Help with OCing my friends system...

[MUff1N]

Here's the deal, he's using an Award bios and since I don't have that on my system I'm not really familiar as to the navigation around the bios for settings.
So if you guys would help him out with this that would be great...

Btw, he is a total NUB to overclocking (not that I'm brilliant by any means) and has never done this before so he's nervous about it but really wants to do it after seeing the performance increase I was able to get with my system...hehe
I already told him that you guys know a lot more than I do & have tested and used a lot more hardware than I ever have!!!
I'm going to try and convince him to register for your forums so that you can communicate to him directly...he goes by the nickname of Shemo & is an admin & clan member of the Absolute Elite Clan. I'll let you know what kind of clock speeds he's looking at getting after he lets me know OK.

Here's his system that he wants to overclock
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6650 2.33Ghz/ 1333 FSB 4ML2 / Zalman 9700 cooler
Mobo: Asus P5N32-E SLI
Memory: G Skill 2x1GB PC2-6400 F2-6400PHU2
Powersupply: Corsair HX62 650w

[ccperf721p]

I'll dig up my notes and post them up, I have about 4 months experience with that board, from air to phase change clocking.

Get hime to register, it will make things much easier.

[MUff1N]

Thanks...Shemo is looking for a 3Ghz overclock & I told him to register for this forum and directed him to this thread...
Thanks for your help!

[Shemo]

Yes, I'm a total OC'ing nub. I'm a network engineer; don't mess with overclocking much. So, I'm trying to get the most out of my money and push the performance on my PC. I know how the components work, I'm just not sure of the voltages for each component and I've never messed with tweaking RAM. I have however OC'd my old P4 and my current 8800GTS before, but they were modest clocks and the Video card clock was never saved and the CPU voltage didn't need to be raised as it was stable to what I pushed it to (not much).

Anyways,
Any help for a nub is greatly appreciated.

-Shemo

[ccperf721p]

Hello Shemo. I'm working from memory here, my notes are at the house but this should get you started.

Make sure you are on a later bios.

Disable

Nvidia GPU Ex
Spread Spectrum Controls (all of them)
Execute Disable Bit
Virtualization Technology
Enhanced Intel Speedstep
Enhanced C1 (C1E)
Legacy USB Support
HPET


As far as voltages go, the CPU should be able to do 3.0 at stock voltage.

You will probably need to raise CPU VTT a notch or two once you get up around 400FSB. Possibly N/B voltage as well.
Memory voltage will stay at the recommended specs from the manufactuer. Run the memory linked at a 1:1 ratio. Set the first 4 memory timings to what the memory is rated for ie. 4 4 4 12 and leave the advanced timings on auto for now. You tune these after the OC is set..

I'll add more to this post as it comes to mind.

[MUff1N]

Good, glad to see you made it here Shemo! These guys are "really good" at overclocking and have far more knowledge than I do about the process!
They are the ones that got me on the right track when overclocking an Intel northbridge system to get more performance out of my system!
Now I'm getting better performance (more throughput) without pushing my system's memory & voltage...

I already know what Shemo's first questions are going to be, because it's what I would ask...
"Do you have a suggestions as to what earlier bios I should download and install?"
And..."What's the best way to flash the bios on this board so I don't have problems during the process?"

[Samuknow]

Welcome to the forums Shemo.....

Good luck with your dive into over clocking. After you get it stable, we can talk about folding.....

[ccperf721p]

Found my settings for an E6300 on my P5N32. I'll list them up and try to give you what I would I feel would be the best for your setup.

Main thing is to go slow, push the FSB up 5 (20 on the P5N32 because of the way the list FSB) at a time then boot and if you are not sure about a setting "auto" will usually be a good starting point.

Getting to 3Ghz will be pretty easy, shouldn't require hardly any work other than setting memory speed and FSB..




AI Tuning................................... – Manual
x Overclock Options........................... – Disabled
x N.O.S Options............................... – Disabled
> System Clocks
> FSB & Memory Config
> Overclocking
> Over Voltage
SLI Broadcast Aperture...................... – Disabled
NVIDIA GPU Ex............................... – Disabled
SLI-Ready Memory............................ – Not Detected


System Clocks

PCIEX16_1 Frequency (MHz).................... – 100
PCIEX16_2 Frequency (MHz).................... - 100
PCIEX16_3 Frequency (MHz).................... - 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, MHz..................... – Auto


FSB & Memory Config

FSB – Memory Clock Mode.................... – Linked
FBS – Memory Rotio......................... – Sync Mode
FSB (QDR), MHz............................. – 2060 -- this will be 1333 to start with go up 20 at a time,then boot into windows for some testing
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz..................... - 2060
x MEM (DDR), Mhz............................. – Linked
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz..................... - 1030


Overclocking

CPU Multiplier.............................. – 7
> Memory Timing Setting
> Spread Spectrum Control
CPU Internal Thermal Control................ – Disabled
Limit CPUID MaxVal.......................... – Disabled
Enhanced C1 (C1E) .......................... – Disabled
Execute Disable Bit......................... – Disabled
Virtualization Technology................... – Disabled
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep™ Tech.............. – Disabled
LDT Frequency............................... - 5x


Memory Timng Setting

tCL (CAS Latency)............................ - 5 set to manufactuers recommended
tRCD......................................... – 5 set to manufactuers recommended

tRP.......................................... - 5 set to manufactuers recommended

tRAS......................................... - 15 set to manufactuers recommended

