E4300 & P5B DX Overclocking Success...

[RonAKA]

My priorities in building this PC was it being quiet, fast, and not too expensive (kind of in that order). So overclocking was a way to deliver on the last two, but it had to remain quiet.

A standard Antec Sonata II case (CPU ducting left in) was used along with only the stock 120 mm case exhaust fan, set at low speed. No optional fans installed. The stock Intel cooler was retained to save cost and only DDR2-667 memory was used. Went for XP instead of Vista to keep RAM to 1 GB, again to keep cost down (and to be honest so my Office 97 would still run - again cost issue). At the stock 1.8 GHz it is extremely quiet, with the CPU temp at idle about 33 C, and mainboard at 35 C. CPU fan runs about 2109 RPM.

First quick and dirty attempt was not too good. With no other changes except CPU volts at 1.25, and Mem V at 1.9, it hit the wall at about 2.25 GHz. Obviously needed more than that.

Did some research, and found this article which was helpful, but it would have been better if it was an ASUS board.

http://www.overclock3d.net/articles.php..._guide_for_intel_core_2_duo_processors

Made following changes under Advanced, Jumper Free Cfg, AI Tuning:
AI Tuning - Manual
CPU Freq - 345
DRAM Freq - DDR2-690 (this happens automatically once you select DDR2-533 with CPU at 200)
PCI Express - 100
Mem Voltage - 2.0
CPU Core Voltage - 1.4125
Left rest as they were.

Under Advanced, CPU Cfg:
CIE Support - Disabled
Intel SpeedStep - Disabled
Left rest as they were.

Under Advanced, Chipset, NB Cfg:
Left CFG DRAM Timing by SPD - Enabled
This gave me a 4-4-4-12 Timing

RESULTS
CPU - 3.105 GHz
CPU Temp (Idle) - 36 C (43 C loaded)
System Temp - 36
RAM Freq - DDR2-690
CPU Voltage (Measured) - 1.408
CPU Fan RPM - 2136 (2170 loaded)
Noise - No change, very quiet

So, I was generally pleased with the result. With the 667 RAM, I knew I was not going to break any records. And, I think there is some room to push it more, if I was to increase RAM voltage to 2.2, and go to manual 5-5-5-15 timing. Probably would have to increase CPU to 1.5 V, and I wasn't real keen on doing that. I made no voltages increases to the FSB, NB, or SB.

I have not done much real testing. Ran 3DMark06 DEMO and it completed. CPU peaked at about 43 C. Video board which is passively cooled normally runs at 70 C, increased to about 83. Could not complete the 3DMark06 Test suite. It completed the first section but shuts down during the CPU test, so I'm thinking I'm not 100% stable here. However, everything else seems to run fine. I'm not a gamer, so pushing the PC to the max for hours is an unlikely service.

Hope this helps those with this board and CPU combination. Suggestions to improve what I have? Will SpeedStep still work if I turn it back on? Am I correct in needing more voltage to go further? or would other changes help while keeping voltages the same?

Ron

 

[RonAKA]

Just as a bit of an update, I tried today to find out if this thing would do better - even though I'm not prepared to run it there. With previous setting which I posted above I can get it to boot windows at 355 FSB but not at 360. Thought I would pull out all stops and see what it takes to boot at 360, so made following changes:

Mem V - 2.15
CPU V - 1.50 (BIOS setpoint, not measured)
Memory at 5-6-6-15 (it defaulted to this when I disabled SPD control)
FSB V - 1.3
NB V - 1.45
SB V - 1.60

At 360 FSB nada! This thing seems to hit the wall at 355 and 360 is not possible, unless I'm missing something. I suspect it is not the 667 RAM as increasing the voltage and loosening the timings significantly did nothing. Would kind of suggest DDR2-800 RAM with this chip may be a waste of $$? Or could it be the P5B board limitation at 1440 FSB effective?

 

[Accord99]

Try increasing Write to Precharge Delay to 11 from 10, DRAM TRFC to 42 and disable Static Read Control.

My experience with the P5B Deluxe is that it can easily reach 400+ Mhz FSB without increasing any of the chipset voltages.

 

[RonAKA]

Originally posted by: Accord99
Try increasing Write to Precharge Delay to 11 from 10, DRAM TRFC to 42 and disable Static Read Control.

My experience with the P5B Deluxe is that it can easily reach 400+ Mhz FSB without increasing any of the chipset voltages.

Thanks for the tip. I disabled SPD, and the Write to Precharge Delay defaults to 11, as well as the DRAM TRFC to 42. I disabled the Static Read Control and tried again. No luck. Boots Windows at 355, but won't POST at 360. Perhaps it is the 667 RAM.

 

[Accord99]

Yeah, it most likely is the RAM. One other thing you can try is to use the 8X multiplier, and try an FSB of 401MHz. The P5B (and I think the P965 chipset in general) switches to looser internal timings at 401Mhz and has in the past, helped some people who weren't stable between 350-400MHz.