LGA775 Core2Duo, Core2Quad OVERCLOCKING guide

[vt3c]

Son of a bitch. I need a case, PSU, and GPU to get started on this PC. So far the board is looking super sexy. BUT THERE IS NOTHING TO PUT IT IN. 

Time to go digging around for a junker.

[terrytek]

Well other than 680i being not so great. Maybe.

 

I expect it's just detecting CPU settings it isn't liking and is resetting them.

I can't even go up .1GHz. Even .1 increases just resets to default.

[harrynowl]

I can't even go up .1GHz. Even .1 increases just resets to default.

 

Have you tried pulling the CMOS battery and disconnecting the power for 15 mins, then re-applying all your settings?

[terrytek]

Have you tried pulling the CMOS battery and disconnecting the power for 15 mins, then re-applying all your settings?

Huh, didn't think of that. Will try once i have spare time.

[DeViLzzz]

Best of luck, let me know how that overclocking goes

Well harrynowl I finally got the aftermarket cooler on my son's e5200 today and when I try to push the pc to 3 GHz it locks up.  I had to reset the BIOS twice thus far.  The motherboard I have in his build is the Gigabyte EP43-DS3L.  The maximum speed I have reached thus far is 2.98 GHz.  The ram in this pc is only DDR2-667.  Is this something that is going to limit my overclocking?  Also to reach 2.98 GHz on the motherboard I have the following settings:

CPU Clock Ratio 12x

Fine CPU Clock Ratio +0.5

CPu Frequency 2.98 GHz (239x12.5)

Memory Frequency (Mhz) 667 goes to 797 (Btw I have some mixed cheap ram in this thing.)

DRAM Timing -

(all Auto)

CAS Latency Time 5 

+RCD 5

+RP 5

+RAS 15

Voltage Types                                         Normal           Current

   (CPU)

CPU Vcore                                             1.22500V

CPU Termination                                   1.200V            (All CPU+MCH/I CH+DRAM set to Auto)

CPU PLL                                                1.550V            

CPU Reference                                      0.805V

  (MCH/I CH)

MCH Core                                              1.100V

ICH I/O                                                   1.550V

  (DRAM)                                                 

DRAM Voltage                                       1.800V

What I also pulled from the BIOS is that the following safety mechanisms for the mobo are on:

CPU Enhanced Halt C1E

TM2

EIST Function

Should I shut these off like I do when overclocking my i5 2500k and AMD FX 6300?  I don't want to kill the pc especially since this was my son's first ever pc.  It hopefully will be around til I die.  Yeah I know that is asking quite a bit but.

My goal was to get this cpu to 4 GHz but I see that the OP says for this cpu I should be happy with 3.7 GHz.  Anyway the bottom line is I am hoping for more than a 480 MHz gain and likely would be very happy to hit 3.5 GHz considering that is a full 1.0 GHz over stock speed.

Any help is appreciated and yeah I am a slow learner and even when do learn something I can end up forgetting it which is unfortunate.

I did read the OP's post once through and I will try at it again but I think it may end up just being a blur again.

Anyway harrynowl hope you and others can help me accomplish more with this pc.

Oh and one thing I did forget to mention is that there are spots on this cheap case for fans on the front, back and side.  I am not sure what size but they may be smaller than 120 mm even and I have not filled them as of yet.  Should I be doing front pull in air and out the back like I have done with other builds?

[DeViLzzz]

Btw since everyone is showing off hardware in this thread here is what I am overclocking on ...

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2847#ov



(Btw just wanted to share and not saying anything is great about the board although it was recommended to me at the time as a more than decent overclocking board for an affordable price.)

