The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Yep, and if you use 800mhz memory like I do, if I recall correctly you need to use 2.00D.

 

save your money for a bigger GPU. get the E8400/E8500 with the E0 stepping you can acchive the same type OC's minus a couple hundred mhz.

the E8600 is very tempting to me also. i do want one. but realistic the price differnce doesnt add up...$275+ for the E8600 compared to $149-169 for the E8400 EO stepping.

 

thats what i have right now..
so if i sue one of the others it will drop my fsb but keep the higher OC right?

 

Yikes, it's that cheap? The E8400 is as much as the Q6600 here...

Rob: No, it doesn't consider FSB like that, if you have a lower letter (A,B,C) it uses a lower FSB strap, which if lower than the FSB you're using (highly likely since C is the stock strap for an E8400 anyway) could cause you issues. A higher number means the memory gets clocked higher, which will increase bandwidth up to a point, until the memory becomes unstable.

 

IIRC RedRob.. try the 2.0c setting.

...gm

 

i will be getting a 4870 aswell, its going to be a new build, and under water aswell, and the 10 multi is very tempting, sam gimmie a sec, and that was at 4.5 nto 5 GHz.

 

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17915980&highlight=E8600

4ghz on stock pathetic cooler

 

Getting a Dual Core? Umm, I just could not bring myself to do that anymore. Feels too much like downgrading. I have faith in the fact that more games will support Quad cores(along with other programs that I use which already do) making a Dual Core a bad value.

 

you don't use any particular strap and memory multiplier. it all depends on where you have your fsb set at. you use the different straps and memory multipliers to get your memory as close to rated speed as possible at any given fsb.

not to bash gigabyte but that is exactly why I don't like them. asus gives you a choice of 4 fsb straps at any given fsb and then a choice of real memory speed values to choose from. up to as many as 12 real memory speed values at any given fsb, depending on what cpu and memory you are using and where the fsb is set at. requires absolutely zero calculation of memory speed using different fsb straps and multipliers. the available real value memory speed choices are in plain sight.

I'll take a few pics of my bios in regards to different choices of memory speeds to choose from and post em in a bit.

 

fsb strap choices:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/fsbstrapchoices.jpg

200 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/200fsbstrap.jpg

memory speed choices using the 200 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/memoryspeedchoicesusingthe200fsbstr.jpg

266 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/266fsbstrap.jpg

memory speed choices using the 266 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/memoryspeedchoicesusingthe266fsbstr.jpg

333 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/333fsbstrapandwheremineisatnow.jpg

memory speed choices using the 333 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/memoryspeedchoicesusingthe333fsbstr.jpg

400 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/400fsbstrap.jpg

memory speed choices using the 400 fsb strap:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/Mort81/memoryspeedchoicesusingthe400fsbstr.jpg

all these memory speed choices are for a fsb of 444 (where mine is at now). all the memory speed values change in real time as the fsb is raised or lowered. so at any given fsb you have a lot of choices of real memory speed values to choose from. no guess work or figuring of memory speeds at different fsb's. all the real time memory speed values/choices are in plain sight.

as you slowly increase the fsb when OC'ing, you are given all these different memory speeds to choose from which change in real time as the fsb increases. again no guess work or having to figure memory speeds at different fsb's. asus's bios gives you all the choices in plain sight. just pick the value closest to ur memory's rated speed at any given fsb.

now you can understand why I will never own a gigabyte mobo for my own personal performance pc. asus bios's have spoiled me.

 

Mort81,

So why bring it up? They are also in a lower price range so no one should expect it to be equal to a much higher priced motherboard. It's the way they do it! It works! Invariably their mid priced motherboards wind up right there with the big boys in overclocking. They rarely give a poor showing! Witness the 965P-DS3 and the P35-DS3R, both top performers!

People always want to talk about the P5Q Deluxe and what a great motherboard it is, constantly comparing it to others. While it is a great motherboard, I can get the same results for $60 less with an EP45C-DS3R and have DDR3 support to boot. Sure GigaByte trades off certain niceties that the P5Q Deluxe has, that aren't essential, but what they do trade off, is not really going to hurt the overclock. It's what GigaByte does, and they do it rather well and very successfully! So I sit here and ask myself whether I want to spend $199 or $139 to get pretty much the same overclock. The math speaks for itself!

