Overclocking e6600 with a G9657MA-8KS2H mb

[marauder]

After changing a defective enermax psu (that was causing random shutdowns), I've been enjoying my new computer for some weeks now, and it has been working flawlessly.
What I'm trying to achieve now is to overclock the intel e6600 cpu.
I've read that many have succesfully managed to overclocked the e6600 with a G9657MA-8KS2H with no problem at all.
But for some reason I'm not able to get the cpu to work at a higher clock, not even 5 mhz higher.
After setting, the new clock value in bios (i.e. from 266 to 270 Mhz), and rebooting I find the cpu clock back at 266 Mhz with Fox Intelligent Stepping in bios set back to default instead of manual.
I've tried also changing values in the Fox WinXp utility... in that case the computer will reboot.

Cpu temperature is fine (34 C), and the MB has the latest firmware release. I did not try to raise the voltage of the cpu (1,34V), as I don't think it should be necessary, at least not to reach 270 Mhz!

Has anybody experienced similar problems? Any suggestions?

[gvblake22]

Try setting the Fox Intelligent Stepping option to Manual, but don't change any of the FSB settings or anything and save and exit. Does it actually hold the option then? If so, try and change the FSB by just 1 MHz and see if it still holds.

[marauder]

Try setting the Fox Intelligent Stepping option to Manual, but don't change any of the FSB settings or anything and save and exit. Does it actually hold the option then? If so, try and change the FSB by just 1 MHz and see if it still holds.

I followed your advice, and changing the cpu clock by 1 Mhz at a time I've been able to overclock from 266 to ... 270 Mhz!
Anything higher resets F.I.S. to default and cpu clock to 266 after reboot.
Default cpu core current reads 1.39V in bios (1.3250V in Core Temp utility).
I've tried to raise it to 1.43V (1.375V in Core Temp), but that doesn't change the 270Mhz limit.
All other currents in bios (PCI, MCH, ICH) are default.

Can the cpu I'm using really be so bad? What else can I try?

[gvblake22]

It seems like you should be able to get more than that out of that processor.
What RAM do you have? Try lowering the CPU:RAM ratio to underclock your RAM, then do the same to your processor by lowering the CPU multiplier. Then increase the FSB and see how it goes. That way you eliminate the possibility of the processor or memory being the overclocking bottleneck and points the finger at the motherboard when you hit a wall.

[marauder]

While searching the web I've found a thread that talked about OC issues on mobos based on the 965 chipset.

It said that when overclocking of the cpu seems to be blocked to 266Mhz, raising the PCI-e value might do the work.

I've tried that, and it did make a difference.
Raising the PCI-e setting from 100 to 110Mhz allows me to reach set the CPU to 285Mhz, (which seems to be all I can get right now). With this setting, the computer works just fine.

If I raise the PCI-e from 100 to 115Mhz, I'm able to set CPU to 300Mhz and boot, but I will get errors when winXp tries to start (file is corrupted). Looks like raising the PCI-e clock at some point will corrupt data from the hdd.

So I guess this has to be some kind of an issue with the 965 chipset itself...

[Quakindude]

More than likely, your ram is being overclocked and is causing the corruption problems you've mentioned. Follow Blake's advice above and I bet you wring more out of it. Keep a good eye on your operating temps though, especially if you're running the stock cooler. Finally, please make a sig line with your computer specs in it. you can do that through the Quick Links button at the top of this page.

[marauder]

Unfortunately the mAtx Foxconn mobo I'm using doesn't allow all the tweaks of the bigger Atx boards. I can't set the multiplier of the Cpu. What I can set is Cpu clock, Pci-e clock, memory freq. (800Mhz), and various currents (cpu, memory, etc.).