Overclocking advice for a n00b

[mcmikemc]

Friday I finally got all of my parts for my new build.

E6600 (stock voltage of 1.325v)
Scythe Ninja (w/ artic 5)
DS3 (BIOS version F3)
2 gigs of DDR 800 5-5-5-12 (stock voltage of 1.9v)
1900XT
36.7 Raptor
250gig Seagate
620watt OCZ PSU

I got it all setup fine and ran a bunch of games and some stress test programs to ensure it was sable at stock and it was fine.

Sunday I decided it was time for the overclocking to begin. I jumped into the BIOS and upped the FSB to 400 (my goal), set the multiplier to 6 and set the Memory multi to 2 (800mhz). This would put my CPU at 2.4Ghz still but I would have a faster FSB and this would let me know if I could get a 400mhz FSB.

It did not work. After hours of playing around I found that I could get a FSB of 366mhz with a mutli of 8 all stock voltages. Going from 2.4Ghz to 2.928Ghz (500mhz Woot!!) is great for my first overclock but I really want to hit a FSB of 400mhz with a mutli of 8.

I have options to over volt my chipset, FSB, RAM and CPU. Will upping the voltage on any of these help me get to a 400mhz FSB and a mutli of 8?

 

[Baked]

What's the make and model of your RAM?

 

[mcmikemc]

Originally posted by: Baked
What's the make and model of your RAM?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590

 

[Baked]

Have you tried turning up the Vcore by 0.225 and Vmem by 0.1 increment and see if that helps?

 

[mcmikemc]

Originally posted by: Baked
Have you tried turning up the Vcore by 0.225 and Vmem by 0.1 increment and see if that helps?

I have upped the vcore all the way to 1.5v and that did nothing.

I did not touch the vmem since the manufactures specifications state that it works at DDR 800 with a voltage of 1.9. Plus when I first built the PC the BIOS was runing the RAM at DDR800 with no problem.

But since the motherboard will reset the CMOS so that it can boot without me messing with anyjumpers I will try to bump up the vmem.

 

[mcmikemc]

Well I bumped up the voltage on everything one by one and and together and still nothing. Any help?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Why have the multi at 8 when the e6600 goes to 9?

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Why have the multi at 8 when the e6600 goes to 9?

Uh, maybe to have a higher FSB?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Why have the multi at 8 when the e6600 goes to 9?

Uh, maybe to have a higher FSB?

Uh, you may have a higher FSB there einstein but more than likely a lower overclock overall.

 

[slatr]

I think it may be your bios

try f4e or newer

uploaded for ya

http://www.filefactory.com/file/0f4f29/

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Uh, you may have a higher FSB there einstein but more than likely a lower overclock overall.

...Which is exactly what some people want, hence why they'd run a 6600 with an 8x multiplier.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Uh, you may have a higher FSB there einstein but more than likely a lower overclock overall.

...Which is exactly what some people want, hence why they'd run a 6600 with an 8x multiplier.

Wait...Then why in the hell get an e6600 when an e6400 would give you the same?

$100 or so more just for 2mb Cache? Whoa!

 

[mcmikemc]

I looked at the release notes of the F4 and the only changes are:

1) Update CPU ID
2) Improve memory and VGA compatibility

Wich is why I don't think it will help at all but since I really want to get to 400FSB I will try it once I get home.

And yes I want to run my E6600 at 400x8 when I could have gotten a E6400 with a 8 mutli on it. Why did I do that? Because I can afford to do stuff like this.

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Why have the multi at 8 when the e6600 goes to 9?

Well I want.......

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Uh, you may have a higher FSB there einstein but more than likely a lower overclock overall.

LOL

 

[NoStateofMind]

Let's see if I have this correct. You want a 400Mhz FSB with an 8x multi, that will give us 3.2 Ghz. At a 9x Multi we only need a FSB of roughly 355Mhz to achieve the same speed. Now what am I missing about this all important 400Mhz FSB?

 

[mcmikemc]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Let's see if I have this correct. You want a 400Mhz FSB with an 8x multi, that will give us 3.2 Ghz. At a 9x Multi we only need a FSB of roughly 355Mhz to achieve the same speed. Now what am I missing about this all important 400Mhz FSB?

The higher FSB will give me better performance vs a system that has the same CPU speed with a lower FSB.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Ahhhhh so i been noobed

 

[MTDEW]

The Ds3 seems to get "flakey" at 400fsb with a 6600.

I have a 6300 and a 6600.

