Problem with my E8400 CPU on P5W DH Deluxe Mobo

[ddragon625]

I asked for some upgrade advice here a few weeks ago and today all the parts arrived and I successfully made my upgrades. The system booted up on first try without a hitch and my 3KMark06 test rating went from around 5000 to around 12000.

However, I did see a few problems when I ran CPUZ.

Just to make it easier to follow, here's my original system specs and upgrades:

Mobo: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe --> no change
Power Supply: Antec 450W --> Corsair 750W
CPU: E6600 --> E8400
GPU: EVGA 7900GT KO --> EVGA 9800 GTX+
Ram: Corsair 2 X 1 GB DDR2 800 Mhz--> Corsair 2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 Mhz

After my upgrade, CPUZ is giving me the following system specs:

Core Speed: 2.4 Ghz (E8400 is supposed to be 3 Ghz stock and easily overclockable. What's interesting is that the Specifications for the CPU is shown as "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.0 Ghz)

Multiplier: 9.0

Bus Speed: 266.7 Mhz

Rated FSB: 1066.8 Mhz (the E8400 is supposed to be 1333 MhZ and the P5W DH Deluxe Mobo is supposed to support this after I had updated the Bios to 2801. According to the Asus website, they basically overlocked the FSB to 1333Mhz during one of their bios updates).

Memory: DDR2, 4 GB, 333.4Mhz, FSB: Ram is 4:5, 5-5-5-15. (Shouldn't this be 400 Mhz since the ram spec is DDR2 800?)

Does this mean I should be playing around in the Bios to increase my CPU and Ram speed? If so, how should I adjust them? Also, what can I do about the FSB speed?



By the way, according to my SpeedFan readings, My CPU is running very cool at around 30 C so it's definitely not being overworked.

[ddragon625]

Nevermind... upon restart CPUZ is now displaying correct values... 3.0 Ghz and 1333 FSB.

My CPU temp is still running at around 30 C or so. I was thinking of overclocking this a bit to 3.6 Ghz. Is that feasible/a good idea with my Mobo and CPU?

[glc]

Absolutely not. You are already overclocking the chipset considerably just to run that processor at stock speed.

[Khalil]

There is absolutely no reason why one would want to overclock a CPU like the E8400. Overclocking is for folks who need more power out of low end Processors. Otherwise it is just for conversation.
I am against overclocking, the only time one should consider overclocking is if it is on old obsolete hardware they don't care if they are going to lose in the process.
By the way both Intel and AMD have means now to know if the CPU failed due to overclocking and you will not be covered under the warranty if the CPU fails due to OCing it.

[glc]

In this case, the motherboard will go unstable before the CPU.

[ddragon625]

Well, you definitely talked me out of it. I was just considering this because the vast majority of posts I've ever read on the Intel Core 2 Duos say that they are extremely easy to overclock with no downside at all.

[glc]

They are, but I honestly don't know how your motherboard would react to being pushed past 1333. If you were planning on overclocking you should have just played with the original processor.