E8400 + Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 starting OC

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by screwballl

Thats also why I mentioned not to worry about Orthos or Prime until he hits 3.6GHz...

Again, the E8400 is an exception to the normal overclocking rules but to make sure there are no other limiting factors is why I still suggested to start around 3.2GHz.

Even then you're wasting time. The possibility something would stop you is likely smaller than the possibility something wouldn't stop you.
I didn't lose time with my build. First boot I looked around the BIOS, made sure I understood all the options and set my FSB to 400 with a 9x multi. Then I installed Windows...

For all the E8400 I overclocked there's none that wouldn't run at 3.6GHz on stock volts. 3.6GHz is not "so close" to the limit of most E8400, it's just far from it's stock speed. Wolfdales have a bunch to give and it's somewhat ridiculous they're set so low if you ask me, but I guess Intel is just opening up the road to more aggressively clocked processors doing so.
At any rate, they could easily market E8400 waffles as 10.5 x 333 for a total of 3.5GHz and call that a E8700 or whatever fits their naming scheme.


And although the Wolfdales are somewhat of an exception, it's pretty much the same process for every CPU. It's not worth touching the FSB with 5MHz increment if you know 95% of those CPU can run at a given speed.

Besides it's something I couldn't have done back when I was working at the computer shop. We essentially gave out an overclocking service that people could decide to pay for (yes, they would sign papers :P) and I simply couldn't spend 4 hours rebooting over and over. I'd have to shoot for a certain number, check for stability, if it goes... push higher. Check stability again. Once I reached "the wall" where it takes a lot of voltage for a small increase in frequency I would stop. Stability over night and call it a day.

[screwballl]

I guess I just prefer to handle it slow and safe.... oh well we all have our own ways...

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by screwballl

I guess I just prefer to handle it slow and safe.... oh well we all have our own ways...

True, and it's not all that bad to "lose time" on an overclock. You get to learn your machine both ways.

[Boy'nBlack]

Baby steps are copy righted. Should be at least. "these are my ideas". Come on man. Those are ideas you agree with, but long already stated.

Dave Murphy school of computing?

[OcciferFriendly]

Originally Posted by Boy'nBlack

Dave Murphy school of computing?

Where have I heard that before?

[no1knows]

Hi guys, been reading this thread and others (including the overclocking guide) and thought i'd post my experience w/ an E8400 w/ a Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R and 2x2GB PC6400 Patriot RAM.

I have been tinkering with the FSB and other settings for a couple of days and I cannot reach 3.6 (400FSB) on stock voltage. The highest I can reach is 3447Mhz (381FSB) which runs stable at stock voltage.

I have tried upping the CPU voltage to 1.3-1.35 to allow me to go up to the 400FSB mark, should this be necessary, is it the right thing to do? Either way i'm having no luck at these higher voltages, at 400Mhz it hangs during Vista startup, at around 390 it causes Otheros to error w/in 10 minutes.

I've kept memory at 2.0 multiplier to rule it out as the problem.

I have disabled C1E, EIST. Should I change the performance setting in the MIT section of the bios?

Any tips to get a bit more out of this chip would be greatly appreciated, i'm sure 3.5Ghz isnt the upper limit.

[Capper]

list your full system specs so we can try to isolate whats holding you back

[no1knows]

Let me sort out my sig, watch this space :)

[no1knows]

Ok as set out below. Looking at it, 420W jumps out at me, I could try disconnecting the 2 300GB drives/optical drives and try again to free up some juice?

Update on the OC: I've upped the FSB to 390 and its currently stable on Otheros (20 mins down) but i had to up the Vcore to 1.35 so its pretty toasty! CPU-Z shows Vcore at 1.280, is that droop more than usual? Where can i find this load line calibration option? cant see it in the bios.

I tried 400 at Vcore of 1.35 and it didnt complete Post (restarted replacing default bios settings).

Thanks guys.

[edit] left out my cooling, have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro with a total of 4 120mm fans in the case, the cores are running ~60C at full load at 1.35v according to Core Temp, and at ~55C according to SpeedFan. [/edit]

[Capper]

1.35 is not too bad.....I'd generally recommend keeping it under 1.4v. so, as long as your temperatures are no too extreme (and they dont appear to be) you are looking alright

Disregard the voltages that CPU-Z gives you, they are not accurate.

Lastly, tinker with you secondary voltages, like NB, CPU VTT etc....most often, if left at default or auto, they are at the minimum, which could be causing instability and making you boost the VCore