[harrynowl]

Well harrynowl I finally got the aftermarket cooler on my son's e5200 today and when I try to push the pc to 3 GHz it locks up.  I had to reset the BIOS twice thus far.  The motherboard I am in his build is the Gigabyte EP43-DS3L.  The maximum speed I have reached thus far is 2.98 GHz.  The ram in this pc is only DDR2-667.  Is this something that is going to limit my overclocking?  Also to reach 2.98 GHz on the motherboard I have the following settings:

CPU Clock Ratio 12x

Fine CPU Clock Ratio +0.5

CPu Frequency 2.98 GHz (239x12.5)

Memory Frequency (Mhz) 667 goes to 797 (Btw I have some mixed cheap ram in this thing.)

DRAM Timing -

(all Auto)

CAS Latency Time 5 

+RCD 5

+RP 5

+RAS 15

Voltage Types                                         Normal           Current

   (CPU)

CPU Vcore                                             1.22500V

CPU Termination                                   1.200V            (All CPU+MCH/I CH+DRAM set to Auto)

CPU PLL                                                1.550V            

CPU Reference                                      0.805V

  (MCH/I CH)

MCH Core                                              1.100V

ICH I/O                                                   1.550V

  (DRAM)                                                 

DRAM Voltage                                       1.800V

What I also pulled from the BIOS is that the following safety mechanisms for the mobo are on:

CPU Enhanced Halt C1E

TM2

EIST Function

My goal was to get this cpu to 4 GHz but I see that the OP says for this cpu I should be happy with 3.7 GHz.  Anyway the bottom line is I am hoping for more than a 480 MHz gain and likely would be very happy to hit 3.5 GHz considering that is a full 1.0 GHz over stock speed.

Any help is appreciated and yeah I am a slow learner and even when do learn something I can end up forgetting it which is unfortunate.

I did read the OP's post once through and I will try at it again but I think it may end up just being a blur again.

Anyway harrynowl hope you and others can help me accomplish more with this pc.

 

Well DDR2 667 limits you to a 1333FSB before the RAM has to be overclocked to go any higher, try setting your RAM to DDR2-400 before you start overclocking

 

Try 1.3V on the CPU Vcore and see if you can get 3.3Ghz from it. (Just divide by 12.5 for bus value).

 

[DeViLzzz]

Well DDR2 667 limits you to a 1333FSB before the RAM has to be overclocked to go any higher, try setting your RAM to DDR2-400 before you start overclocking

 

Try 1.3V on the CPU Vcore and see if you can get 3.3Ghz from it. (Just divide by 12.5 for bus value).

 

Ok see from memory I KNEW that the ram was limiting my overclock.  I went on Ebay to look for some new ram already.  I will also check locally at the pc recycle/pc parts store we have for better ram.  

Oh and as an update I got the pc to 3 GHz by upping the CPU Vcore to 1.250.  When I am done with the CPU Vcore what is the next thing to change after that in trying to get higher clocks?

I am going to stop now for a bit though in regards to all things overclocking but thanks for the immediate help you gave harrynowl. 

What is stopping me from overclocking?  I got to get some food in my gut and I still have this Acer I have been working on for my son's stepmother and I still haven't installed a different hard drive yet to see if the WD Caviar 250 GB was the issue with the pc.  I am betting $10000000 on me being right about the drive.  I also want to get this pc I am asking you to help with overclocking onto the net.  I still don't have it on my network and that is important as I need to download some monitoring tools if I am going to be overclocking this.

Oh and I forgot.  I decided to have the fan on the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heat sink run at full speed at all time.  I don't care about noise. Performance all the way!

[harrynowl]

Ok see from memory I KNEW that the ram was limiting my overclock.  I went on Ebay to look for some new ram already.  I will also check locally at the pc recycle/pc parts store we have for better ram.  

Oh and as an update I got the pc to 3 GHz by upping the CPU Vcore to 1.250.  When I am done with the CPU Vcore what is the next thing to change after that in trying to get higher clocks?

I am going to stop now for a bit though in regards to all things overclocking but thanks for the immediate help you gave harrynowl. 

