Overclocking the Asus P5E

[Gman15]

Hey guys,please give me pointers on overclocking this board.
Its my first intel mb,so im a little confused.
If i raise the cpu fsb,the ram fsb increases as well,so when i set it back to ddr800 so not to push the ram,it wont post,unless I shutdown and back on again,If i just leave the ram as is,it posts with overclocked ram,which i really dont wanna do,oc my ram.
heres my setup:
Asus P5E(Beachwood x38 chipset)
Asus 8800 gts 320M
Asus 19" lcd(2ms)
Coolermaster 600w Igreen psu
C2D E6600
Zalman 9700 Led cooler
Creative Audigy 4 scard
2x Seagate Sata 2 hardrives
Lite-on Sata dvd writer
Kingston ddr800 HyperX(2x1gig)4-4-4-12
Leadtek tv card
Logitech Momo
Logitech Z5300
MS kb+mouse

Also,I tried setting the ram to 1T,although it shows in bios at 1T,it comes up in Everest as 2T.
Thanks in advance.

[ccperf721p]

The P5E has a glitch when trying to use the 4:5 divider when overclocking, not sure what FSB you are running when trying to set ddr2-800 for memory speed so I can't say for sure if you are running into this.

The board also has some pretty significant voltage drop under load (there are some easy methods of modding this though).
Another thing I noticed with these boards is if you happened to move or bump the heatsinks while installing the board or components it's a good idea to remove the board, and use some Ceramique on the factory cooling arrangement.

Disable C1E , CPUTm, and Speedstep under CPU Config

Set the first 4 timings for your memory, leave the rest on auto. Set your DDR voltage.

Manually set your CPU multiplier, leave the gtl reference settings on auto, (these mainly help quad cores) the other voltages can be left at stock until you get past 400FSB.

As far as overclocking goes, I always try to find out where my memory and motherboard maxes out first, I will set a 6 multi for the CPU, run the memory at 1:1 and start pushing FSB until I find the stopping point, should be around 430 on stock voltages.

After that I will find the Max of the CPU for the voltage I am willing to run using the highest multiplier and setting the memory divider low enough that it doesn't get in the way.

Once you find both it['s easy enough to figure out which multi to set for the CPU and what speed to run the memory at. Once you get that far you can start to dial it in.

If you need any more information or if I wasn't specific enough let me know.

[Gman15]

Thanks ccperf721p,very informative feed back,will mess around tonite.
I had the fsb at 300,it was ok,then tried 315,ok,when i set it to 325,and my ram at 800,not sure wot divider that is,it wouldnt post,but i had the multi at 9x.I will drop it tonite to reach my max fsb then raise multi,will also manually set my ram timings.Another ?,I got the Zalman 9700 led on the cpu,apparently there is a 200 hr burn in period for the paste to settle,should I wait until the 200hrs are up.
Thanks for the brilliant info.

[MUff1N]

Yea what's holding you back is you're overclocking the memory too high. With my memory running async (3:2) set to 800Mhz @ 3.2Ghz my memory was overclocked to 960Mhz which was as fast as it would go!
I'd drop the divider to 4:5 (667) and that will give you more headroom. That's what I did.
If you need more headroom still, drop the memory divider again lower.

You really don't need to wait for the Thermal paste to set totally before you start overclocking, but watch your temps until it's totally set.
And if I'm wrong about any of this, anyone that wants to can jump in and correct me! I've been known to be wrong before...

[Gman15]

Thanks guys.
So now I got my cpu at 3.2 gigs,with Vcore at 1.33,not sure if thats to high.
Cpu fsb is at 400,ram at ddr800,both set with 1:1 divider.
Kingston recommends 2.0 v for memory at 4-4-4-12 at ddr800,but when I set the voltage to that,it goes yellow,so im a bit concerned,should I rather run under 2.0v,will this cause any damage to my ram,if it undervolts,or just cause an unstable overclock.
Cpu temps are at 31 idle and about 45-48 under load with fan on high.

[Samuknow]

Undervolting will not hurt anything. Some people do it just to save power and reduce heat for a silent pc. The worst that could happen is reduced stability. Let your cpu run at that voltage for a bit then try backing it off a little at a time and then torture test. Try to get the lowest stable voltage. Great job BTW...

