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Overclocking advise needed

yenal

n00b
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
5
Hi everyone,

I have the following configuration:

Asus P5Q Pro motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 E0 stepping CPU

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Right now I am at the stock speed. I have two different sets of memory sticks. Would this be a bottleneck in the overclocking? Btw can these memory sticks be stable over 800? I think 400*9.5 wouldn't be much of an overclock. But I don't want to spend anymore money for the memory.
 
4 memory sticks usually reduce the maximum overclock some. Depends on the board. 4 sticks is an increased load on the MCH/Northbridge and it is difficult to keep all the memory signal timings "bang on" with 4 sticks. See what you get with 4 and then yank out the GSkill and see what happens. Once you get that cpu over 3.6GHz you are not going to tell any difference anyway and you time is better spend working on the video card if you are a gamer.
 
Thanks. I already bought an eVGA GTX 280 SSC Edition. Maybe I should stick with the stock speed.
 
Running 4 sticks of RAM is really just an FSB limitation. However, since all of your sticks are rated for 800MHz, you should be able to jack up the FSB to 400MHz easily without running into walls. That would give you 3.8GHz, which should be plenty for whatever you might want to do. I say give it a shot, and if it isn't stable then back down a bit. I wouldn't keep that CPU at stock, but it isn't necessary to try for some crazy overclock either.
 
I did as you say (9.5 x 400 default voltage). Both cores are around 52-54C on 100% load (Prime 95 v2.5 2 threads). System seems stable. I think I should be happy with this. Is the temperature normal for 100% load?
 
That's actually pretty low. Try running 10 passes of IntelBurnTest and see how that works out for you.
 
I did not wait for whole 10 runs but did wait for around 10-15 minutes. Both cores topped at 65 and averaged around 63-64.
 
Those are very good temps for that setup. You're definitely in the clear.
 
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