Command Per Clock (CMD)...................... – 2 clock

** Advanced Memory Settings ** Can be left on auto till about 450FSB my settings are just for reference
tRRD......................................... - 5
tRC.......................................... – 27
tWR.......................................... - 6
tWTR......................................... - 10
tREF......................................... – 2
tRD.......................................... - 12
tRFC......................................... - 58
Async Latency................................ – Auto


Spread Spectrum Control

x CPU Spread Spectrum........................ – Disable
PCIE Spread Spectrum....................... - Disabled
MCP PCIE Spread Spectrum................... - Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum....................... - Disabled
LDT Spread Spectrum........................ – Disabled


Over Voltage

VCore Voltage................................. - 1.47500V
Memory Voltage................................ – 2.275V
1.2V HT Voltage............................... – 1.30V
NB Core Voltage............................... - 1.65V
SB Core Voltage............................... - 1.55V
CPU VTT Voltage............................... - 1.40v
DDRII Controller Ref Voltage.................. – DDR2_Vol/2+20mv
DDRII Channel A Ref Voltage................... – DDR2_Vol/2+20mv
DDRII Channel B Ref Voltage................... – DDR2_Vol/2+20mv

[Shemo]

Well, unfortunately my mobo flatlined on me 2 nights ago, which is good and bad. It's good because it was done before I oc'd the system, but it was hectic. =(

Anyhow, I replaced the Asus p5n32-e sli and the Intel E6550 with:
Asus P5KC
Intel E8400

Now, in cpu-z the cpu core speed keeps jumping from 2.04ghz to 3.02ghz and the multiplier jumps from 6 to 9...any ideas!?!?!

Sorry for anyone who had posted with their help. I still want to OC the system in a few weeks, but now I have some new stuff. =( Again, sorry.

Any ideas of the cpu core speeds and multiplier jumping around, please let me know!

[ccperf721p]

The jumping is caused by C1E being enabled in the bios it is normal behavior that reduces voltage and clock speed when the computer is idle. You can find it under CPU features in the advanced section of the bios. Disable that and Enhanced speedstep.

Edit: Also experienced with the P5K series as well. I have two of them running Q6600's at the moment..

[MUff1N]

Well Crap Shemo, looks like you'll be blowing away my overclock here in short order with the E8400 Wolfdale...I want one of those too!!!

You're gonna love the speeds this CPU gets with ease...
Lower voltages & Temps for higher clock speeds compared to the 6xxxx series.

[Shemo]

Well, I work at Micro Center, so I get good deals

I exchanged my Intel E6550 and picked up the Intel E8400 for $13. (They didn't have anymore E6550, so I had to find something close in price *I paid $177 for the E6550 a few months back*) My work has the Intel E8400 for $189.99, but I think it's for in-store pickup only, so check to see if you're close to 1. microcenter.com

=)

and I bought the Asus P5KC for $151.

So, I'm going to RMA my p5n32-e sli then sell it for about 150-160 to make back what I just put out.

Now, what is better..disabling those 2 settings in the bios or keeping them on?!?!

[ccperf721p]

I always try to leave them enabled to save power when the rig is idle, when you start to overclock turn them off.

[MUff1N]

WOW $13 for an E8400!!! Cant' beat that price...that's almost free!!!
If I were you Shemo with this new setup and processor, I'd go for 3.6Ghz!
This should be extremely easy to do with very little if any voltage increases!

As far as me being able to disable EIST, my mobo says I can do it in the bios (enable/disable) but even after disabling it, it's still on!
So the only way I can turn it off is doing it a funky way using CrystalCPUID & using the MSR Editor. Of course on the next bootup it resets itself back to enabled.
But my system seems to overclock with it on to the speeds I now have it to, and I can't really increase the clocks until I have a better cooling solution for it...
Btw, at 3.2Ghz (ya I clocked it back down to that) I'm within the Specs for voltage on this processor & memory (1.325v / 2.12v) so there's no over volting at all right now.

[Shemo]

Hopefully I didn't piss anyone off by having people help me then not being able to use it...or can I with my new Asus PK5C?

I definitely want to still OC the system, just want to give it a few weeks to settle into it's new home. ^_^

[ccperf721p]

Change happens, don't worry about it. Some of it can be used with the new setup, but the P35 is a much more capable chipset than the nvidia 6 so it's best to start with a clean slate.

[Shemo]

hmn....does the PK5C support sli? I didn't see an SLI bridge in the box?

[ccperf721p]

It does not support SLI, you would need an Nvidia based board for SLI. If you are running a pair of 7900 series cards hacked drivers are available to run SLI, but the second PCI-E slot on the P5K series will run at 4X as that is all the lanes it has available to it.

It will run crossfire with a pair of ATI cards but the second PCI-E slot running at 4x leaves a lot to be desired there as well.

[Shemo]

Well damn, hopefully by the time I get my p5n32-e sli mobo back from Asus, they will have released a bios update to support the E8400. Just incase I wanna go SLI in the future (poor right now. ) Then, I'll sell my current board that's in the PC.

Also, something I've noticed...The E8400 runs at about 40-42C whereas my E6550 only ran at 33-35C...Is this normal temps even with using artic silver 5 and a Zalman 9700?

[MUff1N]

The only thing that I could think of that would make your temps higher would be not applying the thermal paste correctly or there being a gap or bubble somewhere in between the CPU heatspreader & Cooler...I've had to pull the cooler off and do it again before because it didn't seat properly for me before.
I read the instructions to make sure I did it correctly too...
Arctic Silver Incorporated - Arctic Silver 5 Instructions