I'm not flaming you or trying to start anything, I'm simply saying that It's a know fact that you don't like Gigabyte's bios just as much as it's a known fact that I dislike the Asus Company! Everybody knows it! Both companies have put up impressive numbers over the last couple of years, and I've even recommended the P5Q Deluxe and the Rampage Formula to people because I feel that they are top notch motherboards. The extra adjustments seem to work pretty good, even on auto! That's the big difference! Gigabyte's equal adjustments are auto controlled as well, you just can't get at them to change them. As Rob is demonstrating, they seem to work very well.

You've asked me to not refer to a certain motherboard, well I'm asking you to give the bios thing a rest as well. I haven't said a single word since you asked me not to, and now I'm asking the same from you with the bios!

Sincerely,
Russ

 

I was merely pointing out that there is no particular fsb strap that needs or has to be used with certain memory modules or cpu's. the fsb straps are there to give you more choices of memory frequencies at any given fsb, thus no need to use the cpu multiplier to get into a different fsb strap like with mobos of the past to achieve a desired memory frequency.

all I was doing was trying to explain and show some members the function and purpose of the different fsb straps and how they relate to memory frequency. I was only trying to help and it just so happens that my bios explains it better than I can. that's all I will say. they can figure it out for themselves or remain confused and never get the full potential out of their memory, whatever. I'm tired of trying to help just to get chastised for having a superior bios.

Russ,

you are and have been a good friend for some time but your pro gigabyte and anti-asus attitude has had a big influence here as far as what brand mobos a lot of members choose to go with. there is nothing wrong with gigabyte especially for those familiar with OC'ing but for the beginners or novice OC'ers, asus has a much more user friendly bios and would most likely suite their needs better at least until they get some experience in the OC dept. they'll never know what they are missing as long as you keep praising your beloved gigabytes. you have a way with words and ppl listen to you.

 

Mort81,

That's why I've been expressing my views on what's good and what's hot, and not brand loyalty. I wasn't being fair! I think both of us were letting our bias's show. Also in fairness and respect for you, I started that whole mess without really intending to. I know I got you angry, and that should have told me something right there! My strong feelings just got away from me. I let my feelings control me instead of me controlling my feelings. Anger has a subtle way of clouding your judgment. You just don't see it, it just sort of sneaks up on you. You go back and read over what you've said in the posts and you realize you've made an ass out of yourself. BTW, Thank you Rob for pointing that out to me! I know from now on when someone asks about a build, my first questions will be, what do you want to do with it and how much do you have to spend! I'll make them a list of various components to choose from without snide comments or brand loyalty, and wait and see what questions they ask first! I reflect back a few months ago when a new member was run off, all because he wanted to build an AMD. Hey, if that's what he wants to build, then why should anybody open their mouth and say it's no otherwise! It's their choice, not ours! Right now the price performance ratio is in AMD's corner, what with the 9850 Black Edition at $174 and the 9950 Black Edition at $179 on Newegg! I hope we can get to see some AMD Quad builds in this thread. It would be nice to be able to learn something really new for a change, and put some of what originally made this one of the best threads on the net, back into it. maybe even learn something! God, those days were fun!

While I'm at it, I might as well throw a rock or two at the thread. One of the big problems here is that some of the members rave about components they don't own. I think it should be a thread rule that If you have no personal experience with said component, then you should have to say that, when giving advice or opinions! Some people here do that already (TYVM). I really think that it's become more a contest around here. I can tell you right now that if a newbie came on and said I need a cooler for my processor, the majority of the posts would say, "TRUE" without even knowing what he's got, or even if it's overclocked! It's getting like a damn race to see who can get their "or" in first, before somebody else! I think the biggest thing that need to be done is we all need to grow up a bit. I'm not referring to the "Young People" either! I mean all of us here, myself included! There are some really smart people here who know their stuff, yet how much do we all miss learning because someone is sniping at someone else. This, and the Building thread were the clsss of the internet at one time, and if we would just do a little more thinking before we post, it could be again!

