E6420 Mild Overclock

[Jman13]

Well, the rest of my new build arrives tomorrow (just awaiting RAM and the case). Got an E6420 with an MSI Neo2-FR P35 motherboard, 2GB of 1066 RAM and a GeForce 8600GT.

Since the mobo has the newer 1333 FSB spec, and I'm really not in the mood to do major overclocking, I'm thinking of simply running the chip at 1333FSB for a CPU clock of 2.66GHz. I've seen these chips easily reaching 3.0 GHz....do I even need to slowly ramp up, or is it pretty much a sure thing that it'll do 2.66. I just bought the retail chip, so I've got the stock Intel heatsink. I'm going to scrape off the thermal pad and put some AS3 on it (yes, just 3...left from the previous 3 builds), but other than that, it'll be stock cooling.

What do you think?

 

[darkfalz]

2.66 is a nice overclock.

 

[secretanchitman]

2.66 is great. im sure it'll do 3Ghz too.

 

[firewolfsm]

It should, I haven't seen a chip that can't at stock speeds. But that won't be your problem (if you have one) other things like the ram, motherboard settings, etc, could get in the way and need some tweaking. Take the time to make sure your overclock is done right and stable, it's only about an hour of tweaking and restarting.

 

[Acanthus]

It should do 2.66 at stock voltage with the stock cooler.

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
It should do 2.66 at stock voltage with the stock cooler.

Agreed, and a memory divider should also kick in, so you should be able to use cheap RAM, if that's what you purchased.

 

[Jman13]

I've got 2GB of PNY PC2 8500 RAM, so the RAM should not be a problem.

 

[alaricljs]

My first step in ramping my 6420 was 370Mhz, or 1480FSB, or... 2960Mhz on the proc.... so yeah, I don't think you need worry about easing into it. Unless you have stock cooling of course, I did mine on a TR Ultra 120 extreme.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: alaricljs
My first step in ramping my 6420 was 370Mhz, or 1480FSB, or... 2960Mhz on the proc.... so yeah, I don't think you need worry about easing into it. Unless you have stock cooling of course, I did mine on a TR Ultra 120 extreme.

He's using stock cooling, but at 2.66, I don't think he has too much to worry about.

 

[Jman13]

So - with the stock Intel HSF...

Will I get better performance with AS3 (not 5) than with the three strip thermal stuff on there now? I know in the past, the thermal pads on the HSFs are pretty weak, but I have no idea if the Intel stock TIM is any better than they used to be. I have no problem taking off the stock TIM and putting on AS3, but why bother if it'll yield the same temps.

Also...with AS3, the directions used to be a pea sized blob and put the HSF on. I usually spread it thin over the heat spreader instead, but the official directions were for the blob. I noticed the AS5 instructions say to put a line over the two cores and then let the HSF spread it out...but then I've heard the AS5 is denser, and so I'm not sure whether or not I should do the line, the spread thin, or the blob. I'm not buying AS5, since I've got half a tube of AS3 left, and if I need better, I'll be upgrading the HSF as well.

 

[Acanthus]

ive always done the thin layer over the spreader

I think they changed it because people tend to put on too much, and it is conductive, so if it gets free from under the hsf it can damage components.

 

[nubian1]

2.66 on a 6420 at default voltage with the original retail heatsink should be an easy task. Seems many have reported going to just over 3ghz at default voltages. I've got mine so far at 3.4ghz but am waiting on some free time to install my aftermarket cooler (Tuniq Tower).

 

[Jman13]

Ok....running at 2.67GHz, with the RAM at 1000.

Idle temps are 32C, with full load temps stabilizing at 54C after 10 minutes of Orthos. Is 54C a bit high to be running for day to day? I know the max is higher than that, but I probably will be keeping this machine running for several years and I don't want to shorten the life considerably. What do you think?

 

[amenx]

3ghz on default volts/stock cooling here. 36/46c idle/load temps.