Getting it stable at 3.2

[sanai79]

Hi. I bought my new computer to overclock but running into a little problem. I'm not an expert on overclocking (last time I tried to overclock was the Celeron 300A - back in the days). Here's my spec:

Core 2 Duo E6400
Thermaltake Big Typhoon CPU Fan
Gigabyte 965P-DS3 /w F7 Bios
OCZ DDR800 Platinum Revision 2
Antec 180 Case
XFX Geforce 7900GT
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Silverstone ST50EF-Plus 500W

My room is relatively warm, as in probably around 85ish F. Without overclocking, CPU temperature reads around 37 idle under Easy Tune5 and SpeedFan (the reading is actually lower than my Motherobard temp.). I cranked it to FSB of 400, memory timing at 4-4-4-15(the setting I got from OCZ website) and set the RAM voltage to 2.1, +1 on FSB voltage and +.1 on MCH Voltage. I set the CPU voltage to 1.3125. When running orthos in blend mode, I get 60 to 62 C on Core Temp and TAT and 49-50C on Speedfan, Easy Tune, and Everest. I get around 8 degree lower on idle. Which tempature is correct? I read somewhere I should kept the tempature under 60C. Should that apply to th Core Temp/TAT tempature or Speedfan, Easy Tunes, Everest? My Orthos crashes on both orthos modes after 50 to 70 min into the test. What can be the problem? I started off at 1.275 voltage and kept raising it by little until I hit 1.3125 and also tried 4-5-4-15 timing. I still seem to crash into about 1 hour into the test(the computer doesn't lock but orthos stops). 3Dmark05 runs find.

Any recommendation on getting the system stable will be appreciated. I just want to run it at 400FSB atleast. What's the next step should I take? I'm running orthos right now at 1.325 voltage, 4-4-4-15 timings, 2.1v for memory, +.1 FSB, +.1 MCH. Temperature right now is 62C on both core on Core Temp, 52C on Speedfan. I have disabled Limit CPUID Max. to 3, C1E, CPU Thermal Monitor, CPU EIST Function.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Arcygenical]

First off, I'd trust TAT with the temp reading... 62 is a limit for temps IMO.


Christ, you've already done EVERYTHING I can think of... What's CPUz say for your RAM speed?

 

[sanai79]

I guess my room was really hot. I left the windows open left and came back.. now Core Temp reads 55C, still running Orthos at 2hr 20 min. I don't exactly understand CPU-Z information. The MEMORY Tabs has the same info as I set in the BIOS. 400MHZ, 1:1 FSBRAM, 4-4-4-15. The SPD tab has 3 sets of number on the TIMING TABLE are:

270MHZ 3-4-4-10, 333MHZ 4-5-5-13, and 400MHZ 5-5-5-15.

What eactly are these numbers? Are these like the default speed for my rams?

Do you think maybe I didn't install the heatsink correctly?

 

[Arcygenical]

Ok, dont go into the Memory Tab, but the one directly to the left of it.

I'm sorry, I'm on my mac system right now so I can't tell you exactly...

It should have some info at the top about your RAM...

Then it should say

Frequency: xxxmhz

and list off all the rest of your Ram timings.

I wanna know what that Frequency box says.

 

[sanai79]

thanks for replying so fast... I assume you mean the tab right of MEMORY, which is SPD.

Here's a screenshot of it.

 

[Cintirich]

nm, answered my own question.

 

[Arcygenical]

Cool a screeny of the "Memory" tab would be awesome too XD

 

[sanai79]

 

[newls1]

Damn, your doing a great job so far, a few things I would do are: If your not stable now with your current voltage setting (1.325) go to 1.355 and try that. You really have to consider having your room a little cooler then 85F . That is pretty warm IMHO. 2nd thing to do is put a 40mm fan on the northbride heatsink, as this will can fix a lot of stability issues. The north bridge gets VERY warm, so look out for that.

 

[sanai79]

Orthos is still going on blend mode after 5 hrs. I guess I just need that extra voltage. I set it at 1.325. Temperature been creeping up again, it's at 59C on both cores. I think it's good for now. I ordered 2 more 120mm case fans and hopefully I can get the system little cooler. I can do it now if I set both the 120mm fan speed on top and back of the antec 180 case to higher speed(current they are at low) but then I can hear the fan noise.

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Carrots]

Heh heh, I'm in South Africa... its now summer over here.
85F (or 29C) is considered pretty descent over here.

 

[sardonic.n7]

Default vcore is variable on C2Ds.

It maxes out at 1.36V under default settings though, so even now, you are technically lower than what stock vcore maxes out as.

That's why it's fine now that you upped vcore.

 

[Arcygenical]

Just for an insight to how stable these Conroe really are...

I live in a small 710sqft loft on the 32nd floor in a Toronto condominium building. It's -2'c out, so when I left for the weekend I closed ALL my doors and windows on... letting all 4 of my dual core machines (old X2 system, Conroe, Powermac G5 and Macbook Pro) fold all weekend.

I came back earlier tonight, and unexpectedly, my room temperature was 38'c. Yes, 104 degrees F. Awesome. I opened all the windows and noticed that my G5 was loading at 88'c, my E6300 at 74'c, my laptop at 101'c (HAHAHA) and my X2 system, sitting at a nice cool 44'c.

Yeah, the X2 crashed and rebooted to desktop (FAH is not installed for startup on that machine)... Yet, my conroe was plugging along happily at 74'c.

 

[sanai79]

i been having alot of fun tweaking my new system.

just curious, when I touch the heatsink on my big typhoon it's barely warm, even at load. Does that just mean the HSF is just doing a great job of dissipating heat or I didn't set it on the motherboard properly. I would hate to re-sit it. The HSF is so big that I can't take if off unless I take the MB out of the case.

I'm also thinking of overclocking my video card. What are the average overclocking in the 7900GTs. I should be receiving my Zalman VF900 tomorrow. I have looked at both ATI Tools and RivaTuner for tweaking. How reliable is the Auto Max Core and Memory feature in ATI Tools? Thanks!