P4P800-E overclocking problems

[WorkingSux]

I dunno whats wrong but I cant seem to overclock at all. If I choose a 5% overclock in the bios, my system will bluescreen after awhile. And that is when its just sitting there doing nothing! I would goto manual mode but I don't have a clue what to set to try overclocking. I'm not looking for some great speeds, I just wanna see if I can get a little more out of my setup. Been trying just to get 2.8 but can't even do that. Shouldn't I be able to with stock cooling and the hardware I got?? I'm a newbie when it comes to overclocking. I have tried overclocking in the past (with other systems) and NEVER have been successfull so I'm about to give up.

My cpu when idle runs around 95F and it hits 115F when under a load. Might be a few degrees higher since my temp display seems to be off some.

Anyways, what am I doing wrong? What exactly should I be changing to overclock? Asus has a windows based overclocking program but I can't use that because sometimes upon bootup my system locks up with it. Doesn't matter if I'm trying to overclock using it or not. Just trying to run the program sometimes makes my system unstable so I deleted it and will not reinstall it.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[CellBlock]

Lately, someone wrote an article about how mobo companies' "Smart OC'ing" isn't all that smart at all.

I would recommend setting everything to manual and tweaking it yourself. It could be that your memory is limiting your speeds. That happened to me. I used a FSB: DRAM ratio to keep the memory at the same speed until I got faster memory.

If you know what you're doing, don't let the computer do it for you.



EDIT: Whoops, just actually read your post instead of skimming it.

The things you'll want to change are your CPU's external clock and, if necessary, your VCore. Your clock speed will be whatever you set the external clock at times your CPU's multiplier.

 

[WorkingSux]

I don't see an area where I can set the fsb:dram ratio. When I goto manual heres what I get:

Cpu ext freq (set at 133)
Dram freq (set at 266mhz)
agp/pci freq (66.66/33.33, 72.73/36.36, 80.00/40.00, auto)
cpu vcore
ddr reference voltage
agp vddq voltage

I have been trying to overclock by just using the cpu ext freq but that don't seem to work very well. Hence I can't even get a 200mhz oc. I think the stock p4 voltage is 1.55 but not 100% sure. I'll be getting some faster ram sometime in the future but not at the moment. I checked a few other areas in the bios and can't find what you mentioned for the ram.

 

[CellBlock]

Yes, sorry. I was thinking of my old Abit board.

The P4P800-E doesn't have the ratio as a setting, it just figures it out based on your numbers for the clock and the ram speed.

One thing to check when you overclock is to make sure that your AGP/PCI bus is locked at 66.66/33.33. If you AGP/PCI bus is off, it can mess with stability.

The info I know off the top of my head isn't great. There's probably some good stuff around here in the forums. I would try locking the memory at DDR 266 and and see what happens (if you already haven't).

Otherwise, I'm not sure.

 

[BigTaf]

DDR Frequency is what to adjust

400 = 1:1
320 = 5:4
266 = 3:2

they just dont call it a memory ratio

 

[WorkingSux]

Thanks for the tips so far. Ram is still rather high right now so I'm going to wait it out. From what I been reading online, its best to stay away from "value ram" and to get ram with less than c3. My hyperx is c2.5. Some ram sticks are coming with a heatspreader, wonder if those are the ones to get or isn't that needed?

I'm slowly oc my system. Right now heres my setting.

cpu ext freq= 135
dram 266mhz
agp/pci 66.66/33.33
cpu vcore 1.5625

I have no idea what i'm doing messing around with the vcore. I just up'ed it for the heck of it I guess. The dram freq only has a selection of 266, 333, auto. So i'll leave it at 266 and leave the agp/pci at what its at now. Everyday or so I'll bump the cpu ext freq up 1. I don't run any stress testing. I just go about the everyday use of the computer and if it holds up then its stable enough for me. Playing a few games the temp seems to be the same still.

It's at 2.7ghz now. Not really considered an oc I guess but I'm trying.

 

[WorkingSux]

Well I ended up getting in on a good deal for some ocz "value" ram. It was a package of 2 512mb pc3200 sticks. Tossed them in and removed the hyperx chip. I have been slowly increasing the ext freq. Heres what I'm at currently:

cpu ext freq= 148
dram= 333
agp/pci 66.66/33.33
cpu vcore 1.5625

So my 2.6 is now at 2.9 and hopefully still will let me go higher. Since we got our a/c fixed, the temps have been a little cooler. Cpu runs at approx 90f at idle and 105f at load. Everyday or so I bump up the ext freq 1 or 2. Then go about my normal pc usage to see if I get any problems. Thats how I test the stability of the pc. I suppose I could run a bench/stress test program but I don't know where to get a good one at.

I have bumped into 1 problem. For some reason the bios still only shows 266/333/auto as choices I can set for the ram. Would I need a 800mhz bus cpu for that to change? I set it to "auto" and my bios just gets corrupted. So I leave it at 333. Maybe its cause the bios can't "automatically" set the speed properly when overclocking perhaps?

I'm also in the process of getting some new hdd's. Going to be running a raid-1 for sure, maybe a raid 0+1 configuration. All thats left is a new cpu (h/t and 800mhz bus) and a new video card. But I think the video card will not be anytime soon unless i can find a killer deal cause the good ones are way to pricey.