e6400 OC

[kamikazi_tom]

Hello.

I am purchasing a new HSF for my e6400 and I'm thinking that this will give me extra OC headroom, correct?

Can someone tell me if this is a correct assumptio or will it just lower my temsp. Right now me CPU temps are around 38 idle to 45 load, but I can't get past 2.89ghz without a crash. I ran orthos for a day stright and this 2.89 setup is very stable, but I know some people can get more.

Is there something else I can do to get more OC out of my CPU?

Thanks =]

[minsonngo]

Was the crash due to overheating issues? If so... a quality aftermarket HSF can help.

[kamikazi_tom]

I"m not sure, it freezes about 5 seconds after Vista initiates. Like it will be loading up all my programs and such and it freezes.

[minsonngo]

Reboot and go into the BIOS settings and monitor the temperatures for a while. Post your findings here.


If it is not a heat related issue... we can look somewhere else for the cause of you problems.

[Hazaro]

What FSB speeds have you maintained stability at? What is your CPU, RAM, and NB voltages?

[kamikazi_tom]

The highest FSB I can get so far is 1445mhz. My CPU volt is 1.55625. Mem v is at 2.013, 820 mhz. NB is at 1.393.

My ram does not OC very well for some reason, when I put it to like 850 mhz, it usually does the same type of 5 second vista freeze as when i boost my cpu fsb.

Havn't done much with the nb, im not really sure what it does *feels ashamed =[*

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by kamikazi_tom I am purchasing a new HSF for my e6400 and I'm thinking that this will give me extra OC headroom, correct? Can someone tell me if this is a correct assumptio or will it just lower my temsp. Right now me CPU temps are around 38 idle to 45 load,

Those temps are fine and getting a new heatsink won't do anything to improve your overclock.

When overclocking your can't compare your E6400 to what another E6400 will overclock to. Yours may just have hit it's limit while someone else's is just able to do better. That's just how it goes. Maybe yours came from a not-so-favorable location on the wafer it was made from. Or maybe the motherboard is holding you back. Or maybe the power supply isn't providing clean stable power to the system.

Cricket

[kamikazi_tom]

Alright, well to see if this may help, I'll show all of my votages n fsb and you fellas can tell me if you see a problem.

CPU: Volt: 1.55 (have got it up to 1.585 easily) FSB 1445
Mem: 825 (won't go any higher, odd considering its xms2...) volt 2.013
NB: volt1.563
CAS for Ram : 5

I kno a good deal about OCing, such as if you increase the fsb you will need more volt, and the higher your CPU FSB, the higher your memory's fsb should be.

My mobo is an ASUS p5n-e sli with the newest bios revision. I saw in a tutorial someone get an e6400 and this exact motherboard to 3.5 on stock cooling, so I'm kinda disapointed right now =[

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom =\

[flanzig1]

Even 2 systems with the exact same parts will have different levels of stable OC.
Your E6400 may have just made a passing rating to be an E6400 while the next guy may get one that has a high rating for being a E6400.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Wow..1.55v+ for 361 FSB?? You really only need only the slightest increase in voltage for that kind of overclock, and you shouldn't need any NB voltage at all.

Use coretemp to check those temps if you aren't already.

And try to run your memory 1:1 without a divider.

The P5N-E SLi is a nforce 650i, I know 680i did pretty decent with overclocking but I guess the same does not apply to the 650i. Perhaps starting over from stock settings and going by little increments without making immediate changes to voltage might help?

And make sure your PCI-E and PCI buses are locked to 100/33 respectively.

Which XMS2 do you have? If its the 5-5-5 DDR2-800, you should have a bit more headroom. Try raising the voltage to 2.1v for future.

[kamikazi_tom]

Alright, this is what I'm hoping, my novice OC skills are causing bad OC. So what do you think i should have my CPU volt at?

