Question Overclocking - Lga 775 P5QL Se + Celeron E3300 @ 3 GHz

[Mahzinho]

Hi people, my name is Marcos, I am here to try to help and if needed to ask some things for you, I am proud to be part of the forum .

I acquired a newer-old PC config. (Asus P5QL Se + Intel Celeron E3300 + 2x Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance 2 GB DDR2-800 1.9v). I decided to buy it since I like Lga 775 platform and CPUs and the parts were cheap and in good conditions, since dollar is > 5 R$. Well... I decided to do an overclock from 2.50 Ghz to 3.0 Ghz mantaining the RAM at 800 Mhz. I am running this computer for days doing my tasks and the temps are very very very good with stock cooler and a ceramic thermal grease.

Questions:
I only made this > from 200 to 240 Mhz (Fsb) setting RAM to 800 instead of 960 Mhz and for CPU setted vCore to 1.3v, the PCI 100 Mhz. The rest is in auto mode. My overclock is good or I did something wrong??

The voltage I am looking using HwMonitor and Hwinfo and it shows that the maximum is 1.344v, but the CPU maximum according to Intel's ark.intel.com site is 1.365v.

The maximum I achieved about temperature, even here being very hot is 67 C at 5~10m full load.

1. Why the voltage of the CPU is 1.344v instead of 1.3v like I setted in the BIOS?
2. This motherboard is good for overclocking? I read some people tried and get it with 400 Mhz the Fsb;
3. These RAMs are for overclocking or should I stay at stock? I thought about 1066 Mhz at 1.9v;
4. Leading with vCore and RAM voltage or another voltage can decrease substantially the lifespan of the components or not necessarily?? For example, I want this PC for use for years, impossible with this OC. or can I be relaxed about it?
5. My PSU is generic, but nothing about noise, it isn't heat, the voltages shown at HwMonitor look pretty good;
6. These voltages shown are info from the PSU???

Thanks for this space for doing my questions and sorry for so much information.

 

[SPBHM]

OC on lga 775 is very much tied to the quality of motherboard (and bios), I don't have experience with this board, but I used to OC my E5200 and so on with a G31 board from Gigabyte,

the E3300 is also a 45nm and from my experience with that I would expect it to clock a little higher than 3GHz at 1.3v

there are many settings related to the FSB and ram on this platform that can limit your OC, you have to keep the memory clock in check because it's tied to your FSB as you noticed, also you have to check if the memory timings applied by auto, or the manual ones are OK,

also, FSB 200 CPUs like yours are a little tricky to run at higher FSBs due to how the bios will adjust the chipset in terms of timings that are often not exposed to the user, some boards would allow you to overcome this with adjusting fsb straps,

your other voltages look a little on the low side, but really some motherboards don't make a good job at reporting voltages,

if your cooling is adequate I don't find this level of vcore to be of any concern,

the voltage applied being higher is related to vdrop and/or vdroop under load, you would need to test what the voltage actually is under heavy load

honestly you have to just do a lot of testing, I would say try eliminating the ram first as a cause of instability, running high latency settings and lower clocks until your more or less know what the limit of the CPU/MB is,

 

[aelese33]

BSEL mod it

But more seriously, your motherboard has an extensive list of supported CPUs. I'd look more into getting a better CPU, then start overclocking.

 

[Mahzinho]

BSEL mod it

But more seriously, your motherboard has an extensive list of supported CPUs. I'd look more into getting a better CPU, then start overclocking.

Bselmod would damage since the vcore would be so high right? And... it would be 333 mhz very high for an e3300 not? Ah! I don't want a newer one now because it's a good cpu, but I want to have the best from it and was only 9 bucks in reais.

 

[aelese33]

Bselmod would damage since the vcore would be so high right? And... it would be 333 mhz very high for an e3300 not? Ah! I don't want a newer one now because it's a good cpu, but I want to have the best from it and was only 9 bucks in reais.

BSEL alone doesn't change the vcore, it only changes the FSB, so it won't damange the CPU. You can do vcore mod on top of BSEL mod if the motherboard lacks voltage settings.

I don't have an experience with that specific CPU but since it's a 200 fsb cpu I doubt it'll go to 333 mhz. But 266mhz with BSEL mod plus some manual adjustment in BIOS should be doable.

I still stand by the idea of getting a better CPU. Even the Pentium variants from that era are dirt cheap and have larger cache and bigger multipliers so they'll overclock better.

 

[Mahzinho]

BSEL alone doesn't change the vcore, it only changes the FSB, so it won't damange the CPU. You can do vcore mod on top of BSEL mod if the motherboard lacks voltage settings.

I don't have an experience with that specific CPU but since it's a 200 fsb cpu I doubt it'll go to 333 mhz. But 266mhz with BSEL mod plus some manual adjustment in BIOS should be doable.

I still stand by the idea of getting a better CPU. Even the Pentium variants from that era are dirt cheap and have larger cache and bigger multipliers so they'll overclock better.

What about if I find a X6800 Core 2 Extreme for a good price?

 

[aelese33]

What about if I find a X6800 Core 2 Extreme for a good price?

It's an 65nm processor I wouldn't prefer it. But it's better than Celeron e3300.

45 nm models (and especially E0/R0 steppings) are very good overclockers with crazy cool thermals. So maybe try to get an E8500 or similar.

I'm not well versed in quad core variants (and they might be not as cheap) but definitely consider Core 2 Quads or Xeons. Simply because dual core isn't cutting it in 2020 even for basic tasks.

