E6420 overclock

[pcslookout]

This is what I want to put in my BIOS settings of MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) on my Gigabyte S3 motherboard:

CPU Clock Ratio [8x]

CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]

CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) [376]

PCI Express Frequency {Mhz) [100]

C.I.A. 2 [Disabled]

System Memory Multiplier (SPD) [2.00]

Memory Frequency (Mhz) 800 752

High Speed DRAM DLL Settings [Option 1]

System Voltage Control [Manual]

DDR2 OverVoltage Control [Normal]

PCI-E OverVoltage Control [Normal]

FSB OverVoltage Control [Normal]

(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [Normal]

CPU OverVoltage Control [1.50000 V]

Normal CPU Vcore 1.35000 V




Will this be ok with the stock cooling as long as the load temperatures on Orthos don't go above 70 C ?

What kind of idle temperatures should I try to get ?

 

[JAG87]

why in gods name are you pumping 1.5v in your chip? you know 3 ghz can be had on stock voltage. putting all that voltage into your chip is going to make it hotter and shorten its life.

geez with 1.5v you should be aiming at 3.6 ghz not 3 ghz...

I would bring the voltage down to 1.4 and the fsb up to 400. test for stability. if its not stable, increase your mobo voltages a notch (vFSB and vMCH). if its still not stable, then increase the cpu voltage to 1.425. you should be able to get 3.2 Ghz no problem.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: JAG87
why in gods name are you pumping 1.5v in your chip? you know 3 ghz can be had on stock voltage. putting all that voltage into your chip is going to make it hotter and shorten its life.

geez with 1.5v you should be aiming at 3.6 ghz not 3 ghz...

Well because its not stable at stock voltage or even 1.37 to 1.40 V


Is there anyway to get 3 Ghz out of it with it being stable at stock voltage or only a little higher? How?

 

[JAG87]

if your chip is not stable at 3ghz with stock voltage, you have a bad chip. unlucky with the batch I guess. still, I would never put more than 1.4v through the chip to obtain 3ghz. 1.4v should take you to 3.2 ghz, and 1.5v should take you to 3.5-3.6 ghz (with good cooling obviously).

anyways, read my reply on top again cause I edited. do that and see if you can get it stable. you should try to aim for 400 fsb and 3.2ghz while keeping you cpu voltage below 1.5v. dont be afraid to put lots of voltage on the fsb or the mch, nothing is going to happen. the chipsets run very cool so its not a big problem. try maybe + 0.2 volts on the FSB and the MCH, and 1.45v on your cpu. if you are not stable at 3.2 ghz with that you have a realllllly bad chip. sorry

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: JAG87
I would bring the voltage down to 1.4 and the fsb up to 400. test for stability. if its not stable, increase your mobo voltages a notch (vFSB and vMCH). if its still not stable, then increase the cpu voltage to 1.425. you should be able to get 3.2 Ghz no problem.

This should be ok with my intel stock heatsink/fan ?

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: JAG87
I would bring the voltage down to 1.4 and the fsb up to 400. test for stability. if its not stable, increase your mobo voltages a notch (vFSB and vMCH). if its still not stable, then increase the cpu voltage to 1.425. you should be able to get 3.2 Ghz no problem.

This should be ok with my intel stock heatsink/fan ?

Intel's stock heating solutions are actually quite good, as long as your temps aren't excessively high you should be fine.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: JAG87
if your chip is not stable at 3ghz with stock voltage, you have a bad chip. unlucky with the batch I guess. still, I would never put more than 1.4v through the chip to obtain 3ghz. 1.4v should take you to 3.2 ghz, and 1.5v should take you to 3.5-3.6 ghz (with good cooling obviously).

I can get 2.8 Ghz stable with stock voltage, I know that. I don't consider that a bad chip.

At 3 Ghz so far the only way I can get it stable is with:

FSB OverVoltage Contro [0.2 V]

(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [0.2 V]

Hope those two settings are ok ?

CPU OverVoltage Control [1.40000 V]

I haven't tried lowering the CPU OverVoltage Control a little but i have tried it at 1.35000 V with FSB OverVoltage Control and (G)MCH OverVoltage Control at 0.3 V and a BSOD poped up on Windows Vista before it even tried to start saying IRQ not less or equal. Some kind of BSOD like that. Can't raise SB OverVoltage Control and (G)MCH OverVoltage Control over 0.3V, no other options? Would being able to raise them higher work and if so how would I be able to get those options to raise them ? Would it be safe to raise them any higher ?

