*** MSI P6N SLI Platinum OVERCLOCK 650i ***

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Ev3rs0n

I have stable 100% as well as this 1550-775, but when I put 1600-800 to him is congealed the Windows, I also apply but voltages to him to the Vcore and to the SB, but it is congealed.

lol 'congealed' ,I assume you meant frozen

I just recently built my P6N Plat rig & have only just started to overclock it significantly.
Firstly I hit a FSB wall at ~1500MHz ,this turned out to be the Northbridge getting too hot (I didn't have a fan fitted to it).Using my laser thermometer I measured the HS at 58C IIRC (which was just bareable to touch).
I didn't want to use that crappy fan MSI supplied (are they nuts revving it at 8500RPM!!??:Q:roll: ) so I suspended a 70mm fan a little way over it & it runs much cooler ,I just retested it earlier & it now runs at 42C @ 1625 MHz ,1.35v.

I haven't properly stability tested yet but I found that at 1550QDR (375MHz) I had to increase NBv to 1.275 (from def 1.25),
1575MHz upped to 1.3v ,
1600 upped to 1.325 ,
1625MHz upped to 1.35v.
Whether that'll end up being stable in proper testing is another matter ,I'll find out soon enough ,but it at least it shows the trend in voltage needs for FSB.
Oh & btw even at 3.25 GHz I haven't yet had to increase vcore on my E6420 (subject to proper testing)

I would like to increase NBv to 1.375 & maybe 1.4v to get higher FSB ,but I'm somewhat uneasy about this as even at 1.35v that's 8% over default.
What's considered a safe limit & how would we know? ,bearing in mind I could keep this mbrd for as long as 3yrs (& I want it to be saleable afterwards) & that I run DPAD on it 24/7 on both cores. (DPAD's a Distributed Computing project).

I'll update when I've chosen the optimal speed.

 

[Elias824]

I always figure you never want to go more then +.2v over stock voltages. 1.4 would probably be ok but it may be pushing it alittle

 

[rikkuotaku]

Just got my P6N Platinum together the other day. So far so good.

Rosewill RCX-Z775-EX 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
G.Skill DDR2-800 4-4-3-5 RAM
WD 10k 150GB Raptor - Vista
2 x WD 250GB SATAII (RAID 0) - XP
XFX 7900GT
Creative Labs Audigy 2

Upgraded BIOS to 1.2, then went straight up to 1333 FSB without any other changes. CPU runs at 27C stock & 30C OC.

VISTA: Loaded Vista, upgraded drivers for MB,Video Card, Audigy 2. Loaded Tomb Raider Legend straight away. Played for 10 minutes. NVLMMKDM STOP error, blue screen, reboot. Brought FSB down to 1066 and tried again, same error no matter what I did. Went to the NVIDIA forums and realized VISTA + NVIDIA = BAD.

XP: Loaded XP, ugpraded drivers for MB, Video Card, Audigy 2. Loaded Tomb Raider Legend straight away. Played for HOURS. No crash. This is at 1333FSB with no other BIOS changes - not even Voltage. So far I'm 67% through the game with no errors or crashes. Tried Oblivion. Same thing - works flawlessly.

3Ghz seems fast enough....should I try for more? Anyone else getting odd Vista/Nvidia errors? It seems from the forums that LOTS of people are.

 

[Assimilator1]

What you really mean is :-

Went to the NVIDIA forums and realized VISTA = BAD



Whether you want to try for more than 3GHz is entirely up to you.
As far as games go I doubt you'll gain anything visually ( I don't mean FPS but game 'smoothness').
If you do video editing ,encoding or run a Distributed Computing project then more or less any gain is worth while ,as long as you don't have to use silly voltages, temps start getting too high or fans revving too high.

Anyway at 3GHz you can make the claim that you have a CPU (for PCs) faster than any that can be bought

 

[ermasta]

Guys i need your help.

I am a complete noob when it comes to OCng and i do not no what to do. I would like to oc my 4300 to atleast 2.4. Is not much but right now that is all i want . I will be using stock cooling for the moment so i like to keep it simple.

