E6400 Retail Overclocking

[Gary Key]

Good Day,

In our recently published E6300 & E6400 - Value through Overclocking article we had several comments/emails about our usage of the B1 Stepping 5 CPU press samples from Intel possibly being cherry picked and therefore skewing the results. Although Intel assured us we would not see any differences we set out to purchase retail CPUs for a quick retest of the overclocking results. We blindly purchased several retail CPUs from ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect last week upon the official launch. While the original review used the Asus P5W-DH, we are showing the results on the Gigabyte DS3 this morning. I will post up results on the Asus board later this week after complete testing with the 0801 bios.

I have linked screenshots to our quick overclock results with the first retail E6400 this morning on the Gigabyte DS3 board with a Gigabyte 7950GX2 installed. This combination today has worked wonderfully at both stock and overclocked settings although we have not completed our test suite yet. I will have E6300 results up later along with additional stress test results. Until we present our full review of this amazing board, enjoy.

Stock Heat Sink, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, Auto Voltage,8x380, 3040MHz

Tuniq Tower 120, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, 1.4375V, 8x440, 3520MHz

p.s. I think the retail steppings overclock just fine.

 

[Budman]

440 mhz fsb !!! wow.

 

[theteamaqua]

heres what i think:

u coulda go much higher with ES5, but retails u jsut OCed were at maximum clock speed...

i have seen ES5 E6300 do 3.5GHz 7x500 , E6400: 3.8GHz 4x480

i think it was thoughtful of Anand to not OC so much on the ES5 chips, so that when people get their hands on the B2 stepping retail chips. They wont be disappointed.

all the ES5 chips just have better OCing potential thats all

 

[Pugnate]

I had one question about overclocking. Does it not disturb the life expectancy of your processor? I mean sure it is working fine for as long as you conduct your tests. But most of us want our hardware to lost more than a few days.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Pugnate
I had one question about overclocking. Does it not disturb the life expectancy of your processor? I mean sure it is working fine for as long as you conduct your tests. But most of us want our hardware to lost more than a few days.

Life expectancy will be compromised somewhat but even if it's 50% that's still way more time than most enthusiasts keep there chips for. Also, from what I understand, voltage and heat are what generally effect a chip. Most overclockers feel that +10% on the voltage will not unduly shorten the life of your processor. If you're running your processor at stock volts but with a higher frequency, I can't imagine you'd see much degradation of it's life expectancy.


To the OP: Those results are incredible. Will you be testing any E6600 or > chips with that DS3? I'd like to see if the rumors of the 4MB chips limiting the fsb are true.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: theteamaqua
heres what i think:

u coulda go much higher with ES5, but retails u jsut OCed were at maximum clock speed...

i have seen ES5 E6300 do 3.5GHz 7x500 , E6400: 3.8GHz 4x480

i think it was thoughtful of Anand to not OC so much on the ES5 chips, so that when people get their hands on the B2 stepping retail chips. They wont be disappointed.

all the ES5 chips just have better OCing potential thats all

The E6400 Retail is clocking better than the ES sample currently with a lower voltage setting. The board will boot from the bios at 450 and is 99.3% stable now, at 440 it passes all tests. I can boot at 8x460 but it is not stable. I can boot 440 and then use EasyTune up to 475 currently before it locks up. While there are higher numbers around, our board remains stock , boots with bios settings, does not have a fan on the MCH, and is using a 7950GX2/SB X-FI and a full XP load. The E6300 retail is having interesting results already.

 

[n7]

Thanx for these results Gary Key

I like AT's reviews since you guys don't use crazy modified boards or extreme voltage/cooling in most cases, which makes the results that much more realistic for the average OCer.
Also, the extensive stability testing is nice too, as it shows the results could be run 24/7, rather than the silly SuperPI 1M stable BS screenies places like XS love.

Keep up the great werk!

 

[aldamon]

Thank you for switching to the DS3

 

[the Chase]

Sweet results. Would/could you throw a fan on the MCH just for grins? I'm curious how much it helps FSB clocks.

