Q8300 OC - Did I Do It Right?

[GeorgiaPeach]

Okay, I got my Q8300 and installed it with the stock fan/heatsink (will be upgrading in 1-2 wks). I ran it on stock settings for a few days, then decided to try to OC a little bit. My motherboard is the ASUS P5B running BIOS version 2101, which supports the 1333MHz FSB. My RAM is Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 @ 800MHz. The Q8300s multiplier is max 7.5 and minimum 6.0.

I did a lot of reading and watched some tutorial videos before I tried this. So, I commenced to overclocking. All I changed was the bus speed because my RAM is tied to the bus. I did 4 adjustments in total. On my 3rd one, the CPU temp got too high, so I did a 4th adjustment and got the temp back down, with a few degrees to spare. I'm just going to share my last successful settings.

What I Did
1. Changed AI Tuning to Manual. 2. Changed CPU Frequency to 360. DRAM freq automatically adjusted to DDR2 - 720MHz from 667MHz when I put it in. I let the CPU multiplier stay at "Auto".

Results
CPU speed went up to 2.7GHz and the bus speed increased to 1440MHz. My CPU temp is running between 62-64 degrees Celsius, which is below the 71 degree Celsius max for the Q8300.

I gradually got the CPU up to 3.0GHz with RAM increasing to 800MHz, but the CPU temperature spiked to 89 degrees Celsius, so I immediately changed to the above settings.

Observations & Questions
1st Issue - When I went into the BIOS, I noticed that the CPU was only running at 2GHz. The Q8300 is supposed to run at 2.5GHz. So, my CPU was actually underclocked out of the box. Why would Intel do this?

2nd Issue - My BIOS stats and CPU-Z stats don't match. CPU-Z is way off on CPU speed. My BIOS shows I'm running at 2.7GHz, but CPU-Z shows 2.16GHz. I would think my BIOS would show the correct information before CPU-Z would. Am I right? Which one should I rely on for accuracy?

Is there a way to squeeze more performance out of my CPU on the stock heatsink/fan? I didn't touch any voltages and I didn't mess with the multiplier. All I did was change the bus speed a little at a time. Should I have actually set the multiplier at 7.5 instead of leaving it on "Auto"? I don't know what the 'auto' setting is, so would that make a difference?

Conclusion
I'm fine running at 2.7GHz at a safe temp until I get an aftermarket heatsink and fan. Especially since out of the box I was running at 2GHz. But, I know I want to go higher, so I'm going to need a better unit. Are there any good ones for less than $30.00? I'm not a gamer. The most processor intensive thing I do is encode short video blogs (10 minute length max) for YouTube. I just want to OC as far as I can, safely. Recommendations for a heatsink/fan would be great.

 

[Udgnim]

I'm guessing since you haven't mentioned any voltages, you kept them on "Auto" for the motherboard to select them.

I'm not familiar with the Q8300, but you need to become familiar with things like Vcore, Vterm, Vpll, and NB/MCH voltage and determine the max voltages you're willing to put through your CPU. read the stickied OC guide to familiarize yourself with what they do.

use this site as a reference for third party HSFs: http://www.frostytech.com/

I suggest reading multiple reviews. reviewers all use different review methods and test setups.

 

[GeorgiaPeach]

Would a moderator please delete my original post? I really am NOT in the mood to deal w/ people who just want to be the first to comment on a thread but don't bother to read the actual freaking post!!!!!!

Please just delete this entire thread. Thank you.

 

[alfa147x]

Wow! Dude calm down someone else might have a better input... damn

 

[GeorgiaPeach]

1. I am not a dude. 2. Don't tell me what to do. 3. Piss off.

Wow! Dude calm down someone else might have a better input... damn

 

[alfa147x]

1. I am not a dude. 2. Don't tell me what to do. 3. Piss off.

1. I care?
2. Calm Down
3. People here are not paid to take your shit, ask nicely and people will help. Ignoring people, a skill you should learn

Dude.

 

[Hyperlite]

hahahahaha woooooooowwww

What the heck is wrong with you? What was said that offended you so much?

NO ONE here is going to endorse any auto-overclocking systems. You're going to have to manually adjust voltage to keep temps in check, that's pretty much all there is to it. And the Q8300 can undervolt considerably at stock clocks...1.125 IIRC? should be able to hold that at 2.7.

 

[brandonwh64]

This OP is def not a good forum reader/poster. op, you should find another place to go and do something diffrent like a cooking forum or gardening.

