Noob OC'ng a e6400

[ImAgainstIt]

I've read the sticky and I am still clueless, and before you post or anything, I know this is obsolete and outdated hardware, please don't post saying so , but what is the best I can get out of this ? I've used the bios auto overclock thing and i can get to 10%, after than the pc boots up black, my cooling is more than suffice.

I have a C2D e6400 (2.1ghz), Kingston Ram PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz
CPU-z for ram is -
Frequency 332.5MHz
FSBRAM 4:5
CAS # Latency 5.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# delay 5 clocks
RAS# precharge 5 clocks
Cycle Time (Tras) 15 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 21 clocks
Motherboard is P5LD2-VM

links to hardware -
memory http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX10790(ME).aspx
motherboard http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131545
cpu http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?manufacture=Intel&sku=19143&vpn=BX80557E6400

 

[ImAgainstIt]

bios pics taken with my cell phone.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

the one golden rule you will constantly see all of us preach in here...

NEVER USE AUTO SETTINGS WITH CPU VOLTAGES.. EVER!

cant say that enough times.. you will break something if the board does not have a limitation set on the auto settings.. it will just keep raising the voltages until it becomes stable or something dies..

first of all the cpu should easily do 3.2ghz roughly.. i cant remember the exact numbers...
second.. do some googling for e6400 reviews.. look at the overclocking section of those reviews and write down the numbers you find..
third now compare all those numbers with each other.. look at what you think your system would be capable of reaching..
fourth.. decide on what you want to try to reach.. and work your way up to that SLOWLY.. do not just say.. well they got it to do 3.2ghz @ 1.4v at what ever FSB then i can do it first try.. because all you will do is give your self a headache..
now that we got that clear..

start at stock and work your way up 10mhz at a time on the FSB.. until the system will no longer boot into windows.. then drop it 10mhz.. leave it at the stock voltage.. what ever its suppose to be.. i dont know the exact number off the top of my head.. but coretemp should show what the cpu VID is.. the CPU vid is the default voltage it uses.. so set it to that unless you already know what it is.. once you finally reach a spot where it no longer becomes stable drop it 10mhz and do a quick stability test with p95.. if all goes well then go back to your bios and raise the voltage up a little and keep working your way up w/ the fsb and voltage til you get to an overclock you like.. also while doing this you might want to set the dram frequency as low as you can to keep it out of variable when overclocking..

trial and error process.. but its the easiest way to learn.. just slapping numbers in and hoping it works doesnt help you learn anything.. so enjoy.. and do some research on the cpu before you start overclocking the correct way..

 

[ImAgainstIt]

Cool thanks for the reply, I changed it from auto to around 1.3750, I could only get it upto 280 then it wouldn't start up at all, do I need to change the voltage or anything? my bios is really basic - here are all the options I have

Dram options auto
ddr2-450Mhz
ddr2-600Mhz
ddr2-750Mhz

Pci express frequency 90-150
Pci clock synchronization to pci express / fixed 33.3 mhz / fixed 36.3 mhz /fixed 40.0

Memory voltage auto / 1.812v / 1.904v

Mch chipset voltage auto / 1.50v / 1.6v / 1.7v


do I need to change any of those ? With google I found people getting atleast 3.2 on stock and 3.6 on aftermarket coolers, Im hoping to make 3.2 but I just gotta figure out how.

Also, do I need to change any settings with my ram ? like more power and etc ? i can't find any options that allow me to gradually increase it

here is another pic, do i need to chang anything here?

Thanks alot for all the help

 

[sirmonkey1985]

ahh you know what i just noticed after looking at the original post with your ddr2 667 your memory limited.. you can try ddr2 450 though im not sure if its setting it to 450mhz DDR2 or 450(900mhz DDR2)..

but try that.. then see if its stable over 280mhz fsb..

also disable enhanced C1 control for now.. and disable speedstep also..

leave the pci express frequency on auto or 100mhz which ever option it gives you..

and leave what ever MCH and memory are set that.. they should be fine..

