OC E6400 P5B-E

[Equator]

CPU- E6400
MB- ASUS P5B-E
MEM - 2x1GB OCZ PC6400 DDR2800 Platinum Rev2 2.1V 4-4-4-15

vCore in Bios is 1.45 in cpuz it show 1.38
vDimm is 2.1V
vFSB : 1.4V

PCI-E : 100MHz
PCI: 33.3MHz

Everything in the CPU config is disable
mem config 5-5-5-18-6-42-15-15-15-15 <- Rated timing cannot boot, I try the slowest timing to see if I can boot

Memtest shows the memory to be running fine at 400MHz with the rated timing when system at default 266 MHz and even stable with 333MHz.

However the highest I can get seems to be only 350Mhz, Orthos, memtest and prime95 runs without error but the network is not working properly, frequently losing connection and even when it is connect, data seems to be messed up.

Start to get errors when speed up to 360Mhz, try 400 or 401, wouldn't boot at all. Shouldn't the E6400 be capable of going a bit higher then what I can get? Seems like if I want network conenction, the best I can get is 333MHz.

What can I change and why is the higher frequency affecting the network connection?

Should I try to lower the multipler and see if 7x400 is possible since if 8x350 works, there may be a chance 7x400 will work and I believe that will be better preformance then 8x350.

Any suggestion is welcome.

 

[gerwen]

You said at 266 FSB you are running the ram at 400, which is ddr2-800. When you push it up to 333FSB and beyond, are you keeping the same memory ratio, effectively overclocking the RAM?

On my board, when i'm at 266 FSB i set the memory multiplier to 3 to get the ram at ddr2-800 speed. When i jump the fsb up to 400, i set the multiplier back to 2, which runs my ram ad ddr2-800 speed again.

I don't know the options on your asus board to do the same, but that may be your problem.

**edit** google found me some screenshots of your bios, it looks like the Ram multiplier (DRAM Frequency) is right below where you set the FSB, and it looks like it calculates the Ram speed based on your FSB, so you'd just need to set the DRAM frequency as low as it will go. I imagine you've already done this though.

 

[Equator]

Yes, I did, at 350FSB I am actually running the memory at 700Mhz which is below the rated speed with all the loose timing and I am still having problem so I believe the limit is actually not on the memory but the cpu or other thing, my temp doesn't seems to be too high though so I have no idea what to change next. I read somewhere that said if the idle to max temp have a big difference the I should cool the MOSFETs but I have no idea what it means.

 

[Robbidoo]

MOSFET is a type of capacitor, so I would guess they mean the ones on the voltage regulator on the board. I think they already have heatsinks on the P5B-E, so that might not help to be honest.

I also have a P5B-E with a 6300, and I can't get it above 390FSB. People say that 401 will actually stress the board less as it's a lower strap, but mine won't boot past POST with it up there. I've tried hiking the voltage all the way to 1.5 measured in cpu-z, but no dice.

RAM is G.skill DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 stuff. Obviously at only 1MHz over factory it shouldn't mind what it's run at, but I've tried up to 2.0V with no improvement.

I'm sitting here right now at 390 with 1.38V and it's rock solid in orthos. Anyone got any ideas how to push it up over 400?

 

[n7]

Vdroop is pretty bad on the P5B-E, as you have discovered, so i'd suggest trying around 1.48V in bios.

Try this:

Multi = 7x, then try 8x next
FSB = 401 (not lower)

Vcore = 1.48V
FSB Termination voltage = 1.4V
vdimm = 2.0 or 2.1V
RAM timings = 5-5-5-15-6-42-10-15-10-15 (later you can worry about tightening them)

Run Orthos small FFTs to stress CPU, blend to stress RAM.

 

[gerwen]

Mosfet's are actually transistors. I can't remember what the Mos part stands for (maybe metal oxide something?), but the FET stands for Field Effect Transistor.
Don't know how it applies to the board however, but i suspect they're referring to some of the black IC packages on the board. To see if this has any effect, you could open the case and point a house fan directly into it to cool the whole board. If it helps, use google to figure out which IC's they mean.

 

[Equator]

I try more setting and discover that I leave the "Static Read" setting at auto, once I disable it the network problem is gone and memory are more stable, running at 8 * 375MHz with memory at 400MHz timing of 4-4-4-15 still manage to go through 8 hours of test with 30 complete pass of memtest86+ without an error. It got a few errors before I change this setting at only 350MHz & 5-5-5-18 timing.
Core Temp and Tat showws the idle Temp is around 29 with 100% load in TAT shows 57, I guess this means the stock HSF is not efficient enough and that's probably why I can't go any higher. I run Ortho for two hours without an error and the SuperPi calculation all work without error, however one of the dual Prime95 did not pass after about half an hour, the other one keep going without problem. Since memtest pass, I would assume the problem is not from the RAM, will run the small FFT test to confirm later.
I did use the system to do some work, play some game and it is up and running the whole night without problem, do I have to worry about it not passing the prime95 test when it pass everything else? It doesn't give error at 350MHz, may be I should just stick with 350 or try 360 and see how it goes.
With the static Read setting at disable I can even change the vCore down to 1.35 & vFSB to 1.3 in BIOS, cpuz show 1.3, would rasing it again help? if I change the vCore in Bios to 1.4, I would get closer to 1.35 value in cpuz but that will bring my idle temp to 30 and 100% load temp to 59 in TAT then the ASUS probe will warn me as it think the temp pass the 65 point.

 

[Equator]

Originally posted by: n7
Vdroop is pretty bad on the P5B-E, as you have discovered, so i'd suggest trying around 1.48V in bios.

Try this:

Multi = 7x, then try 8x next
FSB = 401 (not lower)

Vcore = 1.48V
FSB Termination voltage = 1.4V
vdimm = 2.0 or 2.1V
RAM timings = 5-5-5-15-6-42-10-15-10-15 (later you can worry about tightening them)

Run Orthos small FFTs to stress CPU, blend to stress RAM.

My testing do seems to show the problem is not from the RAM. I did try to use 7x 401 with 1.45 vCore and 1.4 vFSB. cpuz with said the vCore is around 1.37-1.38 but then the idle temp goes up to 32 and the 100% load in TAT will push to 59, see it go up to 60 for a second or two. That seems to be too hot and I don't think I can keep it running at that until I replace the stock HSF with something else, I do think my problem is heat of CPU. Guess I have to stick with 8 x 350 or get a better HSF to see how much more I can push. From the look of it, the memory definately can handle the 400 speed so if I drop the max temp of the cpu, I should be able to go with 8x400, not really planning to go too much higher then that.
I am using the Antec 900 case, what is a good HSF that can fit in it I am not sure the Tunic Tower will fit or not even that seems like a good choice everyone is recommending.