 

[theteamaqua]

Originally posted by: Gary Key


The E6400 Retail is clocking better than the ES sample currently with a lower voltage setting. The board will boot from the bios at 450 and is 99.3% stable now, at 440 it passes all tests. I can boot at 8x460 but it is not stable. I can boot 440 and then use EasyTune up to 475 currently before it locks up. While there are higher numbers around, our board remains stock , boots with bios settings, does not have a fan on the MCH, and is using a 7950GX2/SB X-FI and a full XP load. The E6300 retail is having interesting results already.

really? cool!

in that case maybe they rea the same, did u try increase mch, vfsb, PCI-E voltage, also PXI-E clock as well ...

the E6400 3.8GHz with 8x480 i have seen was done with all sort of tweaking, not jsut icrease vcore, but almost every voltage and PCI-E to 101, PCI stay at 32, vdimm, vfsb, vmch were added either 0.2v or 0.1v

can u try boot any higher??

also, wasnt the motherbaord P5W DH in that article?? and here ur running GA-965-DS3, tha could be the difference...

 

[River Side]

thank you for 'keeping it real'

I'd love it if all reviews were like that.. not fancy shmancy $250 mobos and custom modded freezers blowing on south bridges etc..

just give us an indication for what to shoot for.. the average joes who'd be ecstatic getting a 20% overclock even!

 

[TaeKim]

Gary, on the E6400 retail overclock test with the Gigabyte DS3, what kind of memory did you use? Thanks!

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: River Side
thank you for 'keeping it real'

I'd love it if all reviews were like that.. not fancy shmancy $250 mobos and custom modded freezers blowing on south bridges etc..

just give us an indication for what to shoot for.. the average joes who'd be ecstatic getting a 20% overclock even!

Well, they did use a "fancy shmancy" $250 motherboard at first. It just looks like the gigabyte DS3 is a much better overclocker for a lower price.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: TaeKim
Gary, on the E6400 retail overclock test with the Gigabyte DS3, what kind of memory did you use? Thanks!

I was cheating. LOL... Used our standard Corsair PC8500, will try the new OCZ VX2 tonight. I am going to throw in some of the A-DATA DDR2533 to see just how high it will go and remain stable under overclocked conditions.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Furen
Well, they did use a "fancy shmancy" $250 motherboard at first. It just looks like the gigabyte DS3 is a much better overclocker for a lower price.

The P5W-DH is pretty much the gold standard for Conroe right now, so it makes sense that they'd use that board. It's an excellent board, albeit pricey.

 

[TaeKim]

LOL You cheater. Please benchmark on cheaper memory that us poor people can afford. I want the cheapest DDR2-800 memory possible that will get me to 3ghz on the retail 6400 and the Gigabyte DS3 with full stability. Thanks!!

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Furen

Originally posted by: River Side
thank you for 'keeping it real'

I'd love it if all reviews were like that.. not fancy shmancy $250 mobos and custom modded freezers blowing on south bridges etc..

just give us an indication for what to shoot for.. the average joes who'd be ecstatic getting a 20% overclock even!

Well, they did use a "fancy shmancy" $250 motherboard at first. It just looks like the gigabyte DS3 is a much better overclocker for a lower price.

I thought the DS3 was a good overclocker until I tossed the newly arrived DS4 in today.... I need to try the E6400 and X6800 in the DS3 now. I also have the Asus P5W-DH and Gigabyte DQ6 to test again.

The ES and Retail chips both overclocked to the same level, only needed to the set the retail vCore to 1.4375, ES needed 1.4875. I can go higher than 440 but start failing dual prime95 and other tests, it appears 435 will likely be the sweet spot after doing some encoding testing this afternoon. Until we have a X6800 retail, it will be difficult to make a blanket statement but either through the luck of the draw (less than average ES) or just plain good yields (retail chips), it really does appear the retail chips will be close to the ES samples overall.

 

[TaeKim]

When is the DS4 coming out (ie. available at mainstream retailers like Newegg) and how much more will it cost vs. the DS3?

I need a motherboard/memory quick for the Conroe 6400.

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: TaeKim
LOL You cheater. Please benchmark on cheaper memory that us poor people can afford. I want the cheapest DDR2-800 memory possible that will get me to 3ghz on the retail 6400 and the Gigabyte DS3 with full stability. Thanks!!

