Overclocking new hardware: Do you start low --> up, or start high and work from there

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
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A few years ago it seemed people recommended overclocking by starting with conservative settings and slowly incrementing their way up.

Now it seems many people are jumping right into what they know the hardware should be capable of based on other's experiences...starting right off the bat with cranked voltages and fsb's, and working towards stability from there.

What's your approach?
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
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I ask people with the same chip what voltage they need for their overclock and what cooling they use. Then I take this info and compare it to what I have. Then I try their settings first. If it works then you're set. If not then it's usually 1 or 2 values you change only. No playing around with it for a day.
 

idiotekniQues

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Jan 4, 2007
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my 1st time oc'ing a p4 2.4c i went conservative and inched my way up.

now that i am quite comfortable with oc'ing, but by no means extreme, i start higher up and just am diligent and vigilant of temps and stability.

like this q6600 i started my first oc right off the bat at 3.2ghz.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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i *always* run it for awhile at stock and make damn sure it is fine before i do any OC ... then i just start conservatively - usually based on what other posters are getting on similar systems. And i watch temps ... and i still make fine adjustments [usually upwards] weeks later.

i still don't know how far my e4300 will OC after 6 or 7 weeks ... she is at 3150Mhz at stock vcore and with load temps below 65C with TAT ... i just don't need to go further yet .... my HD2900xt is not CPU-limited in any games i play - even the DX10 games.
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
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I don't inch my way up when I O/C... I up voltage immediately, then I raise it to a nice number of FSB, like 200 to 233, then to 250, then to 266... I run Orthos for about 10 minutes before I overclock it further. Once Orthos errors out within the first ten minutes, I know I hit the limit, I then verify temps, then back down a bit. I was able to O/C this X2 in about 1-2 hours before I knew the limit and it is rock solid now.

Some people like to increase 1Mhz at a time.. Nothing wrong with that, except it is a time waster and I don't want to waste time.
 

SerpentRoyal

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May 20, 2007
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For C2D...use 1.45Vcore, relax timing in conjunction with 1:1 memory divider, and crank up the FSB in 5MHz increment. 10 min Orthos Large should work well for a quick diagnostic. Also use Memtest to check RAM as you approach the rated operating speed.

I normally don't test for stability until the CPU core is above 3.1GHz. The ability to boot into windows is good enough for me. Yes, I've never worked with a C2D chip that can't break 3.2GHz.
 

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
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The feedback is interesting. I've always been conservative and started low and worked my way up. I've tried starting high with what others are using but simply haven't had much success with those so I increment about 4-5fsb at a time. To save time, I disable my unnecessary startup-on-boot programs, as well as a large ramdisk image that loads each reboot, and that makes the effort a little more palatable.
 

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
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Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
maybe you arent using enough voltage at first?

Probably. I always hate to increase voltage much over fear overvolting things.
 

SerpentRoyal

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May 20, 2007
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C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.
 

idiotekniQues

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Jan 4, 2007
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Originally posted by: jjsole
Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
maybe you arent using enough voltage at first?

Probably. I always hate to increase voltage much over fear overvolting things.

i had that fear but being diligent with coretemp is easy enough and solves that worry quite handily.

also have the setting in bios to throttle enabled.

no worries then mate while you find that oc.
 

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
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Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

I don't stress test until > 3ghz either, but then again its a 3ghz cpu. ;) With your cpu at 1.45v, what's your abit northbridge and ram at?
 

Nathelion

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Jan 30, 2006
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I have been burned by having undetected minor instabilities cause occasional, but very annoying, software errors and crashes. Took me a long time to figure out what was going on, because it happened so rarely. Anyways these days I tend to up the FSB by 5 mhz increments until memtest test 6 errors out or it won't post, then I go back at least 20 mhz and do a LOT of testing from there, and run it for a couple of weeks with an eye out for errors and unexplained crashes before I'll touch it again. It's nice to have a good OC, but stability is just more important to me.
 

johnnq1

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Mar 4, 2007
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i'd rather spend an extra hour of my life to make sure my 100 dollar part won't be destroyed.
 

SerpentRoyal

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May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: jjsole
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

I don't stress test until > 3ghz either, but then again its a 3ghz cpu. ;) With your cpu at 1.45v, what's your abit northbridge and ram at?

Stock voltage 1.25 with E4300. RAM on 1:125 divider @ 480MHz/5-4-4-9-2T. Only needed 1.30 when I run the E6320 above 450MHz FSB.

 

QuixoticOne

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Nov 4, 2005
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I would NEVER crank the voltages until I was SURE it couldn't do better
at stock voltages, and even then I'd have to be PRETTY SURE there were
substantial gains to be made with higher voltages.

e.g. some RAM gets ZERO or NEGATIVE benefit from overvolting.

Maybe you have an especially good CPU or RAM set.. it might run far beyond
stock speed even at or below stock volts, so I'd see what I could get at stock
volts first.

For "burn in" I'd probably run EVERYTHING at STOCK speed/volts for at least 2-3
days just to make sure there's nothing flaky / defective about the hardware or
its configuration, get a feel for PSU stability, temperatures, etc. since that's my
baseline info. for overclocking.

Then I'd find how high frequency I could go on stock volts for one thing at a time
e.g. keep CPU low, max out RAM.

Then I'd keep RAM low speed and max out the CPU.