Sincerely,
Russ

 

People have got Q6600s to over 3Ghz on their stock cooler, and look how much heat they produce. it's down to getting a good binning, no other conditions (4 sticks of RAM, low speed memory being used, improperly greased chipset heatsink etc). What this Q6600 has taught me, finally overclocking properly is that voltages are exponential as you go up in speed. 1.45V is enough for 3.15Ghz, 1.47 for 3.24, 1.50 for 3.31, and so on and so forth, 1.51V at 3.55 doesn't even boot windows, only 240mhz higher than passing a strict burntest. 4Ghz on an E8500, easy peasy, much above 4Ghz and you'll really start to struggle, watercooling, phasecooling, whatever.

As much as it amazes me to say, Abuzar's right about the quads, For a dual core to match the performance boost the Quad is giving me in supported games, it needs to be 85% faster. If we take a rather generous figure of 20% faster clock-for-clock of the E8000 architecture, versus the E4000 series, that means for your gaming rig to run as fast as mine in quad-supported games your CPU needs to be 4.93Ghz, there or there-abouts. Hmm. 'Unlikely' comes to mind. Not to mention the Q6600 is actually cheaper than the E8500/8600 by the looks of things.

Mort: Gigabyte's BIOSes are unquestionably inferior to those of the Rampage for their P35/X38 boards, but IIRC the Rampage is an X48 board. Gigabyte's P45 and X48 BIOSes look a lot better, even if they're not as good as the rampage, an X48-DS4 is £140, the Rampage is £170, that's a significant difference, as much between the two as there is between an X48 and a P45 board.

Ultimately, I actually think people are right, for the most part, to listen to Russ. That's not me being taken by 'his way with words' (though you are right on that one! ), but it's me being subjective. Not all Asus boards are uber-solid, ultra-clockable boards, yours is, and if someone wants the hands down best board out there, I recommend them the Rampage every time, you should hopefully be spotting that. Most of the time however people want a budget balance, which means DS3s, realistically. The P5Qs are all well and good, but they're too new to tell how well they'll stand the test of time. Almost all the P5Ks that came before them did not, whereas almost all the 965P/975X and P35/X38 offerings from gigabyte did. You probably shouldn't judge a new product by what it's predecessors were like, but it hits home, the number of reviews about P5Ks going bad makes me sick.

As for your last post Russ, while I agree with it to an extent, I don't think the situation is quite as bad as you make out, at least I hope it isn't. For example, when someone asks for a cooler I usually ask what they're doing with their CPU first, and recommend them the Freezer 64 Pro or Freezer 7 Pro first, if I find out they're overclocking, silencing, or using a quad, the TRUE reference then appears.

 

sam, actually the P5B's were all very solid boards, and boozer was doing brilliant on his board? (IICR) and my P5K-E has the straps exactly like morts, and took my E2140 over 110% more and only cost me £80. bargin id say.

just saying my experiances with my board, and boozer with his. also my mate with his P5B-E, took his E6600 to 3.6 on an ACF7P.

mort was just saying his experiance with his board, and how he cant go back to not havign things shown up, liek how i was saying i would only get a GB board if they had real values for voltages, which the P45s now do. im hoping that GB will have propper straps for the X58s, but then thats my hope.

 

what was that?

in the bios i have right now. i have all those choices to choose from in the mem settings. i just dont know what to do with them.

 

Read my post again, I have no quarrel with the overclocking ability of the boards, it's their longevity...

 

well i have had mine for about 9 months now, and my mate upgraded his P5B a month ago, after over a year and a half, to a 680i (odd no?, he wants to try SLI, i told him to go 780i or better yet 750i, but he got his one for cheap) and the 680i has also dont 3.6 on his E6600.


and infact the longer i had mine, the more i could OC. fist it was 3, then 3.2, then 3.3, now 3.4

 

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17908038&highlight=E8600

E8600 at 4.2 @ 1.3Vs

E8600 on air @ 4GHz:

 

Agreed!

Rob if your issue is with trying to tighten your memory settings then take into consideration what the differences are. There is very little measurable difference between CAS 4 and CAS 5 on DDR2 memories. In fact by increasing your FSB and memory bandwidth your memory scores are actually going to be higher even if you have to loosen timings a little. The important thing however is not to loosen your timings and your bandwidth to the point of lowering your memory performance which then creates an unwanted bottleneck.