What is stopping me from overclocking?  I got to get some food in my gut and I still have this Acer I have been working on for my son's stepmother and I still haven't installed a different hard drive yet to see if the WD Caviar 250 GB was the issue with the pc.  I am betting $10000000 on me being right about the drive.  I also want to get this pc I am asking you to help with overclocking onto the net.  I still don't have it on my network and that is important as I need to download some monitoring tools if I am going to be overclocking this.

Oh and I forgot.  I decided to have the fan on the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heat sink run at full speed at all time.  I don't care about noise. Performance all the way!

 

Try get some 1066MHz 5-5-5-15 stuff

 

I'd try CPU FSB voltage and Northbridge voltage (try 1.3 on both).

 

It could be a combination of a less than stellar CPU and the fact your board/RAM isn't the greatest as to why you're not going to GHz heaven just yet

 

[DeViLzzz]

Try get some 1066MHz 5-5-5-15 stuff

 

I'd try CPU FSB voltage and Northbridge voltage (try 1.3 on both).

 

It could be a combination of a less than stellar CPU and the fact your board/RAM isn't the greatest as to why you're not going to GHz heaven just yet

 

I know this cpu was supposed to overclock well so I hope things turn out well in the end.  I will take any and all advice and try it out for sure.  As for the ram yeah I hope I can get some decent stuff not to long from now.

[dragoon20005]

@harrynowl

 

I found a user who might let go his QX9770

 

but given that he paid for the CPU at 400 bucks

 

might be hard to get it at 200 bucks

 

should i still go for it?

[harrynowl]

@harrynowl

 

I found a user who might let go his QX9770

 

but given that he paid for the CPU at 400 bucks

 

might be hard to get it at 200 bucks

 

should i still go for it?

 

It depends whether you want to throw down so much money on an old platform, what board did you get again?

 

 

[dragoon20005]

It depends whether you want to throw down so much money on an old platform, what board did you get again?

Gigabyte EP45-UD3 Rev 1.1 its a P45 board running DDR2 800MHz RAMs

[harrynowl]

Gigabyte EP45-UD3 Rev 1.1 its a P45 board running DDR2 800MHz RAMs

 

Hmm... well that board is more likely to have success with a locked (non extreme) CPU compared to your previous G41 one would. But a QX9770 would be very cool to see if you're willing to spend the cash

 

[dragoon20005]

Hmm... well that board is more likely to have success with a locked (non extreme) CPU compared to your previous G41 one would. But a QX9770 would be very cool to see if you're willing to spend the cash

 

not sure why but I am a sucker for Quad Extreme CPUs after my find of the QX6800

 

I really do want the QX9xxx series but look at ebay prices at 300-400 for just the CPU is nuts

 

if it was like 150 to 200

 

i will still consider any higher thou i will drop it

[harrynowl]

not sure why but I am a sucker for Quad Extreme CPUs after my find of the QX6800

 

I really do want the QX9xxx series but look at ebay prices at 300-400 for just the CPU is nuts

 

if it was like 150 to 200

 

i will still consider any higher thou i will drop it

Well if you get it considerably below average you could always sell it on for a profit/break even as they hold value still.

[dragoon20005]

Well if you get it considerably below average you could always sell it on for a profit/break even as they hold value still.

i have a small habit of hoarding good or bad items

 

after the QX6800 swap

 

i got a Q6600,E7200,E6250 and P4 640 in the mouse box bubble wrapped

 

i will showhow find a way to re-purpose them much to my mum's dismay

 

i am planning to make a HTPC out of the Q6600 and purchase the G41 which was my original idea and slap a ATi Radeon HD3470 DP ver

 

The HD3470 is a low profile GPU which was an OEM GPU from Dell which could prove to be useful once i got the DP to HDMI adapter

 

so now i will need the mobo,DDR3 and a HTPC case like the In-Win or Lian-Li SFF casing with PSU

[Dabombinable]

So... I received my QX6850 G0 today along with the replacement P5Q Turbo, it turns out that it was the same damn motherboard I sent back. So I'm stuck with a beast of a CPU, a liquid cooler bought for it along with a new case and PSU, 6GB of DDR2 capable of 1066MHz, but no fricking LGA775 motherboard in working order. KMN. FFS, I've actually fried my P4 630 (why couldn't the SOB die when I wanted it to), my E8500 and my Xeon X5450-the new CPU works in the motherboard.

