My e6300 / 680i do not like me - Advice for newbie overclocker

kasel23

n00b
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
8
To start off, I have been doing my research and spent way too many hours this past week doing my best to diagnose these problems and figure it out for myself. I would like to see what help I can get posting my situation, any advice would be much appreciated.

I have built a few computers in the past, but still learning. None have been much for OCing until this one - decided to go all out and build my first SLI/OC machine. Waiting for the 2nd vid card until DX10 compatible prices drop a bit though.

Specs:
Motherboard eVGA 680i SLI w/ latest BIOS(probably a bad choice for first mobo - new tech and plenty of issues needing to be resolved) CPU Conroe 6300 @ 1.86GHz/1.3375V (auto), HSF Arctic Cooler Pro 7 , RAM Corsair XMS2 DDR2 1GB-2x 512 (adding another GB when arrives) 1.9V @ 5 5 5 12, Case RAIDMAX Smilodon (should've gotten better, but this one works for now. decent airflow/space), PS crappy 500W (came with case, upgrading to TT W0106RU 700W when arrives), XFX 7900GS extreme.

The problem I am having with this setup is overclocking and stable temperatures. Currently NVIDIA MonitorView is showing my CPU idling @ 52C. I fixed this problem temporarily and was down to 40C (reseated the HSF , added AC5) but the temperatures have jumped back up. All I have done is attempt to overclock with no luck. I'm at the point that even overclocking it to 2.0GHz, windows loads but locks up before it completes loading my startup. It won't post above 2.3GHz anymore. I have tried changing the voltage (1.2V - 1.4V) with different clocks and doesn't seem to make a difference. I am looking into investing in water cooling in order to cool my system down. My room temp isn't very hot this time of year so that should not have any affect. Have tried opening case and running to test airflow with no temp change. I figure I may have put too much or too little AC5 on the HSF for the temp to go up ~10C in just over a day after applying it. (I am aware I shouldn't have replaced the thermal grease that was originally on the HSF as it is just as good/if not better than AC5 - did not know this at the time unfortunately). So, my questions are this:

Will water cooling drop my CPU temp a bit/ if so, any suggestions for what should be purchased?

Does my 500W crap PS have anything to do with my issues? (One thing that stands out is the fact that I am using a 4-pin 12V power connector to power the mobo when it is supposed to have an 8-pin. Will be fixed when new PS arrives)

Is the motherboard's instability causing the OC problems?

Also, if you have any suggestions for things I should change/upgrade in my configuration please mention them. I am currently doing a tour in Iraq and this is where I have my fun when I'm not busy working. Unfortunately parts take atleast a week to arrive here.

I apologize if any of my questions are dumb - fairly new to this stuff and these forums seem to have a lot of useful help/advice. Thanks for your time.

Added- Today is when I looked at my RAM and on the sticker it says 5-5-5-12 for the timings. I changed it to this and my memory usage stays 50%+ at all times. Before I had it at 5-5-5-15 and it fluctuated. Is this good or bad?
 
kasel23 said:
I fixed this problem temporarily and was down to 40C (reseated the HSF , added AC5) but the temperatures have jumped back up.

You might reset the HS again.

Does my 500W crap PS have anything to do with my issues? (One thing that stands out is the fact that I am using a 4-pin 12V power connector to power the mobo when it is supposed to have an 8-pin. Will be fixed when new PS arrives)

Is the motherboard's instability causing the OC problems?

Yes, if the board is made for 8-pin it needs 8-pin.

I am currently doing a tour in Iraq and this is where I have my fun when I'm not busy working.

Good luck, and be safe.
 
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