Overclocking and Speedstep

[DarkRogue]

Hello,

Seemingly quick question, is it recommended to enable Speedstep when overclocking your CPU?

I'm planning on a moderate overclock of an E8400 (400FSB and whatever multiplier it uses, 9x I think), and I think it comes with Speedstep?
It'll only underclock the CPU when idle correct, then when you use it, it'll automatically reclock it back up to your original overclock?

Thanks in advance

 

[myocardia]

No, it's generally recommended to disable SpeedStep when overclocking, at least until you settle on an overclock you're happy with, and have proven it stable. Once you're sure it's stable, then it's easy to figure out whether or not it will run at that speed with it enabled. Have you read the C2D overclocking sticky?

 

[DarkRogue]

Once you're sure it's stable, then it's easy to figure out whether or not it will run at that speed with it enabled.

That sounds like enabling speedstep actually makes it less stable? Why would this be?
I did take a quick look over that sticky, and while somewhat confusing to a complete newbie like myself, it does say speedstep is recommended to be enabled after the stability testing, but I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly.

Thanks again

 

[LOUISSSSS]

yea thats what i did, conduct my overclock with speedstep off, then enable it after my system was stable, been working every since

 

[DarkRogue]

Sounds like a plan then, thanks.

One more question, what's the power consumption like with the E8400 @3.6GHz?
I've been uneasy about it because I'm unsure if my PSU can handle it, it's a Seasonic S12II 380w, and I'll be pairing it with a slightly OC'd 8800GT (thinking 650 core clock, nothing huge.)

 

[Phunk0ne]

PSU calculator

This nifty tool gives you a handy quick and dirty numbers of what your power needs is roughly going to be.

GL!

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
Sounds like a plan then, thanks.

One more question, what's the power consumption like with the E8400 @3.6GHz?
I've been uneasy about it because I'm unsure if my PSU can handle it, it's a Seasonic S12II 380w, and I'll be pairing it with a slightly OC'd 8800GT (thinking 650 core clock, nothing huge.)

An E8400 @ 3.6GHz (assuming it's @ stock volts) shouldn't run much hotter than a stock E8400. A stock E8500 @ 3.16GHz takes about 33W according to Xbitlabs so at 3.6GHz should be around 40W. The biggest strain on your PSU will be the 8800GT which can consume about 85W when overclocked.

I think you'll be fine with your current PSU, it's only really the overclocked quad core or SLI/CF setups that require a 500W+ PSU.

 

[DarkRogue]

That's great news Harpoon, hopefully my PSU can handle it just fine then.
Phunk, that calculator looks quite similar to the one I found on the Antec site a while back, but I've no idea how accurate it is.. it's recommending insanely high wattage ratings for some reason. For fun, I plugged in my current system and it recommended I have 466w of available power, but I'm running it just fine with the 380w PSU..