For 3.2ghz i can run
e6300 at 7x458fsb = 3.206ghz
e6600 at 9x356fsb= 3.204ghz

So i "KNOW" my board does 400fsb and above easily, yet i cant get 400fsb or above stable with my e6600 no matter what i try.

Once i had 6x400fsb running , thinking the same as you, i ran prime 95 and other tests just fine, then after a reboot, it wouldnt boot and reverted back to defaults.

That was the ONLY time i ever saw 400fsb on this mobo with my e6600 cpu.
Now , no matter what i try, i cant get 400fsb with my e6600 on this board.

And ive tried EVERY bios. (i'm currently using the official F4 bios)

Yet, with my e6300, i can run 400fsb and over EVERY time.

 

[mcmikemc]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
The Ds3 seems to get "flakey" at 400fsb with a 6600.

I have a 6300 and a 6600.

For 3.2ghz i can run
e6300 at 7x458fsb = 3.206ghz
e6600 at 9x356fsb= 3.204ghz

So i "KNOW" my board does 400fsb and above easily, yet i cant get 400fsb or above stable with my e6600 no matter what i try.

Once i had 6x400fsb running , thinking the same as you, i ran prime 95 and other tests just fine, then after a reboot, it wouldnt boot and reverted back to defaults.

That was the ONLY time i ever saw 400fsb on this mobo with my e6600 cpu.
Now , no matter what i try, i cant get 400fsb with my e6600 on this board.

And ive tried EVERY bios. (i'm currently using the official F4 bios)

Yet, with my e6300, i can run 400fsb and over EVERY time.

I have been reading that people are having issues with 6600s past 350 with this board. And here you are posting the same thing I have read which is starting to make me see the truth, that I probaly will never get to 400 with a 6600 on this board. If I don't I will still be happy with getting 366x8 with default voltages.


I found a F5c BIOS that I am going ot try out tonight. I will post how it works out.

Links:

http://www.cranox.com/Gigabyte/DS3/

http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/index.php

 

[MTDEW]

I found a F5c BIOS that I am going ot try out tonight. I will post how it works out.

Cool, let me know how that works out.

I cant flash mine right now cuz i just hit the desktop with a clean Winxp install, and i wanna get all my programs and stuff installed and image my drive before i try more settings.
(just in case i corrupt my hdd, so i can just spend 5mins restoring my image instead of re-installing Xp again if i push too far....lol)

 

[mcmikemc]

Originally posted by: MTDEW

I found a F5c BIOS that I am going ot try out tonight. I will post how it works out.

Cool, let me know how that works out.

I cant flash mine right now cuz i just hit the desktop with a clean Winxp install, and i wanna get all my programs and stuff installed and image my drive before i try more settings.
(just in case i corrupt my hdd, so i can just spend 5mins restoring my image instead of re-installing Xp again if i push too far....lol)

Great minds think alike. I made a backup image of my install before I installed anything or tried overclocking.

 

[mcmikemc]

Well I flashed my BIOS to F5c and I am still stuck at 366 FSB

 

[skriefal]

If 366MHz is the max FSB, then why not set the multiplier back to 9x for a ~3.3GHz clock?

 

[MTDEW]

If 366MHz is the max FSB, then why not set the multiplier back to 9x for a ~3.3GHz clock?

Yeah, you can do that, but we're just trying to get a higher fsb, so it and the ram are faster at 1:1 , so you get more performance.
Its that "greedy overclocker" syndrome.


I still havent tried the F5c bios yet.
I just got my two images made.
One, clean install of just winxp + updates and benchmark programs, which i call CleanXp.

And the other with all my programs, email settings etc...etc.., everything but video drivers, since i upgrade video drivers alot, so i just restore that image and i know i have a clean install of the latest drivers.
I call that one CleanXpAll. (sucker takes awhile to get all my stuff installed, but it INVALUABLE, i restore this image every other week or so, and my pc runs "clean"...LOL)
I know its overkill, but it only takes 5 mins to restore an image.

In my notes here, i have some tests i did at 386fsb, so i know i was doing at least that high with the F4c when i was testing my e6600.

I'll post my results with the F5c when i get a chance to test more.
Working for a living keeps getting in the way of my pc time...LOL

 

[skriefal]

Right. But my point was -- if 366 is the max FSB that you can achieve with your processor, then it would seem that you'd want to raise the multiplier back to the stock 9x setting since you won't get any more performance via a higher FSB. If you find some way to get a higher FSB, well... then I guess this is a moot point!

 

[MTDEW]

Thats what ya settle for once ya give up on a higher fsb.. LMAO