[153494661273805047288]

Hey guys, I'm back. I've been messing around with overclocking my CPU as you suggested, but have run into a bit of a problem - Prime95 is stable 4 hours at 3.4GHz and 1.35 Vcore, but I noticed my browser was crashing sometimes. Ran MemTest and found out that my memory is giving me errors! I was not expecting this at all since it's downclocked to 378Mhz as CPUz currently shows, since I didn't want it to affect stability while I was messing with the CPU clock.

It's DDR3 rated to run at 667MHz (1333MHz actual), so I'm not sure why it's giving me errors. Should I try to boost the voltage? It's set to AUTO at the moment along with the timings.

Specs for reference:

Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHZ @ 3.4GHz

Kingston 1333MHz DDR3 9-9-9-24

Asus P5Q3

Thanks for any help.

[Dabombinable]

Hey guys, I'm back. I've been messing around with overclocking my CPU as you suggested, but have run into a bit of a problem - Prime95 is stable 4 hours at 3.4GHz and 1.35 Vcore, but I noticed my browser was crashing sometimes. Ran MemTest and found out that my memory is giving me errors! I was not expecting this at all since it's downclocked to 378Mhz as CPUz currently shows, since I didn't want it to affect stability while I was messing with the CPU clock.

It's DDR3 rated to run at 667MHz (1333MHz actual), so I'm not sure why it's giving me errors. Should I try to boost the voltage? It's set to AUTO at the moment along with the timings.

Specs for reference:

Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHZ @ 3.4GHz

Kingston 1333MHz DDR3 9-9-9-24

Asus P5Q3

Thanks for any help.

I'd get some new RAM, I've got 2x 512MB PC 133 SDRAM sticks that caused the same issue, and it was running at 66MHz all the time. 1 stick threw out errors at 386MB, and the other at 256MB.

[153494661273805047288]

I'd get some new RAM, I've got 2x 512MB PC 133 SDRAM sticks that caused the same issue, and it was running at 66MHz all the time. 1 stick threw out errors at 386MB, and the other at 256MB.

Hmm, this is brand new RAM though.. It's like a month old at best. I originally got more quality 1600Mhz sticks, but they ended up being incompatible with the board (memory chips themselves were too big in size for mobo to recognize) so I had to get these. Don't want to get new RAM again..

[Bludude41]

From 1.6 to 3 GHz.  You have taught me well, harrynowl.  63 degrees C and 60 degrees C on the cores right now, but there`s not much I can do about that.

[Jumper118]

 

From 1.6 to 3 GHz.  You have taught me well, harrynowl.  63 degrees C and 60 degrees C on the cores right now, but there`s not much I can do about that.

thats a good oc 

[harrynowl]

From 1.6 to 3 GHz.  You have taught me well, harrynowl.  63 degrees C and 60 degrees C on the cores right now, but there`s not much I can do about that.

That is an impressive overclock. Congrats

[153494661273805047288]

Weird... I just tried 486 FSB and 7x multiplier, which still puts my CPU at 3.4GHz but lets me select a memory multiplier that matches one of the specifications listed in the SPD. Then I set the timings manually, and it seems all my memory errors are gone. I guess it was auto setting timings to the wrong thing?

Oh well, I still had to revert to stock because of another problem.. everything ran too fast. If I looked at the clock in Windows it would go 1.5x faster than it normally should, and everything in games happened way too quickly. Any idea how to solve this? I tried bcdedit /set {current} useplatformclock Yes in CMD already, but that didn't help.