My pecs are:

4300 1.8
2 gigs gskill 800 (pc6400)
MSI p6n platinum

BTW i read the oc sticky and i did not learn crap. I guess im a slow learner....I read this whole thread and saw that some people just played around with the FSB. Some disable a lot of stuff on the bios.

I need to know what is the easiest and safest way to kick it to 2.4.

Thank you for your help guys.

 

[WickedSS]

Originally posted by: adsmith82
... using 1.32 (newest as of right now as far as i know) in case anyone wants to know

Can you send me the link where you found the 1.32?
I saw the link for the 2.0+ but it didn't seam to be for the Platinum.

Thanks

 

[WickedSS]

Hi Everyone,
I, too, am 110% noob to OC'ing (not to pcs).
You can see my rig in my sig. Only problem is all cooling is stock. I have plans to upgrade the case and the rest of the cooling, just can't do it yet. So what where would you suggest I start for the time being? My ultimate goal is 3.0+ghz.

Thanks

 

[Assimilator1]

Incase you haven't already ,you want a front & rear case fan ,theirs a massive choice of HSFs which I won't cover here as this is supposed to be a thread about overclocking the P6N not rig building .
But you could start by reading the HSF reviews here :thumbsup:

ermasta
As per 2nd post (+edits for you),

(Press F4 inside of the CPU Feature menu. A hidden option will appear) <--- that doesn't appear to be relevant for v1.2

C1E Disabled

******************************

-------------------------------------------

CHIPSET FEATURE:
HPET Disabled

------------------------------------------

CELL MENU:
D.O.T Control Disabled
INTEL EIST Disabled
System Clock Mode Manual
FSB Clock - 1066 MHz (for 2.4GHz)
Mem Clock (for 800mhz) pc-6400
CPU ratio (x9 for the E4300 cpu

For some daft reason MSI chose to show the effective data rate for the FSB in the bios,1066MHz (QDR) is actually 266.6MHz FSB ,266.6x9=2400MHz.
Your unlikely to need any voltage increases at that modest o/c ,GL.

 

[WickedSS]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Incase you haven't already ,you want a front & rear case fan ,theirs a massive choice of HSFs which I won't cover here as this is supposed to be a thread about overclocking the P6N not rig building .
But you could start by reading the HSF reviews here :thumbsup:

Oops. I guess I wasn't making myself clear. I am not asking advice about how to build my case. I am asking for advice on what BIOS settings would be good to start overclocking with on the hardware setup that I have right now. I only mentions my cooling situation so you knew my setup and that I was smart enough to know that I am limited by it.
Thanks

Sorry for any confusion

 

[Spanki]

Originally posted by: WickedSS

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Incase you haven't already ,you want a front & rear case fan ,theirs a massive choice of HSFs which I won't cover here as this is supposed to be a thread about overclocking the P6N not rig building .
But you could start by reading the HSF reviews here :thumbsup:

Oops. I guess I wasn't making myself clear. I am not asking advice about how to build my case. I am asking for advice on what BIOS settings would be good to start overclocking with on the hardware setup that I have right now. I only mentions my cooling situation so you knew my setup and that I was smart enough to know that I am limited by it.
Thanks

Sorry for any confusion

Given decent airflow and reasonable ambient air temps, the stock Intel HSF will work fine up to the point where you start bumping up the vCore (cpu core voltage). So after disabling C1E, EIST, D.O.T, etc. (see the second post in this thread), I'd:

- set the CPU Bus / Memory Bus clock mode (whatever that option is called) to "Manual" (not "Linked", not "Auto")
- set the memory bus speed to 667 or 800 (take your pick)
- set the memory voltage to whatever that memory is expecting / rated for
- leave all the memory timings on auto (or go ahead and set them to the rated timings, but don't get agressive yet)

...then just play with the CPU FSB Speed setting. Your cpu multiplier should be set to 7 (it can't be higher).

The FSB speed is actually set to the Quad Data Rate (QDR) in the BIOS. The E6300, by default uses a ~267 FSB (1068 QDR)...

