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E8400 Overclocking Noob

Set multi (CPU Ratio) to 9, set voltage to VID and make sure the RAM is running 1:1 (lowest setting). And run memtest. Also, what cooler are you running and what kind of temps are you seeing?
 
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Here some things you can do.

Turn off
C1E/Speedstep function
EIST if your going higher (it helps, I've experimented with the E5,7 and 8""" range)

Next up for your overclock
Make sure your RAM ratio is 1:1 as already mentioned, this lessens the chances of RAM bottlenecking at high speeds when +overclocking
Set the CPU ratio to the max aval.
Increase voltage 1 increase up from the default voltage its sitting on, and if it still crashes +1 for RAM voltage, no need to increase voltage for MCH at this stage.

When your doing Large FFT stress testing, and when it crashes, the only reason for this, is vdroop, high temperatures or incorrect RAM settings.

Make sure when under load at stock settings, your temps don't go over 65'C
Your RAM is capable running at high speeds or tight timings when overclocked either stock or with added voltage
Have a feel at your FSB heatsink, if its burning, add a small 6cm fan or any other fan blowing air onto it.

Use OCCT 3.x and stresstest it 30 mins - 40 mins using both small and large FFT's
Next up is do 8 runs using option 1 (Max memory aval) in Intel Burn Test (Linpack testing program)
 
maleficarus said:
You gained 5 FPS by OC the crap out of your E8400. Is it really worth 5 fps? lol
Click to expand...
going from 42-47 is pretty decent with just a single gtx285 plus his minimums went up significantly. you probably didnt even see that before you made your trollish comment.
 
maleficarus said:
You gained 5 FPS by OC the crap out of your E8400. Is it really worth 5 fps? lol
Click to expand...

He is also not "OC the crap" out of his chip, 600MHz is nothing, when he hits 4.2GHz, that's a bit closer to "OCing the crap" out of the chip.
 
I didnt notice the mins just the average my bad....Still though, I still do not think a 5 fps "average" is worth all the frustration and extra colling and pissing around at the end of the day.
 
maleficarus said:
I didnt notice the mins just the average my bad....Still though, I still do not think a 5 fps "average" is worth all the frustration and extra colling and pissing around at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

Then you don't understand what makes a game playable, which is the min frame rate, if it drops the game can become unplayable really fast, and yet you can still have really good or even high average frame rates. he is seeing over an 11FPS jump in frame rates with just a 600MHz OC, that's a very large jump for a very lite OC.
 
maleficarus said:
I didnt notice the mins just the average my bad....Still though, I still do not think a 5 fps "average" is worth all the frustration and extra colling and pissing around at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

Extra frustration? It didn't take me very long to take my chip straight to 4ghz and have it stable and it's been sitting there at that speed for almost a year on a $30 air cooler in a mediocre case.
 
You're gonna love that chaip if you already don't. Mines at 3.8ghz and I barely know what I'm doing. I want at least 4ghz soon!
 
i put mine in and immediately got 3.8GHz with my first ... test validated it at 4.35GHz but run at 4GHz easy
 
Skakruk said:
what's the stock voltage for the e8400? the intel site gives a range, not a set figure, and my mobo just says 'auto' without telling you what the voltage is. CPU-z says the voltage is changing all the time, but I don't have speedstep or anything on. I'm confused???
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The "stock" voltage is different for every chip, the default voltage for your chip is called "VID". Which should be what it's set to after to take the setting off of "auto", it will also be shown in Core Temp.
 
Doesn't your Intel processor packaging box say its batch, make, date and voltage on a sticker somewhere? I know my E5300 box does. Also, you can go into PC Health into your BIOS, with all the temperatures and voltages and fan speeds. And locate a Vcore, the number next to it, is your cpu's voltage its running, or stock, depending if you have adjusted it or not.
 
Following this template, what settings do have currently? (I took it out of a P5Q Deluxe thread)

Code: 
[U]Jumper Free Configuration Settings[/U]
AI Overclock tuner: 
CPU Ratio Setting: 
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 
FSB Frequency: 
PCI-E Frequency: 
DRAM Frequency: 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: 
DRAM Timing Control: 

[U]1st Information :[/U]

CAS# Latency: 
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 
RAS# to RAS# Delay :
Row Refresh Cycle Time: 
Write Recovery Time:
Read to Precharge Time: 

[U]2nd Information :[/U]

READ to WRITE Delay (S/D): 
Write to Read Delay (S): 
WRITE to READ Delay (D): 
READ to READ Delay (S): 
READ to READ Delay (D): 
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S): 
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D): 
[U]
3rd Information :[/U]

WRITE to PRE Delay: 
READ to PRE Delay: 
PRE to PRE Delay: 
ALL PRE to ACT Delay: 
ALL PRE to REF Delay: 
DRAM Static Read Control: 
DRAM Read Training: 
MEM. OC Charger: 
AI Clock Twister: 
AI Transaction Booster: 
Common Performance Level []
Pull-In of CHA PH1: 
Pull-In of CHA PH2: 
Pull-In of CHA PH3: 
Pull-In of CHA PH4: 
Pull-In of CHB PH1: 
Pull-In of CHB PH2: 
Pull-In of CHB PH3: 
Pull-In of CHB PH4: 

CPU Voltage: 
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2):
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): 
CPU PLL Voltage: 
FSB Termination Voltage: 
DRAM Voltage: 
NB Voltage: 
NB GTL Reference: 
SBridge Voltage: 
PCIE SATA Voltage: 

Load Line Calibration: 
CPU Spread Spectrum: 
PCIE Spread Spectrum: 
CPU Clock Skew : 
NB Clock Skew : 

[U]Advance CPU Settings[/U]
CPU Ratio Setting: 
CPU VID: 
C1E Suppport: 
Max CPUID Value Limit: 
Intel® Virtualization Tech: 
Vanderpool Technology: 
CPU TM Function: 
Execute Disable Bit:
 
Skakruk said:
OK, I think it's 1.2250v by default.

