ASUS P5B and e6300 overclocking anybody?

[ricenoodles]

I got a ASUS P5B (not deluxe or whatever) with a e6300.
I've seen ppl get past 3Ghz easy with the e6300, but I'm stuck with 2.5Ghz.

My specs:
Conroe E6300 rev B2
No brand 1GB RAM at 5-5-5-15 PC5300.
FSP Group 350W
Arctic Pro 7 Freezer


At the moment I can get the bus speed at around 350Mhz. No more than that, otherwise I will get a black screen and fans spinning before POST, or a BSOD while booting up Windows or easily crashes if I do get into Windows.

I fixed the the RAM at 5-5-5-15 and v2.1 after OC, If I left it naturally it would be like 5-6-6-something, And the CPU bus speed won't even get past 325.

Now my bus speed is 350Mhz and the RAM frequency is 437Mhz, making it 4:5 ratio. Not sure if that's OK or not...

I've tried doing everything now but anymore overclocking the PC refuse to boot up with a black screen and fans spinning.


Any pointers?

 

[Xvys]

I have the same m/b and cpu ricenoodles and was stuck at 350FSB with my old OCZ ram. Then I got some Crucial Ballistix PC6400 @ 2.1v and the same system idles at 470FSB with stock 1.32 cpu voltage (set at 1.3875v in bios due to vdrop). It runs fine up to 525FSB with cpu voltage at 1.45v, or set about 1.55v in bios. But the cpu gets too hot with my med. range cpu heatsink at over 500FSB. At 470FSB it runs cool and stable.

I think you should be able to get up to at least 430 or 440FSB with your current ram. The ram divider changes to 1:1 after 401FSB. It is much easier to attain than 360FSB at 4:5, for instance, but your bandwidth is reduced.

In the bios I have my ram set to 2.1v and the cpu voltage at 1.3875v for 470FSB. All other settings are on Auto, except for Spread Spectrum is disabled. I use Memset.exe to tighten my ram timings, because if I disable the automatic ram settings in the bios, it won't boot.

 

[ricenoodles]

Thx for the reply.

I tried what you advised and to get past the 401 bus, but I will get the black screen and spinning fans thing.

I've now made RAM timings automatic again (which is 5-6-6-18), and ratio is 1:1. Bus back to 350. PC seems to be fine.

The only thing I haven't tried is changing the settings in Memtest. I'm really not sure what to change here.

Did you try getting past 401 with your OCZ RAM? Why do u say my No Brand RAM can get me to 440Mhz bus if ur OCZ can't?

 

[graysky]

@ the op: What's your vcore? Have you read my guide?

 

[Xvys]

After I got rid of my OCZ ram, I subsequently I tried 2 sticks of mis-matched PC4200 ram and they worked fine at 430 and 440FSB. So I thought your PC5300 ram should boot at that levels. I would leave the ram timings at default 5-6-6-18 for now to eliminate that as a roadblock. You might need more cpu juice, try setting it at 1.45v in the bios @ 420FSB. But almost always o/c problems are a result of ram limitations, too tight of timings or not enough juice to ram and cpu.

Memtest is only for setting your memory timings in Windows rather than in your bios, after you have reached your highest cpu overclock.

 

[ricenoodles]

graysky - i've read your guide, thanks, but it didn't do anything for my PC.
The vcore is on Auto, according to ASUS AI Suite it says its around 1.36-1.37. I've tried giving more vcore to the CPU by doing it manually, but I still have the same problem. Not sure what's going on, really! I've tried loosen timings on the RAM and give it higher values, but again the PC won't boot.

 

[F1N3ST]

Board limitation? My board tops out at 380, 400 unstable. It will go higher with a new BIOS I think, most recent is 5 months old :S

 

[ricenoodles]

^ Actually the latest BIOS for the board came out a few days ago.

 

[buzzsaw13]

I've heard the P5B vanilla has problems with the 340-400mhz FSB range, that's most likely the problem.

 

[ricenoodles]

Thanks guys.

The ultimate key to this was to get the Crucial Ballistix RAM, as xvys mentioned. I'm on 430 FSB now and gonna go higher and see what comes up. That Ballistix RAM I HIGHLY recommended to all P5B users. Heard from xvys the overclock capability can almost make the e6300 twice the speed (3.5Ghz+!). Amazing!

I'm just wondering now how my temps can cope. I'm on 430 FSB and already its 59oC long period idle, about 65oC on full load for a while... seems a little bit high.