Check my O/C Please (E6600)

[MountainKing]

Hi guys,
Just tried my hands at O/C but I got some basic questions....
I am currrently running @3GHZ (333x9) and 1.28VCORE. (Bumped down VCORE) No stability problems so far...
If I let my PCI-E set at AUTO in BIOS, My CPU reads 2997MHZ. I locked it at 100MHZ (Good or bad??) and my CPU is booting at (332x9) and reading 2987MHZ in CPU-Z...

MY questions are
(1) Do I have to lock the PCI-E frequency to a specified value or can I leave it auto?
(2) My Kingston RAM is rated DDR2 667 (and reads 333mhz 5-5-5-15 in CPU-Z). I have locked my timings to those values in BIOS i.e: fsb:cpu 1:1. Do the timings REALLY matter? If yes, what are the optimal timings?
(3) I do not have a northbridge heatsink or RAM cooler, Can I OC my chip to 3.2GHZ with the following settings without OVER heating northbridge and RAM - 356x9 - RAM set at DDR712 (356x2)??
(4) Does lowering VCORE helps in keeping out heat issues and somewhat preserving CPU lifespan? (I have Speed Step enabled)

Current PC Specs:
FAN: Zalman CNPS9500
CPU: E6600 Rev B2 F6 Stepping (Purchased August 06)
RAM: Kingston DDR2 667 MHZ
Board: Gigabyte P965-DS3 F6 BIOS

 

[TC91]

that is a pretty good oc. make sure you run 2 instances of prime 95, or orthos for 12hrs+ at least (i prefer 24hrs) to verify the stability. the memory u can set to cl4 @ 667 @ 1.9volts easily (i got the same memory and those settings passed 50 passes of memtest), but u will get little performance out of it so it may not be worth it. the oc to 3ghz is pretty good. getting to 3.2 may need a voltage bump, and those 200mhz might not be worth it. but it depends on what u are going to use ur system for. set the pci-e freq to 100. any higher causes instability or doenst give noticeable performance gain. lowering vcore can help cpu lifespan due to lower temps, but if you are overclcoking, it kind of cancels it out.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: SuLyMaN
(3) I do not have a northbridge heatsink or RAM cooler, Can I OC my chip to 3.2GHZ with the following settings without OVER heating northbridge and RAM - 356x9 - RAM set at DDR712 (356x2)??

You might want to strap a 40mm fan to your northbridge heatsink, before trying to go any higher, depending on what temp it's running at now. And your RAM ought to be able to handle up to ~400 Mhz/800 DDR2 @ 5-5-5-15, but might require a slight bump to the vdimm.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: SuLyMaN
(3) I do not have a northbridge heatsink or RAM cooler, Can I OC my chip to 3.2GHZ with the following settings without OVER heating northbridge and RAM - 356x9 - RAM set at DDR712 (356x2)??

You might want to strap a 40mm fan to your northbridge heatsink, before trying to go any higher, depending on what temp it's running at now. And your RAM ought to be able to handle up to ~400 Mhz/800 DDR2 @ 5-5-5-15, but might require a slight bump to the vdimm.

No, my Abit IP35-E doesn't have active cooling and it's at 8x400.

Edit - Is it just me or did DST just screw up this thread?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: jonmcc33
No, my Abit IP35-E doesn't have active cooling and it's at 8x400.

In what case, with how many fans? It's a pretty good guess that his is running a bit hot, if he's asking about his northbridge overheating, wouldn't you think?

Edit - Is it just me or did DST just screw up this thread?

No, it's not just you. All of the threads are now posting backwards.

 

[MountainKing]

So the PCI-E should be locked and not let to be on "auto"
CL4 memory settings would be 4-4-4-12? or 4-4-4-15?? Do they increase RAM temperature?

Thnks for the inputs guys...PC is for casual use with occasional Video encoding/DVD re-encoding (hence me enabling Speed Step)

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: SuLyMaN
So the PCI-E should be locked and not let to be on "auto"
CL4 memory settings would be 4-4-4-12? or 4-4-4-15?? Do they increase RAM temperature?

Thnks for the inputs guys...PC is for casual use with occasional Video encoding/DVD re-encoding (hence me enabling Speed Step)

No, increasing voltage, actual clock speed and using RAM will increase it's temperature.

 

[wgoldfarb]

SuLyMaN,

I also have my E6600 running at 333x9 with BIOS Vcore at 1.2875V (Actual Vcore reading at idle is 1.248V). I found, however, that to increase the speed beyond 3.0 I have to bump BIOS Vcore to over 1.325V. I tried using several FSB and multiplier combinations with no luck. My E6600 simply needs a large Vcore bump to go above 3.0 GHz. My E6600's VID is 1.325V and I don't want to exceed this for 24/7 use, so I decided to stay at 3.0GHZ -- for now .

What is your E6600's VID? (You can read it using CoreTemp). I will be curious to see what Vcore you need to reach 3.2 GHz, and how this compares to your E6600's VID.

Still, a 25% OC with such low voltage is pretty good!

Originally posted by: TC91
make sure you run 2 instances of prime 95, or orthos for 12hrs+ at least (i prefer 24hrs) to verify the stability

TC91: if you update to the most recent version of Prime 95 (Version 25.x) you don't need to run two instances of it -- it will automatically generate two threads and stress both cores without having to load two instances.

 

[tno]

SulYMan,

Go here: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366

It's a great run down of the best methods to overclock on your board. It's a great introduction to overclocking. Search these forums, too, you'll find some pretty good tutorials on memory timings (ie check the memory forum).

I have to agree with myocardia about cooling your Northbridge, every chipset is different and some run cooler than others, and some people just like abusing their hardware. But the best way to get the most out of your OC and protect your hardware is to cool everything as best you can. Hope it all works out.

tno

 

[TC91]

wgoldfarb: lol i like running 2 instances of the program tho, i dont mind it at all. thanks for the update tho.

 

[MountainKing]

Originally posted by: wgoldfarb
SuLyMaN,

My E6600's VID is 1.325V and I don't want to exceed this for 24/7 use, so I decided to stay at 3.0GHZ -- for now .

What is your E6600's VID? (You can read it using CoreTemp). I will be curious to see what Vcore you need to reach 3.2 GHz, and how this compares to your E6600's VID.

My E6600 VID is 1.325V and I need to bump my voltage @ over 1.325 for 3.2GHZ also....
BUT my PC boots to windows on 3.2GHZ @ 1.29-1.3VCORE but fails orthos...

Guess ill stay @3GHZ for another year and then crank up the voltage for another 6 months to one year before finally replacing the CPU Thnks for your inputs guys.

I didnot overvolt FSB/RAM btw.

 

[kenny0813]

i'm sorta annoyed at my e6600. Takes me 1.3625 to keep it stable at 3.0Ghz.
this is with my newly installed freezer 7 pro too. funny thing is. . . i can vaguely remember myself hitting 3.0Ghz using stock cooler with 1.35 but my temps were a lot higher.

 

[wgoldfarb]

Originally posted by: SuLyMaN
My E6600 VID is 1.325V and I need to bump my voltage @ over 1.325 for 3.2GHZ also....
BUT my PC boots to windows on 3.2GHZ @ 1.29-1.3VCORE but fails orthos...

I have the same situation: at 1.325 I can boot into Windows but I fail Orthos/Prime 95. Sounds like our E6600s are very similar. I will keep trying different things and will let you know If I manage to stabilize at 3.2 without exceeding 1.325V.