Another E8400 OC

[matas]

After experimenting the overclocking abilities of E8400 I got it up to 3.6Ghz. At first I stopped at 1.275 to test it, but I got BSOD at the startup. I raised vcore to 1.3 and primed it for 1 hour, it did not fail. I know this is not a long time, but I will do more priming later. Real Temp detects core temps of 47 Under 100%, CoreTemp detects around 52C under 100%. CPU-Z only detects core voltage of 1.245'ish, why is that, I raised it to 1.3Vcore in bios?

This morning I tried to OC to 4Ghz(444x9), increased the vcore like 3 increments above 1.3V. I OC my g.skill ram from 800 to 1066 with 2.1V. After exiting BIOS I got bunch of beeps, I guess because a computer failed to load the cpu. I removed the CMOS and that was it, I am down to 3.6ghz with RAM back to 800 at 1.8V. I guess it is not possible for me to OC to 4.0Ghz

E8400
UD3R
GTX 260
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Rosewill cpu z3 cooler
Guardian 921 case

 

[ch33zw1z]

Well, which beeps did you get? I may have been the RAM limiting your OC. Try to OC only the CPU first.

And, you're getting less voltage than you set it to due to Vdroop.

 

[matas]

I am gonna try to OC just the CPU. If it does work, I can only blame the ram for not being able to run at 1066? How good is it to have CPU running with a RAM bottleneck?
As far as beeps, I don't remember exactly, but I think there was like 4 to 6 short beeps followed by a long one.

 

[ch33zw1z]

If it's stable, then it's safe to assume your ram won't hit 1066 at the voltage/timings you had them at. Chances are the "ram bottleneck" that will happen will not effect your system performance enough to notice. The beeps you hear are important clues to good problem determination.

 

[disports]

Why not just try 445 FSB at 1.8V or 1.9V. (DDR2-900) instead of 1066.

 

[matas]

I thought RAM had to be equal or more like 800/2 = 400FBS 400x9 = 3600Ghz

 

[disports]

I had my E8400 at 1.35Vcore in bios, 445 FSB 1.8V G.Skill ram 4GHz, but I toned it back down to 3.6GHz

 

[matas]

3dmark scored little over 1000 more with an oc of 3.6ghz. I'll just keep it at that.

 

[Tempered81]

boo...

Real easy BIOS settings for you:

cpu Multiplier: 9
FSB (clock gen):500mhz
Vcore cpu Voltage: 1.485v
DRAM:FSB ratio : 1:1
Ram speed 1000mhz
Vdimm ram voltage : 2.2v

other settings AUTO

Really simple 4.5Ghz overclock for you


edit: this will work too, and is less dangerous

cpu Multiplier: 9
FSB (clock gen):445mhz
Vcore cpu Voltage: 1.395-1.40v
DRAM:FSB ratio : 1:1
Ram speed 890mhz
Vdimm ram voltage : 1.95-2.0v

other settings AUTO

 

[matas]

I won't raise vcore above 1.4, I don't want to take any chances.

 

[Udgnim]

Originally posted by: matas
After experimenting the overclocking abilities of E8400 I got it up to 3.6Ghz. At first I stopped at 1.275 to test it, but I got BSOD at the startup. I raised vcore to 1.3 and primed it for 1 hour, it did not fail. I know this is not a long time, but I will do more priming later. Real Temp detects core temps of 47 Under 100%, CoreTemp detects around 52C under 100%. CPU-Z only detects core voltage of 1.245'ish, why is that, I raised it to 1.3Vcore in bios?

This morning I tried to OC to 4Ghz(444x9), increased the vcore like 3 increments above 1.3V. I OC my g.skill ram from 800 to 1066 with 2.1V. After exiting BIOS I got bunch of beeps, I guess because a computer failed to load the cpu. I removed the CMOS and that was it, I am down to 3.6ghz with RAM back to 800 at 1.8V. I guess it is not possible for me to OC to 4.0Ghz

E8400
UD3R
GTX 260
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Rosewill cpu z3 cooler
Guardian 921 case

her is the easy way to OCing since you have a Gigabyte mobo

install the Easy Tune program and set all voltage settings and memory timing settings to Auto except for CPU PLL in BIOS (manually set CPU PLL to 1.5V; I believe 1.55V is the Intel spex max though)

now, change your FSB and CPU multiplier in BIOS to whatever OC you are shooting for. if you choose a realistic OC such as 4 GHz, it should boot up to Windows. once you get into Windows, open up the Easy Tune program and look at the memory, termination, and MCH voltages. memory voltage should be at or below the manufacturer specified amount. regarding termination and MCH voltage, I can't really find hard information, but I think 1.4V or below is a reasonable ceiling to work with

regarding Vcore, use CPUZ to see it. 1.3625V is Intel's max spec amount. if you want to achieve a higher OC, enable Load Line Calibration

the mobo auto settings should produce settings for a stable setup (assuming a reasonable OC goal). you can use those figures as a ceiling and manually lower voltage settings to determine at what point the system no longer becomes stable.

as a rule of thumb, you want load temperatures below 65C. if you really want to test the quality of your HSF, thermal grease application, case, and fans, use Intel Burn Test to stress test your system. keep in mind Intel Burn Test produces much higher temperatures than Prime, Orthos, or OCCT

edit: forgot to add, use the D latch (400 MHz) and run it 1:1 which I think is 2.00D

you can also try decreasing memory timings after you've reached a stable OC

 

[darkenedsoul]

I'm running this chip at 3.4Ghz x9 multiplier. vCore was 1.2650 but I bumped it today to 1.2850v since I am experiencing some BSOD's after months of running at this speed. I suspect one of the crucial DDR2-800's is being flaky. It came out of the blue too (no pun intended). I came home from work on tuesday to find the system with memory management BSOD on screen. Couldn't find any info on the stop code either...it's the 0x0000001a code. I an memtest86+ 2.11 for several hours on slot 0 DIMM w/0 errors, put in 2nd DIMM to it's slot (2) and ran it for 9+ hrs w/0 errors. I then put the other DIMM back into slot 0 and let it run for awhile (over a day) and no issues, came home on 12/26 to BSOD memory management again.... I then ran memtest86+ overnight till today from 12/26 and no errors, played GW a few times today, logged into work twice, no issues with 1 DIMM installed. I'll let it run till tomorrow and swap in other DIMM but put it into slot 0 to see if it fails overnight into monday.

I was previously running at 3.6Ghz for a few months but decided to lower it to 3.4 after some discussion and reading. Only new software that's been installed has been MS updates and a new version of Ventrilo. I rolled back to prior to that install but still hit the BSOD.....not sure what's up but it points to memory stick issue. I just haven't been able to narrow it down to which one yet. I had replaced this pair once already due to one failing memtest when I had issues before (4 months ago or so I think). OC'ing to 3.4 with a vCore of 1.2650 should be fine. I think I bumped MCH up one notch too. But running Crucial back at 2.1 due to the overclock on the system. YMMV.

Mike