Question about overclocking my E6600....

[blurredvision]

Forgive me, but I still don't know what I'm doing when it comes to overclocking. I have to resort to asking stupid questions such as this one to try and understand. I'm running an E6600/Asus P5B Deluxe with Corsair XMS C4 PC-6400, capable of 4-4-4-12 timings. I currently have my computer at a stable 3.0GHz overclock. I achieved this by lowering the RAM speed to PC-4300 speeds, then upping the FSB speed from 266 to 333. I also have the voltage on the CPU at 1.4, with my memory timings at their designated 4-4-4-12.

Am I wasting power here? I tried following the C2D guide over at the th.com forum"z", but I just don't know enough about what I'm doing to stray from the guide. I don't want to leave any speed "on the table" so to speak. I know what some of you will ask, why did I buy such expensive RAM if I didn't know how to properly use it? Well, I basically had some free money to buy parts with, and instead of skimping, I went with the best I could afford. Now I want to know and learn what I have.

What do I need to do from here to maximize my overclock? Would anyone be willing to explain a few things to me? Thanks guys.

 

[orion23]

You need to find out how good your CPU is....


What week is it anyway? it should say it on the box or on the CPU itself* (L6XX)

For 3ghz you should not touch the CPU Voltage. Most chips can do this on default Vcore!

Set your RAM to 1:1 (I think you already did) so that your ram works 2 X the speed of your FSB

Turn anything "throtlle" off in the bios, as well as C1E, speedstep, virtualization, and EIST

Set your RAM by timings (whatever rated timings and voltage)

Set your CPU voltage to 1.4V

Now, bring the FSB to 370 or so. See what happens!

Keep on going...

400FSB X 9 should give you 3.6ghz

If you have a great E6600, it could do 3.6ghz with 1.375-1.4V
Good one, 1.4-1.5 (Mine)
Just OK 1.5 and up!

And whatch those temperatues. It shouldn't go past 60c during load!

 

[blurredvision]

So setting the RAM to 1:1 will not hurt any performance? I should just be concerned with the final clock speed I obtain, and that's it (besides possible minor memory timings), correct?

 

[The-Noid]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1947261&enterthread=y

Read my post it should give you a good idea of what you are looking for. Section 2 especially as it is built for boards. Only difference from the third computer is that you will need to set you vNB to 1.4 as it is 965 rather then higher for 975. If you are looking for 3.2 ghz simply change the multiplier to 8 and run 1:1 fsb 400. The ram will work best at 1:1 as conroe is weird. If you have any questions feel free to message me. Otherwise my post could use a bump if you read it, as it has been buried as of late 🙂.

 

[markys]

Hum... little question here

You say that it shouldn't reach 60 degrees at full load... I get 55 at stock speeds, default vcore, idle... So at full load I get at least 63-64!??

 

[The-Noid]

your heatsink is not set on correctly. Otherwise you have a massively concave heatsink that is causing problems.

 

[n7]

Here's a slightly modified version of the post i made here.

blurredvision, here's what i recommend for settings:
(These settings should result in a stable 3208 MHz)


Under Advanced > CPU Configuration set everything to disabled except Execute Disable Bit, as it could actually be useful.
Also leave Modify Ratio Support enabled if you wish to use a lower multiplier.
In your particular case, set it to 8, so it is running one lower than the default 9.

I won't go over the other settings for now, even though some would argue some of them should be left on.

In Advanced > JumperFree Configuration, we have all the main overclocking options.
Here are the settings i'd suggest:
(Please use the settings i mention below, not my own settings in the bios screen shots)

AI Tuning = Manual
CPU Frequency = 401 (nothing lower for now, as it will make OCing unnecessarily difficult due to the 1066 strap being used)
DRAM Frequency = 802 (1:1 divider)
PCI-e Frequency = 100
PCI = 33.33
Spread Spectrum = Disabled
Memory Voltage = rated vdimm or whatever vdimm that runs it stably (if you've tested already)
CPU VCore Voltage = 1.4375V (in Windows, this will result in 1.4V idle; 1.39V load)
FSB Termination Voltage = 1.3V
NB Vcore = 1.45V
SB VCore = 1.5V
ICH Chipset Voltage 1.215V or auto

It is extremely likely you will be able to lower a whole bunch of these voltages, but since they are by no means extreme, they are a good safe start that you can always lower later.

Now for RAM timings...
Advanced > Chipset > North Bridge Chipset Configuration.

Memory Remap Feature = Disabled
Configure DRAM Timings by SPD = Disabled
DRAM CAS# Latency (TCL/CAS) = 4
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay (TRCD) = 4
DRAM RAS# Precharge (TRP) = 4
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge (TRAS) = 12 (can usually be lowered later)
DRAM Write Recovery Time = 6
DRAM TRFC = 42
DRAM TRRD = 10
Rank Write to Read Delay = 10
Read to Precharge Delay = 10
Write to Precharge Delay = 10
Static Read Control = Disable



Aside from TRFC, in the testing/benching i have done, the last five setting affect performance in a very minimal way, so i recommend leaving them loose until you have everything else tweaked.



Good luck & keep us posted! 🙂

 

[n7]

The reason i am recommending you use the 8x multi is that on the P5B-D, the 1066 chipset strap is used until 400, & it puts extreme stress on the motherboard, which generally means instability from around 360-399.
At 400, it switches to the 1333 strap, but it appears to still use the tighter timings that the 1066 strap uses, which means moving to 401+ tends to be the easiest to get stable.
Detailed explanation.

I suspect you may be able to get 3.6 GHz out of her, & if you are seeing no limits in sight, then i'd say you could switch back to the 9x multi when you get there, & run 9x401 MHz for 3609 MHz.

But you'd get better performance overall running 8x450 with RAM 1:1 if your RAM can do DDR2-900, unless you have to loosen timings to 5-5-5, & even still, that wouldn't hurt much.