What is 100/33 respecticely for the pci-e: Right now in BIOS I have my PCIE set to 125 (idk what that is =\)

And when you say run memory 1:1, that means run it at 722 mhz, right? Sorry this is my first true attempt ot OCing, so bear with me. And yes I have the XMS2 that is 5-5-5-5-18 with recommended volt at 1.9

Thanks for all the help =]

Tom =]

[Mr.Ferrari]

Each processor is different, can't really say what would be a good voltage, thats for you to test and find out . I would use some sort of stability testing program here.

Set your PCI-E at 100 instead of 125 and your PCI bus to 33mhz if that option is available. The PCI-E bus will usually raise with the FSB of the proc and cause issues unless it is locked.

Yes, try to run with synch'ed with the processor, it will just give you some more headroom is all.

[kamikazi_tom]

After putting the pci e at 100, cpu v at 1.45 (CPU Z told me stock was 1.24), and mem synced, I only got 1450. It freezes after about 7 seconds in Vista, this is what you measn when you say it's "unstable" right? I don't know, but I just feel like I'm doing something wrong, like I'm missing something important. I thought that OC had to do with heat soley, I guess I was very wrong, becuase my CPU temp is 30C ( I installed this gheto honeywell fan dropped me tempts 10 C =]). Ugh, I guess I'm stuck at 2.9, what a disapointment, if only I waited a month for price drops, then I could have gotten an e6600 for the same price.

This is my last cry out to the PCMech gods, any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Tom =[

[Burn]

2gb Corsair XMS2 DDR800

same memory here .. stock voltage is 1.9V ( im still at 1.9V) .

I can't get it higher than 850Mhz 5-5-5-12 .. i played with voltage 2.0 , 2.1 , 2.2 and nada .. 850Mhz maxed ..

[Technology]

Im not sure what the problem is since i have never really overclocked but i hear that that CPU has safely been OCd to 3.6 on stock cooling and voltages so if thats true then 2.89 is rather low

[kamikazi_tom]

Yea, I'm really disapointed. I bought this mobo CPU setup purley on a 3.5GHZ OC I saw from legion hardware. They said they got it to 3.6 easy, I figured with temps like 30IDLE with a 2.28ghz OC, I could get even high, but nothing. It's very fusturating. I just can't win. Oh well, atleast my PC at 2.89GHZ is stilla beast, but I wanted... ehh. a water serpant... or mayby a minitaur. *Sight*

Well if you fellas have any other ideas, lemme know.

And in response for the RAM, I'm really mad about it. XMS2 is supposed to be very very good ram, yet the OC is absolutley terrible. Corsair has truely disapointed me.

Tom =[

[kamikazi_tom]

Ok, I have some good news. I downgraded my BIOS by one version, and now I can get up to 3.4GHZ!

Theres only one catch, It's only stable in Safe mode =[ What does this tell me? Does it say that ,my versi of windows Vista is screwin with my OC?

I don't know, you guys tell me!

Thanks in advance =]

[Mr.Ferrari]

Good job. I would try reinstalling your motherboard and other component drivers to see if that helps. I wouldn't be surprised if vista was at fault here. Perhaps some data corruption.

And remember, just because it acts normal doesn't mean its stable. Run Orthos (via google) or Prime95 for atleast 12 hours to check for full stability.

[kamikazi_tom]

It also freezes in windows Xp =\ (i have a dual boot)
Should I update my 650i SLI chipset driver?

[Mr.Ferrari]

Would be a good start. From there go for the driver reinstalls. Trouble shooting is just a pain involved with overclocking

[kamikazi_tom]

VICTORY!
After many long and agonizing hours, I have finally won the OC battle between me and my e6400. I am curently typing this on my completley stable 3.54GHZ e6400 with idle temps of 40C and Load temps of 53C.
What did the trick for me was a complete clean reinstall of XP, and of course my new Thermaltake TMG1 cooler helped a quite a bit too (And that's without my gehtorigged honeywell deskfan running on it )
I am currently running it at:
CPU:1760fsb Voltage: 1.5
Mem: 840mhz Voltage: 2.1
Northbridge: 1.563

Thanks for all the help fellas. Tom has finally beaten the machine!!!!

