am thinking this might be a sign of being unstable as I do not get this type of an issue running at 3GHz or at stock speeds. Would this be a valid assumption? If so, how can this be fixed?

These sympoms can be caused by RAM timings being too tight for your DIMM's to handle, or not enough voltage going through the MCH (NorthBridge) and CPU. Given your voltage settings in your earlier post I'd recommend raiseing both of your vCore settings.

 

[currucucu]

Thanks so much for the reply... I think it makes perfect sense to increase the CPU and MCH but the question is how much should these be increased?

Also, I let the RAM adjust the frequency by itself automatically as a feature of SLI Ready memory. As far as I know it adjusts the frequency to keep the timings stable as the CPU FSB changes. (This is what I have observed, it may not be true)

Also, I do not see MCH voltage on the BIOS yet I have MCP and SPP. Are these the same thing? If so, it is currently at 1.5V should I get it to 1.6V? or higher? I also have HT nGorce SPP <--> MCP voltage at 1.2V. (it is like an arrow showing both sides between SPP and MCP)

Further, I have 1.4V for CPU FSB voltage. What is the difference between CPU core and CPU FSB voltage? Should I increase a little bit more maybe 1.5V to CPU FSB voltage?

Thanks,

 

[t4ct1c47]

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu I do not see MCH voltage on the BIOS yet I have MCP and SPP. Are these the same thing? If so, it is currently at 1.5V should I get it to 1.6V? or higher?

I wouldn't recommend changeing that voltage, according to Nvidia's 680i Overclocking Guide the maximum safe voltage is 1.5v.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu I also have HT nGorce SPP <--> MCP voltage at 1.2V. (it is like an arrow showing both sides between SPP and MCP)

I wouldn't go above 1.25v for this voltage as that's what I'm currently running at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu Further, I have 1.4V for CPU FSB voltage. What is the difference between CPU core and CPU FSB voltage? Should I increase a little bit more maybe 1.5V to CPU FSB voltage?

Again, my FSB voltage is running at 1.25v so leave this as it is too.

 

[currucucu]

thanks so much for the reply. I think I fixed the problem of PC to freeze up. It seems like the CPU is stable at 58-60C after 2 hrs torture. Increasing the Core Voltages to 1.38V seems to help solving the problem. (at least this part).

However, the PC is still acting veird. It freezes after some time when I play MS Flight Simulator X. I know this software might be a little problematic especeially I have lots of add ons that may interfere the software. In contrast, I do think this is related to my overclocking. The reason that makes me think this way is as follows:

When I use Orthos for JUST CPU ONLY, it shows that it is stable BUT when I chose to stress BOTH CPU and MEMORY after 4 minutes it freezes. It happened several times. I think the memory is messing up the stability. Woul dthis be a valid observation? If so, what can I do to fix this? Below is the info about the memory I am using :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227181

Currently it is running at 1058.3 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings at 2.2V. (2.1V is the stock voltage)

Also, I am confused about what is really meant by saying CPU is stable? Is this only telling me that CPU is able to maintain to stay below 60C under full load for a certain time period? If so, how about the healthy communication between CPU and the memory? If CPU runs faster than the memory could handle, would this not also cause the stability issues?

PS: Because of the time and effort you spend on my issue I think you deserve a +REP

Thanks,

 

[afzsom]

currucucu, I'd recommending running Memtest86+ (found here) and seeing if it has any errors. I'd try running a 1:1 divider (downclocking the ram from its current speeds), and see if that makes any difference.

 

[currucucu]

thank you... But what is the meaning of overclocking if I would be running the memory less than what it can run? When you say 1:1 ram divider, what does it exactly mean? 1:1 ratio is between Ram and CPU? If so, would not it be the same FSB with the CPU? Knowing that a ram can not handle 1512 FSB I answer my question as "NO" but what is it exactly? Please help me figuring out the MHz of a 1066MHz stock memory when you use 1:1 ram divider.

Thanks,

 

[t4ct1c47]

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu Currently it is running at 1058.3 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings at 2.2V. (2.1V is the stock voltage)

seeing as those timeings are relatively slack and you aren't going outrageously out of your RAM's rated speed I think its most likely a voltage issue for your RAM. My own XMS2 is rated to run between 1.8v to 2.1v, though I get error's in Memtest at 800Mhz with my voltages set to 2.1v. Perhaps you're giveing too much vCore and with that in mind you may want to try running your RAM at 2.1v instead, or maybey 2.0v. Then again your RAM may not be getting enough volts (though I doubt this). Either way, try lowering your RAM vCore a notch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu Also, I am confused about what is really meant by saying CPU is stable? Is this only telling me that CPU is able to maintain to stay below 60C under full load for a certain time period? If so, how about the healthy communication between CPU and the memory? If CPU runs faster than the memory could handle, would this not also cause the stability issues?

This has been known to occur, but not in your case as your RAM is operateing at a higher speed than your CPU bus and has plenty of headroom to feed it the data. Like I said above, you may be giveing just a little too much vCore to the RAM.

Cheers for the Rep

Quote:

Originally Posted by currucucu But what is the meaning of overclocking if I would be running the memory less than what it can run? When you say 1:1 ram divider, what does it exactly mean? 1:1 ratio is between Ram and CPU? If so, would not it be the same FSB with the CPU? Knowing that a ram can not handle 1512 FSB I answer my question as "NO" but what is it exactly? Please help me figuring out the MHz of a 1066MHz stock memory when you use 1:1 ram divider.

Personally, I only ever lower my RAM speed below its rated speed to run 1:1 when I'm attempting to tighten the timeings. For example, if you were to run a Core 2 @ FSB400 and your RAM at 800Mhz 4-4-4-4 it would perform better than running @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-5 because of the tighter timeings. Though this all depends on the type of application you're running.

There was a thread created recently to discuss this which you can find here.