E8400 Overclocking

[coolcolin09]

Hey guys!

Last week I built my new system, and it's great! However, I want to overclock to see if I can squeeze some extra juice out of this baby. I am already running FSX basically nice and smooth, so I want to see how smooth it is overclocked! However, I looked in my BIOS and at CoreTemp, and noticed that I have 6 multipliers @ 333.30 (that's 2.0GHz...). On the intel website, and on the overclocking guide stickied above, the 8400 is supposed to have 9 multipliers, right? Do I need to raise that number in my BIOS to 9 manually? This is my first ever build so I want to make sure I'm overclocking correctly.

Thanks!

 

[disports]

Turn off speedstep.

SpeedStep - Automatically lowers the multiplier from its max. (9x for the E8400) to 6x when the machine is idle. The result is less power consumption and heat production. It goes back up to 9x when you start to get a CPU load. Disable initially, enable later on and see if the system remains stable. This is a power savings option.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: smithrwon
Turn off speedstep.

SpeedStep - Automatically lowers the multiplier from its max. (9x for the E8400) to 6x when the machine is idle. The result is less power consumption and heat production. It goes back up to 9x when you start to get a CPU load. Disable initially, enable later on and see if the system remains stable. This is a power savings option.

Why would the default multiplier setting show 6 in BIOS? I'm not familiar with his P45 chipset, and I'm running nVidia 680i and 780i -- the latter for an E8600. But although I start by setting the BIOS to "Manual" for over-clocking, the BIOS defaults to the spec multiplier for the CPU, and Speedstep -- when enabled -- only shows the drop in the multiplier in Windows. Maybe this is something I've never explored under "Auto" settings.

But -- yes-- for over-clocking, I also recommend disabling Speedstep. I believe it is possible to re-enable it after finding a stable OC setting, but only with the stock multiplier. Personally, I've run an over-clocked system for months with SpeedStep, but occasional glitches caused me to disable it.

 

[disports]

I just took that mostly from the CPU overclocking sticky. I have the Asus P5Q. It's mostly to save power. I turned it back on after I found a stable OC setting.

 

[coolcolin09]

I turned it off, but it still seems to go down to six when not at load. I'll just find the right overclocking settings and enable it again anyways, I suppose. Thanks guys!

 

[ch33zw1z]

Check in BIOS to disable both SpeedStep AND C1E.

 

[betasub]

Please read the forum stickies: one on Speedstep/multipliers, and one on overclocking C2D.

 

[nerp]

Also figure out if you have a C0 or E0.

 

[walk2k]

Don't turn off speedstep, just test it under load. Most people can OC the E8400 to at least 3.2 or 3.3 with very little effort, and 3.6 with stock HSF is pretty easy with some tweaking of voltages and such, with the E0 revision. See below