Is there such thing as a free lunch?

[TemjinGold]

I'm no OCer by any stretch but all this reading here has gotten me curious. From what I gather, a lot of these fantastic OCs requires adjusting volts, mem timings, etc. to get things to work and often results in more heat and power.

My question is, I have a X3350 and a Noctua U9B. Bios says it's idling at 27C so I got quite some legroom if the bios is to be believed. Is there a certain amount I could OC that wouldn't require changing any settings other than FSB? Would say 8X400 over the current 8X333 be doable with that restriction in mind? I mean, I don't really NEED the extra I guess, it's just the novelty of cranking it up some that has me interested.

I'm no longer a college student so if the chip blows up, I guess I can just buy another. It's just that OCing like a pro seems like so much work. So, any recommendations for a lazy wannabe OCer who wants a little fun like me?

 

[Markfw]

Sure, try the 8x400 on stock volts, try a stability test program like Orthos, watch the temps, and your changes on stock vcore of damaging something are like zip.

 

[v8envy]

Just make sure you're not accidentally overclocking your PCIe bus. Now that *can* fry something.

Casual OCing is the way to go. Especially since you have such nice high end toys to play with. The chip probably won't blow on its own unless you do something crazy, but your PSU, mboard or video might. I don't think heat will be your limiting factor.

Read the sticky on core2 OCing before you begin, go slow, and you should be bitten raw by the OC bug before the week is out.

 

[TemjinGold]

Hehe thanks guys, I'mma give it a try.

 

[Markfw]

typo error, just make sure you DON'T change vcore if you are worried about damage. On stock vcore, its almost impossible to hurt anything. Just watch the temps.

 

[TemjinGold]

One more question: With such a small OC, I probably don't need to worry about heat for the cpu but do I need to worry about heat for the mobo (DS3L), since I'll be knocking the fsb to 400?

 

[bryanW1995]

almost certainly no worries for you at all at just a 67 mhz OC, esp if you can get that at stock vcore. 3.2 on a stock 2.67 c2Q is almost a certainty, and is likely on stock volts.

 

[TemjinGold]

Sounds good, thanks!

 

[Dangerer]

read over the overclocking guide thoroughly. The q9450 was my first chip that I overclocked and within 8 hours (90% of it was priming for stability) I'm enjoying my free lunch

 

[The-Noid]

Overclocking is quite easy and should not damage any components. Especially at stock volts. If you run into any questions or problems feel free to pm me.

Thanks...

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks for the support, guys!

 

[betasub]

Mmm, free lunch <drool>

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
It's just that OCing like a pro seems like so much work. So, any recommendations for a lazy wannabe OCer who wants a little fun like me?

Work? What's that? C'mon, mang, this fun!

 

[TemjinGold]

Okay, I started on this quest!

Questions:

1) My bios doesn't seem to have a place for me to set the timings for my ram. The only ram option I could find is the SPD setting. I have a DS3L. Is there some other place I should be looking?

2) Coretemps has me at 73/70/70/70 when Prime95 is running. Is that bad?

Edit:

3) Where's the thingy to enable error checking in Prime?

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
2) Coretemps has me at 73/70/70/70 when Prime95 is running. Is that bad?

Well, cooler is better, but for a quad under full Prime load it is to be expected.

3) Where's the thingy to enable error checking in Prime?

Prime is automatically error-checking its calculations. Even the smallest difference will stop the run with an error message.

 

[TemjinGold]

Neat. I primed for 6 hrs no problems currently. Going to try to drop vcore and prime overnight.

 

[Dangerer]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Okay, I started on this quest!

Questions:

1) My bios doesn't seem to have a place for me to set the timings for my ram. The only ram option I could find is the SPD setting. I have a DS3L. Is there some other place I should be looking?

2) Coretemps has me at 73/70/70/70 when Prime95 is running. Is that bad?

Edit:

3) Where's the thingy to enable error checking in Prime?

I read that coretemp was incorrectly displaying the TJmax for the new 45nm chips. Check out RealTemp and calibrate it before setting it to -- for a more accurate reading. Also what are you ambient temps?

 

[andrei3333]

on the ds3l in bios press control+f1 i think and the ram menu will appear

 

[TemjinGold]

Ahh neat. Seems I can't drop vcore without it crashing before loading vista. Guess I may need to leave that at auto.

 

[TemjinGold]

Okay, after an overnight prime95 success, it's time I called this a small victory for my first OC. Machine is indeed stable at 8X400 (I know, I'm a wuss) with the power saving options back on. Idle temps 52ish on all 4 cores, load temps 72ish. Thanks for everyone's help and support!