The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

i would also say try 1.3 and move upto about 1.4 maximum. what is your CPU voltage set at?

 

There's no issue overclocking Intels with all 4 slots populated, that's simply not true. I upgraded from 2x1GB to 4x1GB with my Q6600 and the overclock worked just fine. (2.4->3.24).

The reason you can't overclock is not that you're using all the slots, it's probably that you're using mismatched RAM. That's usually a bad idea, especally when overclocking. Either remove the other 2GB of RAM or get another 4GB like the new set and use 8GB.
You're also using OCZ memory and an Asus board, neither of which are high quality brands, so tolerances may be lower there as well.
You would definitely do well to heed shaffaaf's advice and raise the chipset voltage if you haven't already done so however, this was part of my Q6600 overclock before I added the extra memory, so may have helped towards stability in my case.

 

glad he isn't running dual gpus 2. That north ridge might just explode haha.

 

Again, even with four sticks of memory installed, and four GPUs, the X38 board still managed 2.4->3.24 on the Q6600 and the X48 still managed 2.83->3.65 on the Q9550. That's not exactly a terrible result.
Granted though, LGA1156 is a force to be reckoned with. I may be only using two sticks of memory [using only two sticks did not change how much I could overclock the X48 at all] but with all 4 GPUs in use, it has had no issue going 2.66->4.12 on the i5. 4.2 wasn't stable, but considering I've not actually adjusted anything but the CPU Vcore yet, that's not a bad start. For the minimal gains I'll get beyond this point I'm happy to stick here.

 

1.3 didn't work, I'll try 1.4 when I get home this evening. My CPU voltage is at ~1.38 I think.

 

I think I was using 1.45V for my chipset on my X38/X48 boards. You should definitely try 1.4, just in case.

 

I know it used to be more difficult to overclock with all slots populated. I know the GigaByte P35-DS3R gave me a bit of a time using all 4 slots. I could overclock it and then add the extra ram and it would work. I had two 1GB Dominators and two Value select 2x512s in it for over a year running at the same latencies and speed as the dominators. If I tried to overclock it with all 4 it would either freeze up or just not boot up!

Russ

 

The four sticks of RAM first went in the P35C-DS3R I had with an E4300, clocked up from 1.8 to 3.15Ghz. No problems there either...

Notice that you also were using mismatched sizes of memory.

 

Sam,
I was just trying it. I figured if it worked, fine. If it didn't, I would just leave them out. This was on my E4300. When I bought the E6750, I bought the 2x2GB 1066 Dominators, and used the Value select elsewhere. Today, some computers ship with 3GB of ram. 2x1GB modules and 2x512. I know HP does that with the slimlines for both AMD and Intel!

Russ

 

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make much sense on paper, but presumably they can get the 512MB sticks for next to nothing, possibly on some sort of old stock arrangement.
Doesn't really hurt though as overclocking prebuilt systems carries all sorts of other issues.

 

I'll try 1.4, then maybe 1.45 if that doesn't work. I have a lot of stuff in there, (4 sticks, a CPU overclocked by 33%, 2GPU's....) Now that I think of it, I only have a 600W PSU, anybody think I just might not have enough juice?

 

LOL! I had that thought once or twice while I was overclocking. My PSU appeared to be maintaining stable voltage though during stress testing. You might try monitoring your voltage while stressing, with Speedfan or everest. Though it is fairly unlikely(though possible).

 

Assuming it's a decent brand, 600W is more than enough, depending on what graphics card(s) you're using.
Some typical load figures [all include two hard disk drives]

65W CPU [such as Core 2 Duo, eco quad core] with 100W single graphics card [such as HD3870/4770/5770, 8800GT/GTS450]: 160 Watts

95W CPU [such as Athlon64 X2, Core 2 Quad, Core i5 quad core] with 130W single graphics card [such as HD4850/6850, 8800GTS/GTS250]: 210 Watts

Overclocked 95W CPU with 150W single graphics card [such as HD4870/5850/6870, 8800GTX/9800GTX/GTX460]: 300 Watts

Overclocked 95W CPU with 280W dual graphics setup [such as HD4870X2/HD5970/GTX295]: 390 Watts

Considerably Overclocked 95W CPU with 570W quad graphics setup [such as 2xHD4870X2/HD5970/GTX295]: 700 Watts

A 600W PSU can power a lot more than you might think.
The sticky bit is that a lot of so called '600W' PSUs are nowhere near the rating they say they are.

 

GFX is a Club3D HD4870X2, which is a pretty hungry card, but I should be ok.
The PSU is a OCZ Technology StealthXStream 600W

I'll keep an eye on the rails when I'm stress testing. I know that ever since I've gotten it the 12v rail has been working at 11.78v (tested it with a multimeter) but apart from that its been a pretty good PSU in my book.

 

Yeah the StealthXStreams aren't the absolute best units out there, but they're about the best that OCZ have made. The 4870X2 is a power hungry card (you should try running two of them! ) but the E8400 uses next to no power, as it's only a 65W chip. It'd be a tight squeeze but even a 450W PSU would cope with your system.

 

Well, I went up to 1.45 on the NB, 1.38 on the CPU and no luck. Still won't even post with the new ram in. Anymore ideas?

 

Cut the speed a bit and work your way up?

 

Tried that, I can increase the FSB from 333 to 370 (x9) anything higher than that and it doesn't work. It looks like I have two very shiny paper weights for my desk....

 

Highlights the importance of matched memory really.

 

have you tried it with just the new ram and overclocking it?