The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Hmm, make sure you get the latest prime95. Make sure you make it run four threads and a blend test or small ffts for max heat.

 

ribixcube,

Download a copy of Orthos. It's prime 95 for multi cores. Think of it as Prime 95 with a GUI!
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/385/Orthos_Stress_Prime_2004.html

Russ

 

Oh right he has dual core.

Yeah, orthos should be fine then.

 

Well the highest I can possible get it to boot at is 3.78ghz, 472 FSB. Damn, I really wanted to hit that 4.0ghz mark oh well. Thanks for the help guys.

 

4Ghz on that CPU is hard, especially on an nforce.

 

Orthos used to be a good choice when testing multicore processors, but it is now more outdated than Prime95. Prime95 will now run multicore processors and it's updated it's testing procedures as well. I usually run Prime95 twice with one instance focused on short ffts.

 

got a couple questions here guys. well first let me say. i bumped my tower and hit the reset button. no big deal it restarted fine, but it kept trying to restart. fans and led's came on then shut back down. it did this like 7 times in a row before i hit the power switch on the PSU. turned the PSU back on and all is fine. went back to my 3.8 OC settings nothing had changed.ran IBT max everything @10passes all fine. any ideas?


now for my question.my memory(crucial ballistix ddr2 800(pc6400)) the voltage for these sticks are 2.2v. the same sticks that are out now have been lowered to 2.0v can run them with less volts than mine.

is it OK if i try and run mine at less voltage? well let me say that different. i am running them now at 2.0v i went and changed the voltage in my bios nothing else just the voltage for the mem. will this cause stability issues? i did run IBT at max mem again but only @5 passes. it did pass ok.i have orthos running now on blend testing.its ok too. with my 3.8 OC it has my mem running @ 846mhz a slight mem oc as well. I'm running it at the 333mhz strapping 2.00b setting should i take that up to the 400mhz strapping?

heres the second question.
in my strapping for the mem. id say its like most of everyone Else's
i have 200mhz 266mhz,333mhz and 400mhz.
why is it if i set it at the 200mhz strapping it sets the mem at a higher speed than the 400mhz?

i think well i know im stable with the 3.8oc i have had it here for a couple weeks now and no issues what so ever.programs are fast shutting down and restarting is fine(other than me hitting that rest button by mistake) is there any stress test that test just the mem? other than memtest?

stopped Orthos and am running Prime95 now. self test 1024k passed.both cores


docTY where you at you memory guru you??????lol

 

Rob

Try sticking with recommended memory voltages or greater when overclocking or you will run into stability issues.

I use memory strap 266 MHz for my current overclocks along with 1066 memory. When you increase the frontside bus you are also increasing memory bandwidth which is why one lowers before upping fsb. By the time I reach the maximum desired speed the memory that I use is not slightly above it's rated speed. Once I discover the maximum that a processor will go I rarely leave it there because nothing makes a person say "Doh!" like have a 7 hour encode fail. 4 GHz is a reality with my processor but I was pushing the RAM a littel too far when I hit DDR 1155 so I lowered things a bit until I purchase a couple of wider bandwidth modules. Currently my memory is running at 1087 which is quite safe for it. I have my memory voltage at 2.10 and my vcore at 1.27 and my CPU speed is at 3915.3 Mhz. When I purchase a couple of modules over the weekend then I will crank it back to 4 GHz.

 

Soph
so i should put my mem volts back to 2.2v then? i understand WHY i should keep them at the rated voltage. but its not like the CPU? if you can get it to preform at a higher level with less volts its better to do so???

i know you gota way better CPU than I and better mem 1066 vs 800. am i running the wrong strapping in the 333 with mine? or should i take it down to 266mhz?

ive ran allday with it at the 2.0v on the mem i do have the MCH bumped to 1.24.
ive used dvd-rebuilder twice today and played COD4 for about 2 1/2 hrs and no problems what so ever....
thanks for the tips....id say im at my max with the CPU so the rest i need to tweak my mem now.

 

If you can get it to run at 2.10V then leave. It really depends on how far you're pushing your memory out of spec.


Take your memory down to 266 Mhz it will allow you to increase your fsb and ergo your overclock speed more stably. One of the headaches that 1333 Mhz FSB gave us was it effectively lowered the value of our clock multiplier but by back down to 266 Mhz FSB we are effectively raising it.

 

so if i take my mem strapping down to 266mhz i can increase the fsb speed(increasing my CPU oc)and not have to worry about the mem being a issue. am i looking at that correct?

ok say im happy and content with staying at 3.8ghz (which i am)should i try and raise the mem strapping to 400 and get more out of my mem? im running at 846mhz now on the ddr2 800. on the other board i had this mem up to 912mhz stable but anything after that it wouldnt stay stable. so id say 900mhz is my limit. tbh i dont think i would gain much (thats noticable)with the 50-60mhz increase from what i have now would i?

this mobo can handle ddr2 1200 mem is it much better than 1066 and worth getting it over1066?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227347

or these. gigabyte recomends these for my board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220282

 

If you mean less of an issue then you are correct and if you seen my benchmarks then you know that once widened it also means good memory performance.

