Is this a good OC?

[jzinckgra]

I attempted my 1st OC with the rig listed in my sig. From what I read here and other places, I decided to attempt my 1st OC with this MB. I turned spread spectrum off, increased mem. voltage to 2.1V, multiplier to 8, FSB@400 and set mem to DDR2 800, instead of default. I didn't touch any other setting.
Without the OC, my CPU temp (asus probe) was ~28-31C at idle, but with OC now sits ~48C.
Before the OC, I got 5619 with 3dmark06, after OC 6150.
My temps right after 3dmark were at 60C. Pretty high I am guessing, but that is with stock cooling.
I don't know if the increase is worth it or not. I play games and sims mostly and without getting at least a better cpu fan, I may go back to stock settings.
Did I do anyting wrong in the bios settings or is there anyting else I could have done?
Thanks.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Your voltage is autoclocking up with your CPU. Also turn off C1E and anything that relates to speedstep. The voltage is making your temps jump alot. More so than the CPU speed alone. Try setting voltage manually on the CPU to 1.275 or 1.375 and see what happens.

 

[Some1ne]

Indeed. One of the first things worth doing is flashing to either BIOS 609 or 614. After that is out of the way, you might try:

1. Set everything stock, this includes setting the FSB to 266 MHz.

2. Select the "DDR2-533" RAM speed. Go ahead and put your 2.1 RAM voltage back.

3. Set RAM timings of 5-5-5-15. You can lower them later.

4. Return to your 400x8 settings if you want, or try something a bit more tame like 350x8 if you want to establish a baseline for what the chip will do at stock vcore.

5. MANUALLY set a vcore in the BIOS (this part is *key*). Note that the voltage actually applied to the processor will be nearly 0.05V less than what you set here, so effectively, to set the processor at the stock setting of 1.35V, you'd have to specify around 1.40V, and so on. Because of the voltage drop, any setting between 1.40V and 1.50V can be considered safe. I would not generally recommend going much higher than 1.50V, due to heat, or much lower than 1.40V when overclocking (due to loss of stability). Remember that these are settings in BIOS, *not* the actual voltage applied to the CPU. In terms of actual applied voltage, I'm recommending not less than 1.35V (stock), and not much more than 1.45V (stock + ~7%).

...the reason your temps went so high, is that if you leave the vcore on "auto" on the P5B, and then overclock the FSB, it ramps up the voltage automatically for you (and is pretty aggressive in its ramping...it will take it all the way up to 1.55V *applied* voltage, or stock + ~15%). By setting the vcore manually, you prevent this ramping, and can generally get cooler temps.

 

[jzinckgra]

Thanks. I shouls have mentioned that I am running the 0507 bios now. Is the 609 bios official now and at the asus site?

 

[Some1ne]

I think the official one is now 614. That one should be fine too.

 

[jzinckgra]

Ok, upgraded to the latest bios (609).
Started with FSB @400 w/ multi at 8.
Manually set Vcore to 1.4 V (cpu temp at idle is now at 40C, 34C before the OC)
Mem vol at 2.1V
I turned off C1E and disabled spread spec again.
A couple questions:
I couldn't set DDR2 to 533 as suggested above. My only options are 800 (which I chose), 1000, 1200, 1333, 1600.
Also, how do I go about manually putting in the ram timings at 5-5-5-12?
My rig booted, but it seems a little slow in windows

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: jzinckgra
Ok, upgraded to the latest bios (609).
Started with FSB @400 w/ multi at 8.
Manually set Vcore to 1.4 V (cpu temp at idle is now at 40C, 34C before the OC)
Mem vol at 2.1V
I turned off C1E and disabled spread spec again.
A couple questions:
I couldn't set DDR2 to 533 as suggested above. My only options are 800 (which I chose), 1000, 1200, 1333, 1600.
Also, how do I go about manually putting in the ram timings at 5-5-5-12?
My rig booted, but it seems a little slow in windows

You did it right. To manually set the timings go to the chipset menu and where it says DRAM timing by speed. Disable that and it will open more options.

The Asus BIOS shows you the actual sleed of your memory. If you were to set the FSb to stock settings at 266Mhz you would see the memory running 533 and move up as you increase the fsb.

 

[jzinckgra]

Should I even bother setting the timings to 5-5-5-12? Isn't that slower than the 4-4-4-12 they are at now?
I am idling at 41C. With stock cooling, is this ok in the long run? I know when I play some games it will rise, but what kind of toll will it take on the cpu? Or should I just go back to stock? Tx again.

 

[Some1ne]

Should I even bother setting the timings to 5-5-5-12?

No, unless you want to clock higher. I recommended the slower settings since I figured you would probably be interested in seeing what the maximum possible speed of your chip was. If not, then just leave it as is.

I couldn't set DDR2 to 533 as suggested above. My only options are 800 (which I chose), 1000, 1200, 1333, 1600.

That means that you set the FSB speed before setting the memory speed. It doesn't matter, since you selected the correct one anyways.

I am idling at 41C. With stock cooling, is this ok in the long run? I know when I play some games it will rise, but what kind of toll will it take on the cpu?

That sounds fine, but what are the load temps? As long as the load temperature stays under about 60 degrees, you should be fine. It sounds like your chip is actually performing pretty well to overclock to 3.2 GHz that easily. You could probably go a bit higher with it.