G41 Chipset Overclock. G41MT-S2PT - FSB linked to PCIE

[GimmeMyGHz]

I was wondering if anyone has found a max stable PCIE and FSB frequency for the G41 chipset so that I can overclock my cheap little build.

I know this isn't a good board for overclocking, but I have a tight budget. I really just want to squeeze what I can out of it, because I probably won't be able to upgrade for quite awhile.

There's an old thread here by Assimilator1, and he had the same problem that I do. I just made this account so I apparently can't message him for help til I post 25 times.
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Assimilator1's thread
----------------> http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2364952

I'm relatively new to overclocking and such so please forgive my ignorance and slight hesitation to experiment on my own.

I'm making this in hopes that someone else could possibly help me.. Really, any input is appreciated. Here's my build:

MB: Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT Rev 2.1
CPU: C2Q Q9650@3.0GHz 333x9.5
RAM: 8gb (2x4gb) Crucial 1600 (CL11) UC'd to 1066 (for now)
GPU: Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 6670
PCIE: 100mhz At the moment.

Again, any information is useful. Heck, if someone could give a shout to Assimilator1 for me, that'd be awesome too.


tl;dr-Max stable PCIE for raising FSB wall of G41MT-S2PT with a Q9650 innit?



-Gimme

 

[SPBHM]

if you leave it on auto it will overclock the PCIE for you, anyway, I have a g31 board running with 375 FSB, with auto PCIE was like 112-115 or something, I manually lowered to 110 and it's been running stable, it also works at 109 more or less, but not very stable.

G41 should be the same... I think 400 with 115 is possible.

(I'm also running a quad core, I didn't get good stability at 400 but I didn't try changing voltages and such)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would progressively increase FSB by 5Mhz, and see where things get funky.

TBH, though, you should sell the Q9650 while it's still in demand, and buy a G3258 combo for $100 or less.

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

SPBHM-
I heard that on Auto the PCIE will bounce around between 99 and 101, but that's about as far outta bounds it will go. (of course that doesn't mean what I heard was correct)

I messed with it earlier and I can go up to 343 without changing the PCIE, but I'm still a bit iffy because this is the only GPU I have and I've read a bit about people frying their GPU's with PCIE frequencies of 110-115. (And even as low as 108)

VirtualLarry - I kicked it up to 350 and it wouldn't boot, and that's at standard PCIE. And to be honest, I just bought this processor about 2 months ago, I just wanted a cheap build for gaming. I can play about every game on Normal settings,(at least) and being at a quad core I'd rather not knock myself back down to a dual. (Even though they are different generations, from what I can tell it still wouldn't be much of an upgrade.) I had to wait a couple months just to get me this build (for a total of around 250$, with a salvaged PSU, HDD, and Case)
I'd rather just wait till I have some money and pick me up a nice i7 quad core and a 2-3gb GPU, but, that will be awhile.

 

[escrow4]

SPBHM-
I heard that on Auto the PCIE will bounce around between 99 and 101, but that's about as far outta bounds it will go. (of course that doesn't mean what I heard was correct)

I messed with it earlier and I can go up to 343 without changing the PCIE, but I'm still a bit iffy because this is the only GPU I have and I've read a bit about people frying their GPU's with PCIE frequencies of 110-115. (And even as low as 108)

VirtualLarry - I kicked it up to 350 and it wouldn't boot, and that's at standard PCIE. And to be honest, I just bought this processor about 2 months ago, I just wanted a cheap build for gaming. I can play about every game on Normal settings,(at least) and being at a quad core I'd rather not knock myself back down to a dual. (Even though they are different generations, from what I can tell it still wouldn't be much of an upgrade.) I had to wait a couple months just to get me this build (for a total of around 275$)
I'd rather just wait till I have some money and pick me up a nice i7 quad core and a 2-3gb GPU, but, that will be awhile.

You bought a Core 2 Quad in 2015? A G3258 will slap it around with ease in single threaded gaming, and will only fall over in things that need more threads which is only some games in 2015. That and encoding. You should have bought an Haswell i3 + H81 mobo + RAM and still had change left over which would be faster than any Core 2 Quad.

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

"You bought a Core 2 Quad in 2015?"

Loool, yes I did. This was my first build, ever, and I just kind of jumped into it without knowing a whole lot.
I realize now I could've done better, but this machine is doing well for now, my GPU seems to be the bottleneck more so than the CPU.

