The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

From what I've seen, the features for overclocking are far better on Asus boards than Gigabytes (why I bought the P5N-E over the GA-965P-DS3) but the implementation, reliability et. al is better with other brands.

 

I'm gonna be putting one through some test beside the E6750. A first go around it already show promising in media transcoding, and other number crunching apps. No big benifit for gaming that I se right off the bat, but that can change if you plan on keeping it on through the next yr end. The E6750 can get a lil more clock wich games seam to like. The Q6600 doesn't like the higher FSB but we'll see what kind of performance I can get out of it.

I'm looking for a P35 chipset mobo to use it on. I have the ASUS P5K Premium to go with but I am open to other offerings if you guys share some feature and experience detais. I'll listen and share as well.

Justto clear up, I'm not an "ASUS fan boi", I just know them cause I've bean using them for so long and get where they're coming from. I also don't know Gigabyte hardly, but just cause I never had one here. So I will not knowck 'em till I try 'em, and that's what I hope to do here soon with their P35 offfering on the top en (their "Flagship") So what model is that and what can be said about it from users?

 

Just likek I was saying. The P5N-E is a mid to budget offering so it will not get the attention to fixes and upgrades as the P5N32-E SLI Premium. I had the earliest version (P5N32-SLI Deluxe) and I wasn't happy with the OC of the D-840 and pickyness with RAM settings. It if anything did great with the new 8 phase PWR and kept a hot OC'd 840 rather cool and stable. This mobo was C2D ready from the get go and also good to 1333 easy and great with some of this new PC8800 stuff OC'd to 1300+. So like I said, if you were patient to wait for the E then the E + Premium, then it may be a different story. But even the E Premium will get revsion upgrades do to new CPUs and RAM so if you had one, I'd use it as is, wait for a good year and RMA it for the newest revision. I did and got a good one finally.

 

NuckNFuts,
I've used and sworn by Asus since the stone age, but I can't ignore my last two experiences with them. The temperature monitoring failed in my P5P800-SE MB and it went back to Asus for repair. First they tried to claim damage to the socket and wanted $40 until I sent them the pictures I took of it as I was packing it up to send back which showed that they were full of it!. Then I was without it for 29 days and when it came back, it still didn't work. They finally replaced the MB which cost another 2 weeks. I spoke to an assistant manager and she personally took it down to shipping and marked it "Must Ship Today"! 9 days later it was finally shipped! with the 2 P5N-Es, I had a lot of people (including myself) question whether I knew what the hell I was doing. Still it cost me 3 weeks of time and over $1300 to get it done in those 3 weeks! For a problem that was of their making! I got the $1300 back but I canceled my plans for a P5N-E build and built the GigaByte instead.

This has by far, been Asus's worst year. They have had massive problems with motherboards that didn't show problems when they were first released. The P5N-E was the worst of them! It still isn't right after more than 7 months! Maybe if Asus didn't have so many eggs in one basket (62 socket 775 models) and went back to what made them the best for a whole lot of years I would feel different. I'm just sorry I didn't give the DS3 a shot sooner, as the almost $200 I spent in shipping and phone calls for the last two motherboards leaves a very bad taste in my mouth! I'm also not pleased that they tried to pull a fast one claiming a damaged socket and nick me for $40! They never even apologized for that little bit of dirty dealing. They couldn't claim foul, as I took a picture of it with the RMA form sitting on the MB, clearly showing both the un-damaged socket and the RMA#!

Newegg got a black eye for shipping used Asus motherboards when in fact, they received them that way. Supposedly they were opened to make sure there were no additional problems, and they still failed! The second P5N-E they sent me was supposed to have been thoroughly tested, yet it failed in less than 4 hours at bone stock speed!

I've moved on and I'm damn glad and happy that I did!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Sam,

I agree the adjustability is better, but the results aren't as good. You, of all people know what I put my DS3 through to give the Hounds what they wanted with the screen shots. I even refused to lower the CPU speed or raise the fan speeds to help it along. If I was willing to go over 1.40v on the vcore, it would be running at 3.396 right now!

I feel that I gave the Hounds everything they asked for and more and proved that it works as I said it did! It didn't crash any of the programs including OCCT, it just did what it was supposed to do, perform!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I am speaking in experience with only the "Flagship" mobos from ASUS, not mid to low end, at least not for intense OC'n. But to the users on here with me running P5WDG2-WS Pro (or 64 Pro), P5WD2, P5W-DH Wi-Fi Deluxe, P5N32-E SLI Premium (nF590i) Older P4C800-E Deluxe I know they each had their quirks when released, so if you can speak up, I can offer my feedback as well. But I found that most issues I had were resolved, and all are still servicing well as daily users at moderate overclocks.

Those lesser chipsets from most makers are entry level and just to get your feet wet, and if you want more you go to the big brother chipset. A few months ago it was and has been for almost 2 yrs, the Intel !975X for the most extreme overclocks.

