Core 2 Duo Overclocking Thread

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hey guys, just got my new HSF installed (arctic cooler) and now my temps dropped from roughly 42-idle, 53-load @ 3.2Ghz (8x400) with a vcore of 1.34 to 37-idle but unstable during torture test @ 3.4Gh (8x430) with a vcore of 1.45

i shooting for 3.6-3.8 on air (i think i've got about the best air cooling you can get) is that too high?

*the only reason for me to OC at this point is to be able to run my ram at it's highest and utilize it to it's full potential as it is where my system is being bottlenecked (or so i think).

would lowering the multiplier to 7x533mhz (3.7 Ghz) or 6x533mhz (3.2Ghz) help stability? how high can i safely set the vcore, how high should i let temps get?

I'm still new to OCing so any suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks.
 
@ Jordo: You have DDR2 800, so your max FSB would be 400 without overclocking the RAM. So I'm pretty sure a FSB of 533 with a lower multi still won't work, because you'd be pushing the RAM WAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY past its limits. You'd be lucky to get to a 430 FSB stably. 400x8 would be in the ballpark for the max overclock with your RAM, which stops you from going further.

Overclocking isn't really that hard to understand if you read...........something people seem to neglect nowadays. The RAM gets overclocked along with the CPU when the FSB is raised, and at some point, either the RAM or the CPU will reach its limit. In your case, the RAM is stopping you from going further. It looks like you will have to settle for 3.2 with the RAM you have, or get DDR2 1000, and continue on to a 500 FSB.
 
magouster said:
@ Jordo: You have DDR2 800, so your max FSB would be 400 without overclocking the RAM. So I'm pretty sure a FSB of 533 with a lower multi still won't work, because you'd be pushing the RAM WAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY past its limits. You'd be lucky to get to a 430 FSB stably. 400x8 would be in the ballpark for the max overclock with your RAM, which stops you from going further.

Overclocking isn't really that hard to understand if you read...........something people seem to neglect nowadays. The RAM gets overclocked along with the CPU when the FSB is raised, and at some point, either the RAM or the CPU will reach its limit. In your case, the RAM is stopping you from going further. It looks like you will have to settle for 3.2 with the RAM you have, or get DDR2 1000, and continue on to a 500 FSB.

i have been reading. i just don't know how much i can safely push my components.

here's my ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231063

i've been told that it should do DDR2-1066 @ 4-4-4-12.
(maybe i should up the voltage a little?)

I'm more than willing to OC my parts to the extreme...but only if i can keep them running "safely" (i'm worried about upping voltages too much.)
 
Ok guys, after having my new rig for about 2 weeks now. I've decided to go ahead and OC it.

E6400, 2 gig OCZ platium ddr2 6400/800 ram

I went with 400x8 =3.2ghz
I set the Vcore at 1.392 right before 1.40
and the Vdimm at +.2 and i set it on 1:1 divider <--is this all correct ?

I ran CPU-Z, its showing im at 3.2 ghz, and my ram is showing this 400mhz 1:1 4-5-4-15....does that mean its running to its full capability ??

easy tune is showing my temp at 38 idle and 44-45 full load with prime95


is my Vcore ok ?? and my Vdimm settings ?? should i lower the Voltages on the core ?? not sure, it seems to be running ok lol

sorry no pictures, i need to learn on to post pictures lol

***edit***

ok I have to say my encoding time has gone down from 35mins to 18mins awesome!! but problem is, about 10mins into the encoding process, if try to start another program like easy tune too see the temps, the computer restarts by itself....restarts fine but not sure why it did that....should i up the Vcore to 1.4 instead ?? or is there something in BIOS i need to disable or enable ??
 
The General said:
@ 2.4Ghz idle 26c, load 32c
@ 3.0Ghz idle 30c, load 35c
@ 3.4Ghz idle 34c, load 42c
@ 3.6Ghz idle 40c, load 52c :mad:

A 10c jump for just 200mhZ?! Wierd.

Anyway, nice thread going on here. Helpful to people like me who plan on going the Conroe route along with the DX10 cards.
 
continu said:
Ok guys, after having my new rig for about 2 weeks now. I've decided to go ahead and OC it.

E6400, 2 gig OCZ platium ddr2 6400/800 ram

I went with 400x8 =3.2ghz
I set the Vcore at 1.392 right before 1.40
and the Vdimm at +.2 and i set it on 1:1 divider <--is this all correct ?

I ran CPU-Z, its showing im at 3.2 ghz, and my ram is showing this 400mhz 1:1 4-5-4-15....does that mean its running to its full capability ??

easy tune is showing my temp at 38 idle and 44-45 full load with prime95


is my Vcore ok ?? and my Vdimm settings ?? should i lower the Voltages on the core ?? not sure, it seems to be running ok lol

sorry no pictures, i need to learn on to post pictures lol

***edit***

ok I have to say my encoding time has gone down from 35mins to 18mins awesome!! but problem is, about 10mins into the encoding process, if try to start another program like easy tune too see the temps, the computer restarts by itself....restarts fine but not sure why it did that....should i up the Vcore to 1.4 instead ?? or is there something in BIOS i need to disable or enable ??

