E8400, my OC results seem a bit... gimp

Astral Abyss

Astral Abyss

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
3,065
I've got the system listed in my sig running my new E8400. I replaced a Q6600 G0 that ran at 3.2GHz hoping for much higher clock speeds since most of my time is spent playing games that only utilize 2 cores max.


The E8400 is currently running at 3.8GHz (9x423) on my Abit IP35 Pro. Cooled by Thermalright Ultima90 w/120mm Scythe S-Flex (1200rpm)

CPU @ 1.3975v in BIOS. 1.38-1.39 idle / 1.36-1.37v load in CPU-Z.
CPU VTT @ 1.1v
MCH @ 1.44v
ICH @ 1.17v
ICHIO @ 1.65v
CPU GTLREF 0&2 = 63%
CPU GTLREF 1&4 = 63%
(EIST and C1E are disabled)

RealTemp reports 36-38C idle, 58C load (both cores are the same temp), uncalibrated.


- raising the VTT has so far only resulted in BSOD during boot
- I had to raise the ICH/ICHIO to stop iastor from crashing with a BSOD during disc access(running AHCI mode in XP)
- MCH voltage boost allowed me to lower the CPU voltage 1 notch.
- GTLREF I've just been playing with to see if it would make any difference. Negligable so far.


So, what do you guys think? It's a Q808 batch. Should I just be happy with it? Seems like it needs a lot of volts just to get it 3.8GHz stable. I was really hoping to push it to 4+GHz. I don't want to kill the chip with too many volts until more info is available on how much damage it does to these little 45nm dudes, but I'm also not worried if the chip dies after 2 years since it'll be old news to me by then.

Any opinions or suggestions?
 
If you do not want to raise the voltage any higher, then it sounds like you have found the limits of your chip that you are comfortable with. Its fun and all to hit 4GHz, however from your results so far, I would be suprised if you hit 4GHz at any voltage.

Thus brings up the question, can you even tell the difference in games now that you kicked you Q6600 to the curb :D
 
ocellaris said:
Thus brings up the question, can you even tell the difference in games now that you kicked you Q6600 to the curb :D
Click to expand...

A tiny bit. Nothing drastic.

The Q6600 will be spending the rest of its life in my spare computer unless I see a compelling reason to pull it back.


Has anyone had success in raising the CPU VTT voltage to improve stability or allow higher OC?
 
Astral Abyss said:
A tiny bit. Nothing drastic.

The Q6600 will be spending the rest of its life in my spare computer unless I see a compelling reason to pull it back.


Has anyone had success in raising the CPU VTT voltage to improve stability or allow higher OC?
Click to expand...

I've really seen diminishing returns as the chips approach and go over 1.4v. Give it a shot at 1.45v and see how it works out. If you can not break 3.8GHz with that voltage, then you know you are at the limit. Very few people actually manage to toast a CPU, so keep it in mind that trying something a little over 1.4v isn't like sticking dynamite on the CPU or anything.
 
How warm is the northbridge heatsink while under full load? Can you hold your finger to it for longer than a few seconds?
 
JaYp146 said:
How warm is the northbridge heatsink while under full load? Can you hold your finger to it for longer than a few seconds?
Click to expand...

I'll have to test it when I get home from work. According to uGuru my PWM area of the mobo is only getting up to 45C (ran 70C with the quad), so since the northbridge is attached via heatpipes to the PWM transistors' heatsink I'm thinking it should be ok. My Antec spot cool fan is positioned over the RAM and towards the northbridge heatsink which gets some secondary cooling from it.
 
yea give it some more juice. remember, that board has big vdroop. like 0.09v. so when it is set in bios to 1.45v, at idle its only 1.38- 1.39v and at load only 1.36v.
 
Hey tell us did you feel a decent enought jump when you changed from Q6600 to E8400? I will be upgrading soon. Suggest what to buy as you have experienced both. I only play games....
 
If the games you play are only running on 1 or 2 cores you'll get a boost from the faster E8400. I mostly play World of Warcraft, which just recently started supporting 2 cores... and even then it barely uses the 2nd core. So in my case, the E8400, with its 600MHz speed advantage is the better choice. I don't do multitasking when I game because that just slows the game down, even if you're using other cores you'll still be accessing memory and disk subsystems. For what I do, I have no loss of performance going from 4 to 2 cores, but I get a net gain due to 600MHz CPU speed and more cache. Yes, it's noticable, but not huge obviously. It just smooths out some of the dips in performance in my games.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
yea give it some more juice. remember, that board has big vdroop. like 0.09v. so when it is set in bios to 1.45v, at idle its only 1.38- 1.39v and at load only 1.36v.
Click to expand...

I haven't really experienced that big of a drop with th E8400, but I did with the Q6600.
 
rockfella said:
Hey tell us did you feel a decent enought jump when you changed from Q6600 to E8400?
Click to expand...

Astral Abyss said:
A tiny bit. Nothing drastic.
Click to expand...

Non-overclocked, I expect you would see a bit of a difference. If you have the Q6600 overclocked by a decent amount, though, it will bring it up to the point where it makes no practical difference in most games because you're GPU limited.
 
Mithent said:
Non-overclocked, I expect you would see a bit of a difference. If you have the Q6600 overclocked by a decent amount, though, it will bring it up to the point where it makes no practical difference in most games because you're GPU limited.
Click to expand...

I don't really want to turn this into Quad vs Dual. I have both. I know how they perform. They both have their purposes. I've maxed out my Q6600 and now I want to max out my E8400 without killing it.
 
All I can say is welcome to my world dude. I require about 1.4v (actual) idling, which gives about 1.36v load to get to 4.0 - I just run at 3.8GHz 24/7.
 
Maybe I got lucky because my E8400 has been running solidly at 4 GHz for the past 3 months using only 1.325V for the CPU. I've taken it to 4.3 GHz with 1.350V but the CPU temps were too high for my liking with my current cooler. It is 100% stable in Prime 95 (both cores) and Orthos.

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R with 2x2GB of RAM.
 
DougC said:
Maybe I got lucky because my E8400 has been running solidly at 4 GHz for the past 3 months using only 1.325V for the CPU. I've taken it to 4.3 GHz with 1.350V but the CPU temps were too high for my liking with my current cooler. It is 100% stable in Prime 95 (both cores) and Orthos.

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R with 2x2GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Just for a frame of reference, what kind of temps were you getting?
 
At 4 GHz, I see max temps of 52 C running Orthos or Prime, but at 4.3 GHz, I was seeing temps more than 10 degrees higher.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top