E4400 Allendale -> E8400 Wolfdale

[ViRaLRuSh]

Is this upgrade going to raise fps in all games? Currently using a Geforce 9800 GT with the e4400 allendale w/ 2GB of Geil ddr2 ram.

I'm most playing WoW and want to get max fps in Dalaran and aoe intensive raids.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: ViRaLRuSh
Is this upgrade going to raise fps in all games? Currently using a Geforce 9800 GT with the e4400 allendale w/ 2GB of Geil ddr2 ram.

I'm most playing WoW and want to get max fps in Dalaran and aoe intensive raids.

Was your 4400 overclocked at all? Processors and Video Cards go hang in hand. If you want the most out of your system you need your cpu to complement your gfxcard to feed it the info it needs. It should make gaming in general a better experience. I don't know much about WOW though. If you don't want to spend the money try overclocking your 4400.

 

[Denithor]

Actually in WoW CPU & RAM are just as important as GPU. A 9800GT is plenty of card for smooth frames. If your e4400 isn't overclocked, do that first before spending money. 3-3.2GHz should be fairly easy and will improve performance nicely in WoW.

 

[TidusZ]

I have an e4300 @ 3.15, if your using that thing at default clocks then yea its gonna make mad differences. You can probably get it well over 3 ghz though, in which case the difference is meaningful but as for worth the money that's kinda borderline, and its what I'm deciding now too. The e8400 overclocks well, but not like the E4x00's, those things are like the girl in Shes All That, didnt look like much out of the box but sure fools ya.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

I've been scared to try ocing :

What settings would I have to change without going drastic?

 

[TidusZ]

I have 4 sticks of ram, 4gb, ddr2-800, so nothing fancy at all. for voltage some people will say you can go up to 1.5v with a 65nm chip, mines at 1.4v, I wouldnt go over 1.4 if you dont wanna be drastic - I've been at this voltage for a year or so. I have my bus speed at 350mhz, with ram running 1:1 so its actually running slower than default, with nice timings. I'd say work your way up to 350mhz fsb and adjust your ram so that its not going much past its rated spec. If you have ddr2-1000 you wont need to worry so much about that. Make sure to read the sticky and download the important programs, orthos, coretemp, and especially cpuz. keep temps below 70c, volts below 1.4, ram speed not much above what its rated (400mhz for ddr2 800, 450 for 1000 give or take). Up volts on MCH by .1 if needed and on ram by .1 if needed. That should do it, pretty quick and easy and much more speed.

Theres some settings you need to disable in the motherboard settings as well, C1E for example and some others, just read the sticky though. Its just stuff that tries to save power or turn your speeds down automatically, basically stuff you would never want. I support global warming, its bloody cold.

 

[DSF]

Read the sticky about overclocking Core2Duos in the CPU forum. Take it slowly and you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

I have an MSI p6n MB (I think this is the one) and it has a generally hotter Nbridge....will this get even hotter if I oc my cpu? I have stock cooling, keep this in mind.

 

[TidusZ]

If you up the voltage to the MCH it will get a bit hotter but I wouldn't generally worry about it. with stock cooling you probably wont be able to do an overclock over 3 ghz, but perhaps mid to high 2ghz. Could always spend 20 bucks and get an arctic cooling freezer 7 pro, that'd do it.

 

[betasub]

E4400 is begging to be OCed. 10x multiplier is nice. Use smaller steps than below, but anything up to 3GHz should be easy by just increasing the FSB (above that extra voltage may be needed, bringing extra heat to your system):

Stock 10x200 = 2.00GHz
33%OC 10x266 = 2.66GHz
66%OC 10x333 = 3.33GHz (probably requires too much extra voltage).

If you have reasonable memory e.g. DDR2-800, you can lower the multiplier and push your FSB up to 400 e.g. 8x400 = 3.2GHz (my E4400 overclock of choice).

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

Ok, I'm going to try betasub's settings and see if it's stable. Will I be able to edit the bios if things seem unstable or would I had to reset the cmos in order to do anything again if things go crazy?

Also, If I do end up spending the money on the E8400....would it work at max settings with my MSI p6n SLI motherboard and 2GB Geil DDR2-800?

 

[Denithor]

Pushing the fsb higher for no good reason just strains the motherboard (and you're already complaining about the northbridge running hot at 200fsb, exactly what do you think it'll do at 400fsb?). I would actually go for the more traditional 10x300 overclock to hit 3GHz, see if you can hit that with stock voltage. As long as you don't go over 1.4V your stock cooler should be adequate to keep your temps down.

CPU compatibility chart

The e8400 and later series chips are supported but you'll have to flash your BIOS to the latest revision before removing your e4400.

And seriously, if you can push your e4400 to 2.8GHz or higher you won't see much difference at all between that and one of the newer processors. I went from an e6400 @ 3GHz to my e8400 @ 3.6GHz and see only minor (at best) differences in everyday use.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

Well, I just checked my bios and it only lets me oc my bus, not my CPU. it's an american megatrends bios.

There is something in there called D.O.T. that has % values in it...any ideas?

 

[Andrew1990]

Originally posted by: ViRaLRuSh
Well, I just checked my bios and it only lets me oc my bus, not my CPU. it's an american megatrends bios.

There is something in there called D.O.T. that has % values in it...any ideas?

You up the Front Side Bus to overclock the CPU,

akam 10multi x 200 Front Side Bus = 2000MHz CPU

Up that Bus to 266 and you got 2660MHz, etc...

 

[TidusZ]

theres a sticky on overclocking in the computers and overclocking forums, takes 10 minutes to read it and then you will be confident in what you are doing, will likely save you time in the long run.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

I've read the entire thing, but my bios still says the only area with FSB clock is set to 800...which makes zero sense ;(

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: ViRaLRuSh
I've read the entire thing, but my bios still says the only area with FSB clock is set to 800...which makes zero sense ;(

what mobo do you have

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

MSI p6n SLI nforce 650i


MS-7350

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: ViRaLRuSh
I've read the entire thing, but my bios still says the only area with FSB clock is set to 800...which makes zero sense ;(

I saw a screenshot so just up that 800 part and do what the sticky says.
Does it look like this?
Have you updated to the latest bios???

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

Yes, like that. What # should I change the 800 to? anything else?

 

[DSF]

It's apparently using the FSB Intel reports (technically transfers/second, not Hz or cycles/second).

No big deal, it just means that the number is four times larger than it would be on most boards. When people say 266, the equivalent for you would be 1066. I'd try 933, see if it's stable, and then try 1066. If that's stable you can monitor your temps and see if you want to go farther or not.

 

[zerocool84]

To see if it's stable run Prime95 as in the sticky

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

So far, running around 50-60C at 1066. (WoW running in Dalaran with tons of people around.

Is this good? going to run prime95 while i sleep.

 

[betasub]

Temps look good with WoW - Prime95 will likely push them higher. If it's still running in the morning, make a note of those Prime temps.

1066 setting should be giving you 10x266 = 2.6GHz (i.e. a pretty safe OC).

 

[TidusZ]

2.6 is more than safe, I'd recommend at least 3 ghz, that's safe as well.