IP35-E and an e8400 C0

[soccerballtux]

I have 4x2GB sticks of DDR800 RAM.
I'm hoping to get this to 4.0Ghz. Will I need to increase any of the other voltages besides vcore and RAM?

Thinking 1.4vcore, and 2.0v on the RAM would be safe.
Anyone know what else I might need to increase on my board (it's great for overclocking I've heard)?

 

[E4300]

None with my two C0s and one E0. Install 1.8 BETA BIOS. Use 1:1 memory divider with 5-5-5-18-2T. Change AUTO to 1.25 (min default value). No change in 1.5. GTLref @ 63. E8400s don't need 1.4Vcore. The additional cache will run warm, so limit Vcore to 1.37V.

A good chip should hit 475MHz with ease simply by raising FSB. Use 9x multi to take advantage of C1E and EIST. No need to touch VTT, VNB, and VSB till +500MHz FSB. Limit coretemp to 63C. Higher temp will require more Vcore and possibly VTT (brute force method). Once you've found the maximum stable speed with default Vcore, +20mVcore will net an additional 50MHz core speed.

Key factors to remember:

1. Keep all voltages at min defaul values. You can dial in 1.37Vcore in BIOS and see how far the chip will overclock. Voltage drop is about 40mV per CPUz.

2. RAM will likely limit your overclock. Make sure that RAM is good up to about 500MHz.

3. Use 9x multi to overclock. This will reduce the stress on the MB at high FSB.

Turn off THERMAL MONITOR and TEMP SHUTDOWN in BIOS.

 

[soccerballtux]

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks for listing your settings e4300.
I said 1.4vcore because I have a C0, thought 1.4 might get me where I want to go.

Wish me luck with this C0!!!!

If anyone else has recommendations, please feel free to offer your opinion.

 

[soccerballtux]

Needs 1.39v for 3.9Ghz, I'm OK with that. Was hoping I could hit 4 but maybe that's not going to happen.
I'd probably be RAM limited if I wanted to get to 9x500 anyhow, so this is pretty good.

 

[E4300]

Probably bum chip or marginal RAM. The average DDR2 800 will have a difficult time breaking 425MHz. Looks like you're using brute force to compensate for unstable RAM. To comfortably drive E8400 to +4.0GHz, the RAM need to run well up to about 500MHz, especially with four modules. 2 x 2GB is best for extreme overclocking.

If you need 1.39 @ 3.9GHz, then the chip is probably good up to about 3.6GHz with default VID. Is this a new or used CPU?

Nominal overclock @ VID:

-E5xxx...3.2-3.3GHz
-E7xxx...3.4-3.5GHz
-E8xxx...3.7-3.8GHz

Try bumping VTT up by one or two notches.

 

[soccerballtux]

Used; but never OC'd before.
Don't think it's the RAM, it checked out fine on 1.9v @ DDR2-890 with memtest test 6.

All the CPU failures were at 4.0Ghz after about 30 seconds to a minute in Orthos Small&Large;
Temps 55 and under.

Ran 2 instances of Prime95 overnight at 3.9Ghz. Think VTT might get me to 4.0?
VID of this thing is 1.22v.

 

[E4300]

Figure it was USED but still a VIRGIN

I'd retest RAM with test #8 for 30 loops @ 450MHz and S&M (RAM test) if you want to break 4.0GHz. Quick failure in Orthos large mode is a good sign that the memory is not ready for primetime. Memtest does not stress out the board as much as Orthos. I doubt that higher VTT will help, but it doesn't hurt to try.

The latest version of Prime will auto detect and load multiple cores.

Find out the maximum stable speed @ VID, then add 425MHz core speed. If this number is lower than 3.85GHz, then the chip is still in the "linear rage" and you may have a tiny shot at +4.0GHz with better RAM. If this number is higher than 3.95GHz, then you've already exceeded the sweet spot of the CPU (bum/abused chip).

 

[Tempered81]

VTT won't help you that much, soccerballtux. What does CPU-z read for Vcore during Prime95 at 3.9ghz?

I'd bet its somewhere near ~1.32v which means you still have some room to play with...

 

[E4300]

1.39 in BIOS. Load voltage in CPUz should be around 1.35-1.36 with that chip. I would not pump anymore juice.

 

[Tempered81]

Here's my C0 E8400 on an IP-35E from Feb/March 2008

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...=2875954&postcount=143

 

[Tempered81]

You might try a little more vNB for the 4 dimms, have better luck at stability at 3.95 or 4.0ghz with only 2 dimms installed.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
VTT won't help you that much, soccerballtux. What does CPU-z read for Vcore during Prime95 at 3.9ghz?

I'd bet its somewhere near ~1.32v which means you still have some room to play with...

1.39v in CPU-z. Requires 1.44 in Bios.

 

[Tempered81]

Thats a lot of Vcore for only 3.9ghz. I'd try some vNB to support the 4 sticks of ram. Or try with 1 stick of ram, just to see what the processor's capable of without any other factors holding it back. My old C0 could do almost 4.2ghz with 1.39v

 

[soccerballtux]

Hm, not at home right now; vNB is named what in the bios?
I'll try 1 stick and see what happens.l

If I go back to 1.375vcore in CPUz (from 1.39v) I fail very quickly. This is why I think it's a cpu voltage problem.

 

[Tempered81]

MCH Voltage

http://images.devshed.com/dh/stories/ABIT_IP35_E/8.jpeg

 

[E4300]

Call me stupid, but I don't think that chip is a VIRGIN. The board is solid and should be able to take any capable E8400 up to 500MHz without touching VTT, VNB, VSB, and GTLref. Heck, even the Q8200 is hassle-free up to 460-475MHz FSB.