Then knowing the CPU and RAM individual limits, I'd pick the best
multiplier set that was a good compromise from getting the most out
of the CPU and RAM at reasonable volts and frequency for both.



Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Originally posted by: jjsole
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

I don't stress test until > 3ghz either, but then again its a 3ghz cpu. ;) With your cpu at 1.45v, what's your abit northbridge and ram at?

Stock voltage 1.25 with E4300. RAM on 1:125 divider @ 480MHz/5-4-4-9-2T. Only needed 1.30 when I run the E6320 above 450MHz FSB.

 

idiotekniQues

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2007
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just cause u try to start hgiher than tiny lil bumps at once doesnt mean you ahve to kick up the voltage a lot the first time.

take a 2.4 and try to boot up at 3.0 at least at stock volts. make sure your ram is at loose timings so it isnt at fault and go for it. if you have a cpu with a higher multiplier use it, eliminate the ram from the equation to find your cpu speed first.

if it doesnt work then start bumpin up voltage on the processor.

why start an oc from 2.4 to 2.5ghz?

waste of time if you have any experience.

and again, just cause you dont start with baby cpu speed steps doesnt mean you are cranking voltage fromt he get go.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

Thats not correct. No matter what vcore I give my E4300, its not stable over 2915 for days at a time. I can get 3.2, etc.. but it croaks after x amount of time.

now MOST 6300's and better can do this from what I have seen, but the E4xxx series is crap IMO
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
I would NEVER crank the voltages until I was SURE it couldn't do better
at stock voltages, and even then I'd have to be PRETTY SURE there were
substantial gains to be made with higher voltages.

e.g. some RAM gets ZERO or NEGATIVE benefit from overvolting.

Maybe you have an especially good CPU or RAM set.. it might run far beyond
stock speed even at or below stock volts, so I'd see what I could get at stock
volts first.

For "burn in" I'd probably run EVERYTHING at STOCK speed/volts for at least 2-3
days just to make sure there's nothing flaky / defective about the hardware or
its configuration, get a feel for PSU stability, temperatures, etc. since that's my
baseline info. for overclocking.

Then I'd find how high frequency I could go on stock volts for one thing at a time
e.g. keep CPU low, max out RAM.

Then I'd keep RAM low speed and max out the CPU.

Then knowing the CPU and RAM individual limits, I'd pick the best
multiplier set that was a good compromise from getting the most out
of the CPU and RAM at reasonable volts and frequency for both.



Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Originally posted by: jjsole
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

I don't stress test until > 3ghz either, but then again its a 3ghz cpu. ;) With your cpu at 1.45v, what's your abit northbridge and ram at?

Stock voltage 1.25 with E4300. RAM on 1:125 divider @ 480MHz/5-4-4-9-2T. Only needed 1.30 when I run the E6320 above 450MHz FSB.

It's silly for anyone to compare overclocking C2D chips with overclocking CHEAP RAMs. It takes less than 15 minutes for most people to identify a good C2D chip. I have never ever read a post claiming that a C2D chip was damaged with 1.45Vcore.

Today, I keep a reference pair of DDR2 800 RAM capable of +550MHz for testing. Flash MB to the latest BIOS. Set CPU core speed to 3.0GHz. Set Vdimm to 2.1 with 5-5-5-15-2T timing. Raise Vcore to 1.45 and boot to windows. If not POST, then it's time to reset BIOS and massage Vnorthbridge, Vsouthbridge, and/or VTT.
 

SerpentRoyal

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May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: Markfw900
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
C2Ds are quite happy with 1.45Vcore. Per my post, I don't stress test until 3.1GHz. Always keep an eye on the CPU temperature when you run Orthos. 10 min Orthos Large mode with <65C under Coretemp is 100% safe.

Thats not correct. No matter what vcore I give my E4300, its not stable over 2915 for days at a time. I can get 3.2, etc.. but it croaks after x amount of time.

now MOST 6300's and better can do this from what I have seen, but the E4xxx series is crap IMO

You may have a 3 sigma CPU...at the other end of the bell-curve. S _ it happens. Note that you can still boot into windows and test for stability.

I never said that all C2D chips are stable up to 3.1GHz.
 

idiotekniQues

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2007
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well i enabled EIST in the bios but it is not doing anything. i am monitoring my voltage and cpu speed and it is running at my full blown OC.

what else do i have to do to get speedstep to work to just check it out.
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
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Nowadays, I set a certain expectation for an OC with a CPU and parts based on other's results and go from there. My target clock speeds are typically less aggressive than the highest OCs with similar board/components, since many of those high-end OCs require extreme measures like extravagant cooling, mods, overvolting etc and probably aren't quite as "stable" as I'd like. I just don't have the patience or desire anymore to squeeze out every last bit of performance or incrementally stress test every few speed bumps.
 

SerpentRoyal

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May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
well i enabled EIST in the bios but it is not doing anything. i am monitoring my voltage and cpu speed and it is running at my full blown OC.

what else do i have to do to get speedstep to work to just check it out.

I've seen the same issue with some Asus and Gigabyte boards. I believe it's how the BIOS is programmed to handle higher Vcore and FSB. The Asus P5B Deluxe would only "speedstep" up to a point.

You may want to go into Power Options and put the system in MINIMAL POWER mode.

 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,149
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I have an overclocking curse. I couldn't overclock something by 2MHz if my life depended on it. When I try, it ends up hosing Windows or never turning on again. Apparently the curse spreads to people who read my posts too. It's weird.