 

so i need to hold back on the mem to get my CPU/FSB as high as i can stable then work on the Mem???ok i have done that.. im at 3.8ghz and i think the fsb is around 1600 not sure im not home to look at it. so i should work with the different strappings to get a higher rate of speed out of the mem right?

 

cincyrob,

I think it has to do with the Active bios. Most times you can hit the reset button without issue, but it depends entirely what was running or what the computer was doing when it was reset. I've seen it in that on-off cycle a lot more times than 7. The only thing I know, that clears it every time without fail, is to turn off and un-plug the PSU for a few minutes! Spare me the arguments or comments about the switch cutting the mains! I do it that way because one time while I was working on my overclock, it hung real bad, just froze. It wouldn't shut off holding the power button down. I cut the main switch and it shut down, and it still had the same re-booting over and over problem for 20 minutes before I finally called GigaByte and the tech suggested I try pulling the plug. I've been told at various times to do the same thing by Asus and Biostar as well, and all I know is it works every time! When you put the plug back in and power up it turns on for a few seconds, turns off for a few seconds and then turns on and the computer boots up just fine. It doesn't normally even change the fsb and memory settings to the defaults! Since my method "always works", I do it that way all the time! Frankly, it's a lot easier than sitting there wasting an hour or more playing with the damn thing trying to figure out what's causing the problem! I'll bet you wasted some time trying to figure it out! I know I've turned the PSU switch off for as much as 45 minutes, only to have the same problem when I finally turned the computer on again! A lot more than the two minutes it takes to just pull the plug to begin with!

My best guess is that it's the bios reference copy, and for some reason the two bios configurations don't match and pulling the plug allows the "copy" to clear. When you power up, it comes on and then turns off because it knows it needs to make a new reference copy of the bios. When it turns back on it makes a new backup or reference copy of the bios and it boots normally from there! I could research it, but since my way always works, I really don't care about it!

Like I say, It's a guess, but considering that I know that when the computer boots up one of the first things it does is check to see that the actual bios settings and the copy match. If they don't, it re-boots and tries again, but won't post. By pulling the plug for a couple of minutes, it must force a rewrite or something It could be something as simple as a bad voltage setting for the memory, since the exact same problem occurs if your memory voltage is too low for your memory. If you are overclocked, it makes even more sense! My Dominators which are 2.1v post fine at the default 1.8v. I have a pair of XMS2s that wont, but will post using one stick instead of two!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Yes but if you get things right you won't have to touch your memory since you are already doing that with overclocking. As you increase your FSB you are also increasing your memory speed at the same time, but unlike your memory your front side buss increases also increase your processor speed. So if you want to get a high and stable processor speed then you want to reduce your memory to start with so that by the time it's maxed out so is your processor. When that done just leave it all alone because you are finished. Remember that bandwidth provides greater over all performance gains than latency.

 

That works but since most boards have shorting pins which are a little easier or if also easily accessible try popping the battery. More often than not some new boards such as those made by Asus just requires that you shut the power off, and then start things up again and your bios will be reset.

 

Russ

when i hit the reset button by mistake i did just start up COD4 and was getting ready to play it when i did it. the first screen of the game came on and then i hit the button and it just kept resetting....i did flip the PSU switch for a few minutes but i didnt unplug it. once i hit the switch and pushed the power button all was fine.

thanks for all the info guys some good stuff. and i actually understood what ya all was saying too..lmao
so when i get home im gonna put my volts back to 2.2v on my mem. i talked to crucial(they are turning out to be a ok company by me) and the tech said the newer DDR2 800 is designed to run on less volts but dont recomend running the older stuff that i have less than 2.16v which i have that setting in my bios. but i will put it back to 2.2v

i'll drop the strapping down to 266mhz and try and bump up my FSB maybe run at 3.9ghz as long as i dont need no more mad volts for the cpu. and get the mem closer to 900mhz.... ill keep ya informed with what and how i do.

hey heres another question... most of our MOBO either be asus or gigabyte and a DFI....lol the rated OCable FSB is 1333mhz right...so when we OC our CPUs and get like 1600and higher on the fsb is that bad for the board?
like right now.(look in my sig at cpuzid my fsb is 1692.

 

It's not necessarily bad for it, it's just not officially supported by the manufacturer.

 

RedRob since no one answered I like the OCZ Reapers better than the Patriot. I'm not sure of the patriot stuff now but from past reports it was a little lacking.

...gm

some RAM to look at Robert.

DDR2 1000

DDR2 1066

DDR2 1150

DDR2 1200

 

I've been looking at the 1150 and the 1200 only the water cooled ones instead. I'm working out a system to mod and area in my case for a smaller tank just to cool memory.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227230