The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

@pszczoll

first up m8 good luck with it, dont panic if it hangs or freezes as you can always clear your bios (it will tell you how in the mobo manual) and start again.


have a read thru this before you start.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112648

i dont know your bios well so these are mostly vague setting options but.

the first thing you want to do is turn off all the options in the bios you dont need/use. things like spectrum spread and speed step for a start and anything else you find that you wont use. if your not sure what they are leave them fisrt and ask us or google.

i would go for 3ghz first too, i did , fsb 333 and set your ram to 333 too as it will remove any hassel with dividers. 1.35v should get you there no problem. you might also need to up your nb volts.

 

@pszczoll,

I do know thes ASUS mobos and their various BIOS and features. So feel free to ask or PM.

You have a great system to start out with. To get the best of OC options, update to the latest BIOS (if date box is pre 08 of '06). But v0507 and above will unlock the multiplier down (6 - stock) of most Conroe CPU's and up & dwn on the extreme ed. Get the latest "NON' beta official BIOS (v1101 @ 04-04-07). The last 2 updates add stability above 1333 and better memory control at high FSB. Stock support for Quad Core and 1333 FSB.

333 is a piece of cake on this but a good start for DDR666 @ 1:1. You may expect to hit over 400 nicely but not sure as to some newer rev. of the E6600 I'm told donot OC as well as our older ones. But wish ya luck m8. With the right fine tuning and the PSU you have, FSB500 would be a great goal to try for (450 @ least). Again, the only thing that may hold you back here is the 6600. I can't get mine past FSB495 on the P5B (when I had it).

We're all here to help a new build out.

 

theone:
I assure you Russ, all 2000 or so rpm case fans make noises in thirties of decibels. With regard to your acoustic chamber, professional though it is, I don't know whether testing equipment geared to measuring high volume sounds will be so accurate for lower noise.
The Previously mentioned Nexus case fans are rated at 40CFM, 22dB, 1000rpm. Somewhat lower performance for the same airflow, and a manufacturer would rarely sell their product short. In SPCR's lab, along with the Nexus measuring process, 22dB was the result. According to SPCR, 19dB or so is around the point of inaudibility from 1m, and that Thermaltake was audible from outside the room when the door was closed. Any fan

I've owned that pulls those rpms, no matter which one, has made significant noise. Here's a handy comparison, how's the Freezer 7 pro? That to me is slightly louder than the Thermaltake, and actively irritating at full speed. At 30% fan speed it's silent, but then it should be for the insignificant airflow it pushes.

pszcoll:
Golden rule with overclocking, one at a time, if you're overclocking your GPU(s), CPU etc, do one first, make absolutely certain it's stable, and then carry on. I find GPUs easy to OC, using AtiTool, run the overclock finder. With the core, when it gets to a certain setting it'll probably crash, remember where, and on the reboot put it at the setting below that. With memory, do the same, but at the point where the fluffy cube starts artifacting (pixels that aren't the right colour will appear, yellow for me). ATiTool works on both ATi and nVidia cards, so it's versatile.

With regard to the CPu overclock, you've got plenty of information being thrown at you for that, so let us know how you fare.

 

pszczoll,

all of a sudden you've got an abundance of help. since I know that too much information coming from different sorces can become confusing, I'll step out of the equation.

I do agree with disabling all the unneeded special options. most of them should already be disabled by default.

I also agree it is a good idea while OC'ing the CPU to keep the FSBRAM ratio at 1:1 untill you reach your desired CPU OC. you can try bumping it up when you have reached your target CPU OC. at CPU frequency of 333 the dram frequency at 1:1 will be 667mhz.

I found on a buddys pc with similiar components (E6600, asus P5W DH Deluxe, and corsair XMS2 PC2 6400C4) that at 3.0ghz (CPU frequency 333mhz) the memory performed better OC'ed running at 4:5. good luck with your OC. Mort out.

 

You guys are great with information! I cant wait to get my new mobo sorted so I can start finding out what I can get! Is it worth me getting some pc6400 8mhz ram for the boardas well or just oc my 5300?
What kind of results could I expect from the set up I have now with a new mobo?
p.s. Ive been looking at the ASUS striker extreme -£175 on ebay.....?

 

You'd certainly get better results with PC6400, but with PC5300 as long as its some heard-of brand you would get a reasonable overclock, how much would depend on how good the RAM is.

 

Its Kingston ram?
What about the asus striker, is that a good mobo?
Or are there others I should consider?

 

It's good, but expensive, and by no means the only board you should consider.

 

yeah, good mobo but possibly overkill if not a big time enthusiast. many other good mobo's for less money.

 

I want one thats a bloody good starting point for me to learn with. I dont want to have to be buying another in 6months because I need to upgrade it to go futher. I dont play games on my pc if thats any help, Ive got my 360 for that. Although I do watch films and edit camera footage with my pc which Im looking to take a step futher where me and some friends have a mountainbike dvd being planned.