 

[alfa147x]

This OP is def not a good forum reader/poster. op, you should find another place to go and do something diffrent like a cooking forum or gardening.

Hahaha

1. I am not a dude.

 

[brandonwh64]

LOL hooah

 

[VirtualLarry]

Overclocking is a man's job...


Anyways, OP, the reason that your temps are so high, is likely because you left voltages on auto, and most motherboards will overvolt when you up the FSB. You need to learn how to adjust them manually, to be just the minumum voltage you need for that particular speed, and no higher.

Btw, overclocking to any significant degree on the stock heatsink is generally an automatic fail.

 

[VirtualLarry]

1st Issue - When I went into the BIOS, I noticed that the CPU was only running at 2GHz. The Q8300 is supposed to run at 2.5GHz. So, my CPU was actually underclocked out of the box. Why would Intel do this?

2nd Issue - My BIOS stats and CPU-Z stats don't match. CPU-Z is way off on CPU speed. My BIOS shows I'm running at 2.7GHz, but CPU-Z shows 2.16GHz. I would think my BIOS would show the correct information before CPU-Z would. Am I right? Which one should I rely on for accuracy?

Is there a way to squeeze more performance out of my CPU on the stock heatsink/fan? I didn't touch any voltages and I didn't mess with the multiplier. All I did was change the bus speed a little at a time. Should I have actually set the multiplier at 7.5 instead of leaving it on "Auto"? I don't know what the 'auto' setting is, so would that make a difference?

Conclusion
I'm fine running at 2.7GHz at a safe temp until I get an aftermarket heatsink and fan. Especially since out of the box I was running at 2GHz. But, I know I want to go higher, so I'm going to need a better unit. Are there any good ones for less than $30.00? I'm not a gamer. The most processor intensive thing I do is encode short video blogs (10 minute length max) for YouTube. I just want to OC as far as I can, safely. Recommendations for a heatsink/fan would be great.

1) Intel didn't underclock your CPU. That's the motherboard's doing. I don't know which motherboard you have, but Gigabyte boards, of which I'm most familiar, default to a lower multi and possibly FSB sometimes. You have to manually set them to get the normal default speed.

2) CPU-Z is accurate with regards to CPU speed. If your current CPU speed is lower than what you set in teh BIOS, then perhaps EIST and C1E are kicking in. They are power-saving features on modern CPUs, that slow down and lower the voltage to the CPU when it's not being used much. You need to run something processor-intensive like Prime95, and then watch CPU-Z ramp up to full speed. You might also have to adjust your "power plan" in the OS. Setting it to "High Performance" will often lock the CPU to the highest speed.

3) Good overclocking requires setting as many things manually as possible. Including the multiplier, voltage, memory divider, FSB, and other things.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-064-_-Product
This is one of the cheapest aftermarket coolers, that seems decent. If you live near a Microcenter, they had the OCZ Vendetta coolers marked down to $10 each too.

 

[VirtualLarry]

CPU speed went up to 2.7GHz and the bus speed increased to 1440MHz. My CPU temp is running between 62-64 degrees Celsius, which is below the 71 degree Celsius max for the Q8300.

I gradually got the CPU up to 3.0GHz with RAM increasing to 800MHz, but the CPU temperature spiked to 89 degrees Celsius, so I immediately changed to the above settings.
.

Those temps are high, even for the stock cooler. I'm not certain that you have it attached properly. When you quote temps, are you talking about idle temps, or load temps? When overclocking, you want to quote load temps. Download Prime95, run "Small FFTs", and then download and run CoreTemp, and tell us the temps that it reports. I have a feeling that it won't be pretty. If your heatsink isn't attached properly, you may even be thermal-throttling. (Something that the processor will do automatically when it gets too hot, in an attempt to save its life.)

 

[GeorgiaPeach]

I do read well, you son of a whorish bitch. Just because I'm new at doing something doesn't mean I'm stupid. EVERYONE has to start somewhere. I'm sure you weren't born knowing all you know about computers. So, take your misogynistic bullshit and shove it up your ass, and stop being shitty to me because you're mad at women for ignoring you. Maybe if you stopped jacking off, and playing with your Internet friends and man-toys so much, you'd develop the social skills to get a woman, and you wouldn't be inclined to take your hostility toward women out on me. Fuck you and your whole family! I hope your house gets swallowed by a sinkhole and all you motherfuckers die.