Greetings,

Maybe try your RAM timing first: 4-4-4-12

You might even want to drop that Vcore to 1.34.

The RAM is spec'd at 2.1-2.15 so stick with that for now.
(check this. Sorry, I read "Patriot" for some dumb reason.)

Run Prime 95 on both cores" http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16446

At least 12 hours (daylight hours is best) to be considered "stable". 36-48 hours for "Rock-solid". (IMHO)
 
thanks! it seems tho when I lower the Vcore its unstable....i raised the Vcore up to 1.4 and started to encode again and open programs, no crash thus far...everything seems fine now....i'll prime95 it over night about 9 hours....i'll run torture test to see if its still up and running by the time i get back from work... I primed it at 1.36 and it crashed, 1.39 seemed ok till i started encoding...at 1.4 encoding works fine, just need to prime and see if it hold up to the stress....

39 idle and 44 load are good temps for E6400 at 3.2ghz right? I'm on air cool, Zalman CNPS9500...

as for ram, its stated on OCZ my ram settings should be 4-5-4-15...so I set it at that...and i raied the Vdimm by +.2 which should put me at 2.0....i heard the DS3 mobo sets the dimm at 1.8...

i hope all works out...i do feel more heat from my comp tho after raising the Volts...i think ill buy another 80mm fan which will bring me to 5-80mm fans...at 4 right now.
 
Ok I think Idotec has the closest rig to what I have, if you can give me some inputs along with anyone else!!

CPU: E6400
Mobo: Giga DS3
RAM: 2xgig OCZ Platium 4-5-4-15 DDR2 6400/800

Ok my settings

Multi: 8
FSB: 400
Vcore: 1.40
Vdimm: +.2
Divider: 1:1 with 4-5-4-15 CAS

Temp 39c (idle), 46-47c (load)

Ok I might be running prime95 wrong or something but when I run the torture test and I click on the third button which test the ram a lot, it only last about 30mins before the computer restarts...I'm assuming my computer isn't stable. Super PI ran 1M at 19 seconds, but the prime95 only last about 30mins before windows restart.....i need help. can i continue to run my computer this way??? encoding, downloading, gaming, etc all work fine. but the stability test just fails in 30mins. which sucks!!!

any inputs?? are my settings ok?? i don't know what more im suppose to do lol. i want it to be running stable and "safe" are there anything else in BIOS i need to disable or enable ?? all I did was mess around with FSB, Vcore, Vdimm, Divider and CAS setting for RAM....I would go with 2.8ghz instead of 3.2ghz if that's more stable to run it at...and if I do, what Vcore should I go with ?? Its like im at a dead end street and i don't mind U-turning back to the right path...even if it means going slower.
thanks guys and gals!!
 
continu, run Prime95 w/ only the cpu and then again w/ only the ram to find out which is unstable. Then once you know which unstable do what you can to fix it.

If it's the processor you can up vcore but it'll up temps pretty fast too so make sure you have headroom for that. try not to go above 50-55C in my opinion (It says 60C is dangerous on intels website, i think so anyways)

If it's the ram you can either up the vdim or loosen timings to 5-5-5-15. unless you're ram can take more vdim i'd just loosen the timings.

if none of these do it then drop your FSB a little bit and try again.

I'm still stuck at a stable 3.2Ghz but i haven't gone above 45C on a 1.45 vcore if that helps you at all. only thing we've got different is ram.
 
continu said:
Ok I think Idotec has the closest rig to what I have, if you can give me some inputs along with anyone else!!

CPU: E6400
Mobo: Giga DS3
RAM: 2xgig OCZ Platium 4-5-4-15 DDR2 6400/800

Ok my settings

Multi: 8
FSB: 400
Vcore: 1.40
Vdimm: +.2
Divider: 1:1 with 4-5-4-15 CAS

Temp 39c (idle), 46-47c (load)

Ok I might be running prime95 wrong or something but when I run the torture test and I click on the third button which test the ram a lot, it only last about 30mins before the computer restarts...I'm assuming my computer isn't stable. Super PI ran 1M at 19 seconds, but the prime95 only last about 30mins before windows restart.....i need help. can i continue to run my computer this way??? encoding, downloading, gaming, etc all work fine. but the stability test just fails in 30mins. which sucks!!!

any inputs?? are my settings ok?? i don't know what more im suppose to do lol. i want it to be running stable and "safe" are there anything else in BIOS i need to disable or enable ?? all I did was mess around with FSB, Vcore, Vdimm, Divider and CAS setting for RAM....I would go with 2.8ghz instead of 3.2ghz if that's more stable to run it at...and if I do, what Vcore should I go with ?? Its like im at a dead end street and i don't mind U-turning back to the right path...even if it means going slower.
thanks guys and gals!!
Try vdimm at +.3. That puts it at 2.1 which is spec for that RAM at DDR2-800.

All other settings look good.
 
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