 

[ImAgainstIt]

ahh you know what i just noticed after looking at the original post with your ddr2 667 your memory limited.. you can try ddr2 450 though im not sure if its setting it to 450mhz DDR2 or 450(900mhz DDR2)..

but try that.. then see if its stable over 280mhz fsb..

also disable enhanced C1 control for now.. and disable speedstep also..

leave the pci express frequency on auto or 100mhz which ever option it gives you..

and leave what ever MCH and memory are set that.. they should be fine..

alright ah thanks alot, some questions though. how does ram effect ocing? and how does speed effect it? will there be any disaedvantage from slowing the ram down. and is the ram stopping it at 280?

 

[ImAgainstIt]

ahhh ok i did it!, i was able to put the FSB to 333MHz, max my 667Mhz (667/2=333) could take, I'm running now @ 2.66GHz from 2.13 and I also have the Vcore set to run @ 1.2750, MB on idle is 30C, CPU is around 35C on idle, not to high above ambient.

However the main concern I do have is that I had to put the PCI Express Frequency to 112, Any less and it would have not POSTed. Can I do ANY damage with it running at that? the sticky does say

PCI Express Frequency – Set this to 100 MHz. If you don’t, I believe the PCIe bus speed will increase proportionally with your FSB which is something you DON’T want to do to your expensive video board.

Without upping it, I was not able to post at all, everything else is set to auto. The only thing holding me back now is my budget ram.

Thank you everyone!

 

[sirmonkey1985]

for the post above your last one... yes ran can limit how far you can overclock.. because as you raise your fsb your memory goes up as well.. honestly i think you should just buy some new ram.. either 800mhz or 1066.. it will give you much more headroom for overclocking.. and try to stay away from the generic crap..

as for the second post.. you shouldnt be using any auto profiles or anything.. you should have it on manual overclock.. then set the cpu voltages and cpu fsb and memory timing..
as for those memory timings it sounds like you need to upgrade your memory.. you will notice a bigger performance gain going from 667 to 1066..


*edit* ok i did some research on your board..

im just going to leave what i last said because it should still be said either way but some of the information has changed..

first i see the board only supports 667.. now that doesnt mean you cant run ddr2 800.. it just means that you cant run the rated 800mhz speed.. when you first boot up it will read it as ddr2 667.. but what this will allow is more headroom for overclocking.. second it will only support up to 1.9v so that means your limited to ddr2 800 that only runs at 1.9v or lower..

second i looked through some other information.. and it seems you have to raise the pci express frequency as you overclock.. so 15% would be 105mhz, 20% 110mhz but you need to lock the pci-e bus to 33mhz..

this board is not a great overclocker.. but i dont see why you cant get a 20-30% overclock on this cpu with this board..

if you were to get ddr2 800 it would probably have to be something along the lines of these modules..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...47 1052108080 1052416064 1259916374&name=1.9V

but honestly if your going to spend the money.. id say get a new motherboard and memory.. so you can run 1066 and get better overclocks.. also allowing you to upgrade your cpu later on to quad core if you wanted..

 

[ImAgainstIt]

Hey sirmonkey, I just edited that post. and yeah I definetly agree with the new ram, but I don't know if this motherboard could take that much, I'll look into it. and yeah, this is generic crap.

I put the memory timing on Auto, the other option was 666MHz, which is pretty much the same, don't remember the ones after that, but they were much higher.

edit also, will having my PCI-e Synch set to fixed @ 33.3 MHz instead of auto be bad ? what about the PCI express frequency?

 

[sirmonkey1985]

i edited my last post .. so take a look at that..

 

[cheezeit]

I also have an e6400 and was able to push it up to 3.4 ghz. From what I know around the time the chip was popular, getting 3.0 ghz- 3.2 ghz range should be no problem for any e6400, simple as bumping the FSB to 400.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

to bad for this board thats not possible cheezeit.. i think the best hes looking at is maybe 2.5ghz some where in that range..

Hey sirmonkey, I just edited that post. and yeah I definetly agree with the new ram, but I don't know if this motherboard could take that much, I'll look into it. and yeah, this is generic crap.