I tried keeping the SB OverVoltage Control and (G)MCH OverVoltage Control at 0.3 V while raising my CPU OverVoltage Control just a little at 1.35225 I think it was. The next option above 1.35000 I know that. It still gave me that IRQ not less or equal BSOD again.

Should I tried lowering my current CPU OverVoltage Control from 1.40 V little by little to see how low I can go till its stable at a lower voltage or is 1.40 V ok ?

 

[pcslookout]

Most interesting part of it all is I still get the same cpu (5.6) and memory (5.5) score and total Windows Vista score of 5.5. On stock and ram cpu setting and if I overclock my cpu to 3.0 Ghz.

Maybe its not worth to overclock really ? Doesn't seem to give enough of a difference to be worth it ? Inless I am not seeing the bigger picture ? Maybe it will be worth it down the road I don't know.

 

[pcslookout]

Not sure if I should do it or not though but the only way I am able to get a stable 3 Ghz out of my E6420 is a cpu over voltage of 1.50000 V and that includes when running orthos so far without errors. Should I put these settings back in so I can get 3 Ghz compared to 2.13 Ghz on my stock intel fan/heatsink or will it degrade the cpu very quickly with over voltage at 1.5000 V ?

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Not sure if I should do it or not though but the only way I am able to get a stable 3 Ghz out of my E6420 is a cpu over voltage of 1.50000 V and that includes when running orthos so far without errors. Should I put these settings back in so I can get 3 Ghz compared to 2.13 Ghz on my stock intel fan/heatsink or will it degrade the cpu very quickly with over voltage at 1.5000 V ?

Intel lists 1.55 as max .. 1.5 should be safe..

What kind of work/playing are you doing with your computer, that makes it worthwhile to overclock ?

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: Diogenes2

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Not sure if I should do it or not though but the only way I am able to get a stable 3 Ghz out of my E6420 is a cpu over voltage of 1.50000 V and that includes when running orthos so far without errors. Should I put these settings back in so I can get 3 Ghz compared to 2.13 Ghz on my stock intel fan/heatsink or will it degrade the cpu very quickly with over voltage at 1.5000 V ?

Intel lists 1.55 as max .. 1.5 should be safe..

What kind of work/playing are you doing with your computer, that makes it worthwhile to overclock ?

Link please?

Gaming (CS 2, Half Life 2, Doom 3, SC, City life world edition, etc), anandtech forums, email, watch tv and dvd movies.

1.5 v seems to be the only voltage its stable. Though may be able to go down to 1.475 or something a little lower maybe.

3.2 ghz may work at 1.5 v but in orthos at 3 Ghz my laod temperatures got up to about 70 to 71 C maximum after 5 minutes. Is that to high ? My idle temperatures are 35 to 45 C depending on my room's temperature. Is up to 45 C for idle ok when summer time gets here?

 

[JAG87]

intel says 1.3525 is the maximum voltage not 1.55, where the hell are you getting this diogenes2

second of all, windows vista cpu index means nothing. what matters is your how much fps you can gain in games, and how much shorter your encoding jobs are.

and third, is 70 C your tjunction or your tcase temperature? because if its your tcase temp, thats dangerously high.

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: JAG87
intel says 1.3525 is the maximum voltage not 1.55, where the hell are you getting this diogenes2

Where are you getting 1.3525 ?

P.S. 1.55 is listed as ' absolute ' maximum .. Not a safe voltage to run the
processor for any length of time .

Intel lists 1.5 as max VID .. Implying it is safe to run the CPU at that voltage..

Of course, I don't recommend anyone change the default voltage of their CPU ..

I'm just talkin' theoretical here, like if your voltage accidentally got changed or sumthin..

Who in the world would do something like that on purpose ?

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: JAG87
intel says 1.3525 is the maximum voltage not 1.55, where the hell are you getting this diogenes2

second of all, windows vista cpu index means nothing. what matters is your how much fps you can gain in games, and how much shorter your encoding jobs are.

and third, is 70 C your tjunction or your tcase temperature? because if its your tcase temp, thats dangerously high.

No my case temperature stays at 50 C or below

 

[pcslookout]

I decided just not to overclock for now. Maybe when I get a better heatsink/fan I can overclock to 3 Ghz and beyond with stock voltage!

 

[JAG87]

dude, its not your case temperature... tcase is your IHS temperature and tjunction is your core temperature. there is a quite a difference between the two. if your IHS is at 70C your cores are most likely around 85C which is monstrously hot.

diogenes, here is the intel page that says 1.3525
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9S9

you can browse other cpus as well there, but some of them are missing the core voltage entry. but as you can see all of the E6xxx series has 1.3525 as its maximum voltage. there are some new SKUs that are listed with 1.325 as their maximum voltage, those are parts with a lower C1E TDP. But the standard chips are all 1.3525 vmax.