FSB 266 * 4 = 1064, FSB 266 * 7 (cpu mult) = 1.862 GHz
FSB 267 * 4 = 1068, FSB 267 * 7 (cpu mult) = 1.869 GHz (or rounded up to 1.87GHz)

...so, for example, if you set the bus to 1334 (333.5 FSB), you're cpu would be running at 333.5 * 7 = 2.334 GHz

QDR 1200 = 2.1 GHz
QDR 1258 = ~2.2 GHz
QDR 1316 = ~2.3 GHz
QDR 1372 = ~2.4 GHz
QDR 1428 = ~2.5 GHz
QDR 1488 = ~2.6 GHz
QDR 1544 = ~2.7 GHz
QDR 1600 = 2.8 GHz
QDR 1660 = ~2.9 GHz
QDR 1715 = ~3.0 GHz

...I doubt you'll get any higher than that (or nearly that high) with your cpu without adding some voltage to the core. Just keep checking your temps as you go.

 

[Assimilator1]

Ah ok ,well in that case look at the 2nd post in this thread.
Then I would suggest you start at a FSB of 1350 MHz (CPU @2.36GHz),that's a cautious choice that will be well within your mbrds & CPUs abilities on default voltages.Once in windows do a quick 5min test with Orthos (CPU stress test) ,if its ok then up the FSB 25MHz & retest.
Once you get to the point where it crashes you can either lower the FSB a little or increase NBv 1 step.Though without a fan on the NB I wouldn't raise it too much!

Btw I found that without a fan on the Northbridge HS the mbrd topped out at about 1500MHz on my setup.

 

[ermasta]

Thanks for your help Assimilator. I will try this when i get home from work today. Hopefully everything runs smoothly. I will sure keep you guys informed.


Once again thanks.

 

[WickedSS]

Thanks for your help guys. I do have the fan on the nb. It's the one that came with the mb.

 

[Assimilator1]

Yea I was going to use that fan until I realised it spun at 8500 RPM!:Q ,that ain't gonna last 6mths running 24/7 ,not to mention its noise,so its stayed in the box
I've suspended a 70mm AMD fan over the NB HS

Lets us know what speed you folks get.

 

[WickedSS]

What are good target temps? And what program is the best for monitoring that?

 

[WickedSS]

Ok, Next question: Orthos. Never used it and don't know what settings to use. Will the default settings get me what I want?
Thanks & Sorry for so many questions.

BTW, so far, my very first ever overclock is at 2362.5 on an E6300 with stock cooling and no voltage changes. However, I changed my Memory settings to the rated timings and voltage and changed the bus to 800 and it seems it didn't make any difference in CPU-Z. Don't know if it was supposed to or if I just manually set it where it was through auto anyway, but there it is.

edit:
Great! :thumbsup: It passed it's first Orthos (hopefully the default settings are what I should have been using). My temps are at 30.xC according to RM Clock. Is that good, bad, ok?

Here is something strange, though. I have a widget (the one for the sidebar in vista ultimate) that shows the percentage used of core 1, core 2, and ram. Now, normally my ram runs at about 65-70% at idle and lite load. After the Orthos test (I noticed it happened after exiting Halo 2 as well before I overclocked) it drops significantly. Like to 35-40%. Should I be worried?

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: WickedSS
Ok, Next question: Orthos. Never used it and don't know what settings to use. Will the default settings get me what I want?
Thanks & Sorry for so many questions.

BTW, so far, my very first ever overclock is at 2662.5 on an E6300 with stock cooling and no voltage changes. However, I changed my Memory settings to the rated timings and voltage and changed the bus to 800 and it seems it didn't make any difference in CPU-Z. Don't know if it was supposed to or if I just manually set it where it was through auto anyway, but there it is.

edit:
Great! :thumbsup: It passed it's first Orthos (hopefully the default settings are what I should have been using). My temps are at 30.xC according to RM Clock. Is that good, bad, ok?