 

Sam,

It's not geared that way, it's just used for that. Realisticly you can get down below the normal hearings lower threshold of about 16 to 17 db. Other factors start altering things below that point. Vibration and things in particular. A big truck hits a pothole outside and it registers. The equipment gets calibrated about once a week and is extremely accurate. The calibration is done with refrence tones used to adjust the pickups, which are fixed in their positions. Otherwise you couldn't triangulate anything and trace the source of the noise. After a while of doing it you can look at the screen of the oscillascope and see all of the various sounds each bearing and other components makes. From experience you can determine just exactly what's making the extra noise, just by looking at the screen.

One of the things the engineer and I discovered about cooling fans in computers is that they are always louder in the case than out. The size of the holes or openings in grillwork all make a difference. Anything that interferes with the airflow causes more noise. The Thunderblade I have is almost 4db louder in my old black case at 27.8db, so the case you make for 30db is valid. I mean you don't use a fan just hanging in mid air and anything that interferes with the airflow contributes to the noise level. Right now my computer sounds like a whisper compared to when I had the Cooler Master PSU installed. That is as long as I keep the MB temps down. When the stock Intel cooler runs above 2800rpm, it starts to get loud. Keep the room cool and it's very quiet!

Only a few more days and I won't have to consider that anymore as I'll have the new one up and running with the Freezer 7 Pro on it. The P5P800 with the D-940 is going in my old black window case where it should cool a little better as the case fan has almost twice the cfm of the C/M one. I wasn't about to change it and then have to change it back again. I just keep the room cool and there's no problem with either heat or noise.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

The interrupted airflow could indeed cause an increase in noise. Lol turning up my case fan decreases the rpm of my CPU heatsink but increases its noise!

 

TO; tinytom, RE: "Is it worth me getting some pc6400 8mhz ram for the boardas well or just oc my 5300?"

Yes & no, depending if on a budget or not needing serious OC. Today, most PC4300 & 5300 will OC to at least DDR800 w/ 5-5-5-15 timings. I have tested the budget Corsair , Kingston, Geil, and a few other and did just fine. I was very impressed how well the less expensive PQI 4300 did on only 2.2v to DDR800. I myself have good old Corsair TWIN2X-5400UL C3 DDR667 stock 3-3-3-8 and it can hit DDR1000 with some good tweeking. But if you have the money then the newer Corsair DDR800 @ 3-4-3-9 (PC6400C3) would be great, room to OC.

As for the Striker, an nVidia nForce 680i, well that's the one I'm looking into but nobody on here has it yet to reply on. However, it is a high end gaming board, geard at the hard core gamers & OC'r. How well an OC'r, wish I knew myself. Might just have to go get my own and test. It has way more then needed for the average OC'r and most nVidia chipsets are mostly overwelmed with settings even most of us here will nerver change. Lol! My experience, I have not had as high or stable of an OC on my prior nF590i & older nF4 for Intel Ed. If you want high & stable, go for Intel !975X (any ASUS will do by now) or if for a little less but some new features, go with budget !965 (the P5B). Since you don't game the ATI Crossfire v/s nVidia SLI should not matter. The Striker is aimed toward Dual 16x SLI (nVidia). I found a single high end nVidia in the !975 will out perform most low - med end SLI sets.

But don't let us talk you out of anything. I'm not a gamer either but really love the cool features of the Striker as it is based off my AM2 version (CROSSHAIR) with lots of cool stuf to play with. You can't go wrong with an ASUS as far as upgrading goes.

 

NuckNfuts,

I'm not 100% certain but I think DocTY may have one.

Best Regards,
theone

 

TO; theonejrs,

I heard that but not sure if he ever posted on this tread. Is he the TV media tread guy user, kivory666? I never got a reply or PM from anybody using this board. If you know of and chat dirrectly, pleas pass on the request.

Thanx!

 

How about this guys, can those of us overclocking an Intel Edition nVidia chipset based mobo share some result and their experience with it? I have plenty of feedback if interest, but would like to hear your so others reading can maybe make a more educated pick of the litter out there.

 

NuckNfuts,
Taken care of!

Russ

 

If I were you I'd also consider waiting for the release of the X35 chipset version boards, Gigabyte is about to release the first one V.Soon.

 

I have an EVGA 680i board don't get it if you are using dual core chips it doesn't like them
loves the core duo chips is that strange or what?
had all sorts of hassles with the dual core 3.4 all sorts of strange annoying things like caps lock going on but the light not showing
and numlock also grrrr and EVGA were worse than unhelpful
but only a few more months and i'm upgrading again back to the asus boards
my son is getting the striker, but we don't overclock ours just upgrade and pass the old ones on mostly to the kids

 

I'm almost certain DocTY aka kivory666 has the EVGA 680i mobo. not a striker.