After playing around with different settings combination, with the new OCZ 800 RAM I was able to push it up to 3.7 - that's right windows load and stable at 3.7, but it was running hot - even the big blue orb was not enough - so I brought it back down to 3.5. Now the temp is around 65 at full load . . . . If anyone thinks it's too hot let me know. Also I searched all over to find a simple answer and failed. I noticed a lot of people had the same question but no one had a straight answer. Question was how hot is too hot for conroe / or e4300 specifically????? I was simply trying to find out what would be the highest allowable temp??? It is difficult since each program gives you different number and you don't know which to go with. I noticed out of four different sources - speedfan was the only only that gave a reading off by 12-15 degrees. All others were withing 2-3 degrees of each other. So I assumed sppedfan was incorrect and chose to go with Intel TAT.
At this point I think I am done with my OC journey on this system. I solved most of the puzzles/questions I had. I am taking the time to post so someone else with same situation will have a few of their questions answered. - help others.
At this point cooling has become the limiting factor for me. I can clearly see I could probable push this up to 4.5 ish - that's right 4.5 with proper cooling. But that would probably require a water cooling sysytem that cost as much as the mobo/cpu combined. Offcourse - that makes no sense. But the point is it can be attained. I am simply amazed by what this little cpu/mobo combination can do at this price with inenxpensive ram.
Anyone looking for a budget rocket - look no further or atleast until the e4400 comes out anyway.
Here are a few things I realized during all of this:
1) Before you even start make sure you have updated BIOS to the latest version.
2) There is a conroe OC guide in this forum that was very helpful - read it / follow it.
3) Make sure you manually increase the RAM voltage to +0.3 or +0.4 if your ram requires more than 1.8 volt.
4) For a good risk/reward ratio OC using just FSB as much as you can - and leave core and other voltage at default - this will minimize risk, run much much cooler, less fan noise - even this will easily allow over 3Ghz - still better than e6800. you can still squeez a little more juice out of it by increasing core voltage but that little juice is not as sweet as what you get from FSB increase.
5) Be careful and watch what you are doing but don't be affraid to explore, learn and get a thrill OCing - cause yes it's true that your CPU life might decrease as a reult of OC if your crank up the Core voltage too much but let's look at the real scenerio here and not just what's at the surface. And the reality is this. This is a $170 cpu with a 3 year warrenty - Even if the cpu died as soon as the warrenty expires - and you have to replace it, you would only lose $30/$40 - that's how much it will cost in a couple of years anyway. Remember to hold on to the intel cooling fan you get with your processor - don't sell it even if you are using an aftermarket cooler and have no use for it, intel will not honor warrenty without that fan.
6) And last - when your sysytem won't post or boot you need to set the BIOS to default settings so that it does. Turn off power, press and hold insert button while turning on the computer - this will set the BIOS to default and system will boot. If that fails you need to clear the BIOS - First pull the plug then you can just take a screw driver, paper clip or anything metal - and make a contact on the jumper next to the cmos battery in your Motherboard that says CLR CMOS. This will clear bios settings - and you can start all over again.
At this point I think I am done with my OC journey on this system. I solved most of the puzzles/questions I had. I am taking the time to post so someone else with same situation will have a few of their questions answered. - help others.
At this point cooling has become the limiting factor for me. I can clearly see I could probable push this up to 4.5 ish - that's right 4.5 with proper cooling. But that would probably require a water cooling sysytem that cost as much as the mobo/cpu combined. Offcourse - that makes no sense. But the point is it can be attained. I am simply amazed by what this little cpu/mobo combination can do at this price with inenxpensive ram.
Anyone looking for a budget rocket - look no further or atleast until the e4400 comes out anyway.
Here are a few things I realized during all of this:
1) Before you even start make sure you have updated BIOS to the latest version.
2) There is a conroe OC guide in this forum that was very helpful - read it / follow it.
3) Make sure you manually increase the RAM voltage to +0.3 or +0.4 if your ram requires more than 1.8 volt.
4) For a good risk/reward ratio OC using just FSB as much as you can - and leave core and other voltage at default - this will minimize risk, run much much cooler, less fan noise - even this will easily allow over 3Ghz - still better than e6800. you can still squeez a little more juice out of it by increasing core voltage but that little juice is not as sweet as what you get from FSB increase.
5) Be careful and watch what you are doing but don't be affraid to explore, learn and get a thrill OCing - cause yes it's true that your CPU life might decrease as a reult of OC if your crank up the Core voltage too much but let's look at the real scenerio here and not just what's at the surface. And the reality is this. This is a $170 cpu with a 3 year warrenty - Even if the cpu died as soon as the warrenty expires - and you have to replace it, you would only lose $30/$40 - that's how much it will cost in a couple of years anyway. Remember to hold on to the intel cooling fan you get with your processor - don't sell it even if you are using an aftermarket cooler and have no use for it, intel will not honor warrenty without that fan.
6) And last - when your sysytem won't post or boot you need to set the BIOS to default settings so that it does. Turn off power, press and hold insert button while turning on the computer - this will set the BIOS to default and system will boot. If that fails you need to clear the BIOS - First pull the plug then you can just take a screw driver, paper clip or anything metal - and make a contact on the jumper next to the cmos battery in your Motherboard that says CLR CMOS. This will clear bios settings - and you can start all over again.
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