In my experience with the nVidia SLI, Intel Editons, none of them seam to OC as high as the Str8 Intel chipsets, even the midrange, but mainstream P965's.

nV680i is gona be your best choice if you must have SLI, and is OK for mderate OC's But again, depends on on what version. The full unlocked nV680i is rather expensive today, so most mobos offer a special edition to keep the $$ down till it becomes more affordable (NB, SB, and other integrated chips).

 

I for one am very happy with my asus P5W DH Wi-Fi Deluxe (their flagship at the time I bought it). it has never given me any problems whatsoever since the day it was installed. it did run a little warm but that most likely would never have caused any problems. I just took it upon myself to reseat the NB and SB chipset heatsinks with some AS5 and install a 40x40x20mm fan on both of the chipset heatsinks, which I have slowed down a bit from full speed using speedfan. I am more comfortable with the mobo temp now. it's also a great mobo for OC'ing.

this is off topic but the computer I built for my buddy using an old P4 2.8ghz 533 fsb 478 socket cpu and a gigabyte socket 478 mobo I had laying around. well it worked great for a few days but now it keeps turning right back on when it is turned off in windows or using the power button.

my pc did this same thing a few times a while back and when I got home from work and went to turn it on again nothing happened. turns out it was a defective p/s. it had a hyper type r p/s in it at that time. do you think the brand new cooler master extreme RP-500-PCAR 500 watt p/s that I put in this build for my buddy is causing this problem? I'm open to suggestions. thanks.

 

Mort81,
Has your friend recently installed any new software?
Maybe try doing a system restore back to when it was working ok.
The on/off switch maybe faulty.
Try disconnecting the wires from the on/off switch to the motherboard after the pc is running then shut it down via windows and see if it still reboots.If it doesn't you have a faulty on off switch.

Regards,Crowy.

 

I forgot to mention my AMD builds on the ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe, A8N-SLI Premium, & CROSSHAIR. Again all had their lil' quirks as 1st released but as the months went on, things got better. Althoughin 4 yrs, can't remember much issues w/ the A7N8x and a friend is still using it as OC'd to where I left it4yrs ago. The CROSSHAIR on the otherhand, had lots of lil' things to bug one as during the 1st yr but since newer BIO this past yr was doing a lot better, but then I'm not been big ointo the AMD as the C2D took me away from it for the past 1 yr to datenext month. AMD OC's have always had some sort of finickiness accross many mobo brands. But I feel I have had bout the same or less then many described on the big ones by eVGA & Gigabyte. The only mobo I used then equal or less picky to OC was DFI series for AMD solutions, but then they have always proven themselves rock solid for the AMD side of things where as in y opinion, ASUS has proven best on the Intel side of the fence. Yet Abit tends to just balance a little inbetween.

Oh ya, who here uses any of Abit's "Flagship" mobos for either CPU and chipset? I used or am using the IC7-MAX3, AW8D-MAX, & AW9D-MAX

 

Mort81;

Look into several things, Remember my post on ACPI, well this extends from BIOS to ACPI supportive OS (XP). Is it being used in this way, "sleap", "Hibernate", or w/ USB mouse & keyboard? wake up commands can do this if not set up right or just turned off if not in use. A wireless keyboard & mouse can do this if they get interfearance from other signals. So often it is best to ix mouse to no wake up, allow this device to turn off to save pwr in XP, (this command controls the ACPI BIOS). If anything else, ya, look into spike in the ATX trigger of PSU. or standby amps

 

thanks gents,

I'll look into you're suggestions and let ya know. it'll be a few days before I can look into it. I've got him turning off the power on the back of the p/s right after it initially shuts down in the meantime. thanks again.

 

NuckNFuts,

Back when I was still working and making a very good living and could afford the best, I took on the middle end motherboards because there's a certain sense of accomplishment to "Making a Silk Purse out of a Sow's ear"! LOL I did pretty good with an Asus P4P800-SE (my first OC), an Intel P4 3.0/800. I got it up to 3.86GHz. This MB had an 865-PE chipset. My next one was an Asus P5P800-SE which had a D-940 clocked as high as 3.94GHz. This also had the 865-PE chipset which had been reworked for the Pentium Ds Because of power regulation problems, it ultimately ran at 3.71GHz. Now I have my GA-965P-DS3 v1.3 which runs an E4300 solidly at 3.2GHz. while it will and has run faster, I won't go past 1.40v vcore and this speed needed 1.475V to run properly, so 3.2GHz is where it stays. All had either a Zalman 9500 or an Arctic Freezer as the CPU cooler. I consider all of them successful overclocks.

Could I have done better with a higher dollar MB? Perhaps! I'm not a gamer so for me the fun was getting there, just for the accomplishment. Along the way I learned what happens when you use poor quality power supplies and cheap memory.

