Trying to tweak my old computer

[Alexander GTR]

Hello everyone. I hope that I'm posting in the right place.

I was watching the $300 Budget Gaming PC Challenge Episode 1, and I thought to my self, hey, Luke is using an E8400 and is tweaking it, I can try that too. Then I ran into a lot of details and information discovering a lot of things not being how they should and I need help.

 

This is my actual tower

 

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R rev. 2.1

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00 GHz (Wolfdale 45nm)
RAM: 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 333MHz
GPU: nVidia GeForce GT640 2047MB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1

 

RAM (details and issues)

Slot #1

 

Manufacturer: Nanya technology (It has KINGMAX written on it)
Max Bandwidth: PC2-6400 (400MHz) (It has 800MHz written on it)

 

 

Slot #2

 

Manufacturer: Kingston
Max Bandwidth: PC2-6400 (400MHz)

 

 

Slot #3

 

Manufacturer: Nanya technology (It has KINGMAX written on it)
Max Bandwidth: PC2-6400 (400MHz) (It has 800MHz written on it)

 

 

Slot #4

 

Manufacturer: Kingston
Max Bandwidth: PC2-5300 (333MHz) (This one was supposedly the same with the one in Slot #2)

 

Long story short, I wanted to achieve dual channel with 4 sticks of ram, grouping them 2 by 2. It turns out the one in slot #4 is not exactly the same with the one in slot #2, even though they look exactly the same with the exact same data on them.
Also, they are all reported at 333MHz, highest frequency installed being 800MHz.

 

Overclock Issue

 

I am trying to overclock my E8400 to 3.6 GHz, as the internet tells me it is an easy and simple thing to do on a stock Intel HSF, the downside being that I will get quite higher temperatures but safe.

 

I got informed on all the forums I could find about the overclocking of an E8400, but no success. There's no point in trying to tell you what I have tried myself. The computer is back in working condition, stock, as before after I managed to actually push the clock to 3.6 GHz without altering the voltage, and eventually ending up to 99*C (I am amazed at the fact that it is still working, since the dying temperature is 100*C from what I know).

Therefore, all I actually need is advice on the RAM thing which I cannot understand, also help to successfully overclock my CPU and DRAM Speed.

 

Everybody seems to have no trouble doing it. When I try it, my system gets unstabe, overheats like crazy or just won't boot up. It's frustrating, because I've seen people getting these things to 4.14 GHz on quite high voltage with stock HSFs, and I can't even manage to get it to 3.2 GHz. These BIOS voltage settings overwhelm me since I cannot understand how they actually work or how should I set them up in order for everything to work fine at higher clock speeds. 

 

I am willing to run any tests/bring up any logs or info that might help you.

 

If you took your time to read to here, I highly appreciate it, thanks.

 

Please note that English is not my primary language, therefore excuse any gramatical mistakes I have made.

 

[TrifectaIII]

1 hour ago, Alexander GTR said:

Also, they are all reported at 333MHz, highest frequency installed being 800MHz.

That's how mixing and matching RAM sticks works. You always run at the lowest speed of them all.

 

As for the CPU overclocking, my guess is that you are just overheating. It could be that your thermal setup as a whole is lacking in terms of cooling: Remember that the cpu cooler isn't the only part of the equation, and ambient temps and case airflow matter as well. My PC transported to the Sahara desert is going to run a lot hotter than that same PC if it was in an Alaskan igloo. If other people were getting much higher overclocks, part of that could be their setup and location.

 

Also, you might have just lost the "silicon lottery" as some people like to call it. You are never guaranteed any overclocking headroom at all, and it could be that your chip is just not very good.

[Alexander GTR]

5 minutes ago, TrifectaIII said:

That's how mixing and matching RAM sticks works. You always run at the lowest speed of them all.

 

As for the CPU overclocking, my guess is that you are just overheating. It could be that your thermal setup as a whole is lacking in terms of cooling: Remember that the cpu cooler isn't the only part of the equation, and ambient temps and case airflow matter as well. My PC transported to the Sahara desert is going to run a lot hotter than that same PC if it was in an Alaskan igloo. If other people were getting much higher overclocks, part of that could be their setup and location.

 

Also, you might have just lost the "silicon lottery" as some people like to call it. You are never guaranteed any overclocking headroom at all, and it could be that your chip is just not very good.

There are three 120mm 1300RPM fans running always full throttle in my case, and ambiental temperature is 22*C.. any ideea if I can boost that DRAM frequency at least?  And I don't really want to give up on the CPU overclock. Could it be that I haven't applied any aftermarket thermal paste? I got it on with the thermal paste applied to the cooler. I have some Arctic Silver Ceramique laying around.

[TrifectaIII]

9 minutes ago, Alexander GTR said:

There are three 120mm 1300RPM fans running always full throttle in my case, and ambiental temperature is 22*C.. any ideea if I can boost that DRAM frequency at least?  And I don't really want to give up on the CPU overclock. Could it be that I haven't applied any aftermarket thermal paste? I got it on with the thermal paste applied to the cooler. I have some Arctic Silver Ceramique laying around.

For the DRAM, you might be able to, but it depends on your mobo and bios. Unfortunately I have no experience with that mobo (or really even any like it) so I couldn't tell you. Best way to figure that out is to try and find a guide that used your mobo/bios, or just google every term you don't understand in the bios itself.

 

As for the CPU, I heavily doubt it's the thermal paste, but a re-seat couldn't hurt. Sometimes the seat is for some reason just really bad even if you followed all the proper steps.

[Alexander GTR]

1 minute ago, TrifectaIII said:

For the DRAM, you might be able to, but it depends on your mobo and bios. Unfortunately I have no experience with that mobo (or really even any like it) so I couldn't tell you. Best way to figure that out is to try and find a guide that used your mobo/bios, or just google every term you don't understand in the bios itself.

 

As for the CPU, I heavily doubt it's the thermal paste, but a re-seat couldn't hurt. Sometimes the seat is for some reason just really bad even if you followed all the proper steps.

 

Right now at standard settings, stock clock, I'm hitting 45*C in idle.