I put the memory timing on Auto, the other option was 666MHz, which is pretty much the same, don't remember the ones after that, but they were much higher.

edit also, will having my PCI-e Synch set to fixed @ 33.3 MHz instead of auto be bad ? what about the PCI express frequency?

btw i believe the speeds you are seeing for the memory.. eg. 450mhz 600mhz 667mhz are the actual ddr2 speeds.. so if you wanted you could lower it to ddr2 400mhz or what ever the lowest option is and see if you can keep overclocking..

 

[ImAgainstIt]

for the post above your last one... yes ran can limit how far you can overclock.. because as you raise your fsb your memory goes up as well.. honestly i think you should just buy some new ram.. either 800mhz or 1066.. it will give you much more headroom for overclocking.. and try to stay away from the generic crap..

as for the second post.. you shouldnt be using any auto profiles or anything.. you should have it on manual overclock.. then set the cpu voltages and cpu fsb and memory timing..
as for those memory timings it sounds like you need to upgrade your memory.. you will notice a bigger performance gain going from 667 to 1066..


*edit* ok i did some research on your board..

im just going to leave what i last said because it should still be said either way but some of the information has changed..

first i see the board only supports 667.. now that doesnt mean you cant run ddr2 800.. it just means that you cant run the rated 800mhz speed.. when you first boot up it will read it as ddr2 667.. but what this will allow is more headroom for overclocking.. second it will only support up to 1.9v so that means your limited to ddr2 800 that only runs at 1.9v or lower..

second i looked through some other information.. and it seems you have to raise the pci express frequency as you overclock.. so 15% would be 105mhz, 20% 110mhz but you need to lock the pci-e bus to 33mhz..

this board is not a great overclocker.. but i dont see why you cant get a 20-30% overclock on this cpu with this board..

if you were to get ddr2 800 it would probably have to be something along the lines of these modules..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...47 1052108080 1052416064 1259916374&name=1.9V

but honestly if your going to spend the money.. id say get a new motherboard and memory.. so you can run 1066 and get better overclocks.. also allowing you to upgrade your cpu later on to quad core if you wanted..

Yeah, The OC was only to hold me on for a few more months til I drop some money on a nephalem setup, I don't think I'll buy any more parts for this board, thanks alot for the help with that though. also what exactly does locking the pci-e bus do ? and can the frequency increases be harmful ? are all boards the same or just this one ?

Thanks alot for the help!

I also have an e6400 and was able to push it up to 3.4 ghz. From what I know around the time the chip was popular, getting 3.0 ghz- 3.2 ghz range should be no problem for any e6400, simple as bumping the FSB to 400.

ha wish I could get it to that much

to bad for this board thats not possible cheezeit.. i think the best hes looking at is maybe 2.5ghz some where in that range..




btw i believe the speeds you are seeing for the memory.. eg. 450mhz 600mhz 667mhz are the actual ddr2 speeds.. so if you wanted you could lower it to ddr2 400mhz or what ever the lowest option is and see if you can keep overclocking..

How does ram work like that? like I need higher speed ram to get more headroom, but I can also get more heardroom by lowering it ?


also heres the final product -

edit - aside from rivatuner, what is a reliable temp monitoring program ?

is there any way to know if i am running in too little vcore ? the bios says too much can damage but too little can become unstable, im doing a 12 hours prime95 blend torture test. but yeah. Thanks alot.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

rivatuner on monitors gpu temps not cpu temps.. use real temp to monitor your cpu temps..

by lowering your memory speed it allows you more room to overclock.. your memory speed is dependent on your FSB.. so as your FSB goes up your memory goes up.. by lowering it you are changing the divider/multiplier that it uses to find the correct speed.. this is something you do with slower memory so that you can continue to overclock but keep it within manufacture specs.. memory has a limitation how high it can go.. and this allows you to cheat that..

buy using faster memory on a board that doesnt support it.. say 800mhz.. it will give you 66mhz(133mhz DDR2) more room without having to change the divider.. also you could set it to 1:1 timing.. aka your FSB is set to 400mhz then your memory is set to 400mhz(800mhz DDR2).. its a confusing mess if you dont understand it.. but thats about the easiest way to explain it..

 

[ImAgainstIt]

ah alright then, thanks alot for all the help