C2D E8400 first time overclocking...

[vagabond142]

I've read guides upon guides upon guides about how to overclock an E8400, yet I've never really done it before :3 Yes, I am an OC virgin D:

I just installed my brand spanking new Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B, been running Prime95 on CPU 100% load setting for 1.5 hours now, sensors are showing 30/39/40 (CPU housing/CPU 0/CPU 1). Motherboard is steady on at 25-27 C fluctuating.

Here are my specs:

C2D E8400 @ 3.0 GHz (for now )
ASUS P5Q-E
2x2GB OCZ2P8002G DDR2-800 @ 6/6/6/18/46/2T (according to CPU-Z)
OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU
HIS HD6850 1GB Graphics card

I am running 3 (soon to be 2) HDD's, 7200 RPM each

My questions are threefold:

1) What is a safe temperature for the E8400 as a baseline? I've heard 60 C is a good stopping point, just would like additional feedback

2) My system is estimated to draw ~380-400 watts under full load, so 66% PSU usage. Where is a good percentage to stop at? 80%?

3) As my memory isn't really superawesomeoverclockerswetdream memory, what kind of MILD overclock can I use so that it doesn't bottleneck the CPU, if any is needed?


Thanks in advance for any logical, sensible, informative replies

 

[vagabond142]

Okay.... after a little jiggling about, it seems to run on stock voltages and such at 3.6 GHz. Prime95 torture for 50 odd minutes resulted in a good cook up to 55 C, then the temps dropped to ~51-53 avg full load. This should be enough to lift the CPU bottleneck when gaming, eh?

 

[The Tom Bomb]

Read this if you haven't already, lots of great information.

Here's some quick answers:

1. 65 C is what I always practiced as the safe load temp for C2D's.
2. IIRC 60% is the rule of thumb for power draw from your psu.
3. 1:1 fsb:dram ratio is ideal but I think pure GHZ is more important than a 1:1 ratio with the C2D's. I think 1:1 is really only noticable in benchmarks and not real world performance. If your processor has more headroom than you're ram will allow, just drop the divider.