I'll second that... I am shooting for the same thing - E6400, 3GHz on stock voltage, stock cooling, 2Gb memory. The only thing that is not clear yet is what memory to choose... The cheaper the better

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: TaeKim
When is the DS4 coming out (ie. available at mainstream retailers like Newegg) and how much more will it cost vs. the DS3?

I need a motherboard/memory quick for the Conroe 6400.

It is out in Asia currently, maybe September in the states, trying to convince Gigabyte to bring it in earlier. The price was targeted for the $150~$175 range post ramp up, the DS3 was in the $125~$150 range post ramp up. Of course the pricing is a little different now.

 

[TaeKim]

Thanks Gary. That will be too late, so it's DS3 for me. Do you think any of the following RAMs can do stock-air cool at 3ghz with the Conroe 6400 and the DS3 with good stability? I think this is the key question as most of us end-users who are overclocking 6400/DS3 combo probably wound't be ordering $400 RAMs. We want the cheapest option that works well.

1) $82 pqi TURBO 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model PQI26400-1GSB - Retail

Cas Latency: 5
Features: Mirrored Black Heat Spreader
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Timing: 5-5-5-15
Voltage: 2.0V
# Model #: PQI26400-1GSB

2) $109 # OCZ Gold 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model OCZ2G8001G - Retail

Cas Latency: 5
Features: Gold Layered XTC Heatspreader
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Timing: 5-5-5-12
Voltage: 2.0V
# Model #: OCZ2G8001G
# Item #: N82E16820227123

3) $117 # Patriot eXtreme Performance 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model PEP21G6400LL - Retail

Cas Latency: 4
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Timing: 4-4-4-12
Voltage: 2.1V
# Model #: PEP21G6400LL
# Item #: N82E16820220142

4) $131 # CORSAIR XMS2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model CM2X1024-6400 - Retail

Cas Latency: 5
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Timing: 5-5-5-12
Voltage: 1.9V
# Model #: CM2X1024-6400
# Item #: N82E16820145153

5) $140 # mushkin eXtreme Performance 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model 991523 - Retail

Cas Latency: 4
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: limited lifetime warranty
Timing: 4-4-3-10
Voltage: 1.9V
# Model #: 991523
# Item #: N82E16820146107

6) $140 # OCZ Platinum Revision 2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model OCZ2P800R21G - Retail

Cas Latency: 4
Features: Platinum Mirrored XTC Heatspreader
Heat Spreader: Yes
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Timing: 4-4-4-15
Voltage: 2.1V
# Model #: OCZ2P800R21G
# Item #: N82E16820227140

 

[theteamaqua]

u know i didnt rad all that but AFAIK, conroe dont give a crap about RAM timing, so go for speed, like DDR2 1000 if possible, DS3 doesnt have option for people to setr fsb : Dram less than 1 ... or fsb : DDR2 less than 2

 

[TaeKim]

Someone PLEASE tell me is OCZ Platinum Revision 2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) good? I need to order in next hour!

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Pugnate
I had one question about overclocking. Does it not disturb the life expectancy of your processor? I mean sure it is working fine for as long as you conduct your tests. But most of us want our hardware to lost more than a few days.

Yes it will only last 15 years instead of 30 years. This is why I suggest low voltage OC's to get back into that 30 year range. In case there's a war or something.

In all seriousness you have nothing to worry about if you keep current (Mhz) resonable and volts resonable. Your processor will be way past obsolete before it fails. What's resonable? Usually +10% voltages increase and +10% current/Mhz increase over highest end chip in iteration... In otherwords 1.4-1.45V and 3300Mhz for conroe/allendale. Both are very conservative and people run for years with these conservative types of overclocks.

 

[jandrade]

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: TaeKim
When is the DS4 coming out (ie. available at mainstream retailers like Newegg) and how much more will it cost vs. the DS3?

I need a motherboard/memory quick for the Conroe 6400.

It is out in Asia currently, maybe September in the states, trying to convince Gigabyte to bring it in earlier. The price was targeted for the $150~$175 range post ramp up, the DS3 was in the $125~$150 range post ramp up. Of course the pricing is a little different now.

Gary, would you recommend the DS3 over the Asus P5B (not the deluxe version)? I'm trying to choose a good motherboard for a E6600 in the ~$150 price point.