Before I built this computer I knew nothing about hardware (always just "used" computers, never really took them apart, read about them, etc, but have always been software/computer maintenance adept)

Since then I've been reading about everything 'PC' and I know enough now that I won't buy an obsolete socket again

But when I do build my next PC, I'm going all out. Except for paying 1000$ for a CPU (4960X, anyone?)

I like to think I've come a long way in the past 2-3 months!

 

[myocardia]

OP, you don't need to overclock that Q9650. At stock speed, it's already way faster than your video card, even if your video card is overclocked as well.

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

You're probably right, but I do plan on buying a new GPU (R7 360, 2GB. Or better) before my next build. I'd just like to give a little more bang to what I have as of now.

(Also, just curious, how do you go about comparing CPU-GPU compatibility/speed?)

 

[VirtualLarry]

(Also, just curious, how do you go about comparing CPU-GPU compatibility/speed?)

Mostly from reviews, specifically the "CPU scaling" and "GPU scaling" reviews, where they take one high-end CPU or GPU, and then compare a bunch of the other type, with pretty graphs and all. That gives you a good idea of what is a good match.

 

[SPBHM]

SPBHM-
I heard that on Auto the PCIE will bounce around between 99 and 101, but that's about as far outta bounds it will go. (of course that doesn't mean what I heard was correct)

I messed with it earlier and I can go up to 343 without changing the PCIE, but I'm still a bit iffy because this is the only GPU I have and I've read a bit about people frying their GPU's with PCIE frequencies of 110-115. (And even as low as 108)

Auto on all my g31/g41 boards will overclock the PCIE once you overclock the FSB (but as I said, it overclocks the PCIE more than needed, so manually going down a bit makes sense),

with the default FSB auto will keep it at 100.

343 is possible with PCIE 100 yes,

I've been running it at 110 (375 FSB) for a few months on my win10 test PC and a Radeon 4670 (g31 board), I also hear of people running 115+ for a while with no problems...

and many G31/g41 boards list FSB 1600 supported (with OC), which means they believe there is probably some stability with high PCIE clocks.

350 with PCIE 100 will not work.

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

Ahh, okay. I figured that was how but wasn't sure. I'm actually pretty surprised that my 6670 can handle games as well as it can, being a low-profile 1GB card from 2010 (or 11?)
I can play literally anything at least on low, but can play most on High/Ultra. Everyone says it's a low-end/entry-level card, but it has quite a bit of power, still.

So basically, SPBHM, as long as I stay below 110-115 I should be pretty safe?

(Also, my board only supports 1333 fsb)

 

[SPBHM]

Ahh, okay. I figured that was how but wasn't sure. I'm actually pretty surprised that my 6670 can handle games as well as it can, being a low-profile 1GB card from 2010 (or 11?)
I can play literally anything at least on low, but can play most on High/Ultra. Everyone says it's a low-end/entry-level card, but it has quite a bit of power, still.

So basically, SPBHM, as long as I stay below 110-115 I should be pretty safe?

well, you are out of spec, high PCIE could cause problems with the ich7 southbridge and hard drive, but I see 110 as safe enough from my experience

I would be more worried with that than the VGA at 110

oh and overclocking a C2Q with G31/g41 boards can also be hard on the motherobard VRMs

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by out of spec and confused as to what I should be worried about.
Do you mean potential problems with the ICH7 and HDD?

Oh, by out of spec do you mean that if I overclocked I'd be pushing my FSB out of spec? (past 1333?)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by out of spec and confused as to what I should be worried about.
Do you mean potential problems with the ICH7 and HDD?

Oh, by out of spec do you mean that if I overclocked I'd be pushing my FSB out of spec? (past 1333?)

I think that he's referring to PCI-E clocks. Normally, PCI-E clocks at 100Mhz. But on G31/41 boards, increasing the FSB clock, also increases the PCI-E clocks. 400FSB shouldn't be a problem for either the chipset, or the CPU (total clock headroom permitting), but it could cause problems for either PCI-E devices, or the chipset's storage I/O ports.

 

[SPBHM]

yes, out of the original specifications, no CPU/775 Chipset was made to run with PCIE over 100MHz, so things can go wrong more easily, but as I said, I've been running 110 fine, and I've seen people running for a extended period at 120 for example...


and yes, the ICH7 (where the sata controller is) is affected by the PCIE clock OC, if you go to far you can start having problems with corrupting files and such.

 

[GimmeMyGHz]

Well, I appreciate all of your help alot guys. I think I have good idea of what I can do now, so thank you all very much.