I'm done here and will NEVER be back. What the fuck use is a message board if people are going to get slammed and insulted for asking questions? This IS why this forum exists in the first place, right? Silly me, I must be mistaken. I thought AnandTech was a RESOURCE, not a boys' backyard clubhouse with a crooked "No Girls Allowed" sign on the door.

This OP is def not a good forum reader/poster. op, you should find another place to go and do something diffrent like a cooking forum or gardening.

I don't know which barn you were raised in, but in this forum you don't get to speak like that - ever! This will be your only warning.

Admin allisolm

 

[Jimbo]

This is the greatest thread ever!

Maybe GP is gone, maybe not, but for the benefit of anyone else coming along with a similar question most all of the posters here gave valid advice, especially Udgnim. The OP just interpreted those answers incorrectly.

I have noticed that MOST of the heat generated in overclocks (that I have done) seems to be a function of the overclocked speed and not always strictly a voltage effect. The faster you go, the higher your temps even at stock voltage.

Anyways, I'll stop now because it looks like this thread isn't going to lead anywhere.

 

[3DVagabond]

I do read well, you son of a whorish bitch. Just because I'm new at doing something doesn't mean I'm stupid. EVERYONE has to start somewhere. I'm sure you weren't born knowing all you know about computers. So, take your misogynistic bullshit and shove it up your ass, and stop being shitty to me because you're mad at women for ignoring you. Maybe if you stopped jacking off, and playing with your Internet friends and man-toys so much, you'd develop the social skills to get a woman, and you wouldn't be inclined to take your hostility toward women out on me. Fuck you and your whole family! I hope your house gets swallowed by a sinkhole and all you motherfuckers die.

I'm done here and will NEVER be back. What the fuck use is a message board if people are going to get slammed and insulted for asking questions? This IS why this forum exists in the first place, right? Silly me, I must be mistaken. I thought AnandTech was a RESOURCE, not a boys' backyard clubhouse with a crooked "No Girls Allowed" sign on the door.

 

[alfa147x]

I do read well, you son of a whorish bitch. Just because I'm new at doing something doesn't mean I'm stupid. EVERYONE has to start somewhere. I'm sure you weren't born knowing all you know about computers. So, take your misogynistic bullshit and shove it up your ass, and stop being shitty to me because you're mad at women for ignoring you. Maybe if you stopped jacking off, and playing with your Internet friends and man-toys so much, you'd develop the social skills to get a woman, and you wouldn't be inclined to take your hostility toward women out on me. Fuck you and your whole family! I hope your house gets swallowed by a sinkhole and all you motherfuckers die.

I'm done here and will NEVER be back. What the fuck use is a message board if people are going to get slammed and insulted for asking questions? This IS why this forum exists in the first place, right? Silly me, I must be mistaken. I thought AnandTech was a RESOURCE, not a boys' backyard clubhouse with a crooked "No Girls Allowed" sign on the door.

We have plenty of women here, you're just a sucky one

 

[justinm]

This OP is def not a good forum reader/poster. op, you should find another place to go and do something diffrent like a cooking forum or gardening.

Best line of the thread...

 

[desolate]

lol I love this thread, gave me a great laugh to start off the day

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're not overclocking right, until you smell something burning...

 

[fffblackmage]

Wow. Just wow.

Don't think anyone mentioned it, but the lower clock frequency is probably due to Speedstep. Clock frequencies should be correct when you apply a load to the cpu.

I have noticed that MOST of the heat generated in overclocks (that I have done) seems to be a function of the overclocked speed and not always strictly a voltage effect. The faster you go, the higher your temps even at stock voltage.

P = C * freq. * V^2
Where C is the parasitic capacitance, P is power consumption and V is voltage.

That's if I remember that correctly... The point is that voltage will affect power consumption more than simply increasing the clock frequency. Higher power consumption = higher heat output.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Lolololol.

I was going to help him out when he made this thread until he stated (immediately) going off on people.

Love it!

 

[EarthBoy]

LMAO, classic premenstrual syndrome.

 

[Lean L]

*gets laid* ahhh

what was this thread about?

 

[COPOHawk]

This thread is very entertaining...

Here are my questions for the OP...

1. Why was there about a nine week gap between the last response...and you resurrecting this thread by talking smack?

2. Anandtech is a fantastic resource for those who can learn to: search...and ask nicely.

3. Even though I have never posted to this thread before...I am also prone to wild thoughts regarding misogynistic bullshit...so says my girlfriend

4. Since you have had nine (9) weeks to troubleshoot this...did you ever solve the issue?