 

[Mahzinho]

It's an 65nm processor I wouldn't prefer it. But it's better than Celeron e3300.

45 nm models (and especially E0/R0 steppings) are very good overclockers with crazy cool thermals. So maybe try to get an E8500 or similar.

I'm not well versed in quad core variants (and they might be not as cheap) but definitely consider Core 2 Quads or Xeons. Simply because dual core isn't cutting it in 2020 even for basic tasks.

Understood, but Xeons woldn't damage the motherboard since they're not native? About Quad-Core, one Q8200S or Q8400S because of the lower TDP, right?

 

[aelese33]

Understood, but Xeons woldn't damage the motherboard since they're not native? About Quad-Core, one Q8200S or Q8400S because of the lower TDP, right?

No harm, they're basically the same CPUs with Core 2s except few pins swapped. Modded ones have adapter attached to make them compatible with 775 motherboards. Be aware you may need a modded BIOS for your motherboard but they're often available with a short google search.

Your motherboard support 95W Quads so you can getting those models.

Only avoid the 1600 FSB models as your MB doesn't support it natively.

 

[Mahzinho]

No harm, they're basically the same CPUs with Core 2s except few pins swapped. Modded ones have adapter attached to make them compatible with 775 motherboards. Be aware you may need a modded BIOS for your motherboard but they're often available with a short google search.

Your motherboard support 95W Quads so you can getting those models.

Only avoid the 1600 FSB models as your MB doesn't support it natively.

I have two 5150 Xeons here, what do you think? The 1333 FSB ones. Dual-Core, but I believe 65nm.

 

[Mahzinho]

Well, I made again, but now: CPU multiplier 12.0 x 265 Mhz of Fsb totallying 1065 Mhz (my goal was to achieve at least 1 Ghz for the rated Fsb); voltage I up just one more stage and put for Vcore overvoltage +0mV I believe it's more secure, for RAM i left 887 Mhz, but they're 800, so I left them with 1.87v since it supports up to 1.9v. PCI I left 100. Final result:
1.336v ~ 1.344v (CPU) with 3.20 Ghz for the Celeron E3300 with 1065 Mhz of rated FSB;
RAM 443 Mhz (about the 877 total) 5-5-5-18-42 / 2T
Temperature about ambience isn't hot, it's a little cold, and the CPU is ranging between 39 ~ 43, motherboard cooler than CPU and the voltages at HwMonitor stay the same.

Do you believe my OC was a happy one? Or should I stay with the previous values? I did any mistake in your concern or do you believe it's ok?

Upgrade:
1st. the generic PSU isn't hot, a little warm, but the other PC I have here has the PSU warmer;
2nd. the CPU maximum in temperature was 71 celsius running Prime95 for 5m and it passed in the first test;
3rd. running the PC for more than 5m and none about BSOD and even the memories being DDR2-887 no signal to fail;
4th. the voltage of the CPU is at 1.344v, the maximum according to Intel is 1.365v and the minimum I believe it's 0.085v, something like that;
5th. When I tried 266 at BIOS with 12 of multiplier for the CPU before, it didn't run, so with 265 x 12 perfecly booted up and now I am using normally Windows 8.1.

It means the OC. is perfect and I can relax about it?

 

[aelese33]

Voltages and temps seem OK. If it's stable and you're happy with it that's great.
If you want to do more you'll need to do a BSEL mod. You say can't go over 265, BSEL lets you set the 266 as the baseline and then you increase FSB in bios even more. That's why I recommended BSEL as the first thing.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Is there a point to over clocking a 10-12 year old CPU besides doing it just “because”?

 

[Mahzinho]

Is there a point to over clocking a 10-12 year old CPU besides doing it just “because”?

I acquired the kit very cheap and dollar is very high against reais, so don't want a newer pc now, since I don't need something so powerful and want to buy another when dollar stabilizes.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I acquired the kit very cheap and dollar is very high against reais, so can't use a newer pc now.

Not to poop on the idea.
There is no over clocking that will allow this processor to be competitive with a modern era processor.
However I was using a Q9650 until October 2019 and it met the majority of my needs regarding web use, light work use and gaming provided medium to low settings were good enough. Met most of my gaming needs.

 

[Shmee]

I would put in a Q9650 in there a as a minimum and OC it. Not great, but still much better than a celeron.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I acquired the kit very cheap and dollar is very high against reais, so don't want a newer pc now, since I don't need something so powerful and want to buy another when dollar stabilizes.

You do realise that even a basic 2020 Celeron is much faster then any C2D?

If you don't need anything powerful, there is little reason to go above Pentium / Athlon level today. These budget CPUs perform better then high-end stuff from 10 years ago.

 

[Mahzinho]

I tried 265 Mhz x 12.0 with 3.20 GHz and RAM at 887 Mhz @ 1.87v. And overcore +0mV. The system runs but crashes in freeze, did this one time. Can be the PSU that is generic or no way?? I returned to 240 Mhz and now it's ok.

 

[aelese33]

I tried 265 Mhz x 12.0 with 3.20 GHz and RAM at 887 Mhz @ 1.87v. And overcore +0mV. The system runs but crashes in freeze, did this one time. Can be the PSU that is generic or no way?? I returned to 240 Mhz and now it's ok.

Try the BSEL mod. It's different than simply upping the FSB in BIOS.

 

[Mahzinho]

Try the BSEL mod. It's different than simply upping the FSB in BIOS.

But the tape won't damage the socket? And about freezing my system with 265 Mhz x 12, can be PSU? It's generic.