Here is something strange, though. I have a widget (the one for the sidebar in vista ultimate) that shows the percentage used of core 1, core 2, and ram. Now, normally my ram runs at about 65-70% at idle and lite load. After the Orthos test (I noticed it happened after exiting Halo 2 as well before I overclocked) it drops significantly. Like to 35-40%. Should I be worried?

You don't need to worry about setting any options for Orthos. You just simply need to pick which test you want to run. I personally used the Stress CPU option for all the testing I did for my E4400 @ 3.4Ghz. There has been alot of concern regarding the "Blend" test and certain hardware setups. For example, with my old ram I could run Memtest86 for 24hrs straight, run Orthos Stress CPU for 12 hrs, and use the computer for daily tasks with 100% stability. I could not, however, run the Blend test for more then 4 hours. It's up to you rely on what you consider stable.

 

[WickedSS]

Thanks CCityInstaller. I ran orthos again on "Small FFTs-stress CPU" option and it did great. My temps during this test (tested after test last time. oops) are at about 51-52 C. That is about 15 minutes into it. Is that high?

Thanks

 

[WickedSS]

edited per accidental double-post. Sorry

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: WickedSS

Originally posted by: adsmith82
... using 1.32 (newest as of right now as far as i know) in case anyone wants to know

Can you send me the link where you found the 1.32?
I saw the link for the 2.0+ but it didn't seam to be for the Platinum.

Thanks

I forgot to mention it in my last post, but here is a link for the latest beta bios, which is V 1.34. I am using V 1.32 now and am going to give this a try later on tonight.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: WickedSS
Thanks CCityInstaller. I ran orthos again on "Small FFTs-stress CPU" option and it did great. My temps during this test (tested after test last time. oops) are at about 51-52 C. That is about 15 minutes into it. Is that high?

Thanks

No that's fine ,mine are at 57C atm ,E6420 @3.25 GHz.
Btw I use speedfan to monitor temps ,coretemp is another program you can use.

 

[WickedSS]

Thanks assimilator1. I Think I have reached the limit of my bios. I tried a 1525 bus and it took several tried just to get into the bios. When I finally did, I backed it off to 1500. I seem to remember someone saying that the bios 1.1 is capped at 1500 so I am gonna upgrade the bios and will report back later.

Thanks everyone.
Oh, as of right now, I am at 2.625ghz on the E6300 with no voltage changes and staying at 54C under full load with stock cooling. Hopefully, I will be able to continue to go further with updated bios.

 

[WickedSS]

Ok I upgraded the bios to 1.34 and I still can't seem to break the 1500/375 fsb barrier. It's not getting hot. Any ideas?
Also, I can't seem to set any of my optical drives as a bootable device. Again, any ideas.

Thanks

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: WickedSS
Ok I upgraded the bios to 1.34 and I still can't seem to break the 1500/375 fsb barrier. It's not getting hot. Any ideas?
Also, I can't seem to set any of my optical drives as a bootable device. Again, any ideas.

Thanks

Are you running your ram in dual channel? I couldnt seem to get my board to boot with any ram setting over DDR900 reguardless of timings or voltage. I tried three different sets of Micron D9 based DIMMS before I tried moving my ram to slots 2&4 on the MB. All of sudden I could boot with no trouble, all the way up to DDR 1050 @ Cas 4-4-4-12! My point is that some boards are funny and little things like that can hold you back without you realizing it. Give it a try and report back here. Also, are you using IDE or SATA optical drives? Do you have the IDE controller enabled? Can you boot from a USB device?

 

[WickedSS]

I am not sure. I think so. They are in slots 1 & 3. And I am only running them at 800mhz, 4-4-4-12, 2.1v.
I have tried upping my FSB to 1575 cuz someone early on in this thread mentioned that their board didn't like certain frequencies.
I have yet to mess with any voltages (other than putting memory to the rated voltage.) Could that be my problem?

At the moment, I am running @ 2.62 375fsb. Completely stable. Ran orthos for over 6 hours with no problems. And my temps never went over 53C.
I just don't know what to do from here.

Thanks