My first time overclocking! Also, some questions..

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roper512

Limp Gawd
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Apr 27, 2005
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Well, that's not completely true.. The last time I overclocked was back on the good ol' celeron 300a (to 450mhz).. Anyways..

I built a new rig a few days ago (e6600 conroe) with the intentions of getting as good of an OC i could get without too much stress on the system.. So I started to experiment last night..

So being cautious I crept up the mhz slowly, 2.6ghz at first, seemed no problems, 2.8.. no problems.. Anyways, I went all the way up to 3.6ghz sync'ed with memory at 800.. 3.4ghz was flawless but at 3.6 it has just restarted the computer while running prime95. I would assume this indicates not enough voltage?

It was late so I went to sleep, but when I get home today I will try creeping up the voltage a bit more and see what happens..

As far as noob questions I have..

- What's the difference between the cpu core voltage and the cpu FSB voltage? Does one need to get changed more than the other? I assume the core voltage is the important one..

- How much of a difference is there running memory at 5/5/5/12/2T as opposed to 4/4/4/10/1T performance wise? I noticed when at 3.6 I don't know if the memory I have can do 4/4/4/1T at 800.. Or maybe I just didn't give it enough juice..

- How much power do you think is too much for memory and cpu voltage? I think I currently have my cpu voltage set to like 1.45 for 3.6ghz or so, I will probably have to go higher to make it stable if it will become stable at all. Memory voltage was at I think 2.0.. Core temp was around 36 idle and 52

- If I cant keep a 3.6ghz stable overclock, am I getting reduced performance in areas because the memory is not running at it's specified rate? (ddr2-800)

I appreciate all the help, I am a total noob when it comes to overclocking on these new platforms so any advice would be much appreciated..

Here's my setup:

intel e6600 (cooled with thermalright ultra-120 w/ s-flex 1200rpm fan)
eVGA 680i A1 revision
eVGA 8800GTX
2GB (1gb x 2) g.skill DDR2-800
raptor 150gb hd
500gb storage drive
3007fpw
silverstone OP1000 PSU
silverstone TJ-09 case
 
1: Set your RAM to the advertised or manufacturer's recommended settings.

1.55V should be the very maximum for your CPU.

And make sure your Load temperatures are under 70c.

With Dual Core CPU's, you need to use Orthos to test for stability. Same as prime 95, except that orthos loads both cores at once.

Disable all spectrum settings, C1E, Speedstep, Thermal Control and GPU EX.

Set your FSB to 1.4V

RAM to (ABOVE)

CPU Vcore to 1.475V

All other voltages can remain as AUTO.

Test for @ least 1 hour with Orthos (Small TEST)

If it passes, reduce the CPU Voltage to 1.45 or 1.43 and test again.

If it fails, well, feed it a little more voltage, 1.5V or so. Watch your temperatures.
 
Thank you for the reply Orion :)

I took your advice and started tweaking some more stuff in the BIOS..

Got my Vcore to 1.5v
FSB to 1.4v
Ram set to 2.0v (recommended 2.0-2.1v)
all other voltages set to auto

Disabled all spectrum settings

Windows boots fine, and orthos starts to run without a hitch (at 1.5v I'm seeing load temps at around 66c)... Orthos runs for about 6-7 minutes and instead of failing the test, my computer just restarts... Strange.

Could this be not enough voltage or is there something else wrong? Also one thing to mention and I don't know if this would make an impact or not on overclocking to this speed is I did not install the little fan that comes with the motherboard for the built on heatsink because it would have impaired the installation of the ultra-120 heatsink.

I did not try going all the way to 1.55v.. What do you think? Do you think my processor just isn't meant to go 3.6ghz?

Thanks for your help :)
 
Using that little chipset fan is NOT AN OPTION.

YOU HAVE TO USE IT. You can damage your board if you don't use it while overclocking.

Your CPU might do 3.6ghz even with less voltage, but you really need to install that chipset fan... NOW.

See if you have to turn the Ultra 120 to face up instead, not the best orientation, but it might allow you to use the chipset fan.

BTW, The tuniq tower 120 does allow the use of the chipset fan with rear orientation.
 
I have an almost identical setup as roper512 does (see sig), and have been experimenting with overclocking for the first time as well. I did as instructed, increased the CPU voltage to 1.45, FSB to 1.4, and my result is a stable 3.4Ghz (I'm happy with 3.4, and am not trying for 3.6). I then decreased the CPU voltage to 1.4375, and Orthos ran without a glitch. My question is what are some ideal temps? during idle I see 40-42c, and with Orthos I get 64-66c. That's with my fans up all the way.

I do like a silent system, and I gambled a little with the fans turned down to "silent" and the temps went up about to 42-44c idle, and 67-69c with Orthos. So are these acceptable temps for this overclock?

The one other question I have is about the "optional" SB fan. I have it installed, but it is VERY loud at 100%. I prefer to keep it down around 40% to maintain silence. So far the only place I have found to monitor the SB temp is in the BIOS, so I don't know the temps during when in Windows. What kind of risk and I running by overclocking and turning this fan down to 40%?
 
5/5/5/12/2T as opposed to 4/4/4/10/1T

Thats a huge difference as 1T is sending commands every cycle and 2t is every other. Try running your memory at 4/4/4/12 2T if you think its not stable.. Also run memtest86 on it. You can also set it to auto, restart, load everything, then restart again and manually lower it if its stable.

What are you using to monitor temps? TAT? CoreTemp? SpeedFan? Some versions of coretemp/speedfan report the wrong amount.

Also, if you have Nvidia's Network Access Manager (NAM) installed, uninstall it. It was causing my comp to reboot and I thought it was a bad OC. Or turn off the auto-reboot on crash so you can read the BSOD.
 
Okay thank you for letting me know about this.. Is there a chance something has gone wrong with the motherboard already and I do not know bout it? Or will it be obvious if something has gone wrong without that fan on there?

I'd just like to know now before I try and go through all the effort to get it on when there may be something wrong with the board already. Anyway to know?


orion23 said:
Using that little chipset fan is NOT AN OPTION.

YOU HAVE TO USE IT. You can damage your board if you don't use it while overclocking.

Your CPU might do 3.6ghz even with less voltage, but you really need to install that chipset fan... NOW.

See if you have to turn the Ultra 120 to face up instead, not the best orientation, but it might allow you to use the chipset fan.

BTW, The tuniq tower 120 does allow the use of the chipset fan with rear orientation.
Click to expand...
 
Chances are, the board is just fine. Just don't continue to stress it without the fan.

About the 1T and 2T (you or the other guy). This is just a setting under RAM Timings. It is a known problem with the 680i boards that after a certain RAM speed, the 1T ratio cannot be used, so 2T has to be chosen instead. It doesn't make a difference though, just make sure to leave the 1T or 2T setting as AUTO. The board will do what's right.

Also, those orthos temperatures below 70c are fine. Keep in mind that your PC might never be stressed to the levels Orthos takes it, so don't expect the temperatures to even touch 60c during gaming or other tasks.

And about the voltage, if you can lower it a bit more, go for it, try 1.41V for a 3.4ghz overclock. Every CPU is different, some need 1.35V for 3.6ghz, others might need 1.6V for 3.5ghz, and others will not go past 3.4 or so.

You really have to test your own CPU and determine how far it can go and how much voltage it needs!
 
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