[Burn]

I am curently typing this on my completley stable 3.54GHZ e6400 with idle temps of 40C and Load temps of 53C.

the 40 and 53C are the CPU temp right ? what did you use to see that ? so i guess you have disabled the Intel speedstep technology past 1.40v and you always running at 3.54Ghz , im just curious about the actual temp at the cores(not cpu ) when under load.

Download Coretemp at http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/CoreTemp/ and please i would like to know what is the real cores temp under load ... just curious ..

I have tested my rig and stopped at 3.7 Ghz when i realized that i do not need so much power for now ... ill keep the extra power for the future.

[kamikazi_tom]

Alright, I'm at school now, but when I get home I'll let you know.
You got yours up to 3.7GHZ? Wow!
Mine won't even boot after 3.6, any ideas?
Thanks,
Tom

EDIT: Ok I'm home now and Core Temp shows both my cores at 37 on idle, ill check load after I run 3dmark06
Edit x2: The load temps were only 43 per core, it is substantially cooler in Connecticut today too...

[kamikazi_tom]

Alright, after running orthos for a little while my cores got up at it's highest to 69C.

Is this dangerous? This is with it running at 3.5GHZ btw

[Cricket]

That's getting kinda high, but considering the load on them they were working pretty hard and that means more heat will be generated.

I think as long as they stay under 75C they'll be okay. I think they'll fry if they go over 75C...but that shouldn't happen with the thermal protection that's already built into them.

Cricket

[kamikazi_tom]

Thanks Cricket,
I too have found that no matter how hard you attempt to kill these things with sheer voltage or more FSB, they will shut-off before any true damage happens.
Sometimes my system fails in orthos about 6 minutes in, but while doing anything esle on the cumputer is fine, I even tried it with S.T.A.L.K.E.R and there were no problems at all.

Should I be worried that it fails in orthos but not in high performance games

[Mr.Ferrari]

They will protect themselves before damage occurs is correct, but the thermal shutdown will be pretty much last resort. Its definately not good for the longevity of the processor to sustain high temps for a extended amount of time. Just FYI. Keep a close eye on it.

[kamikazi_tom]

Thanks =]
Anoth concern of mine is the northbridge. For anyone that hasn't seen my motherboard, ASUS P5N-E SLI, it has a very large aluminum heatsink on the northbridge, and the southbridge is completley naked.

When I touch the northbridge, I literally get a burn on my hand. I took my old intel stock Heatsinks fan off and kinda lodged it inbetween the new HSF and Videocard so that it blows air onto the Northbridge, but it is still rather hot. According to my ASUS Probe II (Which is garbage to anyone that has never heard of it) my mobo temperature is 40C. So my question to you fellas:

1. Is there something I should do to control the temps of my northbridge?
2. Is the 40C temperature reading comeing from the northbridge, the southbridge, or some unknown place?
3. Should I put a heatsink on my southbridge.

Thanks =]

PS: Thanks for all the help guys, I owe my computer's great OC to you fellas. Couldn;t do it without PCMech Forums!

[Burn]

Alright, after running orthos for a little while my cores got up at it's highest to 69C. Is this dangerous? This is with it running at 3.5GHZ btw

i guess the 69C was made with orthos at 100% load ? well using both cores continuously at 100% while gaming or any other application will never happen , it will fluctuate .. but not a steady 100% ,orthos was made to test it hard ..

I do not know the thermal shutdown , but on conroes chip the cores start to throttle down when they reach 85C to prevent higher temp .. and i tested this .. it is true.

2. Is the 40C temperature reading comeing from the northbridge, the southbridge, or some unknown place?

i can find the source of this info yet .. but the mobo temp is comming from youre naked southbrige.

3. Should I put a heatsink on my southbridge.

at 40C .. not really .. at 48+ C start to think about something..

[Mr.Ferrari]

Nforce chipsets also run hotter then intel's. They will also run perfectly stable at that temperature. Keep it under 50c for comfort though.