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: JAG87
diogenes, here is the intel page that says 1.3525
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9S9

you can browse other cpus as well there, but some of them are missing the core voltage entry. but as you can see all of the E6xxx series has 1.3525 as its maximum voltage. there are some new SKUs that are listed with 1.325 as their maximum voltage, those are parts with a lower C1E TDP. But the standard chips are all 1.3525 vmax.

That's the PR stuff that get's listed at Newegg, etc.. It's the voltage that keeps it within power spec, and makes the greenies happy..

Try reading the data sheets..

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/31327804.pdf

See my P.S. above ..

 

[JAG87]

ok i see what you are saying, but thats a theoretical absolute which means that above 1.55v your processor will likely fail. that is by no means the recommended maximum which is 1.3525 instead. but yes, in theory you are right.

 

[DerComissar]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
I decided just not to overclock for now. Maybe when I get a better heatsink/fan I can overclock to 3 Ghz and beyond with stock voltage!

Uh, I think you guys scared him away
I have to agree with the voltage issue, but some cpu need a lot of juice for a relatively high, stable oc. I am running mine at 3600 but I find that it runs best for me with 1.525 vcore. Yes, that is rather high on air but I've got a good air cooling setup with no temp. issues.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: DerComissar

Originally posted by: pcslookout
I decided just not to overclock for now. Maybe when I get a better heatsink/fan I can overclock to 3 Ghz and beyond with stock voltage!

Uh, I think you guys scared him away
I have to agree with the voltage issue, but some cpu need a lot of juice for a relatively high, stable oc. I am running mine at 3600 but I find that it runs best for me with 1.525 vcore. Yes, that is rather high on air but I've got a good air cooling setup with no temp. issues.

No just not worth the risk with the stock intel heatsink/fan

 

[cdkfam]

OK I'm brand new to the whole overclocking thing but I have a question. I'm running a E6420 on a P5N32-e SLI Plus MB. Stock cooling in a Antec gamer 900 case. The way I overclocked the CPU was to go into the section where you set you FSB mhz and increased it a little at a time. As for the Vcore I let the MB auto set that. 1.39 I believe. It only allows you to set the speed of the FSB not the CPU host Frequency. Is it oK that I'm turning up the FSB. It's set at 1233mhz right now. I would like to go as high as possible on stock cooling. Any help would be great.

Just want to do this properly.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: JAG87
why in gods name are you pumping 1.5v in your chip? you know 3 ghz can be had on stock voltage. putting all that voltage into your chip is going to make it hotter and shorten its life.

geez with 1.5v you should be aiming at 3.6 ghz not 3 ghz...

I would bring the voltage down to 1.4 and the fsb up to 400. test for stability. if its not stable, increase your mobo voltages a notch (vFSB and vMCH). if its still not stable, then increase the cpu voltage to 1.425. you should be able to get 3.2 Ghz no problem.

JAC87 So far at 1.35000 V I am able to get up to 2.8 Ghz out of my E6420. I don't think that is to bad at all considering I thought I was going to be able to only get 2.5 to 2.6 Ghz maximum. Close enough to 3 Ghz. Load tempuratues when both dual processors are in use for 2 minutes is 49 to 51 C.

Not to bad. I believe 1.35000 V is the default voltage for the processor.

 

[DerComissar]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: DerComissar

Originally posted by: pcslookout
I decided just not to overclock for now. Maybe when I get a better heatsink/fan I can overclock to 3 Ghz and beyond with stock voltage!

Uh, I think you guys scared him away
I have to agree with the voltage issue, but some cpu need a lot of juice for a relatively high, stable oc. I am running mine at 3600 but I find that it runs best for me with 1.525 vcore. Yes, that is rather high on air but I've got a good air cooling setup with no temp. issues.

No just not worth the risk with the stock intel heatsink/fan

I see what you mean
It is wise to go easy with the stock cooling. I spent some money on heatsinks for my CPU and DS3 shortly after I put the system together, mainly for overclocking gains. I think it is worth it, the performance gains are significant when you go over 3000 Mhz with these processors. With the Zalman and Thermalright heatsinks, and good fans on both, my temps are pretty good even at 1.525 volts, which is what I need to maintain 3600 Mhz.
Your E6420 may not need as much voltage, and you have the advantage of the extra cache. Go get some heatsinks, and best of luck