Most of these chips should be able to run @ 4.0-4.2GHz with 1.35 load voltage. My E0 chip is stable @ 4.13GHz with default 1.25V BIOS. It's also prime stable @ 4.4GHz/1.37V BIOS. Another C0 chip is stable at 3.9GHz with default Vcore, and 4.2GHz with 1.37V BIOS.

You can only do so much with a bum chip. MC had the Q8200 for $100. E5xxx is available for $50-$60. Therefore, the fair value for the E8xxx should be around $70-$80.

You're not going to see a big gain by replacing the E2180 @ 3.4GHz. The next step up is a quad @ +3.4GHz. I'd avoid the Q8200 due to the 7x multi. Again, no huge improvement unless you're encoding video.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: E4300
Call me stupid, but I don't think that chip is a VIRGIN. The board is solid and should be able to take any capable E8400 up to 500MHz without touching VTT, VNB, VSB, and GTLref. Heck, even the Q8200 is hassle-free up to 460-475MHz FSB.

Most of these chips should be able to run @ 4.0-4.2GHz with 1.35 load voltage. My E0 chip is stable @ 4.13GHz with default 1.25V BIOS. It's also prime stable @ 4.4GHz/1.37V BIOS. Another C0 chip is stable at 3.9GHz with default Vcore, and 4.2GHz with 1.37V BIOS.

You can only do so much with a bum chip. MC had the Q8200 for $100. E5xxx is available for $50-$60. Therefore, the fair value for the E8xxx should be around $70-$80.

You're not going to see a big gain by replacing the E2180 @ 3.4GHz. The next step up is a quad @ +3.4GHz. I'd avoid the Q8200 due to the 7x multi. Again, no huge improvement unless you're encoding video.

It is; a guy at work gave it to me. He received it about 1.5yrs ago from Intel for sampling. Unless Intel sent him a burnt out chip...he doesn't overclock this stuff either. Must just be a bum chip then.

Difference between 3.9 and 4.0Ghz is just about the number. I guess I'll do without.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Used; but never OC'd before.
Don't think it's the RAM, it checked out fine on 1.9v @ DDR2-890 with memtest test 6.

All the CPU failures were at 4.0Ghz after about 30 seconds to a minute in Orthos Small&Large;
Temps 55 and under.

Ran 2 instances of Prime95 overnight at 3.9Ghz. Think VTT might get me to 4.0?
VID of this thing is 1.22v.

4.0 Ghz seems like a challenge, but you can try pushing VTT to just below 1.4V. Or anything less that's higher than what is reported by BIOS monitor or monitoring software.

Our colleague mentioned pushing the VCORE to 1.37V (or 1.3625V). Check and see if this results in a CPU-Z reading that is less than that at idle. My guess -- that sort of setting would be fine.

Also, boosting the NB a tad won't hurt, so that recommendation might help. But try diddling with VTT and NB separately, and see how it goes.

And you are right: If 3.9 is rock-stable with plenty of margin, what's an extra 100 Mhz worth, anyway?

EDIT: somebody mention RAM limitations. I'm wondering if having 2x2GB might give more headroom than 4x2GB? I couldn't say . . .

EDIT-2-EDIT: If you're getting CPU-Z of 1.39V with a setting <= 1.37V, do you have the Load Line Calibration feature on your mobo? Maybe you should try turning it off, to see if the idle CPU-Z is then less than the VCORE set-value.

AND ANOTHER: I just found a review on that board, and I don't think it has that feature -- from the BIOS setup screens featured in the review, anyway . . .

 

[soccerballtux]

My vcore in BIOS is like 1.42 or 1.44 I don't recall.
Reading is 1.39 in Cpu-z.

 

[E4300]

Why not pump 1.46V in CPUz? It's a free chip! Really, you have a POS E8400. Even a crappy $55 E5200 will run 3.6GHz with a load voltage of 1.39 in CPUz.

 

[soccerballtux]

Yes but an e8400 will run stuff 20% faster than that e5200 clock for clock.

I do want this chip to last 2 years. Also don't want to kill my board.

Tried increasing MCH, VTT a notch and it didn't help one bit. Definitely think I'm CPU limited.

For some reason my onboard sound is crackling now...just occasionally...never did this before. Optical out...weird...edit might be the recording edit2 might not.

 

[E4300]

Larger cache may translate to a gain of 10% with some applications. I have an E5300 and E8400 @ 4.0GHz for direct comparison. Even memory-sensitive Super Pi shows only a very moderate gain if the E5300's multiplier is lowered to 9x.

The E8xxx line is the most overpriced. I paid $100 for a Q8200. 3.6GHz with default 1.22 Vcore. The top speed of 3.7GHz is capped by the MB. Q9400 is on sale now for $160.

You have a bum chip. I'd set Vcore to 1.39 and let the CPU settle in on the highest stable overclock...~3.7GHz.

Clear CMOS and run system at default setting to check for audio-related issue. Pushing a bum chip beyond the linear range can result in excessive audio S/N ratio and poor video encoding performance (video artifacts).

 

[E4300]

This new E5200 (M0 stepping, 1/09, made in Malaysia) is stable at 4.0GHz with 1.44V BIOS (1.4V CPUz). Local Fry's has the E5200/MSI combo for $80. Going to put the MB on sale for $40.

 

[soccerballtux]

I don't have the link but there was a bench between the different Core 2 45nm chips at the same frequency, with different caches. The e8400 ended up being about 18% faster clock/clock compared to the e5200, thanks to the cache.