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FSB Hole?

SpecChum

Member
Hi all,

I've currently got my 6420 overclocked to 3.2Ghz (1600FSB) with a vcore of 1.32v (droops to 1.29v under load) on my P5N-E, but no matter what vcore I use I can't get it to boot into windows at 3.4Ghz (1700 FSB).

I've tried memory at 2T (currently running @ 667 4-4-4-12-1T) but that didn't help, and I've tried raising the NB voltage to 1.5, that didn't help either, so I'm just wondering, do you guys think it's the proc or the mobo?

I'll be honest I can't see it being the proc if it can do 3.2 whilst being slightly undervolted.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Spec
 
Welcome to anandtech. It isn't your processor, and it's not an FSB hole. Your motherboard's chipset just isn't very good at overclocking, compared to the Intel chipsets. But congrats on getting your E6420 up to 3.2 Ghz with it.
 
even with the p5n, you should be able to get over 400 easily...

you need to mess with the other voltages such as vfsb, vnb, vsb, vtt...

and FSB holes are related to the motherboard, not the chip.

list your other voltages in order and someone (i can try... i used to own a p5n32-e sli plus) should be able to help you.
 
try changing the other voltages per shimm, if that doesn't work then try inching up until you can get a top end fsb. then try in jumps of 5-10mhz to see if it is a "hole" instead of a "limit". I did that with mine and got stuck at 440, but 451 worked great. Also, see if there is a bios update, that helped me quite a bit.
 
Hi, thanks for all the replies.

All my voltages are set to auto apart from vcore which is 1.32v as mention above. I did try upping the obvious NB voltage to 1.5, but that didn't help, and I didn't really think upping the memory voltage would do much since I'm not overclocking the memory (it's rated at 675, so it's slightly underclocked in fact).

I've got week off next week, so I'll have a play then 🙂

Oh, and temps are fine BTW, speedfam 4.32 reports 24c idle and about 40c load on CPU and a constant 31c on mobo.

Thanks again for the advise 🙂

Spec
 
Originally posted by: ChronoReverse
If it's rated at 675, I'd presume that it's really 337.5
e.g., DDR2-800 is good for 400FSB (without overclocking)

Hiya, I've got my memory locked at 667 (well, I actually request 675 and it comes to 667 using the nearest divider) in the BIOS; the P5N-E allows seperate FSB and memory speeds.
 
Hi, sorry for late reply on this.

My voltages are 1.325 for vcore (tried all the way up to 1.5; no dice), 2.1 for vdimm and 1.5 for NB, I don't have any other options (well, apart from vcore offset which is disabled).

Problem still there tho, won't go 1Mhz past 1600 FSB (it POSTS fine, then locks on the windows XP loading screen), but rock solid at 1600.

Kinda weird. Still 50% overclock is not too shabby 🙂

Any ideas?

Spec
 
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