I'm very pleased with the performance of the GigaByte MB and what it can do using good quality components. When I bought it it was considered a mid to high end MB, a couple of notches from the top DQ6. today I would still consider it a high quality mid end MB even though it has gotten less expensive than when I bought it. I got lucky and caught a sale (Thanks DocTY) and spent $99 for it when everywhere else was selling it for $129-$139. The only memory I've bought for myself has been Corsair XMS cas3 and the G.Skill cas4 I have in this one. No more cheap, no name memory for me! I bought a Thermaltake 500 watt PS, again on sale with a rebate deal as I've learned that those cheap $25 power supplies I used to buy, cost more in the long run than paying the price for a good PS. I buy Seagate Sata 3.0 drives, Asus DVD-Rom and NEC (Sony/Optiarc) DVD burner optical drives, all in a nice Cooler Master Cavalier case. I'm very pleased with the results. I plan on upgrading the CPU to an Intel 6750 in the not too distant future and it should really rock then. 3.6GHz will be my target. With this MB it should be easy! Given the caliber of the components I chose, I think I've done a good job with it. I'm sure that if I bought the best and more expensive components, it would be slightly better, but like I said, there would be no sense of acomplishment doing that, at least not for me! No real challenge!

I still marvel at how much less it costs today to build a high performance good quality computer than it did back in the late 80s, early 90s just to build a plain Jane computer. It totally blows me away, the performance level computers have today. It used to take me over 3 hours to process a DVD rip with DVDRB/CCE 2 pass on the old P4. On this computer the same job takes just under 45 minutes! Not too bad for the $750 it cost me to build! To each his own!

Mort81,
I would pull the power and reset switch plugs and see if it still does the same thing. If it does, then it's the PS for sure!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Likewise with me, I may not have started early in the PC world, but early enough to know what pains they were, I remember back to when burning a CD took an hour and wasn't a reliable process.

 

Sam you picked the Asus, but don't you regret it now?

EDIT: I'm saying this because I have seen you complain about how it doesn't perform all that well.

 

The asus mobo Sam has is not one of their top end mobos. it uses the nvidia 650i chipset and is notorious for for having problems. any of the upper end asus mobos with the intel 965, 975, or most likely the P35 chipset are a much better option only they don't have the SLI feature. if you want SLI go with the 680i chipset.

asus has always been good to me and if I was going to build a completely new rig I would still go with a top end asus mobo (no 650i chipset) or if I wanted SLI I would go with an asus or EVGA 680i mobo.

 

I was going to get a Asus P5B-E, but I got my gigabyte for 65. It was definitely worth it!

 

I'm open to trying a Gigabyte for my HTPC micro box. I know the P5K-VM will OC a E6750 nice and stable but like I said, for this micro box and ThermalRight XP-120, I realy want to utilize C/P ratio overclock. So I looked into the GIGABYTE GA-G33M-S2H Micro ATX. Who is using any of Gigabytes P series and spacifically a P33 micro wiht in C/P ratio full ACPI modes working. I'd also be open to feedback on a full ATX P35 based version too. for the Q6600 and future 45nm version quad.

Combining C & P state (TM2 + C1E); Allows vcore and ratio multiplier to lower together during low or no CPU load and up during medium to full load.

ACPI (Advance Configuration Power Interface): alows S3 "Sleap" auto into "S4" Hibernate then resumes to last user state.

 

My basic concern is that no stock hardware should become too hot to touch, the chipset certainly does, and whilst the overclocking process is simple, it's incredibly finicky.

 

Mort81,

One of the things I don't understand, you might be able to clear up for me. When the P5N-E was first introduced it was touted as the best thing since sliced bread! Leo LaPort (The Computer Guy on the radio) told his many listeners to buy this MB and an Intel E4300, to get the best bang for the buck! He has since publicly retracted that statement! Why was the P5N-E so good in early Reviews and then all that goodness disappeared! Leo's no fool, and he knows his stuff very well. He wouldn't praise something to the hilt unless it was for real!

Back when I built Gina's computer, P5N-Es were being returned to Asus at an alarming rate! Faster than they could supply replacements! I had to wait a couple of extra days to get the last one they sent because Asus had no more in stock and were awaiting a new shipment! Their own Forum had page after page of complaints of all sorts of problems with that particular model MB.

How could something that had shown itself to be so good in the begining, become so bad almost overnight? It wasn't just Leo! Anandteck, Tom's Hardware, PC World and many other reviewers praised this MB to the hilt! Here it is some 6 months later and it still has problems with which slots you put the memory in! I'll buy the "sub-standard" board level components to a degree, but all this time later and there's still no cure for all the problems?

I ran into the same problem as Sam, seeing as I couldn't get it to run over 3.0GHz. I didn't have the heat issue with the Northbridge like Sam does, and it has remained stable at 3.0 with very low temps! I guess what I want to know is how can something like this happen, and why after all these months haven't all these problems been solved? It worked great initially, so why doesn't it work great now?

I just don't quite buy NuckNFuts answer (no offense intended),

I know that if I put my name on something, my reputation goes with that name! Reputation is everything and is essential to future success in any business! I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Sincerely,
Russ :>)

 

theone,

I have no answer to that question. you for the most part answered it yourself and you are living proof of some of the problems with the 650i chipset.