I set that manually, and then started to gradually increase it. At first it was less stable that it was on the auto setting, but it was getting better as the voltage was raised. However, Prime95 was still giving me errors at 1.2900v. WTF?
Click to expand...

Shoot for 1.3450 or anything within range of these numbers, you should be fine then. Also I think the P5B motherboards had bad vdroop under load. Also are taking in account of your temperatures? Load up Realtemp or Coretemp in the background over Prime95 while stress testing, and observer the temps, for IDLE and under LOAD. Anything over 65'C is critical for a higher overclock.
 
Yes, those temps are good considering its under load too. Have you tried the voltage yet?
 
Skakruk said:
Yes, but Prime 95 still reports H/W failure a few minutes into the Large FTT test.

I set 1.3450v in the BIOS (it rounded it to something close). CPU-Z reports around 1.328.

My load temps were 58/59 at that voltage.

What now? I don't want to raise the voltage anymore - Intel specifies 1.365 max...
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Have you run memtest yet? You don't need to up the voltage anymore, it should not need that for such a small OC, seems like something else is wrong to me. Also, max voltage is 1.4v.

You have your RAM setting at 1:1 (lowest setting) and not auto right? What's your DRAM and NB voltages set to?

Also, what BIOS version do you have?
 
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Have you tried upping the NB and SB voltages 1 notch?

I got an E8600 up to 4 ghz with no effort and minimal voltage increase, but I had to up the nb and sb volts one notch running ram 1:1. Actually on my board running ram over 800mhz was my problem. Are your ram timmings set correctly?
 
Skakruk said:
Yes, I think so... I put it on a CD and booted from it. It brings up a blue screen with a bunch of text on it and some progress bars show. After a few seconds it says 100% and reboots the PC. Does that mean the RAM is OK?
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No, something sounds off. Memtest, depending on ammount of RAM and speed, can take upwards of an hour for a single pass, and most people run about 5 passes, as Memtest is an infinite loop and will not stop until you tell it to. Can you get a photo of the screen? You can try other RAM slots and running only one stick at a time and see if it runs, do you have another set of RAM you can swap in? Are you running it with the OC? If so have you tried it with stock settings?



Skakruk said:
Auto.
Click to expand...

Try setting the NB to 1.26v and RAM to 2.1v.
 
I'm running 444x9 with my ram running at 1066 with a 5:6 ratio. All I had to do was bump up the voltage on my CPU, 1.3 in bios 1.280 in CPU-Z. I could probably lower it but it's stable right now and I don't feel like screwing around.
 
Skakruk said:
What do I do in this screen?

*snipped image*

As you can see, something happens in the upper right corner, but it completes in under a minute, then the PC reboots. I've tried running it with and without the overclock, always the same.
Click to expand...

That's because its Memtest86 and not 86+, v3.5 has a bug that makes it crash with 4GB or more of RAM. You can read this in the release notes on their site. Use this instead: http://www.memtest.org/

Skakruk said:
I did that (with the CPU still at 1.3450v), and the large FTT test ran for 19 minutes before reporting H/W error - that's longer than any of the tests before... should I increse those voltages further?

Also, I don't understand this ratio thing... Why is it good to have your RAM at 1:1 ratio?
Click to expand...

I would run memtest first and check the RAM, I would not go over 2.1v for the RAM, I have the P5Q Pro also, and I am running 8GB of RAM and only need 1.26v on the NB. It's good to have the RAM at a 1:1 ratio as there is not a large gain in performance with a higher ratio and it helps rule out the RAM OC as the reason for the failure. Once you get a stable CPU OC you can then go to a higher RAM ratios if you want or can and still be stable.
 
No, with Memtest86+ you can run with as many modules as you want. Theres something not right about this oc. Swap and reseat the RAM modules to another slot and test.

Ok, heres a couple of things to try out, touch the Northbridge heatsink to see if its very hot during IDLE and LOAD periods. If its burning, then you may need additional cooling on it, that aside now, it should most likely to do with something in your BIOS.

Have you turned off Speedstep (or C1E) in the Advanced Chipset or similar tab? Also, make sure the RAM is in 1:1 ratio, but with auto timings. Next up to +1 for Northbridge (MCH) and RAM voltages in your BIOS. Make sure you have no other contact pressure against anywhere on your motherboard or Heatsink or capacitor etc i.e Power cable or auxiliary cables putting pressure against a capacitor or heatsink or anything connected to the motherboard. Next thing is too check if your motherboard is securely intact with the back case, not warping something underneath it, or not screwed in properly etc. This sounds like a power issue, breaking circuitry or whatever meaning you lose some bit of power due to poor connection bounds within the circuit during LOAD that it actually stuffs your computer i.e BSOD's, freezes, automatic and unexpected restarts etc. Have you tried stress testing with another program? Are you using the latest version or last release of Prime95? Try OCCT 3.1 or Orthos2004.
 
An error popup and a result of the crash will pop up on OCCT 3.1 if any errors are encountered.

Funny, because everything works fine on my Win 7 Ultimate 64 Bit.
 
Skakruk said:
Yeah, there must be some data corruption on my ultimate disk. I'll try my home premium.

This overclocking will have to be postponed until I've got it fixed, because right now windows is next to unusable.
Click to expand...

Well, this explains allot, you cant get a stable OC if the OS it self is not stable, I don't know what the deal is with your OS, maybe a bad install, or sectors on the HDD? After checking all that, try running CMD and type "sfc /scannow" without the quotes.
 
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