[Gman15]

Thanks Samuknow.
Only weird thing for me is not knowing what my ram voltage is at,as the bios doesnt show it,neither does Everest,which I rely heavily on.
But for now,ill keep these settings.
Thanks guys.

[MUff1N]

Good job Gman!
Correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but I do believe on most Intel boards that the "default" memory voltage is 1.8v.
So if you are running it at default that's what it should be.
"My" Corsair memory recommends that I use 2.1v for stability @ 4-4-4-12 timings so that's exactly what I have it set to and it is very stable.
Btw, with my current memory divider set to 667Mhz and my FSB set to 334 (334* 10), my memory speed ends up being 834Mhz @ 2.1v...I don't have to overvolt them until I go over 900Mhz.

[ccperf721p]

If the memory calls for 2.0 volts that's a good reference point to start at, it will not hurt the memory to run at it's rated voltage. I wouldn't worry about the board going into the yellow. Why they have this setup in the bios on an overclocking board is beyond me.

Depending on the sticks I am running at the time, I have been known to use 2.4 volts to the memory and they hold up nicely.

[Gman15]

Thanks guys.
This is a very informative forum.
One more question,this board has oc profiles in the bios.
I have 2 profiles in there,one is my gaming profile,the other my movies profile.
Can I damage my components if im running the very quite,non aggressive movie profile,where all settings are set to very passive,then say rebooting after a few hours to load my gaming profile.
Is that a massive jolt to the system,or is it safe to do this.
This scares me the most,as my NF680i didnt seem to like it and eventually died on me,albeit a problematic mb,it just didnt seem to handle the variations well.
Thanks a mil guys.

[Samuknow]

I have run back and forth for benching. Never noticed an issue. I have pushed as hard as it will go and then back to a daily OC. I think it will be fine. As long as there is not a weak component already waiting to fail.

[Gman15]

Ok Samuknow,thanks for the heads up.
Will get back soon,hopefully with a higher overclock.

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by Gman15

Ok Samuknow,thanks for the heads up.
Will get back soon,hopefully with a higher overclock.

You know, once you turn to the darkside of overclocking you never go back...just forward and higher! LOL

If I were you (which of course I'm not) I would find a comfortable OC (one you're happy with on clock speeds and temps) and leave it...
This is what I did with mine and use it for whatever...That way if I want to use if for codec conversion, movies, gaming, etc it's ready to go!

[Samuknow]

Make it beg for mercy.....

[Gman15]

Hey Samuknow.

I know what you mean,hehe,overclocking is addictive.
There are 2 options in Bios I dont understand,AI Twister and Transaction Booster.
What exactly are these and what can it do?

[ccperf721p]

Transaction Booster lowers latencies of the northbridge memory controller, giving a slight performance increase when Relax feild is set to 0. It will give a higher latency if it you set it 1 2 3, which can be helpful once you get past 500FSB.

I can't tell you what AI Twister actually does..

[Samuknow]

X-bit labs - Asus P5E Mainboard Review (page 7)

Try this

[Gman15]

Thanks guys,checked that review,seems as if you got the right gear,500 fsb is possible.One last question,I have been wanting to ask this for years,what does all the voltages mean,like +5,5v standby,+12 v,3.3 v and so on.What does each one control and where can I find out more about it,also what are the minimum and maximum operating voltages.The Zalman 9700 LED is an amazing cooler,just had to say it,my cpu is at 3.2 gigs with a 400fsb,I ran Prime 95 for an hour just to see what temps would be,it never even reached 44 deg,with the fan on its lowest,wow,amazing cooler.

[MUff1N]

The The Zalman 9700 is what I need so I can OC my system to 3.6Ghz...
I had a friend installed an ASUS Silent Knight cooler, but he said the mounting area was So Rough (Bad machining & no polishing) that he had to lap it before he could even mount it on his CPU...

[noob]

The voltages refer to the voltages on your PSU.
They are typically called rails.

Your PSU has several rails, +12V, +5V, +3.3V, -12V, -5V, and +5VSB

Modern Computers typically get most of their power from the 12V. Other devices use the +5 and +3.3V for their power, e.g. DVD drvies, floppy drives, fans, HDD's, etc.

As far as I'm aware the -12V and -5V are more for ground than actual negative voltages (someone else here will know more). +5SB can be used for things like 'w